The Story about My Mom's Father

Grandpa was a Wingwalker (BS)

The story I heard, growing up, about my Mom's father was that he died before my mom was born. Grandma was 8 months pregnant with my Mom. He died in a plane crash. He was a wing-walker. Mom had a brother who was 16 years old than her. Uncle Bud.

Basically, Mom and her single mother were poor - lived in boarding houses in Dayton Ohio. Apparently, my Grandma was a bit on the difficult side. They got kicked out of places because of her temperament. I felt sorry, listening to my mother's hardships. Meanwhile, her brother was in the Army Air Corps, stationed in England and occasionally they would get postcards from him that I still have. 

After the war, Uncle Bud married a gal from Alabama and they settled in Springfield, Ohio, and had 4 children. 

I was always curious, as to why, my Uncle Bud, had a different last name from my mom's maiden name which was Hasenstab. The reason: He legally changed his name to my Grandma's maiden name (Closson) so he could fight the Nazis. Sounded good enough for me. 

After my Mom's death, I was shocked to find, that her father, Edward (Edwin) Joesph Hasenstab, was alive and well when my mom was born in 1934. He was alive and well, when I was born, in 1954. So where the heck was he? He was right there, in Dayton Ohio, living with a woman, he referred to as his wife, Cordelia Martin. He died in 1958. 

So, there begins my wall of walls - What happened between him and my Grandma? Were they ever really married? Did they divorce? Was he my Mom's bio dad? Why did Grandma and he wait 16 years, to have another child? Was my Mom's father really a Wingwalker? 

Mom was gone. The only living relatives I had left, from my mom's side, were my cousins. Did they know about our mysterious grandfather Hasenstab? 

Rooted by Blood, DNA and a lot BS

I am finding out the hard way, many of the "family stories" were just that - stories. No evidence to substantiate. Therefore, I have to go with the lack of evidence and go toward the direction of what is true, according to records. Disappointing to say the least. I basically grew up, believing I was part Cherokee. I also never knew I had more Scandinavian than anything else. Even though, the many Swede's I have known throughout my life, always said, they were convinced by looking at me, that I was Swedish. I still don't know what part of Scandinavia my Ancestors came from. Doesn't much matter anymore.

I am the only one of my birth family, still alive. My sister, left me in Sept. 2015. Killed me. I wanted her and me to investigate more into our family. We never got a chance. I would have loved to have found out, what DNA, she got from our parents. I always assumed, siblings would get the same DNA from our parents, but that is not so. It would have completed the whole picture for me - I am one who enjoys the science of all of this, more than anything else.

For the BS stories, look for the labels that say BS. If said BS Story is found to have some evidence, then I will change it. Until then, the Cherokee in my family is a big, story of bull-shit.