During her research for the Getty book which was published in 1985, Monita Fergus found information which suggested that John Getty, Sr's wife, Elizabeth (right), may have been married to another man named Getty before wedding John.

The story goes that she had a son named, William Getty, on October 1, 1804 in County Antrim, Northern Ireland . This son eventually moved to America about 1849 and is found in the 1850 census for Athens Township, Ohio. He is listed as coming from the same part of Ireland as John, Sr. and was of the correct age.

William married a widow named Anna Thompson Smith on March 27, 1851 in Ohio but they had no children. He became a naturalized citizen in 1855.

On March 2, 1858, William wrote a lengthy letter to his "half-brother", James Getty, Sr who was living in Michigan. In it, William thanks James for sending a copy of the "...elegy on my Mother's death."  Elizabeth had died in 1848 in Ireland and the elegy refers to the funeral oration someone wrote for her burial service.

Information on Irish people from the 18th and 19th centuries can be quite spotty. Many records were destroyed during the British rule and others were just lost from neglect in the rural, extremely impoverished parts of the country.

Over time, I hope to be able to investigate this further. Those of us in the Getty branch are all related to Elizabeth and, therefore, share some DNA with her offspring with another man. If the story is a fact, William would be some type of half-cousin of ours. He would be my half third great uncle.