The Key Was in His Middle Name: How DNA Opened a Door in My Family History

The family story was that my great-grandfather ran away from home when he was 14 because his father was a strict Presbyterian and he seethed under it.

As I've done more research, though, I think there may have been another reason.

His father was a tailor, and my great-grandfather may not have wanted to apprentice for his dad.

Whatever the reason, he ran away from home in Scotland.

The story was that he spent three years on the Atlantic Ocean fishing, eventually came to America, jumped overboard, and was here illegally. He married my great-grandmother, eventually gained his citizenship, and my great-grandmother lost hers.

Years later, the story goes, her sons took her to get tested so that she could gain her citizenship back.

I've never been able to find records in the United States that this actually happened.

But I did find his Declaration of Intent to become a United States citizen.

And that document told me something I didn't know.

He had actually sailed out of Wales.

He didn't remember the name of the ship.

So here was another piece of the puzzle. The family story said Scotland, but the document said he sailed from Wales. I also found census records that seem to support the idea that he really did leave home when he was about 14.

Over the years, I had been able to figure out who his parents were. But then I couldn't really get back any farther.

There were question marks.

I knew there had to be more to the story. I just couldn't find it.

Then I Tried DNA Testing

I decided to do DNA testing through Ancestry.

That's when something unexpected happened.

I got a DNA match with a woman in Canada.

Canada?

I had no clue how we could possibly be related. I knew of no connection to Canada at all.

But genealogy has taught me that when you get a clue, sometimes you have to take a long shot.

So I wrote to her.

I basically told her, "I got no clue how we match. I know no connection to Canada at all."

She came back with an answer that made absolutely no sense to me at first.

She said the key was in my grandfather's middle name.

What the heck does that mean?

She explained that his middle name was a family name.

And then she took that name and started working backward through her own family research.

She was able to take me back several generations.

Then she told me what town in Scotland the family had come from.

Suddenly, I had a connection that I had never been able to find on my own.

DNA hadn't given me the whole answer.

It had given me a person who had another piece of the puzzle.

And that person recognized the importance of something I already had—but didn't know was important.

My grandfather's middle name.

Five Brothers

As she took me back through the family, I discovered that there were five brothers.

Four of them were operative masons.

That, of course, immediately caught my attention.

I've researched to try to determine whether those four brothers were also speculative Masons, but so far I've been unable to find the answers.

That's one of those questions that remains open.

I know they were operative masons.

I don't yet know whether they were also members of speculative Masonic lodges.

And that's okay.

That's part of genealogy.

You don't always get the answer just because you want one.

Sometimes the answer is simply, "I haven't found it yet."

From Scotland to Canada

There was another fascinating part of the family story.

The five brothers had a sister who had a child out of wedlock.

One of her brothers raised the boy and apprenticed him.

That brother eventually emigrated to Canada—and he took the boy with him.

The two of them continued working in the building trades in Canada.

He worked on Old City Hall in Toronto and on one of Canada's power stations associated with Niagara Falls.

The family generally didn't leave that area.

In fact, the woman who helped me make the DNA connection still lives about 30 miles from Niagara Falls, even after all these years.

Eventually, the nephew himself migrated from Canada to Cleveland.

And he continued working on buildings there as well.

So a family line that began in Scotland eventually made its way to Canada and then to Cleveland.

And I wouldn't have known any of this if I hadn't received that DNA match.

What DNA Actually Did for My Research

For me, DNA didn't replace genealogy.

It didn't suddenly produce all the answers.

What it did was provide a breakthrough on one part of who my family is.

I had reached a point where I knew who my great-grandfather's parents were, but

I couldn't confidently get any farther back.

Then a DNA match connected me with someone who knew something I didn't know.

She knew that my grandfather's middle name was a family name.

That one clue allowed her to take me back several generations and identify the

Scottish town where that branch of the family came from.

From there, I found five brothers, four operative masons, a nephew who was raised and apprenticed by one of them, an emigration to Canada, work in Toronto and around Niagara Falls, and eventually a move to Cleveland.

There are still questions.

I still don't know exactly what happened with some of the family stories I've heard.

I still don't know whether those four operative masons were also speculative Masons.

And I still have research to do.

But that's what I love about genealogy.

It's not just about finding names and dates and putting them into a family tree.

It's about asking questions, following the evidence, finding connections, and discovering the people behind the names.

Sometimes you reach a dead end.

Sometimes a document changes the story you thought you knew.

And sometimes, completely unexpectedly, a DNA match from Canada gives you the clue that opens a door you couldn't find before.

For me, that clue was a family name hiding in my grandfather's middle name.

The key was in his middle name.