Family Mystery: Eureka! I Found My Great-Grandfather

The Truth Is Out There...

In my last update, I had resolved to call in the professionals to help me identify my unknown great-grandfather. While I did contact a professional genealogist who was experienced in adoption situations, she told me that the key was definitely in DNA - but that was not her specialty.

I was back to square one...or was I? Having it confirmed by a professional that the answer lay in DNA evidence galvanized me to focus exclusively on analyzing my DNA matches. But where to start?

A YouTube video I had watched on investigative genetic genealogy (one of those serendipitous video suggestions that seem to pop up when you most need it) stuck with me. A tip from the video linked DNA to traditional research: use ethnicity to search for surnames. In a recent AncestryDNA update to my ethnicity regions, I had noticed a curious development: unexeplained Dutch DNA. I restarted my search, but this time with a clearer understanding of where I was headed.

Convinced that the 1921 Canada Census held the key, I searched for Dutch surnames in the Manitoba township where my unwed great-grandmother lived. Finding one Dutch household (they had lived in the area for only a decade), I added the individuals to my DNA-linked Ancestry tree and began researching the family. 

Fig. 1: My mysterious Dutch
great-grandfather, about 1930s

Immediately, AncestryDNA's ThruLines matched me to two 6th cousins. (This explained the lack of close AncestryDNA matches - there simply weren't any.) One DNA match was related to the Dutch household’s father, the other match was related to the mother. Neither match was related to each other, but both were related to me...which meant that I was a convergence point for these two DNA connections. 

My being connected by DNA in this way to the Dutch household’s father and mother also meant that I had to be descended from one of their children - their only son. 

I had finally found my great-grandfather.

For privacy reasons, I won't disclose his name. However, I will share his photo, taken just over a decade after his daughter - my paternal grandmother, Fern Caroline ELDER - was born.

Thank you for joining me in my search for answers. Don't give up on your search, because the truth is out there.