In 1949, when Genevieve Purinton was only 18-years old, she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl.

Unfortunately, Purinton never got the chance to hold her baby as the doctors quickly informed her that the baby had died shortly after birth.

Flash forward 69 years, and it turns out that those doctors were wrong. They had misinformed Purinton (for reasons unknown) and as it turns out, her beautiful baby girl was, and still is, alive and well!

A Joyful Reunion

Purinton, who currently resides at an assisted living facility in Tampa, Florida, was preparing herself for a somewhat lonely holiday season this year as all eight of her siblings were no longer living, leaving Purinton to believe that she had lo living immediate family.

However, unbeknownst to Purinton, the daughter she had given birth to so many years ago, who now goes by the name Connie Moultroup, was out there searching and looking for her biological mother.

After she was born in 1949, Moultroup was adopted. However, her adopted mother passed when Moultroup was only 5-years old, leaving her to grow up with her adopted father and the woman that he eventually re-married, a cruel and abusive woman.

Moultroup says that she spent many unhappy years with her adopted father and his new wife, wishing that her biological mother would come and save her, completely unaware that her biological mother didn’t even know that Moultroup existed.

Luckily, Moultroup never gave up hope that she would one day find her biological mother and when her own daughter gifted her an Ancestry DNA test last Christmas, Moultroup finally had the means to find Purinton.

Thanks to Moultroup’s DNA Kit, she was able to find a woman with the same last name as her mother. Moultroup explained the conversation with this woman to reporters, saying, “I said, ‘Here’s my mother’s given name.’ She said, ‘That’s my aunt and she’s still alive.’”

That conversation led Moultroup to get in touch with Purinton and finally, after being separated for 69 years, meet for the first time at Purinton’s nursing home earlier this week.

Seemingly a real-life Christmas miracle, Purinton, who believed that she had no immediate family left in this world, suddenly found out that she not only has a daughter who is very much alive, but that she also has a granddaughter and two great-grandchildren.

We send our sincere congratulations to Purinton who truly received the greatest gift of all this holiday season – the gift of family.

See the tearful and joyous reunion here:

Have you ever tried a DNA or Ancestry kit? What would you do if you found out that you had long lost relatives that you had never met? Share your thoughts and join the conversation below!