TAMPA, Fla. — A father traveled from San Antonio, Texas to Tampa on Friday to embrace his adult daughter for the first time.

“It was a surprise, a welcomed surprise,” said Burt Jones, who arrived at Tampa International Airport on Friday.

The meeting was an emotional one that’s been almost 50 years in the making. 

“In my heart, I knew it would happen,” Tiffanie Ellenburg said. “I just had to stay hopeful and pray every day."

Ellenburg said she always wondered who her biological father was when she was growing up, but her mother wouldn’t say.

It became a family secret.

Then, as a parent herself, Ellenburg decided to go to Ancestry.com and use DNA swabs to learn more about her family history.

Recently, she found the connection she’d been looking for.

“I came across his name three times,” she said. 

Jones said he had no idea he had a daughter in Tampa until she recently sent an email explaining the DNA match.

“Total shock,” Jones said. “Total shock but pleasant shock.”

After some investigating, Jones and Ellenburg confirmed there was a connection. 

“I think he was trying to check out that I wasn’t a crazy woman,” Ellenburg laughed.

Now, after lots of hugs at the airport, Jones will spend the next four days in Tampa trying to make up lost time.

“It did fill that hole in my heart that I had,” Ellenburg said. “You know all those wishes you had when you were a little girl... It’s really come true.”

“Now, I have a new daughter,” Jones said and smiled.