How I found my Biological Dad through Ancestry DNA

April 2018

My sister called me while I was in Anchorage and sounded concerned, she asked to come see me as soon as I was able to. I agreed and told her to meet me at my hotel. When she arrived she got right to business, which is very much like her (no fluffy stuff); she said “Lydia, you need to read this note.” The envelope was small and had a neatly written name on it, Lori. I opened the note which matched that same cursive of the envelope and it said. “Lydia isn’t Steve’s, her real dad’s name is Larry Hoover.” Ruth’s eyes were larger than ever as she stared at me with shock.

I replied to her, ” I know.”

Her jaw dropped and right away said “How!?”

Rewind 7 Years to 2012
I am living back in my hometown and came across a file that had my tribal adoption paperwork. When I open up the file I see my information along with my birth mother and the biological father that she had listed in the paperwork. Shocked and confused I stood there, lost about my identity. For years my family told me that my sister and I are full siblings, and when you look at us it is crazy to think that we are half sisters since we look very much alike. Seeing another name on that document other than the man that I thought was my dad had me dumbfounded. My sister’s dad, Steve, told me about my birth story and how he had cut my umbilical cord. Seeing this made me realize that it was strange that his family really never had anything to do with me, when I was a child I thought that it was because I was adopted to my biological mom’s sister. But it was all starting to make sense, I remember one day when my mom and I were visiting my aunt and their family in Anchorage. Ruth’s aunt came with her daughter and picked her up to spend time with her, I desperately wanted to follow. I begged my mom and aunt to allow me, they said yes but her aunt said that I was “too old.” I was a heart broken 11 year old. Now that I saw a different name I felt slightly better about myself. It isn’t a good feeling to think that you aren’t wanted or welcomed, especially as a child. However I didn’t mention my discovery to anyone for years until I finally asked Martha about it in 2015, “Who is Ken Hoover, the man in my adoption documents.” Martha stared back at me with her mouth open with a very surprised expression. All she had to say was “I was going to tell you.” We talked about what she knew about him, which wasn’t much. Just that he wasn’t from Alaska, he was divorced and that he was married a woman with South East/Interior Alaska ties. After getting that confirmation from Martha I searched through Facebook, Alaska Court records, google but I had no luck.

I don’t know if any of you caught the 2 different names, Larry and Ken Hoover? Larry was what Ruth’s grandma said and Ken was from my documents all those years ago. My biological Mom Martha passed away in 2016, so we couldn’t ask her. And from all that drama that my sister brought back into my life I totally forgot about the exact name in the file and Larry Hoover started to sound more realistic. After I told her about my file, that I had known for a few years and confronted our mom about it she still seemed sad. So, I asked her if we should look for Larry Hoover. She smiled and said “YES!” We did the basic girl stalking search again methods with social media, court records and google. But this time I didn’t want to reach a dead end so I paid to find the contact information for Larry Hoover. It gave me the information to Larry Hoover Jr. who I assumed was my half brother. He was interesting, very friendly and wanted to help me. He gave me the number to his dad, who he had not been in touch with for years. That should have warned me. However my naive self decided to call the number provided, when he answered he just hung up on me after I had tried to explain the situation. I didn’t want to keep looking, I was so discouraged and disappointed.

After experiencing that I reconfirmed to myself that my life was a blessing in itself and that I was lucky to have been brought up with my mom and the rest of our family.

But there was something in the back of my head that kept bugging me, it was curiosity. I wanted to know where exactly I came from, to find out my ethnicity and to see if any of my relatives were out there. Many of my friends talked about doing Ancestry DNA and finding their family. One evening in September 2018 my friend Stephanie pushed me to order the kit. So I decided to take a chance, and a week and half later it arrived. I mailed out my kit right away and then the waiting game began. After waiting years for confirmation you would think I would be fine waiting a few weeks. But I was excited and anxious with each new status update from Ancestry. Then finally one morning I got the email saying my results were posted, so I took a deep breath and logged into my account. I had no idea if he had done ancestry and if I were going to end up in another dead end. To my surprise I saw a match to a predicted Parent/Child match to Ken Hoover.

I was shocked and relieved that I had finally had an answer. Before I took any action I called my sister and I told her that he was on Ancestry. A couple hours later I received a message from my dad. I was surprised because quite honestly I did not know how I would put into words that I was his daughter. It started off by saying “Hello Lydia, I’ve been sitting staring at my computer screen for about an hour, trying to put my emotions into words.n First let me tell you how beautiful you are. I can’t take genetic credit for that but, i do have Hazel eyes and Dimples. I have so much to say that my thoughts over run my typing ability. I too have never met my father. I’m very excited to get to know you. “

Although he never knew about my existence he knew that I was his daughter from my photo. I can see that now, I look just like his mother. 🙂 Being able to see for the first time who my dad and his side of the family was everything I’ve ever dreamed of and more.

