The childhood of my great-grandfather, Joseph Voisin (1855-1916), remained a stubborn mystery after many years of genealogy research. In other essays I described the known facts and many hypotheses. I explored genetic genealogy and used DNA testing to identify numerous distant cousins. However the lack of traditional genealogical evidence like birth, marriage, and census records did not shed light on Joseph’s birth or who his parents were.
Until now. While analyzing my DNA test results, I noticed several distant matches who did not fit my known family tree. I had to determine their lineages based on scant information. Next I found matches we shared in common and I determined their lineages too. I began to identify more and more distant cousins who descend from one man, Theobald Koebel.1
- Archives Départementles du Bas-Rhin (https://archives.bas-rhin.fr/) Oberseebach – Etat civil – Registre de naissances 1830 – 4 E 351/3, Catherine Koebel, # 1663, Image 18 of 23, (https://archives.bas-rhin.fr/detail-document/ETAT-CIVIL-C595-P1-R208956#visio/page:ETAT-CIVIL-C595-P1-R208956-2284439 : downloaded 25 May 2023). Signature of Theobald Koebel from his daughter Catherine’s birth record.
I am related to Peter Joseph Voisin (1807-1892), the patriarch of the Voisin families of Waterloo County, Ontario, near Kitchener. This was proven by a Y-chromosome DNA match between me and a known descendant of the Kitchener Voisins, Clifton Voisin. I also determined Peter Joseph’s sister Maria Anne Voisin (1798-1879) immigrated to Waterloo county. The next piece of the puzzle was a family connection to Buffalo, New York. That’s where I found a third sibling, Henry Joseph Voisin (1801-?) and his family, in Welland County, Ontario, just across the Niagara River from Buffalo.
I would like to take this opportunity to recognize Magdalena Voisin. She helped me find Joseph and Anne Voisin, who were my ancestors, and quite possibly my great great-grandparents. She provided such a big clue for a little girl only eleven years old. You see, she was born about 1841.
This is my grandfather Ernie Voisin standing with his daughter, my aunt Nora May as a little girl. This was taken at Houghton Lake, Michigan on July 4, 1927.
My granduncle George Voisin was my grandfather’s younger brother. He apparently owned a Ford Model-T Coupe, which is pictured in a few old family photographs from the mid- to late-1920s.
As a descendant I am of course detached from the ancestors I never met. I’ve undoubtedly inherited their physical characteristics and probably even their mannerisms. My history is somehow connected to them. I am their future. We also share a common future, one none of us has lived, or will live, to see.
In a 
