Ancestry

My daughter talked me into sending in for ancestry. She did it and had her husband and their children use it too. She confirmed that three of her children belonged to her husband.

Their other five children, a stepson, two adopted children and her husband's two bio children, are not her bio children, even though they feel like they are.

She discovered I was her mother and her father was her father. That is when it got interesting. She isn't sure her dad and his youngest sister have the same biological parents. Her aunt also took the ancestry test.

Now just like I am her mother, she knows they both have the same mother.

There are some complications though as their bloodline and where they are from on the world map is not all the same or similar at all in some cases. Now we all know that there are stories of how the oldest and/or the youngest won't always have the same father.

At least I have been told those stories over the years. I had to look in the mirror to see that, of course, my father was my father.

And she discovered an older brother that she never learned about growing up and she is well into her 40s. There was not much contact even though she has reached out. He was primarily interested in family medical history.

Their brother had adopted parents and he thought he knew his biological parents until he used ancestry. His bio mom, they thought married his bio dad and that wasn't true. My daughter's uncles remembered his mother and how her family moved away when she was in high school.

His biological mom's parents moved out of state and she had him in another state and placed him up for adoption. My daughter's father was probably just 18. We didn't marry until he was back from the service and 23. Then we didn't have children until he was 27.

What a surprise to my children and I that this man existed. They already knew about another son/brother. The man who was involved with the mother and planning to raise the boy at birth didn't want him to have a relationship with his biological father.

Their father respected that wish and backed off. At first, he didn't think the boy was his. I saw pictures of him as he was growing up and I knew the child could not be denied. That boy was born soon after we got together.

What I would want both men to know is that their father and grandfather loved them. Even not knowing them. Their grandpa Yank was the best. He doted on my daughter and son. Their dad was so happy to be a father. He got fever blisters on his feet waiting for the birth of our daughter.

And he was there for every part of delivery for our boy. He had to step out though while I was stitched up as he was looking ill.

He loved the idea of a son! He felt like he waited forever to have a son to raise. He was 29. I think somewhere inside he knew that he had two sons already and that he couldn't be a part of their lives. He was a proud father and thanked me for raising our children before he died.

I got into recovery when our baby was born.

When my daughter was telling her younger cousin about another brother, she said, "How could your mother do that?" It was so funny as she thought the boy was mine. I would've had to have been about 12 years old when he was born.

It would be quite an adjustment to welcome an older brother but I think my children are open to that. My daughter may be more than anyone as she has two adopted children and an adopted granddaughter.

I always knew that my ancestry is Native American, enrolled at White Earth and my enrollment is Removal Fond du Lac. That means I have relatives in both White Earth and Fond du Lac.

It is funny that I knew most of my relatives at White Earth but never really knew many at Fond du Lac until ancestry. Since ancestry, I recognized several people I worked with and a few that I was close to when we worked together.

I regularly have ancestry relatives popping up. Sometimes it is clear how we are related and other times not so much. My dad was 11 years older than my mother and my mother thought my dad may have had other children. He had five children with my mother.

I haven't had anything happen yet that shows I have other siblings. I may have waited too long to send in my saliva for testing. My current siblings haven't done the test on ancestry either. My dad died when I was 10.

I know I will be okay with whatever comes. My ancestry says my blood quantum is 55 percent Native American. My enrollment is barely over one quarter. My children's father's Indigenous ancestry comes from Canada. They can not be enrolled.

When I talked to someone about this, I was told they are going back over the rolls to see where there may be discrepancies, as my blood quantum according to ancestry should be enough for them to be enrolled.

I know people who spend a lot of time and money on figuring out their ancestry. I think I spent $40. as I bought it when it was on sale. It has been fun finding more relatives and getting to know a few more cousins. I recommend it.

Warning: If you can't handle what came up for my daughter, maybe it's not for you!