Questions On The Legitimacy Of Surname Paul

Our Great Grandparent's Monument, Saint George Lithuanian Catholic Cemetery, Wood Road, Whitesboro, NY 

We have no known aboriginal or Native American roots... ancestry is 100% European, at least per our AncestryDNA ethnicity estimate. Paternal Grandfather Stephen Paul Sr. (no middle name), d.1982, was born March 1890 in Lithuania as Stefan Poceus. The surname Poceus was never officially changed by a U.S. court, but family folklore suggests Stefan's dad -- Dominick Poceus wanted an American name when naturalized a USA citizen in March 1900, so he simply changed his surname to Paul (except in Utica-based St. George Lithuanian Catholic Church, where their use of Poceus surname continued in Church community records until death). The Poceus surname is on Dominick and his wife our Great Grandma Petronelli "Anna" Poceus' gravestone, this monument viewed at the top of this post.

Paternal Great Grandparents "Dom" and "Anna" Serva Poceus (ca: Abt. 1930)

But Paul is the surname on my dad's (Stephen Paul Jr.) and his childen's birth certificates, so I guess that's our legal surname. I've now communicated with a few dozen Ancestry DNA hits... all but a couple cousin respondents have been on my maternal-side... this fact seems a bit strange.

Paternal Grandparents Stephen and Bess Moegling Paul (ca: 1955)

Aged 18 Grandpa Stefan Poceus enlisted in the U.S. Army Coast Artillery Corps in 1908 for a three-year stint.  His enlistment papers show his name is Stephen Paul, born at Utica, Oneida County, NY -- his name and birthplace enlistment claims both are disingenuous statements (untrue claims), data that in the military today would be considered a fraudulent enlistment. Grandpa was Honorably Discharged from U.S. Army in 1911 on completion of enlistment. Grandpa's daughters Effie and Margaret (our dad's sisters) confirm their father would not speak of experiences in Lithuania, it is suspected his early childhood there was both dangerous and highly unhappy. He was obviously competent in verbal Lithuanian language, but would not teach his daughters the language despite their frequent pleadings. My older brother Steve III tells a story about a family fishing trip. Seems Grandpa rode shotgun as our dad was driving. The boys, brothers and cousins sat in the back. I must have been aged about five, and began to pester Grandpa about his birth country... Grandpa did not reply, stirring in his seat. I kept up the long questions, as dad evidently turned toward the back seat and gave brother Steve and concerned dirty look... as if to non-verbally tell him to shut me up. Guess that paternal "stop it" look must have worked. Another funny family tale is that Grandpa's younger sister, our fun-loving Grand Aunt Rosie, taught his wife and our Grandma Bess several dirty words and uncomplimentary phrases in the Lithuanian language. Seems when Grandma Bess wanted to win a running family argument, she would shout out to Grandpa some learned disgusting Lithuanian phase... he would clam-up and walk off... Grandma had just won another ongoing family argument.         

        

I've basically started to question what I think I know about my genealogical paternal-side. Perhaps somewhere in the our past distant lineage, some other unknown guy had it in for one of my distant grandfathers . And then too remembering, our mostly French DNA mom Lillian did like our milkman when I was a kid.  I do make an undocumented claim to Dr. Ron Paul as an Uncle (Uncle Ron the unsuccessful candidate for U.S. President in 2008) -- and his son Dr. Rand Paul as my cousin (Cousin Rand the U.S. Senator and unsuccessful candidate for USA President in 2016). However, I've stayed away from claiming that greatly skilled professional basketball player Chris Paul as a cousin.