Half-Siblings Find Each Other After Years of Searching Thanks to a MyHeritage Match

By Esther

January 4, 2018

Norwegian user Gunvald Magne, 62, was born in Bergen. At the time, his biological father was married to another woman, and left Gunvald’s mother to raise him as a single mother. When he was 5, she told him about his father for the first time, and said that he had half-siblings somewhere in Norway.

Gunvald knew very little about his father, other than his name, his town (Solsvik) and that he was a sailor. That was all.

As the years went by, Gunvald married and had his own children. However, he still had questions about his life. Who was his father? Where are his siblings? Would they want to meet him? He decided to do everything he could to find them.

Gunvald and his wife Florence

Some relatives told him about MyHeritage, and he joined in 2012.

I looked for my father on the basis of what I knew from my mother, who passed away a few years ago, but I did not find anything. I built my family tree and put everything I knew into it.

In January 2017, he had a twist of fate! Another Norwegian user, Therese, had built a family tree on MyHeritage and entered all the details she knew. Suddenly, she received a Smart Match™ with Gunvald!

This match did not happen just by chance. For many years, Therese knew that her mother had a half-brother somewhere in Norway — no one had ever been able to find him. Her mother and her sister, Solfrid, had searched for their lost brother for years but could not locate him because of the lack of information they had.

After matching with Gunvald, Therese was curious and tracked him down on Facebook.

Therese showed Gunvald’s photos to her mother. Surprisingly, her mother told her that Gunvald resembled her brother. This detail convinced Therese to call Gunvald.

Therese finding Gunvald on Facebook

Therese told him that she thought he was her uncle. As she began telling Gunvald about her family, each anecdote lined up with what he knew.

So we are family then!

Finally, they had found each other. Therese told Gunvald that he had two half-brothers and two half-sisters, all living in Norway.

I’m not used to being able to say “my sister” because I never had a sister. When I met her, it was fantastic! It was like a whole new world.

After speaking, they planned to meet. Three months later, they met for the first time. Gunvald’s sister, Solfrid, was surprised by his strong resemblance to their father.

I knew then that he was my brother.

Watch their emotional reunion below:

Finding her brother has changed Solfrid’s perspective on family and genealogy.

I think it’s very important to know about your family. And after searching MyHeritage, I do. I have found many relatives. Cousins I never knew about.

They are happy that they have found each other and it seems that the family continues to grow larger.