One DNA discovery in a family is often more than enough...so what happens when there are nine? 

Stephen Anderson never expected that his decades of family research using traditional methods--genealogical records and oral histories--would be turned into a years-long journey to unravel the truth around his paternity and that of his many siblings.

Steve is today’s guest on DNA Clarity and Support podcast, an episode called “Appreciating a sense of peace once it comes.”

He admits to the host Brianne that didn’t want to write his book A Broken Tree, but that he felt like he had to. Listen as Steve describes what it’s like to be part of a large family in which reactions to an NPE (“not parent expected”) discovery varied greatly and how the outcomes of each discovery were also not the same.

Steve offers advice to fellow NPEs about the importance of forgiveness and how he found his way to peace after three intense years of emotional pain.

Additional sites and resources mentioned in this episode include:

NPE Friends Fellowship

DNA Clarity and Support podcast

Full support resource list for NPE Discoveries

More about the author Stephen Anderson:

Stephen Anderson’s most recent book is titled, A BROKEN TREE: HOW DNA EXPOSED A FAMILY’S SECRETS.  What started out as an effort to validate a family story about his older brother, turned into a 3-year project that revealed shocking family secrets that his parents had been hiding for several decades. It completely redefined his own identity as well as the identities of his 8 brothers and sisters. He doubts that anyone will ever read a family mystery quite like this one.

Mr. Anderson grew up in San Clemente, California. Before starting college he spent two years traveling throughout the Philippine Islands teaching in several villages. Upon returning to the states he began his education at Brigham Young University where he did his undergraduate work in Family and Community History. He got his MLS in Library and Archival Science followed by additional graduate studies in Curriculum and Instructional Development.

Mr. Anderson worked in the Brigham Young University Library restoring old books and documents, followed by 26 years working for FamilySearch International, one of the biggest online genealogy websites in the world. He has been deeply involved in his own family history research for more than 40 years. He has also conducted hundreds of oral histories, resulting in the publication of a book titled Leaves of the Lindon Tree, a collection of oral histories of Lindon, Utah residents.

Stephen is now retired and spends his time doing humanitarian work as well as hiking in the mountains near his home.