The plot thickens.

During the holiday season of 2017, I was gifted a DNA family line genetic test from a company "somenumbersandI." Well, I was ecstatic. I took the test. I checked for results every day.. including the day after I mailed it... I couldn't help it... I was so excited!! Most of the testing companies tell you 4-8 weeks until you receive results. And that is eternity. I mean, yeah in the scheme it isn't so bad... but when you are excited for something... time always slows down.

But I am getting off topic.. Surprise! lol

Anyways... I had been reaching out to various connections (most were smaller than 80 cM.. in their system only, "somenumbersandI" uses a different method of counting the shared cM than other companies) and searching my database for connections... I had one close match (417 cM) who I knew, just by name alone, who he was and how he fit. Our MRCA was his grandmother, my great grandmother. He was my 1/2 1C1R on my father's maternal line. And I used him, and the chromosome browser available to me there to make the connections between me and some further matches... I used some internet sleuthing to figure out my next closest set of matches, I had reached out to the kit manager, but got no response. So I dug around on the internet and social media and figured out that my closest next match was my 1C3R. She was the first cousin of my mother's maternal grandmother. And I used her matches and the chromosome browser to figure out a few more further matches... but I felt like I was slogging through mud... slip stalling and getting nowhere.

I began reworking my tree in any of my slower research time... I started looking for more contemporary names to put into my tree. I hadn't been trying to bring any one line down further than 1940 or so. I figured that would make enough of a pool to easily drag from... but I was wrong. It wasn't a deep enough pool... so I added more. I asked more questions of the connections I already had made, I tried to fill in more of the holes. It had been about 3 months when my full sister and I had the conversation about her being tested. Within the week, she had ordered tests and started the wait. I thought... with more people, I might be able to see a clearer picture.

I continued working our matches. Occasionally I would get a closer match that I would know how they fit, because I recognized a surname they listed. After about 14 months, I had about 25 matches worked out. I realized that I was only really finding matches to those two initial lines. Then, a match appeared at 127 cM. I sent a message... No response.

I decided I needed to take stock... I needed to run the Leeds Method and see what bases I had covered. Instead of using my grandparents to start with, I used my great grandparents... because my closest matches (aside from my sister) were first cousins, once removed. And sort them out I did. To my amazement, I had lines that covered 7 of my 8 great grandparents. The only great grandparent I hadn't verified was my mother's paternal grandfather. That was intriguing for me.

I uploaded my raw data everywhere. I went to FamSame and myOldtimeyword, both accept raw data and have a small set of tools that are available for free. So I did everything I could. I even tested at that shaky leaf company. And lo and behold... I had a close family match... And I didn't have a clue who the heck it was.... I was still digging through my matches and I remembered that my maternal grandfather's first cousin had tested at that company also.... but I couldn't find her anywhere... I couldn't find her cousins, I couldn't find anyone associated with my mother's maiden name!!!

So I returned to the match I was clueless about. 464 cM... well... that could be a half first cousin, or a 1C1R, or... or a half great uncle. Hmm? Say what now? So I sent the gentleman a message. I told him that it seems as if we might be related... that my grandfather had believed himself to be the son of Ernest B Sampson and Topsy Tubbs. He was born in 1935 in Bryan County, Oklahoma. I have all these {named} matches, and I don't know how they fit together, let alone how I fit with them." Within 24 hours he responded... "My father lived in Bryan County about that time. {Name} is my niece, {Name} is probably my uncle's family, and {Name} is my aunt's... feel free to email me."

And so I spent a few days crunching numbers and looking at the likelihoods of each scenario. It appears that this match is my 1/2 great uncle. Somehow, within weeks of my great grandmother marrying my great grandfather she fell pregnant with the child of Henry William Brock. I emailed. I am floored by this revelation!! I remember my great grandmother. I can't believe this. But DNA doesn't lie.

So I have to completely rework my family tree blog. A quarter of my research means zip... So I hope you will all be patient with me, while I verify and compile information about the new branch of my tree!!