Although he never knew about my existence he knew that I was his daughter from my photo.

The first time we talked on the phone I couldn’t help but tear up because it was surreal for me to be able to hear his voice and laughter. Although we were sad about all the years we missed we are happy to have the years now before it is too late. December 2018 we met each other for the first time. I have an older brother Kelsey and a younger sister Kaitlin. We all smile like our dad and have his humor. I cannot wait for future phone calls and visits.

Ancestry DNA gave me something that I never thought I would have and I am so grateful.

I have attached a discount and referral link for anyone who would like to purchase an ancestry DNA Kit:
http://refer.dna.ancestry.com/s/lagnus 

You can save 15% off with the referral link provided. I hope that you find what you are looking for, if it is family or to learn more about where you come from.

You don’t take anything for granted while at Fish Camp

Hello everyone, my name is Lydia and welcome to my blog!

I am a life long Alaskan, 27 years old and I would say I am your typical girl raised in Alaska. I love being outdoors, berry picking, ice fishing, caribou soup, Mooses Tooth pizza, dressing cute, coffee and a nice cold IPA. 

I was raised in rural Alaska with my mom, her parents and some of my aunts and uncles. Growing up in that household it was easy for me to learn my traditional language, Yupik. Yupik was my first language until I started watching cartoons and going to preschool, then I started learning more English.

I went to fish camp every summer from the end of May until mid July. Fish camp is where my family and many other families from my home town would work all summer catching, filleting, drying, smoking and putting away all different types of fish. (Silver, Red, and King Salmon, Halibut, and Herring to name a few.) Being able to have all that dry fish or Neqa (Which literally translates to food) allowed my family to have food all year which was traditionally practiced by my people.

Spending several weeks away at fish camp isn’t easy. First of all, there is no electricity, running water, or a grocery store. So doing simple things like bathing, laundry, using anything electronic or making an errand to the nearest store was a task. 

Lets start with bathing and laundry. Many of my people still have steam houses so that they can bathe without the need of a shower or a bath tub. It is the most relaxing and refreshing form of bathing that I know of. However before you can wash your stinky toes and grease off of your hair, there is work to do. First you need to turn the Maqii or Sauna on, that is done by burning firelogs and other wood to get it nice and hot. Then you need to haul water using 5 gallon buckets from the stream. Then fill up the basins in the Maqii to get the water nice and hot for you when you are ready to bathe. Once the Maqii is hot enough you can strip, sit back and say “ahh-raa- raa-haa” lol that’s a family joke but it is a term people say in the Maqii when its nice and hot. When you are done, its like all of your pours opened and are clear, your skin is smooth as a baby’s bottom, and feel so unbelievably relaxed. 

Laundry. LAAAAUNNNDRRYYYY. I can tell you now as a person living with an unlimited supply of water and a washing machine I love laundry and playing with water. But living at Umkumiut ( fish camp) for the summer it was a very large chore. Hauling water was necessary, and waiting a day or two for the cold water to warm up was needed also. Once it is room temperature I would sprinkle the tub with tide powder detergent then take my two hands and go ham on the washboard. Once it was clean, then I’d rinse and wring out the clothes then hang dry using the clothesline behind our little house. Sometimes if my Mom was feeling sassy she would make someone take us to Toksook so she could do laundry at the washateria. Doing laundry now is a cake walk. I love doing laundry now. LOL. 

At fish camp one couldn’t simply run to the store and grab some milk and bread. (insert LOTR meme of Boromir here) You needed to either take a boat ride to Toksook or ride fourwheeler to get to the your nearest Bayview, John’s Store or NYC. 😉 When my family and I would head to Toksook it would usually be an all day affair or sometimes we would spend the night on Saturday to go to church on Sunday. My Mom and Grandparents would be so excited to finally go to bingo, hehe and i would be so excited to watch Disney Channel (not that impressive either. lol) My Aat (Grandpa) would stock up on everything, all the essentials, breakfast items, especially the coffee and some sweet treats for the kids. 

Being able to do this every year until high school was a big blessing to me because I was able to spend time with my family and learn from their traditional teachings. My goal is to return this summer and spend 2 weeks putting away fish with my Uncle Noah and his family. Until then I sit here and reminisce about the fond memories I shared with my family and the things skills that I learned from them. 

Until next time, Lydia Cagluaq Agnus lydia childA picture of myself at fish camp when I was 6 years old, you can see how happy and at home I was there.