DNA and geneology surprises

 The Old Mill "De Hoop" in winter

Genealogy peeked my interested a bunch of years ago, when I still hammered away on my blueberry IMAC, back in California.

It was  difficult to figure out the Dutch histories, looking through old city archives, hopping from one city to another. Thinking my grandfather was born in one place only to find out he wasn't, and that some old villages had been changed through the years, moved  from one province to another, or disappeared altogether.

But I did find family from way back in the 18th century. My mother's side that is.
I knew about the old mill in Culemborg, where my great grandmother lived as a child with her family. And that this mill belonged to the family for a long time.
It burned down at one point, and stayed an ugly stump for years.
But the mill has since been restored to it's full glory, as well as the three little houses next to it.

My father's history was much more difficult to discover.
Most of my information I got from my father's youngest sister, who recently died.
She remembered many aunts and uncles and had stories about my grandmother. My great grandfather married three times and had a total of 24 children. I believe Grandma was the youngest.
As a young girl she cleaned houses for a dime a week and got to take leftover food home, as well as cast-off clothes. When she found a job that paid 25cents a week, she took it, which made her parents mad because there were no fringe benefits here.

Opa and Oma Blok's wedding picture 1913

My mother's family before the war

I could not find any other people through the archives, since I have no idea where to look. I am not familiar with the  dutch system.

So a few months ago my son was telling me how he wondered who his real grandfather was.
His grandma had his father out of wedlock (oh my) and apparently never told anyone who the dude was.

She married a Reed and thus the child became a Reed.
But my son is getting curious.
So I gave him a DNA test package for his birthday through Family Tree DNA.
The results will be ready at the end of this month.
Now this won't tell him who is who, but we are also going to do a YDNA test, where he will get a list of  his father's side of the tree, and from there on he can pick at the puzzle.

Now, Wheelie's family was easier to find. His mother's side, that is.
Going through gran's papers I found his half sister's social security card.

He had a half sister and a half brother. Sister disappeared from their lives when she was young and foolish, the son was adopted by an aunt and uncle. This was during the war, and Gran must have been between marriages.
She was married 5 times. I don't know how she managed, but she had her first 4 marriages annulled by the Catholic church. We found the certificates after she died.

Anyway. Through Ancestry.com I was able to access the social security death files and I found Lucille.
The last known address was in Monterrey and it listed some people who were neighbors.
Lucille died in 1999.
I wrote a letter to  all the people who were listed as her family and friends/neighbors.
I received a letter from her neighbor, and she was able to tell me  the whole story.

Lucille loved her men. Not unlike her momma.
She had three children.
The first one when she was 16. The baby daddy was a neighbor boy of Hispanic decent.
Gran hid Lucille during her pregnancy in the backroom.
She later kicked her out.
The baby was adopted by the boy's family.

Wheelie told me they never heard from her again.

So I found out, that she had lived in the Monterrey area. Was married once, but had two children from different fathers.
Both baby daddies were African American.
Surprise!!!
When I finally got a hold of the son, Wheelie's nephew, he was ecstatic. (not Wheelie, he could care less at that point)
Lucilly's daughter died not long before I found this branch of the family.
Both kids have children and many many grand children.
He sent me a list once, but I could not make heads or tails out of it.

But compared to the rather  small white Town side of the family, we all of a sudden had a huge black family as well.

Nephew contacted Wheelie's kids and grand kids, but no one was interested.

Our correspondence weaned after Wheelie's death.

Interesting though, right?

The main reason for my search of Wheelie's family was to find out if anyone inherited Machado Joseph Disease. Apparently Lucille died of cancer, but did have problems with walking and balance, so who knows. I left the information with the family. They can find out if they want for themselves.
I never did manage to find the adopted brother, who was a full brother of Lucille, half brother of Wheelie. We figured he stayed in the Bay Area where he grew up, but I could not find him.


And now I have a niece who has uterine cancer Had all her innards  removed. She is young, well, younger than I am.  And she is busy trying to find out about our forefathers, or, foremothers. Needs to know if her type of cancer was hereditary.

Well, since no one ever talked about illnesses, or what anyone had, or died of, I wasn't much help.
It wasn't so long ago that patients who were diagnosed with cancer would NOT be told.

 I don't know what my grandmother died of. Story goes that she died on the last day of the war, that she was sick from hunger. She was only 59.
My grandpa, I was there when he passed, but the only thing my parents told me is that he fell. I remember the wake and when he received the last sacraments. That tableau is etched in my head.

My father's mom had a stroke, and lingered for years.
His dad died of arterial heart disease.

And so it goes.

One thing I do know, we don't come from Royalty, or Rich people, or serial killers.

Just plain folk

SGMKJ