Galveston Man Reunited With Birth Family Through DNA Test

GALVESTON, TX — A Galveston man who was adopted as an infant recently experienced a dream come true when he was reunited with his long-lost brother, thanks to a DNA test he took through 23andMe years earlier.
Stephen Duncan, who is the director of Fine Arts in the Galveston Independent School District, was adopted when he was just 18-days-old by his parents in Lawton, Oklahoma, the day after Christmas in 1961.

It was a part of him that was never hidden from him or his adopted brother by their parents. It was actually became a point of celebration among his family.

“It’s lucky because it’s one of the first things my adopted brother and I ever learned. My parents used to make a big deal of our second birthday [the day of their adoption],” Duncan told Patch. “I still have a book some place called ‘The boy who had two birthdays.’ As early as my memories are, they include that [two birthdays].”

His parents had the adoption papers in a lock box, and often encouraged Duncan to find his birth parents, whom he believed were Native American and German.

He mustered the courage to look at the papers only once as a child and saw his original birth certificate with his mother’s name: Mary Brown.

It' wasn't much help.

“It was completely worthless,” he said. “There are only about 800,000 Mary Brown’s in the world, and of course her name wasn't that when she remarried two years later anyway.”

Duncan never saw those papers again.

He began to develop some health issues as he grew older and wondered if they could be related to his family history.

In 2007, he contacted 23andMe and took a DNA test to find out more about his medical history.

He didn’t get any real answers right away that revealed any real medical issues, but it did confirm his Native American heritage, as well as genetic ties to Ireland and Germany.

Then, on June 6, Duncan received an email through 23andMe from his half-brother Gabriel Ruggieri in Iowa. Gabriel, who lives in the same community as his mother, asked Duncan to reach out if he’d like to know more about his family.

It was a dream come true.

“Poof. Just like that, I had four brothers and a sister,” he said.

They emailed back and forth, and Gabriel began filling in the gaps of missing family history for the big brother he never knew he had.

The biggest piece of that puzzle was learning that his birth mother was still alive. Her name was Rose Marie, and not Mary as his birth certificate said.

She told him that she'd thought of him often over the years and hoped he’d ended up with a good family.

“She was afraid that I would have felt unloved,” he told Patch. “As an adopted child you know for sure your parents want you because they go through all kinds of hell to prove they are going not be good parents.”

He reassured her that she’d adopted him out to a good and loving family.

They corresponded through Facebook Messenger. During one of their conversations, Duncan asked about his father.

He learned that his father wore leather, and rode a Harley, and was a bit of a bad boy. Duncan also learned that his father had never married his mother and that he’d passed away in 2006.

Duncan and his family continued corresponding through social media and even talked through Skype.

On Sept. 22, Gabriel and his wife traveled to Houston where they met Duncan for the very first time.

He promised his brother that they’d take in all the touristy sites of Galveston, but the best part, Duncan felt, would be the connection he was building on with his new found family.

“It has been a fun and busy weekend,” Duncan said after his visit with Gabriel. “We stayed up way past my bedtime on Saturday talking about everything. There is so much to get to know.”

Duncan is planning a trip soon to Iowa to meet his mother, and siblings.

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Image: Courtesy of Stephen Duncan: Stephen Duncan (left) is reunited with his oldest younger brother Gabriel Ruggieri during a recent trip to Houston. Duncan is learning about his family history through DNA testing and 23andMe.

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