Has DNA solved a mystery?

Perhaps my biggest brick wall has been the paternity of my great-grandfather (Gustaf), who was brought to America from Sweden as a ten-year-old by his maternal grandparents. The family story (which I always found a tad clichéd) was that his mother became pregnant by the “son of the landowner,” and as Gustaf grew he so resembled his biological father that the paternal grandfather paid the maternal grandparents to take the boy to America. I’ve searched Swedish records trying to find some clue about his biological father, but to no avail.

Recently I was perusing my ancestry.com DNA matches, and I came upon a man (identified in the “third cousin” range) who had only a minimal tree posted. But in looking more closely, I discovered that his grandfather came from the same small parish in Sweden as my great-grandfather.  No one else in his tree came from that area, or from any area where my family lived. His grandfather (Johan) was born a year or two before my great-grandfather, so cannot be my direct ancestor, but of course Johan’s father (Carl) could be. I then searched for other DNA matches to me who might also be related to Johan and Carl, and I found three or four who are also descended from Carl through various of his in-wedlock children.

I then went looking in the Swedish records for other male relatives of Carl who could conceivably have fathered my great-grandfather, but there aren’t many (the family mostly ran to daughters); he had one brother (Jonas)  who could conceivably have fathered Gustaf, and Jonas had two sons who would be possible candidates, and that’s about it. But in looking at the DNA shared with the descendants of Carl and comparing it with what I might expect to share with hypothetical descendants of Jonas, it appears to me very much more likely that Carl is my ancestor.

This would have still been scandalous, of course—maybe more so, since Carl was a married man with three children when Gustaf was born—so the part about “paying the maternal grandparents to bring Gustaf to America” could well have some truth to it.

I’ve tried contacting the DNA matches through ancestry.com, but no response as yet. Has this shared DNA finally solved this longstanding mystery? I guess I need to bone up a bit more on DNA genealogy to see where I go from here.

Thanks for your kindness 150 years ago

I've been visiting my son in Houston over the holidays, and now have started the drive home to California. Since we were passing right through Henrietta, TX, I made a stop at Hope Cemetery to find the grave of my great-grandfather's uncle, William T. B. Johnson, and his wife, Callie (Dyer) Johnson. When my great-grandpa (Alfred J. Johnson) was just a boy of nine, his mother died. His father had died already on the way home from the Civil War. So now he and his two older brothers were orphaned. They were taken in by Callie Dyer, a neighbor, who cared for them for several months. Their uncle, W. T. B. Johnson, was notified; he had moved to California fifteen years earlier, but was now recently widowed himself. He came back to Arkansas, took custody of the boys, married Callie Dyer, and took them all back to California.

From there the story is a little convoluted. What my great-grandfather said (or so I was told) is that the uncle treated them harshly, and the oldest brother, who had already struck out on his own, came and "rescued" the other two boys, spiriting them away in the dead of night. Many years ago I met Uncle Williams's granddaughter, who reported that her grandfather had been known for his kindness and generosity, and that her grandmother had been heartbroken when these three boys she had cared for disappeared without a word. Who knows what the truth might have been?

At any rate, W. T. B. and Callie Johnson moved to Texas some years later, and both died and are buried in Henrietta. It was very moving to visit the graves of this couple who--whatever the real story may have been--were responsible for bringing my great-grandfather to California.