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.
