U.K.: Siblings Reunited After 67 Years

LONDON (Telegraph), January 5, 2008: A brother and sister were reunited after 67 years when he moved into the same tiny village as his niece. Jack Allen, 67, struck up a friendship with the local shopkeeper, unaware that she was his sister's daughter. For three years they got to know each other before a chance remark revealed they were related. Mr Allen, who was adopted as a young boy, had a further shock when he found out he had nine other siblings. He recently met up with sister Pat Collins, 75, and said he was looking forward to getting to know the rest of his long-lost family. He said: "This is surreal. There was me thinking I was an only child and here I am with my sister - and there are another eight siblings." Mr Allen, who last saw Mrs Collins when he was four weeks old, was born in February 1940 as Joseph McIver to parents Josephine McIver and Douglas MacDonald. He was fostered in March 1940, and had his name changed when he was adopted by Frank and Christine Allen in Birmingham aged seven. Three years ago he and his wife, May, moved to Rendlesham, near Woodbridge, Suffolk, where unbeknown to him Mrs Collins's daughter, Carole Dzierozynski, lived and worked. Mrs Dzierozynski said: "I have known Jack for three years - everyone knows everyone in the village - and I said to him he had a public school accent. He said he actually came from the east end of London and that his name had been Joseph. "Well, my grandmother was called Josephine and I said, 'your last name is not McIver is it?' - and he said yes. I could not believe it." Mrs Collins, who lives in Grimsby, Lincs, said: "Two of my sisters have been trying to trace Jack and it was Carole who found him. I could not believe it when I took the call from her." She said that her mother, Josephine, had six sons and four daughters altogether, including Mr Allen. She died aged 96 in 2002. By Nick Britten © Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2008