DNA crucial to solving a century-old mystery: who was Kris’ great grandfather?
“I FOUND HIM!!!!!!!”
That’s the subject line for one of my favorite emails from last year. Here’s what I found inside from Kris Ludwinski of Fairview, Texas, USA:
“I just confirmed today the identity of my mystery Jewish maternal great grandfather, the one I have been trying to find for YEARS!!!! His name was Haiman/Herman Fuks/Fox, born on 4 May 1876 in Brzeziny, Lodzie, Poland.”
“This family mystery has lingered for over 100 years, and the answer came about ONLY because of DNA,” she writes. “There were really NO family records to tie us to this man, though I did finally confirm today that he and my great grandmother were actually married (we had assumed this was an extramarital relationship).”
Of course, then I wanted to hear the whole story. And Kris, who has been a part of our DNA Study Group, Endogamy Course and several other learning experiences, has kindly given me permission to share it here.
A tantalizing mystery: “Who is my great grandfather?”
“My maternal grandmother, Ida, kept any info about her biological father—along with most info about the background of her own mother, Jennie Mathews—hidden from her family,” writes Kris. “It wasn’t until Ida’s daughter Patricia became an adult that she learned about her Jewish background. Surprise!”
“I’m one of Pat’s daughters. After my mother died in 2012, I determined I would solve this mystery once and for all. I knew if I didn’t, nobody would, and this entire branch on the family tree would be lost in the past.”
At the time, Kris was homeschooling four children, so she didn’t have a lot of time, but she felt compelled by the mystery. “I encountered multiple roadblocks from the first. I had only basic information about my great grandmother Jennie. A search for Ida’s New York City birth certificate was a fiasco. I continued the hunt on and off but did not get very far.”
In 2017, Kris took an AncestryDNA test. “As everyone does, I looked at my DNA matches with eagerness when they arrived…and then pretty much threw up my hands. What to make of them? How to learn anything?”
That’s when she found Your DNA Guide.
“I was quickly energized by Diahan’s ‘can do’ attitude and internalized her ‘You can do the DNA’ mantra with excitement. A couple of my DNA matches on this Jewish line contacted me, and eventually I realized that DNA research was going to be the key to solving this mystery.”
She connected with two matches: Debbie in New Zealand and Adam in Washington state, USA. The three worked together to unearth bits and pieces that could connect them. “I dug into online learning about DNA and began to lead the pack in finding ties and in sending LONG emails about findings and theories,” Kris recalls. “Oh, my, what a time it was!”
Albert Glazer, 7 years old,1936. Albert was Kris’ 2nd cousin once removed on her maternal Jewish side.
Part of what she learned was the need to keep doing genealogy research alongside the DNA analysis. “In 2021, I really got serious about genealogy. I visited my sister Kathy and, during a late-night research session, we found a copy of a young boy’s photo on Ancestry that matched a photo we had, which had been found in our grandmother Ida’s papers.”
“My goodness, what an experience!” she writes. “All of this work led to wondrous discoveries about Jennie’s family of origin. It turns out that we had numerous relatives we had never known existed. But the biological great grandfather remained completely unknown.”
DNA evidence finally points to a birth family
“Finally, in 2022, I thought I had my answer. Work with DNA matches, their trees, and genealogical sources led me to a man from Poland named Harris Fox. Was he the elusive biological ancestor?”
“I took Diahan’s Endogamy and DNA Course, which gives students helpful and concrete tools for handling endogamous matches,” she continues. (The issue of endogamy complicates DNA research in a lot of Jewish families, as tight-knit Jewish communities that intermarried for generations produced many descendants who share a lot of common DNA.)
“A pivotal lightbulb moment happened during those weeks in the class,” she writes. “I suddenly realized that the DNA I shared with Harris’s known descendants was actually uniformly somewhat low to indicate Harris being the elusive great grandfather. Oh, no!”
One of the DNA coaches in the Endogamy Course, Lori Napolitano, responded to her dismay on the message boards. “Lori kindly suggested rethinking the hypothesis of Harris being the great grandfather, advising me to step back and evaluate these matches with objectivity and an open mind. That was absolutely crucial advice!”
Kris renewed her genealogical research, looking for a close relative of Harris’ (a brother?) who could be the unknown great grandfather. “Knowing that ruling people out is often as useful in research as ruling people in, I intensely researched two NYC couples with Fox surnames, to see if my family had any connection to them. I joined Your DNA Guide’s DNA Study Group, where I learned so much, and made use of lots of other Your DNA Guide learning resources.”
She built family trees, did more genealogy, contacted descendants to do targeted DNA testing, and obtained collaborative access to DNA matches’ accounts so she could evaluate their results. “My sister Kathy agreed to test, too, so I used Kathy’s results to help in the hunt, too.” (Siblings’ DNA tests can often provide helpful clues.)
“Finally, breakthroughs began to happen, including working with a group of Fox matches,” Kris writes. “This fun group of ‘Fox Relatives’ has become fast friends. I did genealogical research on their lines, knowing a deep dive into this group’s Jewish Polish ancestors would lead to my own–the DNA learning had taught me that!”
Discoveries and connections
“At long last, the discoveries began to pour in,” Kris continues. “I found the first ties for the Fox relatives to their ancestors in Poland, and then discovered a pivotal Polish marriage record that tied the Fox ancestors to people I realized were in my own line. Then I obtained a batch of records from the small Polish town of Brzeziny, and lastly, some New York City marriage records brought everything all together. Putting together the DETAILS to fill out the puzzle was crucial, and dogged determination was the only way to go.”
“The DNA evidence pointing to the Fox family was correct all along, but the missing great grandfather wasn’t Harris, it was his brother, Herman Fox, aka Haiman Fuks, born in Brzeziny, Poland, in 1876. He and Jennie had married in New York City in May 1900, then had a daughter named Yettie in early 1901 (who likely died as a baby), and then had another daughter Ida, my grandmother, in July 1902.”
“Herman and Jennie divorced after just a couple of years of marriage,” Kris reports. “Jennie and Ida had buried that family history, to have it remain a mystery for over 100 years. I have since built the Fox/Fuks family tree back in Poland for a few generations.”
Why all this work is worth it
“I’m shimmering with happiness about these discoveries,” Kris writes. “Numerous family connections and friends have been made through this process, and they are just as important as solving the underlying mystery.”
“The sense of satisfaction at being able to build back this side of the family tree that contained so very many unknown ancestors is unparalleled. It’s so great to know that a puzzle of this magnitude has been completed, that the missing pieces of the identity of this elusive ancestor and his family have been found and added to the family tree. How amazing it is that current and future generations will be able to understand better where they have come from, who these ancestors were, what they may have experienced, and that their existence was indeed important to the family and to the future. They each mattered!!”
Kris concludes: “The highly valuable lesson to remember here is simply this: the power of DNA to help solve genealogy mysteries is far-reaching and weighty. For this one ordinary family, the blessing of DNA learning made all the difference. I just wanted to share my genealogical joy and gratitude…. I only wish my mother was alive with whom to share this, but she probably already knows it all in heaven.”
“Without all the Your DNA Guide resources, learning, and inspiration, I would NOT have solved this puzzle,” she concludes. “I will be eternally grateful to you all.”
Stories like Kris’–and so many others–inspire me to keep teaching YOU to DO the DNA! Just like Kris, YOU CAN!
Learn more about using DNA to find ancestors in our free guide.
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