A half a century sounds so long. Fifty years, but here it is. Fifty years I’ve been trying to figure out the who, what, where, and when of my parentage. I know who my mother is but up to my sixtieth birthday I thought my biological father was one man only to find out my mother had an affair and through the affair she had a child, which is me.

In her divorce papers the man was named and I searched for ten years to finally disqualify him as my father. Not until his daughter came forth and had her DNA done did I find out he was not the one. I will forever be in her debt for helping me. But now it’s back to the drawing board.

I’ve had to sit back and go back to the beginning of the matches in my DNA. Since I do not have a name to work with I’ve been grasping at straws. Of course, none of the names look familiar. So here is what I’ve come up with.

Only look at the very close cousins like the 2nd through the 5th. When you start to look at anyone further out than that it can get mind boggling and you can get frustrated very quickly. I have!

So, here is what I have. It’s two 3rd cousins that share the same great, great, great grandparents. They came from Pennsylvania and moved to Iowa. That’s a start. Iowa is close to Minnesota where I was born and Iowa is where my mother’s parents were from. And now I have a 4th cousin that is also sharing that same grandparent. My conclusion, right now anyway, is that is probably the link to look at, very closely.

My dilemma though, is I thought I was looking for the name of Waverly (last name) a soldier from Waterloo. The common last name listed with these cousins is Mattocks. I have to list every child and who they married to see if I come up with a Waverly. I’m working my fingers to the bone, not to mention my brain! And the eyesight needs to take a rest from the bright glare of the computer! But I will trudge onward. I will overcome. Or something like that.

Until then…………………….