A New York man who was adopted in 1964 met his biological half-siblings in person for the first time Friday afternoon at a home in Daphne, capping a search that began with a DNA test and an online genealogy match.
Joe Zubin’s search for his biological family led him to Ancestry.com, where he discovered a probable family match. He reached out to the matched family, setting off a chain of events that eventually brought together five half-siblings who had not previously known each other existed.
Becky Bond, one of the siblings, said learning about the DNA match stirred mixed emotions. “It was exciting to me but at the same time, it made me a little uneasy because just not knowing, you know, all these years that I actually had a brother,” Bond said.
Bond drove from Tennessee to her brother Paul Smith’s home in Daphne for Friday’s meeting. The siblings had learned about a year earlier that they had a half-brother in New York, after Zubin’s initial contact through the genealogy website.
The connection moved from possibility to certainty after Bond submitted her own DNA sample and received a 100 percent match, confirming that the family of four known siblings actually had a fifth. Smith said he needed more convincing at first. “I got the call but was like no. Not my dad and when she showed me the picture, I was like that don’t look like me and everybody else was saying, yeah, it does. So, I guess I have a brother now and we started calling each other and talking,” Smith said.
Zubin flew from New York to New Orleans, then drove to Daphne, arriving at Smith’s front door Friday at approximately 2 p.m. The siblings had spoken by phone in the months since their DNA match was confirmed, but Friday marked their first time meeting face to face. Smith’s wife, Amy, arranged for a news crew to be present to capture the reunion.
Asked how he hopes things move forward from here, Zubin said friendship comes first. “I don’t know. Friendship first. I don’t know where it’ll go. It’ll get better,” Zubin said. “Definitely having somebody to call and talk to is amazing.”
DNA testing and genealogy services like Ancestry.com have increasingly connected adoptees and their biological relatives in recent years, allowing people separated by decades and hundreds of miles to identify family members they never knew existed. For this reunited family, the next step after Friday’s meeting is simpler: the siblings hope to spend time together on the beach and enjoy fresh Gulf seafood while Zubin is in town.