Courtesy photo Jimmy James Beaupre sits on the couch with his newfound siblings Meredith Braselton, Michelle Mahoney, Jimmy James Hunt and Jana Hunt while visiting them for the first time in Texas in January.

Growing up, Beaupre knew little to nothing about his biological father, let alone that his dad fathered two separate sets of twins while living in Texas. It was not until one of his sisters popped up on Ancestry.com did he know he had additional family members across the country. After interacting with his siblings via social media for a number of months, he and his wife, Joann, flew down to Houston to meet his siblings for the first time in January.

Although he only spent two nights in Texas while visiting for a weekend, his newfound family tried to make as many memories as they possibly could, catching up on nearly 50 years of life.

They would stay up into the early hours of the morning just chatting away, learning about one another, bonding and coming closer together. Until January, he had never seen any of his siblings, or even seen a photograph of his biological father.

“I never knew anything about them, and finally, get to meet them and hug them,” Beaupre said.

Telegraph photo by ADAM URQUHART Local postal carrier Jimmy James Beaupre makes his way around Main Street and various side streets delivering and picking up mail Thursday afternoon.

Beaupre lives in Salem with his wife and two boys. He said when the results of his test returned in July, it showed a match, which turned out to be his sister, Michelle Mahoney.

“I didn’t think I had any relatives or anything,” Beaupre said.

So, after seeing there was someone else out there, his wife went online and began sending messages. He said at the time, his wife was more curious than he was.

“I was in bed, and she woke me up in the middle of the night and she asked me who my sister was,” Beaupre said.

Beaupre had other siblings growing up. He shared a tragic story from his childhood. While living in Connecticut at age 10, he lost two sisters and a brother in a house fire. One of these children was a daughter of his biological father, while the others his mother had with his adopted father. He and his sister, Annette Goodwin, ended up surviving that fire.

Moving forward, when Beaupre was a teenager, he moved to Charlestown, Massachusetts, where he attended his last year of high school. From there, he picked up a wide range of odd jobs, eventually ending up at an investment firm. He ran the company’s mailroom. In doing his morning and afternoon mail runs, he began seeing Joann and eventually a connection was established. They later married, and had their two sons, Quinton James and Matthew James.

Beaupre is an early riser, but on the morning after finding his sister, Michelle, online, Joann was already up. She had contacted Michelle, and within about 15 minutes, she responded.

“I think by 7 o’clock in the morning, everybody either had reached out to me on Messenger with Ancestry or we’d been calling each other,” Beaupre said. “It was like a whirlwind. It was just one conversation after another. They’d been searching for me, I guess, under our father’s name and their mother’s last name, I believe. So, whatever it may be, they were looking and they really couldn’t find me.”

He said they were unaware he had changed his name to Beaupre, assuming he had his father’s last name, which is Jenerowitz. Later, he also learned of another sister from his father’s side, Lori Jenerowitz, who lives in Oklahoma.

“So, I really have four sisters and a brother that I never knew I had, which is crazy,” Beaupre said.

His mother never discussed his biological father with him, and growing up, he had a different male figure in his life, who later adopted him in his 20s. His adopted father served in the Marines and his biological father served in the Navy. Although he is unsure of the details, he said when his father got out of the Navy, he ended up down in Texas, where he met a new woman and had more children: the two sets of twin siblings.

Oddly enough, his biological dad’s name is Jimmy James, while his brother’s name is Jimmy James and his grandfather’s name is James James. However, his biological father became a stunt car driver when he got out of the military.

He had no clue until he saw the old photographs of him beside the cars. January was the first time ever seeing those pictures.

“My wife says, he looks so much like you,” Beaupre said. “It was kind of puzzling. I was like so happy that I can finally say I found him. I was flabbergasted, I was almost in tears.”

He knew he was adopted, although it was not official until his 20s. Growing up, his mother never told him about his father. Even when he was old enough to understand his situation, he said he never really asked any questions.

So, after flying down to Texas for the weekend, his family tree began to blossom. He said the newfound family has created a Facebook group so everyone can talk, and catch up with each other in one place. While he was in Texas, they all visited a couple towns, traveled through Houston, enjoyed a nice seafood meal and just talked.

“I felt like I always belonged there,” Beaupre said.

Big brother Beaupre is the oldest of his siblings, and will celebrate his 53rd birthday in April. Siblings Jimmy James Hunt and Jana Hunt are one set of siblings, while Michelle Mahoney and Meredith Braselton are another set. In 2020, he hopes to have one massive family reunion with all his siblings, as well as aunts, uncles and cousins. He hopes to bring his siblings to New England sooner than that, though.

This summer, the family is aiming to meet back up and take on New England, a part of the country with which they are completely unfamiliar.

Beaupre said he has begun picking up their slang, such as “y’all.”

In any event, he now finds himself on the phone with his brother and sisters constantly filling each other in and planning their next reunion.

“I can’t wait for them to come up to New England this summer,” Beaupre said.

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