Memory Monday: Things May Not Always Be What They Seem

Picture Found in My Grandparents' Photobox

THINGS MAY NOT ALWAYS BE WHAT THEY SEEM

Ever since my mother passed away and I came across a box of my grandparents’ pictures, I have wanted to discover who came before me. I tried to remember things that my mother and her sisters had told me. That, along with Ancestry.com, I have been able to trace back both sides of her family. Of course, I was really helped by the fact that my mother’s side was Mennonites from way back, and a lot of the extended family had already researched and posted about them.

My dad’s side of the family was not so easy. Now his mother’s side of the family wasn’t hard to track down, especially since a lot of that family’s history had previously be recorded (before Ancestry). The problem has always been my paternal grandfather’s side of the family. From my grandfather’s (delayed) birth certificate, I learn my great-grandfather’s name was John. Using that info, I researched the 1880 census and found him, his wife and his children. But I wanted more. I wanted to discover John’s parents and siblings. Looking again through the pictures, I thought I had found a clue when I came across the children in the picture above with the names “John, Opal, and Emmitt” written on the back. Could this be “my” John?

I searched and searched but couldn’t find anyone with my family’s last name and children with the names listed on the picture that fit in with what I knew about my great-grandfather. Later, I was able to find my great-grandfather in the 1860 census, so I now know the names of his parents. But I still didn’t know who the people in the picture were. Who was this “John” and why had my grandfather kept his picture?

For my birthday this year, my husband gave me an Ancestry DNA test. With that, I keep checking on people to whom I might be related. One day, I came across something. When I researched it a bit more, I discovered that my grandfather’s brother had three children named (have you guessed it already) John, Opal, and Emmitt. That mystery is solved, but I’m still trying to track down my great, great-grandfather—John’s father.