Ancestry’s DNA test leads to family ties

I have always had a love of history, and at a young age I got interested in learning more about my own family history. Over the years, my interest in family history kept evolving, and about 20 years ago I became a member of Ancestry. For a small membership fee, Ancestry gave me access to a wealth of public records, and it helped me validate genealogical data for my own family tree.

Ancestry kept improving their databases, the internet kept getting faster and access to more public records became more widespread. But it was the introduction of affordable Ancestry DNA testing that opened up an entirely new area of family history research for me. I call it genetic genealogy.

Most of the better-known genetic genealogy testing companies help you connect to long-lost relatives and as more and more people get DNA tested the databases of these testing companies grow larger and larger. 

About nine years ago, I got my DNA tested on Ancestry. My list of potential cousins has grown considerably over the years. It’s exciting to check my list of DNA matches on Ancestry to view new relatives who have shown up.

One day in mid-summer 2020, I noticed a name appear on my Ancestry DNA match list that looked out of place compared to my other western North Carolina cousins’ names. The man’s name was Rolf Grassler, and Ancestry calculated that Rolf was a potential second cousin of mine, according to the centimorgans I shared with him.

Centimorgans are how they measure the genetic DNA two people share with one another. I also couldn’t place Rolf anywhere on my family tree. I was curious how I was related to Rolf, but didn’t think much more about it at the time.

About a month later, Rolf contacted me through Ancestry. Rolf wrote that he had his DNA tested on Ancestry, and he had received his DNA results. The problem was Rolf was born, raised and lived in the Bavaria region of Germany, but most of Rolf’s DNA matches were from North Carolina in the United States.

Initially, Rolf suspected that DNA testing was not accurate because of these confusing results. After all, Rolf nor anyone in his family had ever been to the United States before. Rolf told me he had done the DNA test to try and find his biological father, then asked if I could help him with his search.

Rolf and I exchanged several more emails, and then I decided that helping this newly found cousin of mine would help me pass the time through the pandemic. I started asking a lot of questions and some of the questions were personal, but I had to get as much information as possible so I could help Rolf find his father. You can only imagine the difficulties of genealogical research questions when Rolf speaks very little English and I speak very little German.

The first thing I asked Rolf to do was to send me a list of his DNA matches on Ancestry. Because Rolf’s wife, Rita, speaks better English, Rolf turned over the project to her and then the work began. Rita sent me Rolf’s entire list of DNA matches and gave me guest access to his Ancestry account.

The moment I opened up Rolf’s DNA matches on Ancestry, I quickly realized that Rolf was a DNA match to a lot of the same DNA matches of mine that had roots in western North Carolina. Most of Rolf’s closest matches were from Hanging Dog in Cherokee County.

I recognized a lot of the names that were on Rolf’s list of DNA matches. I then realized that Rolf was a cousin of mine on my father’s side of my family. This confirmed to me that Rolf had Hanging Dog roots.

Rolf and I shared a lot of common ancestors, but there were also DNA matches on Rolf’s list that didn’t show up on my list.

I wrote Rolf and told him that we shared many DNA cousins, but we were just related to those cousins with different amounts of DNA.

Rolf and I both had connections to the Allen, Fricks and Dockery families of Cherokee County, but Rolf was also related to the families of Davis, McDonald and Wilsons, just to name a few. I’m not related to those last three surnames I just mentioned, so this was a vital clue for me to start my search for Rolf’s father.

I was familiar with most of the closer cousins that Rolf and I both shared on our DNA matches. My own father, William Glenn Allen, was born and raised in Hanging Dog, which helped me recognize a lot of the names on Rolf’s DNA matches.

For the cousins I did not recognize on Rolf’s DNA list, I knew I had to figure out how Rolf was related to them so I could start eliminating male cousins that could potentially be Rolf’s father. I decided that my best option was to get out my copy of a local family history book my father wrote called Dockerys of Dixie. At the time I started working on Rolf’s family history, the closest Ancestry DNA matches Rolf had were second cousins.

The main clue I started my search with was that Rolf was born December 1967 in Grafenwoehr, Germany, and that Rolf’s mother worked at a U.S. Army base in Grafenwoehr. The first thing I did was make a list of how Rolf was related to the first 15 people on his DNA matches.

This was time consuming, but my initial list let me know pretty quickly that I was looking for a male cousin that was related to me (Allens and Fricks) and that man also had to be related to the Davis and Wilson families, which I am not. I started building family trees of Rolf’s DNA matches, and this helped me eliminate a lot of my possibilities.

When Rolf initially contacted me, Rolfs No. 1 DNA match was a second cousin. I just kept hoping that a first cousin would show up on Rolf’s DNA list to help me narrow down some of the potential fathers I had already come up with.

I had estimated that Rolf’s biological father was probably born between 1935 and 1948 in Cherokee County. Rolf’s biological father had to be related to me or I wouldn’t be related to Rolf. The man I was searching for had to be stationed at the Grafenwoehr Germany Army base in the year 1967. The man also had to be related to the Allens, Dockerys, Fricks, Davis, McDonalds, Kephart and Rhea families.

