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Kenneth Carangelo
Michael Carangelo

Adopted name believed to be Ralph Picarelli, born April 10, 1960  (FOUND)

Cindy Carangelo

Kenneth and Michael's  big sister - born 1956

Adopted name - Peter Antony Carna - born July 28, 1957  *(FOUND)*

This WAS the story...

Barbara met Kenny Earl sometime in the early 1950's. It was a time of change. Big Band was out, Elvis was in, "Grease" was not a movie, it was real life.

Kenny was 11 years older than Barbara, from what we are told he was tall and good looking. Barbara was about 17 and Barbara was pregnant.

In July of 1957, Kenny Earl Jr. was born.

A year earlier their older sister Cindy had been born.

But before Kenny Jr. was born, disaster struck. There was a fight, a big one, and Kenny left.

For good.

For a while the kids stayed at Barbara's sisters house. Isabel looked after them with Barbara, and Michael happened along as well. It was not long before the State stepped in, and the kids were put up for adoption.

This was arranged through the local Catholic Church, through the auspices of Catholic Charities.

Kenny Jr's adoption was finalized on October 31, 1958.

We never were able to see him, although we learned his name is now "Peter Carna", and he was looking for us as recently as 2012.

Peter died before we could find him. This is a sad fact but all too often it happens during these long searches. Peter left a void in my life, even though I never knew him. For three years he was actively searched for every day, and a folder of his information sat on my desk at work. He was never forgotten once I learned of his existence. 

Michael's whereabouts are completely unknown, but we found out he was NOT a twin, and was born about 1960.

Cindy has  been located.

We have found Barbara's youngest sister, alive and well, and I am told Isabel and Theresa are still alive.

Barbara remarried in 1962 and had another four children. We have found one of these half brothers in Texas, as well as a half-sister who provided the keys needed for this reunion project.

Barbara died in 1989, Kenny Earl Sr. died in 1979, and Kenny Earl Jr. died March 5, 2016. We will never be able to meet them, but we would like to find Michael while there is still time.

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This IS the story....

We were told by various family members that Kenny Earl was the father of all three of the children, and our research assumed that thsi was correct. It wasnt.
We took a DNA test at ancestry, and it showed some people we had beard about through the family, so we had assumed we were on thr right track. Only a bit later, as I tried to contact some of these people, did we get some conflicting information. Connections through DNA didnt have the correct "offset" in many cases. I had thought this was due to being adopted, which sometimes can "add a generation" to the relationships, but only when a woman turned up that had a high match did I make any real progress. 
She returned my ancestry contact message  and mentioned that her father was adopted, and since we were such a close match, did I know anything?
I immediately replied with what I knew of the Earl story thinking this had to be another half sister or 1st cousin from Kenny, I don't think I ever heard back again. Too bad, the close relationship had me build some charts looking for the relationship and I stumbled on to some stories I had collected earlier that I did not think were relevant, but they were. 
They pointed to the fact that the father of Cindy was NOT the father of Michael, nor was he the father of Kenny Jr. 
All the pieces fell together then, and the DNA charts were there to back it all up.
As it turned out, Kenny Earl was indeed the father of Kenny Jr. But a man named Donald Knapp (who was also adopted and lived next door to the Carangelos) was the father of Cindy. Yet another man was the father of Michael, and I still have not positively identified him yet, just waiting for the quarterly ancestry DNA matches to come out, they always do if you are patient. Some day, some descendant of Michael will be tested and that will clinch who his father was. 
So, surprises at every turn, expect the unexpected and keep on plugging along.

Kenny Jr. was rumored to be living in northern New Jersey but was found in West Virginia.  Michael was rumored to be living in Florida, but who knows?

There is no monetary reward. Only fulfillment knowing that you helped reunite a family, if that is not worth it to you, kindly move along.

Search Angels are welcome

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