Man Builds Elaborate Family Tree, Discovers He Was Adopted and None of It Applies to Him

Gerald Roots, 54, spent seven years constructing a 2,400-person family tree spanning twelve generations, from a 1680s Palatine immigrant to the present day, only to discover last month that he was adopted at birth and is not biologically related to any of the people in his meticulously documented pedigree. 'Seven years,' Roots said, staring at a wall-mounted printout of the tree that measures 8 feet by 4 feet. 'I visited 14 archives. I flew to Germany. I hired a translator to read 300-year-old church records in Swabian dialect. I found a coat of arms. And none of it is mine.' The discovery came during a routine DNA test that Roots took to 'confirm what I already knew' about his family's geographic origins. Instead of the expected German and Swiss heritage, his results indicated primarily Greek and Turkish ancestry, with no genetic connection to any of the 47 relatives he had previously convinced to also take the test. 'Forty-seven people spit in tubes for me,' Roots said. 'My mother -- my adoptive mother -- spit in a tube. She watched me open the results. She saw the look on my face. That's when she told me.' Roots's adoptive mother, Edith, explained that the adoption had been conducted privately in 1971 and that she and her husband had intended to tell Gerald 'when the time was right,' which over 54 years 'never seemed to arrive.' The genealogical community has rallied around Roots, noting that the research itself remains valid and represents a significant contribution to the documentation of Palatine immigration to America. 'It's an excellent family tree,' said colleague Patricia Ancestor. 'It's just not his family tree. Which is, admittedly, the entire point of family trees.' Roots has donated the research to the family whose genealogy it actually documents. He has also begun a new tree tracing his biological heritage, which he says 'starts from absolute zero and I cannot tell you how exhausting that is.' The wall-mounted printout remains in his office. 'I can't bring myself to take it down,' he said. 'Seven years of work. It's beautiful. It belongs to strangers, but it's beautiful.'