SPRINGFIELD – As an adopted family member growing up in New Jersey, Wendy Libowitz had little information to use for school assignments related to biological family history.
Today, Libowitz can trace parts of that family tree back several generations and recently gathered for a meal with both her biological and adoptive mother – all thanks to her dogged research aided by resources available today through social media and DNA testing.
Libowitz will focus on the use of online DNA genealogical testing Tuesday, April 30, at 7 p.m. in a presentation, “Finding Family: Searching for Answers,” that is co-sponsored by the Western Massachusetts Jewish Genealogical Society, at the Jewish Community Center, 1160 Dickinson St.
She will be joined in the presentation by Jeanne Gitsas who regards the use of such research as akin to applying a bit of magic to a difficult search.
“I will be talking that evening, using like a Cliff Note version by just summarizing how I found my biological family,” Gitsas said.
“I used DNA and never would have learned how to spell my biological last name if it were not for DNA and a relative’s tree with her grandmother and her maiden name. My adopted mom told me that my last name was ‘Read,’ the social worker told her so. My mom never knew how to spell it so it was very difficult until DNA. It’s an amazing thing and I love the true magic of DNA.”
The use of such research helped shortened the time it took Libowitz to find her biological mother a year ago.
“The problem to this day is that I am born in the State of New York which still has sealed records. I do not have an original birth certificate, and I have only non-identifiable information,” said Libowitz of why someone like herself adopted five decades ago with a birth certificate that reflected her adoptive name might turn to online DNA research for help.
She added, “I have taken other steps over my lifetime that have helped me at the end of the search.”
“I would say to anyone searching regardless of the reason that a lot of that other data you can find does help put the picture together,” said Libowitz of records with information on military service, immigration, birth and death.
“My search - with the help of other people - included looking at passenger manifests from ships that came to the United States to figure out who this family was to build these family trees.”
Libowitz grew up much loved and accepted in her adoptive family, but knew young she wanted to know more about her biological roots and this feeling grew particularly in terms of finding her biological mother after having and raising two daughters.
Libowitz said her “entire adoptive and extended adoptive family” as well as her “immediate family and friends” supported her effort.
Libowitz’s adoption when she was about a month old was arranged through Louise Wise Services, the New York City agency that become known to a wider audience after the 2018 documentary “Three Identical Strangers.”
The agency closed in 2004 with records sent to another adoption agency, Spence Chapin, from whom in 2007, Libowitz obtained general information that she called more of a “narrative story” about her birth and her biological parents without any identifying data.
Libowitz’s subsequent research revealed the inaccuracy of some of this information and she learned late in her search that her birth record last name does not match her biological mother’s maiden name though it shares the same first letter. The given name on record is what her birth mother selected.
“I could have been calling all the people by that last name in New York City forever and there would have been a lot of them and I would never have found her,” said Libowitz of the importance of adding DNA research as a tool in finding her biological mom.
Libowitz had her own DNA tested through saliva samples sent to consumer genetic testing companies Ancestry and 23andMe out of a belief that she could “connect with people I am genetically related to” as well as because she had “no idea ancestrally what I am made of.”
“I had no close contacts from the testing, but I started communicating with the ones I had,” said Libowitz who was also able to upload her results to other DNA databases to broaden the search for others with her DNA and in what amount that predicts closeness of biological relationship.
“A lot of people responded to me but it wasn’t really useful information, so I turned to social media more and joined groups predominately on Facebook.”
Libowitz found “particularly helpful” a locator group called Search Squad that works with adopted individuals among others in their search.
The group’s genealogical volunteers are called “Search Angels,” Libowitz said, and two of them, one with a background in science, “got her very far” in predicting her close biological relatives in terms of amounts of DNA shared and other factors.
“I had done the testing, I had tried the communication with people and basically went to the organization saying, ‘OK, here is my DNA testing, here is my non-identifiable information, here is everything I know and now I am stuck and I don’t know how to get myself any further and can someone help me,” Libowitz said.
A months-long roadblock on her maternal side was overcome when Libowitz got a “DNA hit” one day from someone who would prove a link to finding out why Libowitz was unable to trace the person she believed was her grandfather after his graduation from high school – he had changed his name.
“This was the breakthrough on the maternal side - I got the last name – and took out the name I believed everybody used and put in the new name and ‘bingo!’ I started finding obituaries and all kinds of information on this whole generation of the family and their children,” Libowitz said.
“I get to the point where I said to myself, ‘This I believe is my maternal grandfather. I am not sure who this woman is, but it turned out to be his wife. I think these women are related and I have looked them up in the birth index and I think this one is my mother – that is where the non-identifiable information helped as I had the year of her birth.”
What Libowitz calls further “sleuthing” on social media through private messaging and “fishing” e-mails asking people about possible family relationships to those she was researching yielded a response last April 16 from the woman she believed to be her biological mother.
“Her reply said, ‘Yes, he is my father, and that was my grandfather and how are you related?,” recalled Libowitz of a moment of online intimacy in real time that transcended time.
“I sent the message I was born July 19, 1968 with some information and her immediate reply is, ‘What hospital were you born at and can you send a picture of yourself?’ I was in shock but excited and five minutes after I sent an email with more information, I got a phone call from her at the end of which I said, ‘If you are ever open to this, I would like to meet you’ and she instantly said, ‘Yep’ and over the last year we have developed a very nice relationship.”
Libowitz cautions that such genealogy research takes persistence, patience and does not always yield all the desired confirmations on searched biological relationships.
She is, however, appreciative of what she has found through DNA testing as well as the help of others.
“It’s been a whirlwind year but I have learned a lot and I would like to share that with others when I do the presentation,” Libowitz said.
“Genealogical research takes a village in that you need help from other people. You can also give help to other people. All little stepping stones and regardless of who you are looking for there is help out there if you want it and getting the help can make a difference in whether you are successful. I don’t think I would have figured all this out by myself.”
The program, part of the JCC’s “Life Lessons” series is free, but registration is suggested by emailing bnadler@springfieldjcc.org or calling (413) 739-4715.