Ancestry DNA Test Reunites Long-Lost Siblings

On a humid Saturday afternoon at the Radisson Hotel in Bensalem, Debbie McMurray and Linda D’Angelo are flipping through an old family photo album, smiling more and more with every page turned.

It’s a special day for both the women, who were not sure they’d ever see each other after being separated for 45 years.

It all started a few months back when McMurray, 68, of Stanford, Connecticut, had gone on Ancestry.com to learn more about her heritage. It turns out that D’Angelo, 61, of Falls Township, was on the same site for the same purpose, and learned that she was connected to McMurray via their mother.

“[Linda] messaged me and told me that if my mother was Joyce White and my father was Jack McGowan then she had to be my sister,” McMurray said, tears welling up in her eyes as she looked at her half-sister.

In 1966 when McMurray was 15, she was adopted out of her family after they had fallen on hard times. McMurray visited her siblings in 1974 one last time before reuniting this past weekend.

“And there was no welfare or anything like that, so it was tough for the family. And there was another family that really wanted me and I had lived with them from ages 3-6 when the family fell on hard times before and that family wanted me back. But the problem was I never saw [D’Angelo and her brother Michael McGowan] again and never knew who they were because court had shut it off and there was no communication,” McMurray said.

Once McMurray and D’Angelo connected on the website, they stayed in contact and began to map out a plan for the two to meet. On Friday, McMurray came down to Bucks County from Connecticut and reunited with D’Angelo and McGowan. McMurray also brought her daughter Danielle Burr, her son-in-law Greg Kingwood, and all of her grandkids.

“Friday we just cried and hugged and cried and hugged,” McMurray said.

McMurray’s full brother Mike McGowan, 67, of Bucks County, hadn’t seen his sister in the last 45 years. He said he was grateful for this age of technology.

“If you lose contact with a brother or a sister or a loved one, this is the best time in the world to contact them through the internet. There was a time not too long ago where you couldn’t do that,” McGowan said.

Debbie’s daughter Danielle said she never knew anyone from her mother’s side and said that it was wonderful to meet these new aunts and uncles.

“Not only are they family, but I spent my whole life with just my mom and my own children. Now it’s nice to see family members who look like me. It’s crazy,” Burr said.

Debbie’s granddaughter Amaya Jones, 15, of Norwalk, Connecticut, grew up only knowing her father’s side of the family and had only met her grandmother from her mother’s side. Now has new family members from Bucks County.

“Now that I know I have this whole new family, it’s comforting. It feels like I come from this whole other side too. It’s really cool,” Jones said.

The family said they planned on lounging poolside all weekend and looking through old family albums. Each of the brothers and sisters and daughter and grandkids wore matching t-shirts with a simple message printed on the chest: “Back Together Again, Family Reunion 2019.”

“It’s funny that we used to spit on each other as kids and now we used our spit [through Ancestry.com] to find each other again,” Linda D’Angelo said with a smile, looking at her sister Debbie and her half-brother Michael.