Yes, I can believe it. Interesting story.
The truth is the truth and as the old saying goes, it shall set you free.
With the lady I mentioned earlier, her grandfather was just about like your distant relative, rather fixed in his way of thinking. The lady took it quite well really that her ancestor was a Yankee soldier. She said she had "never heard that before."
So truth can be stranger than fiction.
Have a good evening.
Linda