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Follow along as I outline how I conducted my search for our biological name. Every family has a story, and this is ours. The family story was that my husband’s grandfather, Edward John Carlson, was adopted. His parents, David and Hildur (Johnson) Carlson were Swedish.
DNA testing is so much more advanced these days. In fact, Ancestry.com updates their results continuously as their testing gets more and more refined. We knew that Todd had Irish in his DNA, his Grandmother’s maiden name was Carroll. and her mother’s maiden name was McDermott. What we have discovered is that Todd’s DNA has Irish, Scottish, and Germanic Europe, but zero Swedish.
An Early Discovery
Early into my ancestry research, I found the Carlsons living in Oxford, Henry County, Illinois per the 1920 Census. As you can see in the snapshot below, it indicates that Edward Carlson is the “adopted son” of David and Hildur Carlson.
This was a super exciting moment because it was verifying a family story. Some family stories are myths and some are true. And, as anyone knows some of the truth gets mixed up or confused through the years. The rest of Edward’s story was that he was Irish and his parents perished on the trip over from Ireland at sea. Thus, Edward was placed in an orphanage, where he was adopted by the Carlsons.
The Carlsons lived in Oxford, and moved to Woodhall, in Henry County, located 180 miles southwest of Chicago. Edward attended schools in Woodhull, Illinois. They were a hard-working couple and raised their son to become a respectable member of the community. David painted houses for a living, a field which Edward also pursued as an occupation.
Carlson Family Moves West
David and Hildur moved the family to Pasadena, California sometime between 1930 and 1935. This is indicated by the fact that the family lived in Clover, Henry, Illinois at the time of the 1930 Census, and lived in Pasadena, Los Angeles, California per the 1940 Census. It also stated that they lived in Pasadena as of 1935.
There is so much to be learned from the Census Reports. Each one contains different information. So, when researching, be sure to look at the actual image as well as the “record”, and you will discover all kinds of interesting information about your ancestors.
As you can see in this 1940 snapshot above, Edward was married in 1940. His marriage to Helen Louise Carroll was announced in The Rock Island Argus Newspaper in 1936 as shown below:
As you can see from the article, Edward lived in Pasadena for two years at the time they were married on November 7, 1936. This confirms that the Carlson family moved to Pasadena in 1934.
Edward and Helen Start a Family
Soon after they were wed, the couple welcomed their first child, Wesley Linn Carlson on October 19, 1937. Their second child, Sharon Lee Carlson was born on August 17, 1939. And their third child, my husband’s father, and my father-in-law; Edward Thomas Carlson “Tom”, was born on April 17, 1941. All three children were born in Pasadena. All three children were born at “The Women’s Hospital” in Pasadena.
At some point, the family moved to Altadena which borders Pasadena on the north side. Unfortunately, the marriage ended in divorce in 1960. But the children had all moved on to start their own families. So Edward and Helen went their own separate ways.
Tom and Elaine’s Family Begins
Edward Thomas Carlson, who went by Tom, married Elaine Duckworth, who is still living at this time. They had three boys, one of which was my husband, Todd, their third and youngest child. Unfortunately, this marriage also ended in Divorce in 1966, while the boys were still quite young. Because of this, the boys spent much of their youth bouncing between a Foster Home, their grandparents, their mother’s, and their father’s homes. Luckily, the three boys were kept together, which helped them through the tough, uncertain times during their youth. To my knowledge, my husband never met his grandfather Edward, and with the lack of a close-knit family, the biological name was unknown.
The Quest to Find our Biological Name Continues
At any rate, the mystery of the Adopted Grandfather was quite interesting. Especially after my husband took the DNA test and discovered not only did he not have any Swedish, but he had Germanic Europe. This region includes The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Austria, and Czechia. By this time, I was completely confused. Thus, I finally convinced my husband it was time to do a Y-DNA37 test. The Y-DNA test matches the men to their biological male line.
DNA Explained – Biology in a Nutshell
Everyone has DNA. Women have two x chromosomes and men have an “x” & “y” chromosomes. For Women, they get one of the x’s from their mother, and the other from their maternal grandmother. The men get their “x” from their mother and the “y” from their father. If you wanted to follow the mother’s line thru the men, there is an mtDNA test that specifically does this.
Following the men’s paternal side, utilizes the Y-DNA testing. There are several different Y-DNA tests men can take, and The Family Tree DNA Site or FTDNA.com offers a full range of DNA testing. And there are probably others that offer it as well, it is just the one I use and am most familiar with.
We Dove Into Y-DNA Testing
We started with the Y-37, but they also offer a Y-67, Y-111, and the Big Y-700. The numbers represent how many short tandem repeats (STRs) are examined on the “Y” chromosome. Look at me being all “scientific” here! I really wish I would have paid more attention in biology class! According to a friend of mine who actually is a DNA Expert, he says that the Big Y-700 practically builds out the male side of the tree. It is that detailed! Of course, the more STRs tested, the more expensive the test. Typically all sites offer sales and discounts during the holidays, so keep your eyes open for specials during that time.
