I puzzled it out with my family. We have a Messenger group with just my parents and siblings. My mom actually made the correct suggestion. I had been looking at my grandfather as he was a known cheater. I was trying to make it fit with him.
But my mom suggested my grandmother - my dad's mom - was the key. At first I said no because I had matches with her cousins, but then...yes, you're right, Mama. The ones missing from my list are Fuquas and Hamletts and Websters! What is the meaning of this? And...how...?
And while I can't ask my grandmother for any information since she died in October 2017 at age 91, I can make some educated guesses. All this thanks to the Ancestry DNA Matches feature plus a rather detailed online obituary.
So, I've concluded that my dad's full siblings are really half-siblings, and he's not even biologically related to all those aunts, uncles, and grandparents he grew up with! (His parents divorced when he was ten so he lived with his grandparents and was/is very close to his aunts and uncles.) He has several half-siblings plus extended family in Ohio whom we only know about thanks to the DNA testing.
I wondered how the Ohio guy and my grandmother met. Because his obituary mentions his service,
"...veteran of the U.S. Army, serving with the 82nd Airborne Division; 504th Parachute Regiment, qualifying as a parachutist and gliderman."
I was able to look up that division and saw they are based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina! Perhaps he came through on a bus or train and met my grandmother. Or maybe he had a buddy in this area, and came here on leave. Or maybe she traveled to Fort Bragg. I'll likely never know. But I know so far two of the children and three of the grandchildren listed in his obituary are on my DNA Match list. And based on how accurate the DNA has been on all the other matches, I can't easily dismiss this!
This is already too wordy so I'll close. Feel free to ask me any questions especially if I need to clarify something.
* Although the DNA presently shows up as Italian according to Ancestry, the family is Greek with the grandparents coming from the Isle of Rhodes in the early 1900s. One of the DNA Matches (Laura) provided this information about a year ago when we chatted briefly about our close DNA connection. I've not heard from her since.
Obit
3 comments:
Very interesting!
When my fil did his dna they found out they had a 1/2 baby sister his mom had given up for adoption when he was 11. He had zero memory of it. His oldest sister was 16 at the time. She had told her sibling multiple times this had happened but their mom denied it and no one else remembered it...so everyone was mad at her for years and thought she was a liar. Turns out she wasn't. They also found out their baby brother had a different dad...so apparently their mom had a different history then she presented. My mil was adopted as well. She found her families although both parents had died. Her brother on her dads side and her have tried to piece together when their parents met. He's absolutely sure their dad had no idea she was alive because apparently on his death bed he introduced the kids to a 30 year old 1/2 son he'd kept from them but had financially supported and stayed in contact with the kid's whole life. These DNA test can have shocking revelations. I think we looks at our grandparents and imagine they were one way because when we knew them they were old and settled but it turns out a bunch of them were a lot more wild then we realized. This was not my experience. My grandma was a total church lady but she loved telling stories about her wild youth 😂
Niki, :)
Crys, thanks for sharing that! How interesting about your FIL's mom giving up a baby for adoption when she had children so old. I usually think of an early unplanned pregnancy happening where the mom gives up the baby, but don't really think of a mom giving up a younger child. That must be tough! I'm glad the DNA tests have helped your MIL find some family. I enjoyed your stories!
Honestly with my dad's parents, I'm not super-surprised. We knew they married when she was pregnant already, but I didn't realize she was pregnant with another man's baby! And...she was never really a "total church lady." I do wonder about her growing-up years sometimes!
Thanks for telling me your own DNA stories! :)
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