BRYAN, Ohio — Grant Nicholls was adopted in the 1940's and until he started researching, he only knew his birth mom's first and last name.
"I struggled for, I've probably been working on this project for about 5 years and went down a couple wrong roads and had people say noe, nope, wrong branch of the family," Grant explained.
Then, a gift from his sister, who was also adopted changed everything; a DNA test for a genealogy website which led him to life-changing news.
"You have actually six brothers and sisters, they're all living in Florida and they're all alive. It really surprised me, I had no idea I was part of such a big family," explained Grant.
Just getting the match was exciting for Grant and he believes special forces were working in his favor for what happened next.
"I've talked to two of the sisters quite a bit on the phone. And they've been very very open with welcoming me in the family and they write me emails that say 'hi big brother,' that kind of stuff," he said.
He learned his mother talked about him while his siblings were growing up.
Now, he's getting ready to meet them all for the first time.
Grant sees this as a great gift, a way to expand and learn more about his family both pre- and post adoption.
"The adoptions back in the 1940's were so secretive that really not much information was divulged to anybody, and of course those records are all locked, so if it weren't for DNA, I wouldn't have been able to find this at all."
And a chance to share more family history with his children.
