How do I go about using genetic testing to support (or disprove) the identity of an individual before a name change?
My great-great-grandfather, Everett T Malcom, would just say, "It's me own business" whenever someone asked him about his parents, siblings, or personal history before he turned up in Utah in about 1888. What little information his only child, Glendora, was able to glean from him hasn't turned up any matches for the names he gave for parents and siblings. Glendora reports his parents' names as "John Malcom" and "Jane Stokes".
It's widely thought among my relatives that Everett must have changed his name when he moved west, for whatever reason, and cut off ties with his past life.
A likely candidate for his original identity is Mark Ellsworth Templin, son of John Wesley Templin and Jane Stokes of Goshen, Mahoning, Ohio. The strongest match here is that the maiden names of John Templin's two previous wives match the maiden names for John Malcom's two previous wives, as reported by Glendora. Additionally, several given names of siblings match, and the timeline and geography work out well (for details, please see discussion on Family Search Tree).
Could genetic testing be helpful in supporting (or disproving) the theory that Everett T Malcom and Mark Ellsworth Templin are one and the same? If so, what strategies would be most helpful? Everett T Malcom's closest living relative is a grandson (my great-uncle). Mark Ellsworth Templin's son, Charles, doesn't appear to have left any children, based on his wife's obituary. Should I contact descendants of Mark's siblings and ask them for their genetic info to compare with my great-uncle? What are the names of the tests for this that I should look for when shopping for a DNA company?