Oh those brick walls. Most every family has at least one and many could build a high rise apartment with all their walls. In my head, the goal is always to find that one brick, just one loose brick to help that wall come tumbling down. My husband's great grandfather was raised by another family. We don’t really know why. We also were not completely sure of his parents' names for years. My husband's father was pretty sure of their first names. But, because of a DNA test we were able to jump start finding a loose brick.
The goal is to find that one loose brick to help the wall come tumbling down.
What we found after many years is kind of crazy, and I have said multiple times they make lifetime movies about these kinds of stories. First, we had a very hard time finding the great great grandparents of my husband until he found a relative through a DNA test. We then had to piece together how they were related. Ends up they have the same great great grandfather. Now this person whose name is Austin married for the first time in 1870 and had three daughters. They were still married in the 1880 census but by the 1890 census the first wife Emma was widowed and Austin is not found in any census.
They make lifetime movies about these kinds of stories
Following the trail
Yet, in the 1900 census we found my husband's great grandpa and his mother and she was married to a man named Frank. All the same vital information but a different name. On their marriage certificate his name was Frank also. As a side note, on Emma’s social security application it said her husband's name was Frank. So clearly he went by Austin and Frank. Austin "Frank" was married to his second wife, my husband's great great grandmother for approximately two years and then they were divorced (?). The second wife remarried a year later, had another child and then died two years later. We do not know if she knew he was previously married. We also don’t know for sure but it would seem he never divorced his first wife. He just left her and their children.
Clearly he went by Austin and Frank
We still don’t know why my husband's great grandpa was raised by another family and not by his stepdad and with his sister. This will be one of things we will probably never know. He did keep in contact with his sister because my father in-law remembers her. But he never knew about his other three half sisters as far as we can tell.
This is just one half of the crazy brick wall we are tearing down because a DNA test helped us find that one loose brick after years of searching. In our next blog we will discuss Austin/Frank’s father Mark and his wild life. We have often heard the phrase, "like father like son." That is very much the truth in this case.
