
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, April 8, 1991                   TAG: 9104080301
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-4   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE                                LENGTH: Short

MAN'S HUNT LEADS TO DAD, 10 SIBLINGS

A Connecticut man who broke into a courthouse to find his birth certificate, then called strangers looking for the rest of his family finally met his natural father and 10 siblings.

Skipp Schwartz, 38, of Guilford, Conn., knew he and his brother, Larry, were adopted. He knew little else about his natural family.

An old letter he found in 1980 sparked his search.

The letter, written by Schwartz's grandmother, referred to his natural mother and "the girl," possibly a daughter. It carried a return address in Rutland, Vt.

The words prompted a search that included poring through more than 250,000 feet of microfiche, breaking into a courthouse and calling strangers across the country and telling their answering machines, "I may be your brother."

In the end, Schwartz found four sisters and six brothers. He met his new family, including his natural father, Charles Laurin, for the first time last week at the home of his sister, Tricia Laurin Frazier, outside Barboursville.

His natural parents decided in the early 1950s they needed to put Skipp and Larry up for adoption because Laurin, already struggling to support the family, was having trouble finding work.

by CNB