ALTOONA, Pa. — Some may call it fate, some luck, others even coincidence. But when Daniel Moringiello found his blood brother after roughly 60 years of wondering and searching, he knew exactly what it was: divine intervention.
Born James Joseph Morrison, Mr. Moringiello was adopted from the now-closed Angel Guardian Home in Brooklyn, N.Y., in 1952 at just 7 months old. He was brought into a New York Italian home by, according to Mr. Moringiello, some of the “greatest parents you could ask for.”
They were up front with Mr. Moringiello from the beginning about him being adopted, and he always wondered what happened with his birth parents to make them decide to give him up.
“I was content with the parents I had,” Mr. Moringiello said, but “it was always there in the back of your mind: Who were they?”
Mr. Moringiello and his wife, Cynthia, lived in New York until he retired in 2005. The couple decided to move to Blair County — namely Hollidaysburg — due to their love for the Horseshoe Curve. That is a local tourist attraction, a curving railroad track build to get trains over the Allegheny Mountains.
Mr. Moringiello worked for the Long Island Rail Road for decades and has an enormous love for trains. He and his wife would stop by the Curve whenever the opportunity presented itself and would pack picnics and simply sit and watch the trains roll through.
“If you’re a rail fan and know what you’re looking at, it’s a big deal,” Ms. Moringiello said, referring to the Horseshoe Curve.
Upon his retirement, Mr. Moringiello had a lot more time on his hands, so he decided to start exploring his biological family history. He hired genealogists from Ancestry.com to help him uncover his lost lineage for personal reasons and for health reasons. His wife explained that in New York, the birth records for adopted children are sealed, so it is much more difficult to piece together his genealogical story.
When he was adopted, Mr. Moringiello was given non-identifying information about his family by Angel Guardian Home, which told him that he had an older brother. Other than that, he had almost nothing to go on.
The researchers at Ancestry.com were able to discover Mr. Moringiello’s birth mother, who was a maid for a wealthy New York family. She was reportedly an uneducated woman who had a learning disability and had relations with either the head of the family — who was an established lawyer — or one his sons, which led to the births of her two sons.
Mr. Moringiello said he was ecstatic to finally have some clarity about his biological family and why he was given up. The only missing piece left was his older brother. Ancestry.com told him the only way to find his brother was if his brother took a DNA test so that he was in their system. Otherwise, it was virtually impossible.
Mr. Moringiello said he was satisfied with the information he had if he was unlikely to ever discover who his brother was.
He had no idea at the time that he had already met his brother several times.
Mr. Moringiello has a group of friends from his time on the railroad and he said they are all big “rail fans.” For railroad enthusiasts, Mr. Moringiello said there is no better place than the Horseshoe Curve. His friends decided to make the trip from New York in September 2022 and they let Mr. Moringiello know they would be in town.
He said he was hesitant to meet up with everyone at first, but at the insistence of his wife, they both went to the Curve to spend time with his friends.
One of the friends who made the trip was Jim Adams.
Mr. Adams and Mr. Moringiello had known each other for decades through their time on the railroad, and Mr. Adams said he actually asked the other members of the group if Mr. Moringiello was going to meet them there because he wanted to see him again.
When everyone was together, Mr. Moringiello and Mr. Adams started talking about health issues they were dealing with, and at one point, Mr. Moringiello said he was adopted. Mr. Adams responded that he too was adopted, and all the dots started lining up. They were both adopted from the same orphanage, and Mr. Adams had the same birth family name as Mr. Moringiello: Morrison.
Mr. Adams, in an interview with the Mirror, said he was always teased at school when his classmates found out he was adopted. He said he was always embarrassed when the topic came up: “It was always so awkward.”
Ms. Moringiello said everyone present at the Curve that day was stunned when the puzzle pieces came together. Mr. Moringiello and Mr. Adams started talking about their families and their childhoods to compare notes, and those conversations continued after the friend group returned to New York. Mr. Adams said he was in shock the whole time and still has a hard time believing it actually happened.
“I was blown away,” Mr. Adams said. “All of a sudden, the pieces started coming together. The question on my mind was ‘Why now?’”
Mr. Adams said it’s easy to chalk up some of the similarities they discovered to coincidence, but with how many there actually were, it was impossible to deny the obvious reality. They discovered they both even have an affinity for bagpipe music.
Ms. Moringiello said the two now spend hours on the phone together almost daily, talking about anything and everything.
“He (Mr. Adams) makes Dan happy just by existing,” she said.
Mr. Adams got a DNA test done to have concrete evidence, and the results came back positive as a match with Mr. Moringiello. He said he wasn’t really looking for any of his blood relatives anymore, saying he had the same mindset as Mr. Moringiello: He was content with his adopted parents.
“No one was beating down my door” to find him, Mr. Adams said.
The two families have not met each other yet, and some of Mr. Adams’ family don’t know about Mr. Moringiello at all. Mr. Adams is having a birthday celebration for him and his daughter this month and he said he is planning to announce the news to the rest of his family. Mr. Moringiello and his wife plan to be at the party.
Mr. Moringiello and Mr. Adams agreed that the whole situation still often feels like a dream and have to remember that they are actually brothers. Mr. Moringiello said he feels complete now with Mr. Adams in his life.
Mr. Adams is thankful that everything lined up that day at the Curve. He said so many things could have gone wrong to prevent their discovery, but now it isn’t difficult to adjust to the new dynamic since the two had already known each other for years.
“I guess that was the Lord smiling down on us,” Mr. Adams said.
First Published: May 27, 2023, 5:30 p.m.
Updated: May 27, 2023, 8:01 p.m.
