Resident Succeeds in Family Search

Tracing his family tree has not been easy for Fred Slater, a Stone County resident since 1984.

Adopted into a family in 1954 at 4 years old after having been a ward of the county in Indiana, he knew he had a sister who had been in the county home but had been adopted separately. He had always wondered about that sister, but with a closed adoption system he had no way of finding her unless she was also looking for him.

He eventually cooled in his search, but he was living in Searcy when he decided to post a question on Ancestry.com looking for information on Frank Holler, the man believed to be his father. Three weeks later he got a reply from someone who believed Fred might be his brother. He received a form to fill out, and it was soon confirmed that the two were related.

He had been looking for a sister and found a brother instead, but the biggest surprise was discovering there were 10 siblings in all, including two who had died as infants.

“I had no idea. That just blew my mind,” Fred said.

Read the full story in the July 25, 2018 issue.