Take-home DNA test reunites Quebec man with long-lost Dutch brother after 80 years

An at-home DNA test given as a birthday gift solved an 80-year family mystery by revealing that a man in Quebec and a man in the Netherlands were long-lost brothers.

A birthday gift led to the discovery of a lifetime when a MyHerritage DNA test revealed an 80-year family mystery, finding that a man in Quebec and a man in the Netherlands are long-lost brothers.

Frank McGrath, 78, of Longueuil, Que., and Frans Bannink, 80, of Almelo, Netherlands, met for the first time in April after a DNA test taken by Bannink’s granddaughter showed a family connection to Canada.

“My grandfather was hesitant to find out who his biological father was,” said Amber Hogervorst, who made the trip to Canada with her grandparents.

“When I saw the connection on the website, I immediately sent Frank a message and he responded some weeks later.”

The rest, she says, is history.

“It was very emotional for me. I was very happy,” McGrath said. “Having been brought up an only child, to find out I had an older brother … and a brother who looks like our father.”

The two men share a father, Staff Sgt. Dermot McGrath, a Canadian soldier stationed in the Netherlands after its liberation during the Second World War. Dermot McGrath met Frank’s mother several years after Frans Bannink was born.

“He didn’t know. He never talked about it,” said McGrath. “He was married for 60 years to my mother and she passed away. That was his loyalty. If he had known … we all would have known.”