“He only remembered her first name, Betty,” Jeremy says, “and that she was divorced and a nursing student at the hospital where I was born. So we began the search for Betty.” Jeremy’s girlfriend dug through public records for weeks until she found the right one. Once she did, they found Betty’s address in the Yellow Pages.

“I wrote her a letter, telling her that I didn’t want anything, but my only desire was to let her know that I’d had a great life,” Jeremy says. “I told her 46 years of info in a three-page letter and sealed it in an envelope with five or six photos of me as a baby and as an adult. Three days later, I get a text from Betty. I called her that night and we spoke for the first time. She told me her prayers had been answered. She had been waiting for me to find her all these years, and prayed every day that I would.”

Jeremy Harris with his adoptive mother (left) and his birth mom, Betty (right). (Photos courtesy of Jeremy Harris.)

Now, not only is Jeremy in touch with a half-brother and sister, Betty has also become friends with Jeremy’s aunt. Without Ancestry.com, it’s unlikely that any of them would have ever met.

Heather L. Black, a graphic artist from Orange County, was located by her biological parents and three siblings after she performed a 23andMe test. “All we have known was her adoptive parents named her Heather Lynn,” Heather's birth parents wrote to her, “and we are not even sure that she knows that she was adopted. If you happen to be this Heather, please know we are in no way trying to disrupt your life. We are only looking to meet her someday.”

Soon, Heather discovered that their lives had been sometimes eerily close, without even knowing. “My sister’s daughter goes to the same school as my son,” Heather explains, “and my little brother was in the same second-grade class as my best friend. I love them. The bonding was intense and immediate. My older sister and I are inseparable. She is the best friend I never knew I needed.”

Heather L. Black (left) now has a close relationship with her birth mother, Theresa Shively (right), thanks to 23andMe. (Photo by Ashley Berger, Grey Sparrow Photography)

For most users of ancestry kits, the results provide little more than quirky surprises. In a quick poll of my friends, the most common shock was the amount of Native American genes present in their tests — by and large, no one was expecting any.

Another friend explained that her results had had a profound effect on her mother. “My mom has been convinced her whole life she is Swedish,” Amy* told me. “She’s obsessed with being Swedish. I got [my results] and I am .1% Scandinavian, a.k.a., she’s not that Swedish! I got an email the next day saying ‘Thanks for your call, we’re sorry you’re confused with your results. Here are some resources.’ My mom had called to dispute my results!”

It’s easy to forget sometimes that deoxyribonucleic acid — DNA — was only identified in 1953, and the Human Genome Project was only completed in 2003. Until very recently, tracing members of your family tree was conducted by paper trail only, and DNA tests were mostly for people with unusual family backgrounds, those at risk for certain diseases, or guests on shows like Maury.

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