I had good news and bad news today on the adoption front. My certified letter to Edna F. Davidson in Seymour, who I suspected to be my birth mother was refused delivery. (See Post #446). It is disappointing news, especially considering that there has been no response from my initial certified letter to her son. (See Post #393). The delivery of that letter was at least accepted and signed for by her namesake, Jerry Poole. Today’s rejection could mean one of two things: First, that she have since moved from the White Pages address listed for her; Or, that she and her son decided that it was not in their best interest to involve me in their family. They could be suspicious of a scam, she might be in poor health or have memory problems. Then again, I could be totally on the wrong track – but I doubt it. The mystery continues.

The initial documents on my birth mother came via a connection that I made through the website 23andme (Post #410). I had provided a DNA sample, hoping to discover elements of my genetic background. The results provided a link with a potential third cousin who believed he was related to my “second family.” Today, at the same time I received this rejection notification, he discovered a genetic link to the Bannister family. This came about as a result of an additional DNA test that he sent to another company. I did a similar thing several weeks ago, submitting a sample to ancestry.com. I did this second test after discovering that a nephew of my birth mother was maintaining the Banister (or Bannister) family tree through this well respected genealogical web service. I believe that he was indirectly suggesting that I provide genetic proof of alignment with his family. Hopefully, our DNA will line up, and he will help introduce me to his aunt and my birth mother. It will be another few weeks before I can hopefully establish this important bridge of credibility. In the meantime, I will be out of the country and focused on travel rather than adoption.