ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, January 4, 1997 TAG: 9701060072
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: SPOTYSLVANIA (AP)
SOURCE: EILEEN MEAD (FREDERICKSBURG) FREE-LANCE STAR
ABOUT ALL JOE MORTON knew about his father was his name and that he had been in the Army. Now, two families from opposite sides of the Atlantic are reveling in their similarities.
Joe Morton was too nervous to dial, so his wife, Anne, picked up the phone.
Everyone in the family was tense as she dialed a number in Spotsylvania County that might, for the first time, link her 42-year-old husband with his real father.
Morton, of Wigan, England, had learned that his father's name was Robert H. Welling Jr. A search on the Internet in October brought up two listings, one in California and one in Virginia.
The California number was a dead end, and this call was the last chance. Halfway around the world, the telephone rang, and Welling answered.
Anne Morton introduced herself and told him that they were trying to locate her husband's father. The Robert Welling that they were seeking, she said, had been in the U.S. Army stationed at Lakenheath Air Force Base in the early 1950s.
She told him the name of her husband's birth mother, who had lived near the base.
``I knew a lady by that name,'' Welling said, but he added that he didn't know if Joe Morton was his son.
Anne Morton asked if there would be any problem if they sent him photographs and some papers, and Welling said no, Joe Morton said.
``When I heard Anne's excited reply when he said that he knew my real mum, I was trying to keep my feet on the ground, but nobody else in the room was. They were cheering and jumping up and down.''
As soon as he saw the pictures, Welling said, there was no doubt that Joe Morton was his son.
``He looked just like me when I was his age,'' he said. ``When I saw the peaked eyebrows, I knew that he was a Welling.''
Welling sent the Mortons photographs of himself at comparable ages, and they found the resemblance remarkable.
Later that month, the Wellings flew to England to meet the Mortons. ``It just blows my mind the way that we all just flowed together,'' Welling said. ``We invited the whole family to spend Christmas with us in Virginia.''
Last month, both families gathered around a table in the Wellings' Chancellor home and recalled the events of their lives.
The story began in 1951 when Welling, then a 24-year-old American soldier, had a romance with a red-haired British woman while stationed in England. Their relationship ended when he was transferred to a new duty station, but he later received court orders to pay child support for a baby boy, who the woman said was his. Payments were taken from his Army salary for a time, and then they stopped.
He was told that the boy had been adopted. His mother apparently had remarried and moved to another area. He was unable to locate her, or the boy.
Four years later, in 1955, Welling met his wife, Catherine, while he was stationed at Fort Belvoir. Before they were married, he told her that he might have a son in England, but that the boy had been adopted.
Welling served in Korea and Vietnam and retired in Springfield after 20 years in the Army. He worked another 20 years as an appliance repairman for Sears.
In the meantime, the baby boy had been adopted by a couple living in Wigan, who gave him the name Joseph Morton.
Morton quit school when he was 14 and became an apprentice landscaper to help support his parents. As soon as he was old enough, he said, he joined the British army and served as a chef for 12 years.
When he was 19, he married Anne. They have a son, Paul, 23, and three daughters: Nicola, 16; Debra, 14; and Becky,9.
Morton said that he always had a desire to find his birth parents, but out of respect for his adoptive parents, he didn't pursue the search until after their deaths. He acquired some papers indicating that his father had been in the Army, but when he attempted to get more information, he was told that he would have to have a Social Security number.
About 18 months ago, Morton said, a friend advised him to write to the Mormon Church, which keeps track of family records.
``For $12, they sent me a list of 42 people with the Welling name. Two of them were R.H. Welling,'' he said. ``Melvin did a computer search on the Internet and found addresses, phone numbers and a map of the areas where they both live,'' he said.
Morton has used the same method to locate his birth mother in Washington state, he said. He has talked to her and hopes to meet her in the spring.
The Wellings are enjoying showing Joe and Anne Morton and their three daughters, who came with them, around Virginia. The girls especially like to shop at the malls and to watch American television.
Family members continue to be amazed at the similarities in personalities and mannerisms of father and son.
``They sit in a chair exactly the same way. They like to tease, and they are both good at any task they undertake,'' Anne Morton said.
Catherine Welling said that she and her husband were delighted to learn that they have four grandchildren, and they enjoy spoiling them.
``I think that it is a blessing. God works things out if we allow it. I feel it is divine intervention that we were all brought together,'' she said.
LENGTH: Long : 101 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Joe Morton of Wigan, England, watches his father,by CNBRobert Welling of Stafford, hug Morton's daughter Becky, 9, during a
holiday visit. Morton and Welling met for the first time after
Morton found his father with the help of the Internet.