Finding his family

For 56 years James Weems knew he had family on the Navajo Reservation.

So he submitted a letter to the editor to the Navajo Times, which was published in the Aug. 12 edition. What came next was unexpected.

"My uncle, Jerry Homer, he lives in Cedar Ridge, was home," said Bernice Curley. "My uncle said he bought the newspaper but he hadn't read it yet. But something was telling him to read the newspaper.

"So he said, 'OK! I'm going to read the entire paper,'" Curley recalled from the discussion with her uncle. "Then he read the part where he saw 'Looking for Family.'"

Immediately telephone calls were exchanged between family members and there wasn't a doubt in their minds that Tom Begay, 74, Frank Begay, 66, and Susie Begay, 60, found their baby brother who was originally named James Begay, now 56.

"He called us and shocked us with the news," Curley said.

They looked at the letter in the newspaper and the information didn't leave any doubt.

"My mom broke down crying," Curley said. "She finally found him."

The parents of James and his siblings were the late Blanche Tallman Begay and the late Hasteen Nez Begay.

James was less than a year old when he was taken from his family and placed into foster care by an Anglo nurse and a lady named Helen Tallman (no relation).

Hiding from the feds

"Back then if you saw a government vehicle children would run and hide from them because they were known to take children from the family," Curley said. "My grandma, James' mom, was sick with tuberculosis and was in a hospital in Tucson and was hospitalized for four years."

James was only an infant and Susie remembers that she and her brothers Frank and Tom once saw a government vehicle approach while they were helping their father in the cornfields in Cedar Ridge, Ariz. They ran to hide.

"They hid in a ditch," Curley said, recalling stories that were told to her. "James was an infant then and was with their father when he was taken."

James was placed with the Weems family in Flagstaff for foster care. In 1962, the Weems family legally adopted him.

While in the hospital, Blanche was given a picture of James taken in Flagstaff showing him wearing a cowboy hat with two toys guns in a belt and holster around his waist.

Around that time, Blanche returned home and she and her husband began searching for their son. One of their drawbacks besides not knowing where to go or start was their inability to speak English.

They did their best to find him. Blanche found out that Helen Tallman, no relation, was married to the owner and operator of Wauneka's Trading Post near Flagstaff.

She tried to see Helen Tallman, a social worker, but would was unable to see her.

Blanche and her husband then tried to look for the location where the picture was taken. They asked people if they knew the child in the picture.

Adoption papers

They had no luck and returned home. Blanche got sick again and this time was taken to Colorado for a hospital stay. That was where nurses, who were Navajo, presented her with adoption papers that needed her signature.

"She didn't sign the papers because she wanted her son back," Curley said. "There was a nurse that was Navajo that translated what the paperwork was for. She refused to sign them.

"I guess what happened was that the adoption papers were also sent to my grandpa and maybe because he didn't know how to read or understand, or maybe he was lied to, he signed it," Curley said.

Blanche returned home thinking that because she didn't sign the papers her son would be home as well. That's when she learned the horrible truth that James was given up for adoption.

Blanche took the news hard and blamed her husband for losing her baby.

"(Hasteen Nez) never talked about it," Curley said. "He never said anything about it."

Blanche, with her health problems, resorted to drinking alcohol to ease the pain.

The reunion

On Aug. 17, Frank, Tom and Susie along with their families traveled to Prescott, Ariz., to finally meet James at the VA Medical Center. It was an emotional reunion as brothers and sister closed one chapter in their lives.

"I always knew. I'm home now. I have a family," James said in an interview Aug. 20 with Susie, Bernice and other family in Gallup. James had come home, first to meet relatives in Cedar Ridge and then on to Gallup.

As they spent time together it was a shock when they realized that they all so close.

"The residence areas shown in the photo of James has Mount Eldon in the background," Curley said.

When James showed them where he had lived, Susie said that sometime after James was taken the remaining family members moved to Flagstaff.

"My mom said they had lived just down the street from them," Curley said. "They lived in a trailer not too far from where James is standing in the picture."

The news was too much for Susie to think about during the interview and she was overwhelmed with emotion and tears welled in her eyes.

James also recalled spending time at Naanizhoozhi Center in Gallup last year and hitchhiking back to Flagstaff on U.S. Highway 66. He unknowingly passed by the Begay's home in the Western Skies trailer park in west Gallup.

Finding his heritage

But James had known he was different and wanted to know more about his heritage.

"I always felt something missing," he said. "I knew I was different."

"I'm happy and I'm already attached to him," Susie said. "I'm glad that I found him."

"I'm not alone," James said. "I have two brothers and a sister. I'm home."

Without a word more, James and Susie embraced for an emotional hug.

The hugging has not ended and James believes he has more coming with extended family members still to be visited.

In the meantime, the VA hospital is caring for him and providing assistance with employment. He plans to return to the reservation to be with his family and also plans to legally change his name back to James Begay.

He is now learning about his family, his heritage and, above all, his clans.

He is Tahneezahnii (Tangle Clan), born for Tabaaha (Edge Water Clan). His maternal grandparents are Tlizi Lani (Many Goats Clan) and his paternal grandparents are Biih Bitohnii (Deer Springs Clan).

James is a veteran of the U.S. Army and served a year before being honorably discharged.

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