I finally narrowed my search down to two cousins of mine – Wayne Kephart or his brother, Jim. I then found out that Wayne was the only brother who had been in the Army, but was Wayne in Germany at Grafenwoehr Army Base during 1967? I certainly didn’t want to start asking Wayne’s family personal questions when I didn’t have DNA proof at that time, so I thought it would be better to keep waiting for a closer first-cousin DNA match for Rolf that would give me a definitive answer.

Wayne Kephart was the first person on my list to be Rolf’s biological father, and by this point I had eliminated all my other possibilities. I had also sent Wayne Kephart’s name to Rolf so he could contact the U.S. Army Base in Germany and find out if a person by that name was ever stationed at Grafenwoehr Army base, but Rolf never heard back from the U.S. government concerning this request.

A few more months passed, and finally another cousin showed up on Rolf’s Ancestry DNA matches, and this time it was a close first cousin. The name of this new DNA match was Melissa Yocom (Wayne’s great-niece) and Melissa was now No. 1 on Rolf’s DNA matches. Melissa shared 514 cM (Centimorgans) with Rolf, so she was a close DNA match to him. Melissa also showed up on my DNA list as a third or fourth cousin, so I knew this person was the answer to my prayers.

I had to try and verify if Wayne Kephart was Rolf’s biological father without getting my cousins from Hanging Dog upset with me. I emailed Rita Grassler and told her to contact Melissa through Ancestry and just ask Melissa if Wayne Kephart was ever stationed in Germany during 1967. It was getting close to the holidays in 2021, and I’m sure Melissa was probably not thinking about genealogy at that time, but Melissa answered Rita back and said she didn’t know the answer.

Several more months passed, and by February of 2022, Rita and Rolf were eager to get confirmation about Wayne Kephart. Rita emailed me and asked what else could be done to get the answer they needed. I told Rita to email Melissa again and ask her one more time if she knew if Wayne Kephart was ever stationed at Grafenwoehr Army Base in Germany.

This time, Melissa contacted her mother Anne Page, Wayne’s niece, and Melissa’s mother not only confirmed that Wayne was stationed in Germany in 1967, she emailed Rolf and Rita a photo of Wayne wearing his army uniform while he was standing in front of his barracks at Grafenwoehr Army Base.

From that point on, things happened rapidly and Wayne was told by Anne that he might have a 55-year-old biological son living in Germany that Wayne knew nothing about. Within a day, Wayne, Rolf and Rita made contact with each other on social media. A few days later, Wayne called me and asked how to get a DNA test from Ancestry.

It took about a month for Wayne to receive the test kit, mail it back to Ancestry and get the results. During that month of waiting, Wayne and his wife, Joyce, Rolf, Rita and their son, Andreas, got to know one another on the internet. Rolf, Rita and Andreas also planned a trip to the United States pending Wayne’s DNA test results.

On April 5, Wayne showed up on Rolf’s Ancestry matches as a 100 percent match to be Rolf’s father. Even though I knew from all those months of research that Wayne had to be Rolf’s father, I still cried a few tears of joy when I saw that DNA confirmation.

On May 3, Rolf, Rita and Andreas Grassler landed in Knoxville, Tenn., for a three-week visit with Wayne and his wife, Joyce, who live in Seymour, Tenn. Within a few days, Rolf was introduced to his half-sister, Hannelore, and her five children (Rolf’s nieces and nephews). A few days later, Rolf met his two stepbrothers and their children.

The Grassler family then went to Hanging Dog to meet more of Wayne’s family including Rolf’s aunts, uncles, cousins and, most importantly, Rolf’s grandmother, Wanda Davis Kephart, who will be turning 100 on Dec. 17.

On Rolf and Rita’s next trip to America, they hope to meet more of Rolf’s newly found relatives, including a half brother, Duane Edwin Kephart.

My husband, Bill, and I went to Pigeon Forge, Tenn., for a face-to-face meeting with Rolf, Rita, Andreas, Wayne and Joyce. What a memorable and emotional day that was. I was a little girl the last time I remember seeing Wayne, so it was a nice time getting to know him again and to meet his wife, Joyce.

This story might have had a much different ending, but no matter the outcome of this story, Wayne was still going to be Rolf’s father. I can’t express in words how proud I am of my Hanging Dog cousins who have embraced Rolf, Rita and Andreas with open arms. The Grasslers are now part of the Kephart family.

I’m especially proud of my cousin Wayne for getting an Ancestry DNA test done so quickly and without hesitation. With this one Ancestry DNA test, Wayne (age 79) found out he was a new father to Rolf, a new father-in-law to Rita and a new grandfather to Andreas. This one DNA test has changed the lives of so many people.

I am so grateful that I was part of this journey with Rolf and Wayne. For the rest of our lives, the three of us will have a special connection not many people will ever be able to experience.

The writer lives in Asheville.