Five-year heirship determination finally concluded Twelve people will share in $400,000 after a lengthy search By Sonja G. Ostrow News-Chronicle When the man known to his friends and colleagues at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay as Dawson C. Deese died in October 1998, rather than a wife, children, or even a final will and testament, he left behind a $400,000 estate and a nearly unnavigable mess of conflicting information about his background, which even he did not fully understand. Most of the pieces of the Deese puzzle were put together on Monday afternoon, at a hearing for determination of heirship presided over by James R. Queoff, acting probate court commissioner. As a result of long investigation including DNA testing, 12 people will share in the estate and a lot of family history - including Deese's real identity - was cleared up. The interests of Deese were represented by attorney Bob Geimer, while attorney Daniel A. Duke represented the children of Deese's birth mother, four of whom were present at the hearing. Mark A. Bartels, appointed by the court in 1999 to represent the heirs, unknown at the time, said Deese's birth mother gave her son to the Deese family when he was born in North Carolina in 1929. The Deeses then raised him until he was 6 years old, when they died in an accident. At that point Deese went to live with a family called the Studements. After learning these facts, Bartels hired International Genealogical Search Inc. to look more deeply into the matter. The company found that Deese had not been formally adopted by either the Deeses or the Studements. Further, IGS discovered that Dawson Deese was really Charles Sumner Whiting, the son of Catherine Whiting and Milton Quincy Dorsy, who never married. More research revealed that Catherine Whiting had gone on to bear nine other children, all living. By exhuming Deese's body, and using DNA testing to compare the DNA from Deese's body to that of one of Catherine's daughters, it was shown that the two did have the same mother. According to Bartels, "We then turned our attention to the father's side of the family." The resulting investigation revealed that Milton Quincy Dorsy had gone on to have four other children, three of whom were still living. A sibship test, in which genetic samples are used to develop genetic profiles of individuals, was used to prove a half-sibling relationship. In the meantime, an investigation was also being made into the Theory of Equitable Adoption. In some states, under this theory, even if a child has not been formally adopted into a family, if he or she has been raised as a member of that family, the situation could still be treated legally as an adoption, and the child would be considered a dependent in matters of inheritance. If this theory applied in the Deese case, all of Deese's estate would go to members of the family who raised him. However, it was found neither Wisconsin nor North Carolina law supported this theory. As a result, the $400,000 estate will be divided equally among Deese's 12 half-siblings. A collective sigh of relief filled the courtroom when Queoff brought the hearing to a close. After nearly six years, all parties, from Bartels to Deese's half-siblings to the investigators at IGS, were eager for some form of closure. Said Sara Moore Diaz, one of Deese's maternal half-sisters who attended the hearing, "It's been very frustrating ... For one thing, I am upset that they investigated the mother and father at different times. Why wasn't this all done simultaneously?" Of course, nothing could match the shock of learning that her mother had a son that she never told her children about. "My first thought when I was told was, 'You sure you have the right person? This is my mother you're talking about.'" said Diaz. But in the end, her brothers and sisters helped her and each other get through the shock and the frustration of waiting to find out more. The fact that members of the family continue to come out to Green Bay for hearings regarding Deese and his estate is a reflection of their close bond, and their desire to learn more about their long-lost half-brother. "Family does this for family," said Samuel W. Moore. Of course, Queoff is quick to point out that much of the drama could have been avoided. "I hope that after this those involved know the importance of having a will and keeping your affairs in order," he said.