Man reunited with family in Pottstown after 44 years.
Connecticut man reunited with biological family in Pottstown after 44 years
POTTSTOWN >> Spring is a time for new beginnings. For one local family, that also meant a new beginning for their family.
Jason Wright, 44, spent most of his life growing up happily with his adoptive family in Connecticut. He spent his childhood like anyone else, having fun with friends, going to school and eventually growing up to start his own family with his wife, Rosie.
For those 44 years though, Jason had no idea that he had an entire extended family who had been searching for him for most of his life.
Janice Gilyard, Jason’s aunt who lives on Walnut Street in Pottstown, explained that Jason was born in May 1972 and that he had been adopted by a family in Connecticut in December that same year. Janice and her brother, Jason’s biological father, as well as the rest of Jason’s family, were not made aware of the adoption until after it happened.
“We found out he was adopted and my sister reached out to the agency but it was too late. It was a closed adoption,” said Gilyard tearfully. “We were devastated.”
Gilyard said she and her brother had looked for Jason numerous times and that she spent years wondering if he was looking for them too.
In March, after nearly 45 years of wondering and searching, Janice and her family finally had their questions answered in what Janice described as “a miracle.”
Jason and Rosie became interested in finding out their ethnicity after the birth of their daughter, Josie. The two decided to submit their DNA samples in June of last year and after having a DNA reveal party, found that the site could also connect Jason to his biological relatives.
“We had done Ancestry.com DNA kits really to find out what our ethnicity was,” explained Rosie. “It had linked his information with biological relatives. So for a while we didn’t do anything about it. Then once he gave his OK and expressed some interest, I started to try to figure out who we could possibly get in touch with that could help us out.”
Rosie then took on the task of finding his relatives and said that although they both had reservations about finding out where he was from, she felt strongly that his story would be a positive one. After linking bits and pieces of information in an attempt to learn more, Rosie said she started researching user names on the ancestry site. It was there that she found the names of two of his second cousins.
On March 18, Rosie sent an email with attached photos to Jason’s second cousin, Wanda, in hopes of eventually connecting. Wanda responded within just a few hours and after finding out that Wanda would be in a neighboring city on April 1, the group made arrangements to meet.
During that meeting, a mystery that had been looming for more than four decades had finally been solved.
“It’s just been amazing for such a short time. It’s been about three weeks since we first started corresponding,” said Jason. “It’s just been a lot of emotions and pretty intense phone calls and finding out different histories and getting some questions answered. We decided we were going to come down this weekend for Easter as a sort of family introduction. Last week I woke up in the morning and I couldn’t wait any longer and was kind of teasing them that I was going to run and come down. We actually surprised her (Janice) pretty well.”
The surprise was an emotional one for everyone.
Although Jason’s father is no longer alive to meet him, Jason got the opportunity to meet his entire extended family over the weekend, including his grandmother and a brother he didn’t know he had.
“It was an eye-opener,” said Jason’s brother, Ryan Sams.
“My aunt Janice sent me a text that said, ‘Hey, we found your brother. DNA proves it’s him. We know who he is and he knows who we are.’ I was speechless. I didn’t know where to go with it. A couple days later she called and said she wanted me to come meet him and of course I wasn’t going to pass up the chance ... I always had a big brother but now I actually have a big brother that I can hold, touch, talk to, get to meet ... it’s so surreal to be able to be here in this situation. It was a great feeling. It still is.”
The family of about 20 people got together at Limerick Bowl over the holiday weekend for the joyful reunion. Jason will soon be meeting his sister, who lives in King of Prussia, for the first time as well, Janice said.
Janice added that the family will be making an effort to see each other whenever they can. She will be visiting Jason in Connecticut for Memorial Day weekend and Jason and his family plan to come back for a Martin family reunion in August.
“I’m overwhelmed and excited. It’s a miracle. It’s a dream come true and something I’ve always wanted,” said Janice. “I’m speechless. I thank God that we found him, he found us and we’re family now. It’s the missing puzzle piece.”