Vital Information
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Full name | Adeline Warnke |
| Born | 18 Dec 1906 |
| Died | 14 Aug 1987 |
| Father | William John Warnke (1868-1943) |
| Mother | Louise Jelinek (~1870-1961) |
| First spouse | Ira Mollett Giles (m. 1930) |
| Second spouse | William Stuart Britt (m. 1942) |
| Nickname | "Gaga" (to grandchildren) |
| Children | Jacqueline Britt Eggers; Benjamin Dunham (half-brother to Jackie; discovered via DNA testing, ~2010s; East Coast, NYC or Boston area; confirmed by Jordan Fulghum's 23andMe 2026-04-15: Half Great-Uncle, 4.02% DNA shared, 11 segments) |
| Occupation | Piano teacher |
| FindAGrave | #280480045 |
Biography
Adeline Warnke was born on 18 December 1906 to William John Warnke and Louise Jelinek. Her paternal grandparents were John Warnke (1828-1898, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany) and Sophia Kuchenmeister (1835-1922). Her maternal grandparents were Josef Jelinek (1838-1930, Mezna, Bohemia) and Anna Kozlovsky. Both families settled in Saline County, Nebraska; her parents married there in 1892 before moving to Missouri. She was known to her grandchildren as "Gaga." She first married Ira Mollett Giles in 1930, and their daughter Jacqueline took the surname Britt from Adeline's second husband, William Stuart Britt, whom she married in 1942. Adeline worked as a piano teacher. She died on 14 August 1987.
DNA Discovery
In the 2010s, online DNA testing revealed that Adeline had a son named Benjamin Dunham (previously recorded as "Ben Durham"; 23andMe confirms the spelling as "Dunham"), making him a half-brother to Jacqueline Britt Eggers. Ben is from the East Coast (New York City or Boston area). His father's surname was Dunham. The circumstances of Ben's birth and separation from the family are not yet known. This discovery was previously unknown to the family.
Jordan Fulghum's 23andMe results (2026-04-15) confirm the relationship: Benjamin Dunham appears as a Half Great-Uncle on Mother's side, sharing 4.02% DNA across 11 segments. This is consistent with being a half-sibling of Jordan's maternal grandmother (Jackie Eggers), sharing one parent (Adeline) but having different fathers.