DNA Results Suggest My Third Great Grandfather Was Identical Twin
Tomas Anfinnson Vetti: 1766-1851 (Paternal
Third-Great-Grandfather)
Ola Anfinnson Vetti: 1766-1826 (Paternal Third-Great-Uncle)
While checking on some new Ancestry DNA matches, I came
across one with the “common ancestor” notation. That designation always excites
me, because a potential common ancestor can really help me trace the cousin
connection and connect the new cousin to my tree. But when I clicked on the
common ancestor link for this particular new cousin, who I will refer to as NE,
I saw my third great-grandfather. Tomas Anfinnson Vetti, listed as the common ancestor. Ancestry’s
Thruline feature showed him as the father both of my second-great-grandfather
Sjur Tommason Hestetun and NE’s third-great-grandfather Peder Olsson Melheim.
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That immediately raised a red flag—in 18th
century Norway, sons had their father’s first name as part of their surname. My
second great-grandad’s surname was “Tommason”—Tomas Anfinnson Vetti’s son, Sjur.
But Peder’s name was Olsson, so he would have been the son of Ole or Ola, not
Tomas. Was this what genealogists call a “non-parental event”—in other words,
did Tomas fool around with Peder’s mother? Or was there another less
titillating explanation? It was time for further research.
I used the tools associated with Ancestry’s Thruline
feature, which showed the other Ancestry-based trees that led their algorithm
to suggest the relationship between Peder Olsson Melheim and Tomas Anfinnson
Vetti. The trees showed Peder was born January 7, 1792 to parents as Ola
Anfinnson Vetti and Martha Pedersdatter. Peder’s surname now made sense: his
father of record had the first name “Ola”, so he was Peder Olsson.
I also immediately noticed another connection: Peder’s
father Ola had the same father as my third-great-grandfather Tomas: Anfinn
Anfinnson Vetti, born February 17, 1715 in Vetti, Aardal, Sogn al Fjordane,
Norway. Ola and Tomas were brothers.
But that left me with a question: why did the DNA show that Tomas was more closely related to Ola’s son Peder than an uncle should be? Surely Tomas wasn’t sneaking around with his own brother’s wife! Would they have even had the opportunity? Peder’s final surname piece was Melheim, which indicated his parents were living on the Melheim farm in Aardal, while Tomas’ children all had Vetti as part of their name, indicating they were still living on the Vetti farm where Tomas and Ola were born and raised. I am not sure how distant the properties were from one another, but it would have taken more effort to conduct an affair if you needed to travel by horse and wagon. From the map below, which shows Melheim in the Fardal region and Vetti in the Utladal region, they are over an hour apart by car.
I quickly discovered another interesting piece of
information: Tomas Anfinnson Vetti and Ola Anfinnson Vetti had the same
birthdate: supposedly both men were born January 13, 1766. Of course this could
be an error—someone transcribing records incorrectly. Or it could indicate
something else: that Tomas and Ola were twins. And given the DNA evidence,
probably identical twins! If Tomas and Ola had the same DNA because they split
from the same embryo, their children would genetically be half-siblings as well
as first cousins, and my relationship to my new cousin NE would make sense.
Proving my hypothesis will be nearly impossible. I have been
unable to locate birth records for Tomas and Ola verifying they were born the
same day. I will have to investigate further using Norwegian Bygdeboks. For
now, I will record Peder Olsson Melheim as the son of Ola Anfinnson Vetti, and
the nephew of my third great-grandfather Tomas Anfinnson Vetti. I will make a
private note about my hypothesis about the brothers’ twinship.
I am intrigued by the possibilities opened up by my
hypothesis about the Anfinnson Vetti brothers—I’d never considered the
difficulties presented by identical twins in DNA testing. I am glad that this
DNA cousin connection turned out to be less mixed up than it initially
appeared.
Sources:
Ancestry.com, DNA Match.
Information on Anfinn Anfinnsson Vetti: https://norwayancestors.com/getperson.php?personID=I1342&tree=tree2
Relationship to NE page on Ancestry. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-geneticfamily/thrulines/tree/991514595:9009:66/for/38B5E694-2D64-4CC7-BEFE-4FE8A7F44961?matchingSampleId=D2063198-2FB9-4C93-9549-D0547D742246&member=322220658093:1030:46986934
