My Family

Grandpa Don has three families. I first knew my adopted family, expanded by marriage and children.

At the age of 75 I became acquainted with my "natural" families with their own genealogy.

I first learned of my natural mother's family, the Cecora / Lossner clan along with my surviving older brother.

Then learned of my natural father's family, the Copeland clan along with my younger brother and three surviving sisters.

They are as one to me, one no less a part of my life than the other. These pages will serve to record their stories as I know them. 

The Family Tree
A poem

"In every conceivable manner,
the family is
link to our past,
bridge to our future."

– Alex Haley

Contact
Grandpa Don

Journey to ... 

Adopted Family

My Adopted parents' and Anne's parents' genealogy and stories are found above in the Plefka & Lawler links. 

My Natural Family

For my natural genealogy go to the details below. There is a large "Pedigree" Chart that will show how all my known ancestors. This chart was updated on 03/31/2012.

DNA Project

In November of 2012 I participated in the Ancestry.com's Autosomal DNA study. (See http://dna.ancestry.com/aboutDNA.aspx)

The initial results were that my ancestry origins are 88% from the British Isles, 9% from Eastern Europe and 3% undetermined.

With improved testing methods and having a much larger database of tests, in early October of 2013 the ethnicity estimates were revised. With newly defined categories my ethnicity was estimated to be less than 1%  North Africa , 98% Europe, and less than 1% West Asia. The main areas were further divided to sub-areas, particularly Europe. See DNA Project for a more detailed breakdown and explanation.

One of my goals in participating in this study was to try to discover the parentage of my 2nd great grandfather, Shepard L Packard. (see "Packard Mystery below)

Interactive Fan Chart

The fan chart below lists the first 4 generations of my ancestors. All names have links to additional information.  Move your cursor over the chart to find the links. The fourth generation, my 2nd great-grandparents also have links to their pedigree charts showing the family ancestry as far as we know it. Have fun with this chart.

Set sail to ...