52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks
Week 17 – April 22, 2025
Prompt: DNA
Ancestor: Johnny Marling – Not My Ancestor, But a Cousin Friend
• Blog Post 2 – I found out that my great-grandmother Lucindy’s parents were Daniel Crull and Elizabeth Lent.
• Blog Post 5 – I discovered that my grandmother Elizabeth’s biological father was George Neal.
• Blog Post 9 – I learned that my great-grandmother Louisa Jane Wright wasn’t a Wright but a Foley.
This post, however, is about an unexpected use of DNA—when I was able to introduce a DNA match to his biological father, and in doing so, I gained not just a new cousin, but a good friend.
In June 2024, I signed up for Ancestry’s Pro Tools, which provides more detailed insights on shared DNA matches.
Shortly after, on June 4, 2024, I contacted a match with the surname KIVER, who was a fairly close match to my mother—and more importantly, he was a match to my MARLING Mystery Matches. These matches all descended from William Henry Marling, whose father, John Anderson Marling, was a Union soldier during the Civil War.
John’s pension file stated that he was sterile from having the mumps. In later divorce proceedings, he claimed that Ward Henry Marling could not be his biological child due to this condition. That raised suspicions that my Marling Mystery Matches might not actually be Marlings at all.
At the time, I had not yet identified Lucindy’s parents, and I believed she and these matches might share a common father.
A Trail of Clues
KIVER replied to my message, explaining that he had been adopted by the Kivers, and that his biological mother was a Keen—but he didn’t know who his father was.
Pro Tools showed that his closest match was to another of my mystery matches, C MOSES, and that they were likely first cousins.
I had actually messaged C MOSES back in September 2019 asking for help in identifying how he matched my MARLING Mystery Matches—but he didn’t respond.
With Pro Tools, I now saw that C MOSES was a first cousin to one of the Marling matches. On June 20, 2024, I reached out again—this time without mentioning the Marling name.
A Connection Opens
On June 22, 2024, C MOSES responded.
He told me his mom said his biological grandfather was Johnny Marling, and he gave me her phone number so I could learn more. She was helpful and gave me a number for Johnny Marling, saying I should call him—he’s really into family history. She also confirmed that her husband, J Moses, is the son of Johnny Marling.
Unraveling the Story
By June 27, 2024, I was ready. I contacted KIVER and told him I had figured it out.
Johnny Marling is his father.
J MOSES is his half-brother.
C MOSES—his supposed first cousin—is actually his nephew.
I called Johnny Marling later that day. At first, I simply mentioned I had been in touch with his grandson, C MOSES.
That opened the door.
Johnny Marling told me the whole story about getting two women pregnant at the same time and having to decide which one to marry. He did not marry J MOSES’ mother. She later married a man named Moses, and they raised J as a Moses.
Johnny confided that he wouldn’t be surprised if he had other children.
I told him, “I think I found another son—KIVER.”
To his credit, he was open to it. He welcomed a call from KIVER, and I made that happen.
Johnny Marling agreed to take an Ancestry DNA test, which confirmed that he is KIVER’s biological father.
Johnny has also taken a Y-DNA¹ test, hoping to learn more about his paternal line. So far, the results haven’t provided a conclusive link to either the Marling or Crull surname—but it’s still early, and we’re watching for new matches.
More Than a Genetic Link
Although I believe our shared ancestor is my 3rd great-grandfather Daniel Crull, which would make Johnny Marling my half second cousin once removed, what matters more is the connection we’ve made.
We’re not just distant cousins.
We’re friends.
And we talk on the phone often.
¹ Y-DNA testing looks at the direct paternal line and is passed from father to son. Unlike the autosomal DNA test used by Ancestry, which looks at all branches of your family tree, Y-DNA tests are helpful for tracing surname lines and deep paternal ancestry - but they’re only available to biological males.
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