OPINION

Abandoned as a baby in 1948, Fremont man recently discovers family

Roy Wilhelm

Not long ago, Ted Cashen saw himself as a member of a small family. He grew up as an only child; his wife, Maureen, is an only child; and so is their son. His adoptive parents are deceased.

In a matter of months, he has found more than 100 relatives from coast to coast and is headed to a family reunion later this year.

Not long ago, Ted Cashen didn’t know who his biological parents were. Now, he can trace his ancestry back to the 1600s.

In 1997, I wrote about Ted, spurred by his search for information. He had made the news nearly 50 years earlier in March of 1948 as a newborn baby boy left wrapped in a thin cotton blanket in subfreezing weather near the Arch Street entrance to Community Hospital.

According to news accounts, the seven-pound, two-ounce baby was discovered by Mrs. Arthur Krienke who had just visited her daughter in the hospital, then located at Arch and Birchard Avenue.

“Mrs. Krienke first believed she heard a small kitten,” the newspaper reported, “and then there was a louder wail as she walked a few steps further. Investigating the now recognizable cries, she found the infant in the bushes.”

Cared for by the hospital staff, he eventually grew up in Genoa, adopted by Ruel (Pat) and Henrietta Cashen, but has always wondered about his biological family.

His search for family medical history to pass along to their then 12-year-old son Craig prompted the contacts in 1997 and recent discoveries have led to amazing developments.

“In August of last year,” Ted wrote to me, “an article in the Cincinnati Enquirer caught my wife’s eye … about a Facebook group which helps adopted individuals in searching for their birth families.”

Ted sprang into action and, on the advice of an organization known as Search Squad, entered his story on line with Foundling Fathers. He “almost immediately got a response,” he said during a recent interview. Amanda Reno, who works with “Foundling Finders” and its parent group, “DNA Detectives,” began the process of helping Ted find family connections.

“ ‘Foundling Finders’ is a smaller group we manage specifically for foundlings or the immediate relative of foundlings and our core team of DNA experts,” Reno explained. The group “is a place they can find others with similar stories and seek specialized help … a place they get the chance to be open about their abandonment and ask questions without feeling different.”

“At nearly 20,000 strong our Facebook group facebook.com/DNADetectives is connecting families and solving mysteries daily,” Ms. Reno, a genetic genealogist, added.

“They opened the door that was always locked behind me,” Ted said.

The Cashens have learned that Ted’s birth mother and her husband separated after he returned from World War II. His birth father (Ted and investigators are more than 99 percent sure of the identification) had four brothers and at least two sisters. That makes for a lot of potential relatives.

As possible connections began to be made, he uploaded his DNA to Family Tree DNA and bought DNA kits that Reno sent to people who might be willing to take the test and find a possible connection.

A woman in California, who turned out to be a first cousin, was already working on family genealogy, so she was happy to take the test and will be sharing even more information with Ted.

Others have also already taken the test.

Through the tests and family trees, 104 close and distant relatives have been identified, from Maryland to California.

Many still live in this area, including a half brother and a first cousin in Fremont, both of whom the Cashens visited. Approaching the contacts with uncertainty because he didn’t know what to expect the reaction would be, Ted has been thrilled. “Everyone has been very great about it, very cordial about it.”

Not long ago, Ted Cashen longed for clues to his background.

Now, much of the mystery has been solved.

And he has been invited to a reunion of the family that he didn’t know he had.

Roy Wilhelm started a 40-year career at The News-Messenger in 1965, as a reporter. Now retired, he is writing a weekly column for both The News-Messenger and News Herald.