Newly found letters spark search for mystery uncle
Rachel Powers, mum-of-five, decided to take the time to sort through old files during lockdown when she came across a collection of letters that had been locked away for decades.
After reading them, she discovered that they were written for her grandmother and realised she had a long-lost relative.
Powers learnt that her grandmother had a former lover named John, who had fathered a child with her before leaving the military service.
The letters have been written through the late 1950s and Powers discovered that the baby had been put up for adoption before her grandmother married her grandfather.
She posted to a Facebook group asking for help to find her long-lost uncle and described the romance between her grandmother and John.
"Somehow John found out about the baby and wrote her letter after letter to beg for her forgiveness to ask how to help, how had he known things would be different and what he could do," Ms Powers wrote.
Her grandmother had looked for John in 2000, writing messages to "Johns all over the country", but her search was in vain.
She was unable to find him before she passed away in 2006.
Powers is now determined to track down her uncle and has begged the two-million strong Facebook group to help her with her search.
"I want to see what happens," one Facebook user said.
"Folks unselfishly coming together to make a perfect stranger happy," commented another.
People suggested that Powers takes a DNA test to see if she could track down John that way, whereas others said she should post in the Facebook group 'Search Squad' that is assisted to a not-for-profit that specialises in helping people track down lost relatives.
Powers is yet to track down her lost uncle.