Published Thursday September 24th, 2009 at 3:25pm
A little boy in a butterbean field. A little boy, perhaps, with big, brown eyes.
Beth Snyder, who lives in Decatur, Illinois, has little to go on inthe search for her half brother, but she does know that he most likelygrew up on a farm in the Reed Creek community, near Hartwell, in thelate 1960s and '70s. She knows that he picked butterbeans with hismother, and that he, like Beth, may have big, brown eyes.
"The last place that I know that he and his mother were in was nearthe Reed Creek community," Beth said. "There was a farm there. Theyused to go pick butterbeans."
Several weeks ago, Beth placed an advertisement in a weeklynortheast Georgia newspaper: "PLEASE HELP ME. I am looking for a halfbrother whom I have never met. I believe he lives or lived in the ReedCreek area in Hart County. His father was Herb Hudson, who was oncemarried to Ann Hudson. I believe that Ann Hudson's father was nicknamed‘Sarg.' I was put up for adoption. I do not believe (my half brother)knows about me, either. I just found out that he existed in April,2009, and have been searching ever since. If anyone can please help melocate him, I would greatly appreciate it. Please e-mail me atbethksnyder@yahoo.com."
Beth was born on Oct. 2, 1970, in a hospital in Elbert County. Shewas put into foster care and, several months later, was adopted by acouple from Augusta, Ga.
"My (adoptive) mother and father were called and told there was alittle girl – me," Beth said. "They went to a hotel in Elbert Countyand a caseworker brought me to them for the day. It was a Saturday. Thecaseworker said she would give them the rest of the weekend to make adecision, but they said they didn't need that much time. On Monday,they got to take me home with them and the adoption was finalized."
Beth's adoptive mother and father eventually moved back to Illinois – their native state – and Beth was raised there.
Three years ago, Beth started looking for her birth family. She called the Georgia Adoption Reunion Registry in Atlanta.
"The first thing they tell you is if your birth family is lookingfor you," Beth said. "Mine was not. For a small fee, they will thensend you all of the non-identifying information in your charts."
Beth learned little from that information, other than her birth mother lived in Franklin County.
"But it was like I had this drive in me to find out more," Beth said.
Eventually she did, and was able to visit her birth family this past March.
"At that point in time, nobody said anything to me about having ahalf brother. I found that out when I came home. A relative called tosay I had a half brother. I know that he was born around 1965, but Idon't know anything else. I don't know his name. Nothing."
Other than he was once a little boy who, in the hot summertime,picked butterbeans with his grandmother in a field in the Hart Countycountryside.
And other than he has a half sister who's hoping to find him.