These families uncovered long-lost relatives, thanks to modern science

Family secrets are as old as time, but thanks to modern science, more and more of them are starting to come out.

Last month, CBC Ottawa told the story of two half-sisters from eastern Ontario who discovered each other after getting genealogy tests. 

As it turns out, they're not the only ones who got more than they bargained for when they went searching for their roots. After that story was published, CBC received emails from several people across Canada with similar experiences.

Here are three of those stories.

Russ Stewart and Maureen Carpentier

Russ Stewart discovered a half-sister he never knew about. 

His mother had been stationed overseas during the Second World War and returned to Canada within two years of the war's end.

Whether she came back pregnant or not, no one seems to know. But her daughter, Maureen Carpentier, was born and put up for adoption in Ottawa in 1947.

"You look at them and you go, 'Well, it's the same person,'" said Stewart, referencing Carpentier's resemblance to his mother.

The pair have already gotten together twice since July. 

"We just immediately started talking and there was no real awkwardness to it all," said Stewart. "Everybody gave everybody a hug when we first got together, and then we just started talking."

Finding Stewart was particularly poignant for Carpentier, who'd bounced between foster homes before being adopted when she was 18 months old — only to end up in the foster system again when she was 14.

"It's not sort of deeply rooted in me, this idea of family," she said.

Carpentier said she wanted to let her biological mother, who has since died, know she was happy and forgave her for giving her up.

"When you forgive, you're free after that. You don't have any past hangups about somebody hurting you," Carpentier said.

"I don't feel hurt. I don't feel rejected anymore. I don't feel abandoned anymore."

Marla Glazer and Robert Bowles

It's been a year of surprises for Robert Bowles.

Now living in Calgary, Bowles was born in Montreal in 1957. He was abandoned as an infant with a Catholic charity, eventually ending up with a foster family — one he considered his own.

However, little did he know there were many more branches on his family tree.

Eight years ago, Bowles reached out to a Quebec government agency to get in touch with his biological mother.

"Just to tell her, you know, look, I turned out OK. I had a great life, a wonderful life. And to thank her because it could have ended up a lot worse," Bowles said.

While he found out she had died years before, he also learned a few details about his father — that he was listed as a tall French-Canadian who wore glasses and was a few years younger than his mother.

That was all he knew until last fall, when Bowles did a genealogy test and was matched with Marla Glazer's family.

Glazer already has two full siblings, a step-brother and half-brother. The discovery of yet another half-sibling, she said, was surreal.  

"How could I have another brother?" Glazer said. "It was very surprising."

After a little digging and some conversations with her father's siblings — he passed away in 2009 — Glazer said she's convinced her father likely had a relationship with another woman before her parents were married.

She doesn't think, however, he knew about Bowles.

"It doesn't matter what happened 61 years ago. He's here now," she said.

Bowles now knows that on his father's side alone, he has four half-siblings, 14 uncles and aunts, and 45 cousins.

While Bowles and Glazer haven't met yet, they speak on the phone several times a week and are expecting an emotional encounter when they finally meet face-to-face.

"I imagine there's going to be some tears," said Bowles. "I'm probably just going to break down."

Chris Langevin and Kevin Hall

Chris Langevin had heard stories growing up about the neighbour's son who looked a little too similar to members of his own family. 

Langevin grew up in Toronto with his three older sisters and younger brother. They lived on the same street as another family, the Halls. 

Langevin's parents and the Halls were best friends, he said. When the Halls moved and Langevin's parents separated, his father moved to be near the Halls — and that was when Kevin Hall was born.

When Langevin signed up for a genealogy test last winter, he didn't expect to get a message in April from Hall, who lives in B.C., wondering why the test showed he was related to his former neighbours. 

Hall said it was shocking to find out about his "other" family.

He'd always known he was the baby of the Hall family, but now knows he's the baby of two families, and now has a whole new set of siblings.

Langevin welcomed the news, and the pair met up in July, along with Langevin's brother John and one of their sisters.

"I was extremely excited to know that I even had another little brother," Langevin said. "We're all just so happy to have Kevin in our life."