I have a similar scenario. I am 99% sure of the identity of the father of my 2 x ggf and I have worked up a very good tree for him. He has no known living descendents though, so the tree remains an academic theory.
My family started to die out round about 1900. Huge families but many never married and those who did either had no children or just one child who in turn didn't produce. As far as surnames go, when my brother dies and my first cousin dies, that will be the end of over 1000 years of Holdens, although of course the name carries on elsewhere.
OC
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