We have been researching my husband's maternal and paternal lines for many years always believing his grandfather was a Dunning. Through recent DNA testing we have learned that his maternal grandfather, Howard Clinton Dunning (birth year is either 1871 or 1874 in either Hawley or Honesdale,PA) is not the biological son of husband's great-grandfather (John Charles Dunning, born 20 Mar 1849 in NY) but is the biological son of George W. Travis (1859-1917). Howard Clinton Dunning's mother was Mary Elizabeth Enderly (born Jul 1854 in NY). We speculate that Mary Elizabeth Enderly had a relationship with George W. Travis, but did not marry him. She married John C. Dunning in 1874 which coincides with Howard's alleged birth year. We don't know if Mary E. was pregnant with Howard C. when she married John C. Dunning (or whether he even knew and thought he was the father), or if Howard was born in 1871 as some records show, and John C. accepted him as his son when he married Mary E. and gave Howard C. the Dunning name.
We would like to locate a birth record for Howard Clinton Dunning to verify the proper date but have no idea under which surname. And most birth records in Wayne County, PA do not go back that far, if indeed that is where he was born.
Mary Elizabeth & John C. Dunning subsequently had 5 children together(2 girls and 3 boys).
To further add to the mystery, a 3rd-4th cousin's research has the Travis family in Canada with possible First Nation/Indiginous People in the mix and possibly tracing back to France.
Husband's mother and several other branches of her family were told that there was Native American ancestry in the family history. We have not been able to verify that so far. If true, we believe it is in Mary Elizabeth Enderly's line. Her mother was Ann Elizabeth Potter (born c.1828 & died c.1869) in Ulster Co., NY.
By now your head is probably spinning with this convoluted tale as is ours. It has led us off into a whole new line of research and created a new set of questions. Fortunately we both enjoy researching and keep hoping to solve these riddles eventually.
Thank you for taking the time to read through this. Hopefully we will be able to post updates and maybe eventually get answers to our puzzles.