Ancestry DNA has (we think) solved a 120 year old family mystery for two separate families! When my DNA test linked me with three members of a family I’d never heard of, without a common ancestor, I looked at their family trees. Noting two shared surnames, one rather unusual, and both closely linked to each other in my own tree, I looked closer at their tree.
I found that the trail of one of their ancestors couldn’t be traced back any further than 1895. My own ancestor’s trail dried up in 1895. His unusual middle name was the same as my ancestor’s first name. Finding nearly identical birth dates, hometowns and the names of the wives’ parents (the two shared surnames), I made contact with the other family whose DNA was linked to mine.We began sharing information, old photos and other details. To our mutual amazement, we came to the conclusion that my ancestor, who (by family legend) had left his wife and four small children, and then supposedly with his own sister-in-law, vanished from historical record, was probably the ancestor of the other family, and he had begun a new life in a nearby state and started over! Family lore with the other family was that their ancestor and his wife steadfastly refused to discuss their past.
We may never know for sure, but for us, at least, their mystery and ours is finally solved. I can finish the story of my great grandfather, and they can now push their family tree back further several more generations. And both families can add additional branches to our trees and begin filing in some missing pieces to a puzzle that had lingered for 120 years.

Jim Leighninger
Greta Anderson Cain
Branson Anderson