The most common DNA test that people take is the Autosomal DNA test. This connects you with relatives within the last 5 generations on both sides, the paternal and maternal. Autosomal DNA testing is broader than the more focused Y-DNA and mtDNA tests.
Back to Todd’s Results
We were shocked by Todd’s Y-37 DNA results! First off, I was a little disappointed that he only had four matches at 37 markers. Three out of his four matches were from the Germanic Europe Region; Austria, Germany, and Switzerland! I sent FamilyTreeDNA (FTDNA.com) an email and explained that they had mixed up the tests. But they assured me it was the correct result for him. And the other match was from Wichita Falls, Texas….. which really confused me!
Then I noticed he also had a total of seven matches at 25 markers. Five of them had the same last name, spelled two different ways: Gavanesch and Gabennesch. This was the German match of his. And one at 12 markers, a name I didn’t recognize of unknown origin. So, be prepared if you order a test with lower STRs, you will get fewer results.
Confused, I am!
Seeing this information sent me down yet another path or should I say four other paths! How do I figure out what our true biological last name is? Especially with completely unrecognized names. None of these names were matches on Todd’s ancestry.com results. DNA is not my strong suit!
Google came to the rescue. I found a book and ordered it from Amazon titled: Finding Family by Richard Hill. I read it in two days! It was fascinating. I highly recommend it if you are searching as well! He describes in detail how he searched for his biological last name and the many twists and turns he encountered along the way.
Upload the Raw DNA to Other Sites
One of his recommendations was to upload the raw DNA results to other sites to expand the opportunity for matches. Ancestry.com allows you to download your raw DNA. Once it is downloaded, it can be uploaded for free to the FTDNA.com site, GEDMatch.com, and myheritage.com. MyHeritage.com was the only site I hadn’t uploaded the raw DNA to, so I uploaded it and waited for the results. Accessing your matches on these sites is free, a win-win!
Request the Birth / Death Certificates
While I was waiting for the results of his MyHeritage.com matches, I requested the birth and death certificates for his father and grandfather. Obviously, there was no birth certificate for his grandfather, since he was adopted. But they were very helpful in providing additional tips on where I should research next. As a dear friend told me, “Write the letter and send the check.” And I am so glad I did! I should have done it long ago!
Todd’s father’s birth and death certificates came in pretty quickly. I was excited to see them because I kept wondering if there were any clues to Edward John’s real biological last name. Edward’s death announcement was published in the LA Times. It most definitely provided a clue:
Edward’s death certificate came in about the same time as I discovered his obituary:
As you can see, both the obituary and his death certificate stated his middle name was spelled Jahnn, not John as we had previously thought. His last name is listed as John / Carlson. This was another huge clue!
DNA Research Pays Off Big
When I looked at Todd’s DNA matches on MyHeritage.com, take a look at match #4’s last name:
Bingo! This is our biological last name! It was there all the time, just spelled John, instead of Jahn. So many hours I spent looking up “Edward John” with his birthdate, not knowing the last name, and it was “Jahn” all along!
Edward was born in “Freeport, Illinois” on October 9, 1912. Which is the location of a huge orphanage called “St. Vincent’s Orphanage”. I tried to contact them by phone but never received a response. COVID had a lot to do with this, as I was researching in the early days of the pandemic. But, honestly, at this point, I really don’t need verification. I may still send them a letter requesting information, although I am not sure what they will be able to tell me. For now, I know he was adopted, and now I know the biological last name.
The Search for our Biological Name Continues
Locating Edward’s birth parents was another challenge completely. Since Edward was adopted in Freeport, I started searching in the Chicago area. There was a Jahn family: Edward and Lydia Magdalena (Lauer) Jahn who had six children:
The fact that the father’s name was Edward, made me want to look into the family more. At first, I thought Edward might have been the son of one of their children, but then I discovered this:
Lydia’s Deathdate vs. Edward’s Birthdate:
Too Coincidental!
As I was looking at Lydia’s information, her date of death reminded me of something; and then it occurred to me. It was the same month and year as Edward’s birth! Notice how close they are? She died on October 5th and was buried on October 9th of 1912. He was born on October 9th. I bet he was born on October 5th and taken to the orphanage on October 9th! Perhaps the orphanage didn’t even know who dropped him off – and just assigned his birth as the day they got him.
I find that too coincidental that they were so close. If she were actually his mother, she would have been 48 when he was born. It is possible that she died in childbirth, it was so common back then, and especially with her age, it would have been even riskier. His father, Edward, would be devastated to lose his wife and might possibly have blamed the baby for her death.
It happened like that sometimes back then, the baby lives, yet the mother dies. The father is too grief-stricken to care for the child. And, in this case, the other children would have been older and starting their own families as they ranged in age from 16-24 at the time. Except for Mildred, she would have been 7 years old when Lydia passed away. Sadly, her father, Edward, passed away about 5 years later when Mildred was only 12. Of course, I’m not 100 percent certain of all of this, but it does look like it fits together.
I have been researching all of the surnames tied to both of our families. Check out my surname research and my genealogy resources pages. Maybe you are my cousin?
So, for now, I will just say that this is the case, and move on with the rest of my research! I hope this article helps you in your search for your biological last name.
Enjoy,
