suppose

[driftwood]

suppose,u had a half brother ,you were around 40,parents both gone....would you want a cousin to tell u that u have a half brother and lots of nephews,nieces.
father never claimed older brother........you never new anything about whloe situation.........

[homstdr74]

Wishes, wants and reality. Depends on where you're coming from....if someone told me something like that, it would be done and I'd deal with it along with everything else I have to deal with. I've never thought about it, so the answer is maybe.

OTOH, if I were holding some information that I thought a member of my family should know, I'd certainly tell them.

[roadless]

I found out that I had a half-sister 6 months older than me after my father died.
Neither of us knew the man.
It is very disorienting to find out life isn't what you thought.
I have never met her but I wouldn't be opposed to it.

There's an old saying about letting sleeping dogs lie. With that in mind, you have to decide if it's your responsibility to run in and wake somebody else's dog.

[Fire-Man]

I am a Family type man. I Love getting together several times a year with my Kids, sisters, Mother, cousins, Aunts(Father and all Uncles have passed), nieces, nephews, etc, etc----- So Sure If I had a 1/2 brother/sister, I would Love to know it!

[unregistered358895]

At this point if someone told me that, with my family history, I wouldnt be the least bit surprised. I think initially I would not search them out but eventually curiosity would get the best of me.

I would, however, hope that the person telling me had only just found out themselves. If they were telling me months or years after the discovery, I would be upset by that.

[Wolf mom]

You can either look at the glass half empty or half full - your choice.

Since I'm open to new things, I would be receptive. And I wouldn't lay a judgement on it.

[Rustaholic]

I have about 30 1st cousins and there is only three I never really care to see again. One of my long gone cousins had an unclaimed kid that wound up killing that cousins brother.

[whiterock]

I was adopted at birth, just before age 46, I located my birth mother. Found I had three half siblings. The oldest, is about 2 years younger. He tells me that he has more in common with me that the two he grew up with, sad thing is that the sister passed away with me only seeing her about 6 times, and youngest bro passed a couple years back of brain tumor.

The one that is left and I are on great terms, he was the head of the family and very distrustful of me at the beginning, now realizes that the only thing I wanted was a health history, never expected to find a family. We contact each other frequently, visit three or four times a year, but he is still the head of "his"family, and I am the head of Mine.

[suitcase_sally]

I'm with Zong on this one. It will be a domino effect and not everybody wants to play.
While this could be great news for some, for others - it could be disaster.

[Horseyrider]

Originally Posted by zong

There's an old saying about letting sleeping dogs lie. With that in mind, you have to decide if it's your responsibility to run in and wake somebody else's dog.

On my mother's side I have a cousin. Well, she's not blood; but she doesn't know it. She was the product of a rape when her mother was drunk. Her mother then married my mother's brother. Yes, he knew she was pregnant with another man's child.

My cousin has no idea my uncle is not her biological father.

Now, if her mother, her 'father,' her 'uncles' and 'grands' did not see it appropriate to tell her, then who am I to turn that piece of news loose?

If I had a half brother or sister that I never knew about I think I would like to know . What I did with that information would probably take extensive thought .

[montysky]

I would want to know.

[fishtrap3]

Well I am in my early 40's and just within last year met my half brother. I am very happy for this and find it a great thing. Never knew about him until recently. We are so much alike it isn't even funny.

[bigjon]

i'm trying to contact a 1/2 sister now,guess she not interested...

[Paumon]

Yes, I would want to know about it.

[collegeboundgal]

I would think for the health history alone one would want to know who their family is...? Also, I've always been paranoid about finding out that me/kids/cousins whom ever, was dating a close blood relatives. lol. comes from living in a small town all my life. we're related to just about everyone! I always had my mom do a genealogy background check on my dates to make sure that I was in no way related to them. when doing a check on my "DH", we found out that something like our great grandparents were neighbors, but no cross breeding between them that is "recorded". lol. Sigh. small town life...

[Rick]

Originally Posted by driftwood

suppose,u had a half brother ,you were around 40,parents both gone....would you want a cousin to tell u that u have a half brother and lots of nephews,nieces.
father never claimed older brother........you never new anything about whloe situation.........

It is startling when you find out - seems like your and my dad were holding out on us.

First fork in road - contact them - don't contact them.

[Rustaholic]

Originally Posted by driftwood

suppose,u had a half brother ,you were around 40,parents both gone....would you want a cousin to tell u that u have a half brother and lots of nephews,nieces.
father never claimed older brother........you never new anything about whole situation.........

So Driftwood, Are you the long lost half brother or are you the cousin wondering if you should share the family connection info?

[Rustaholic]

Originally Posted by collegeboundgal

I would think for the health history alone one would want to know who their family is...? Also, I've always been paranoid about finding out that me/kids/cousins whom ever, was dating a close blood relatives. lol. comes from living in a small town all my life. we're related to just about everyone! I always had my mom do a genealogy background check on my dates to make sure that I was in no way related to them. when doing a check on my "DH", we found out that something like our great grandparents were neighbors, but no cross breeding between them that is "recorded". lol. Sigh. small town life...

I find this very funny, Melissa.
One cousin I have just happens to be the head gal in her town's genealogy group. She was not always that way. When she started into it soon after she was married she did hers (and mine) back pretty far because she got a good start from our oldest aunt on my dad and her mother's side. Then she started on her new husbands family because his last name was Babcock and she had run into a Babcock in her dad's mother's dad. Yup Third cousins they are. 60 miles North and 50 miles Southwest are two small towns like you grew up in. Yes I do know a blind man that has a lot of incest in his history. He has a blind brother and one that is half idiot. Then there is the fourth brother in that family that just happened to marry their grandmother.