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\"Now is the time. This is the time for his story to be shared,\" Jenkins told \"Good Morning America.\"

Tealer and Jenkins were able to find and meet their sixth cousins, Valerie Gray Holmes and Linda Epps Parks, the descendants of Wilson's Uncle Jim.

Epps Parker said she was overcome with emotion when the relatives met for the first time during the documentary's filming, in April 2021.

\"I felt like I had known Kelley and her mom all my life. I felt connected to them. It just was genuine,\" she told \"Good Morning America.\"

\"PHOTO:
Ancestry
PHOTO: Kelley Dixon Tealer, Alva Marie Jenkins Linda Epps Parker, and Valerie Gray Holmes reunite for the first time after discovering their ancestral connection to Hawkins Wilson.
>

Tealer told ABC News correspondent Kenneth Moton that she thinks of Wilson's sister Jane often and hopes to one day find Jane's descendants.

She told Moton, tearfully, that if she had the chance, she would tell Jane, \"I found your brother, Hawkins. Can I read you his letters? Tell me about your journey. What have you been doing in these past 24 years?\"

More than 150 years after Wilson sent his letters, Epps Parker said her ancestor finally achieved his dream to reunite his family.

\"You can rest because your letter has been delivered,\" Epps Parker said, addressing Wilson. \"We are taking the baton and passing it on to other family members.\"

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