[This week guest blogger, Carol Katzenmeyer, is sharing one of her DNA successes. Carol and I are both researching Darling ancestors in Michigan and New York.]
In the early 1950’s a man named Fritz and a woman named Margie had an affair. When it was over, Fritz moved to Alaska. Margie lingered awhile, then moved to southern California…..
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After my husband, Larry, passed away I became serious about my long-time interest in genealogy. I subscribed to Ancestry.com
and spent long hours “entering and searching.” Soon, I had my DNA tested. In early 2013 I decided to have my children’s DNA done so I could derive my husband’s DNA also.
and spent long hours “entering and searching.” Soon, I had my DNA tested. In early 2013 I decided to have my children’s DNA done so I could derive my husband’s DNA also.
My daughter’s results arrived first and there was an immediate close match, a first cousin. Now, I have been in this family for over 55 years and I know all the cousins! This was not one that I knew of.
I looked at her tree and saw that she had been born in Roseburg, Oregon, in 1954. Her parents had been married in Roseburg and her father died there also.
Larry and I were attending Roseburg High School during 1954 and Larry’s brother, Jack, was in his first year at the University of Oregon.
I pondered…….
I remembered when we were first married, I overheard my mother-in-law tell Larry that her estranged husband, Larry and Jack’s father, “had a woman friend uptown.” The rumor was that Larry had a little sister. We shrugged it off at the time and I don’t remember that we ever talked about it again.
Now, all these years later – could it be?
Her name is Molly. I was surprised because my father-in-law’s mother is named Molly and two of her grandchildren are named Molly.
I contacted new cousin Molly via email, I mentioned many of the family names and places. She responded right away and indicated she did not recognize any of the names. We emailed back and forth a few times, exchanging information. Nothing clicked.
Soooo…… I said that I did not want to offend her, but I told her the story of Larry’s father’s woman-friend. She answered immediately. She was not offended, rather she was very much interested. Her father was Italian, but her DNA showed no Italian. She had wondered….
We continued to exchange information over the next few days .
I decided to talk to Larry’s brother, Jack. I asked him if he had heard the story about the woman friend and the little sister. He exclaimed, “that’s a new one on me!”. We discussed it for a few minutes and he said that he guessed it was time for him to have his DNA tested.
I ordered an autosomal DNA kit from Ancestry and we impatiently waited for the results.
and we impatiently waited for the results.
The results show a close family match with Molly! Jack, Larry and Molly are siblings. Molly is a half sister. We shared all of this back and forth and spent some time getting used to the idea.
Finally, in June 2015, Molly and her husband Randy came to Roseburg to meet us! Eight months later, Jack and his wife Pat went to southern California to visit Molly and Randy.
What wonderful people! I am so happy Molly submitted her DNA so we could connect! Welcoming our new sister into the family has filled both our families with love and joy.
– Carol Katzenmeyer
27 March 2016
———- DISCLAIMER ———-
It has become all the rage. Doing a birthplace chart. I understand that J. Paul Hawthorne started the idea on Facebook of doing a simple pedigree chart indicating where your ancestors came from. It has been picked up by many others, including Judy Russell, in her blog, 
