Melissa Gilbert discovers real-life family connection to her “Little House on the Prairie” character

Melissa Gilbert shared a connection between her Little House on the Prairie character's family and her real-life family.

Key points

• The actress said that the connection was discovered by her fifth cousin.

• Gilbert also shared a surprising parallel between her birth mother and her adopted mother.

Melissa Gilbertis discovering new connections between her family and her most iconic character.

TheDiary of Anne Frankactress shared a bizarre parallel between her biological father and the family of herLittle House on the Prairiecharacter, real-life author Laura Ingalls Wilder.

"I was today years old when I found out my birth father, David Darlington's middle name was ..... MANLY!" shesharedon Instagram.

"Manly" was the nickname that Ingalls Wilder gave to her husband, Almanzo Wilder, who was played by Dean Butler on the last four seasons of the show.

Gilbert was adopted the day after her birth in 1964 by comedian Paul Gilbert and actress Barbara Crane. She later reconnected with her biological father, but didn't make the discovery about his middle name until a distant relative shared the information with her recently.

"Thank you to my fifth cousin, @harleesco for being such a stalwart researcher," Gilbert wrote in her Instagram caption before sharing another wild coincidence. "I also learned that my birth mother, Frances Catherineanne Wood (Cathy), was born on April 26, 1935. My mother, Barbara Gilbert-Cowan was born on April 26, 1936!!!!!!"

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She continued, "It's just too coincidental and there might be other birth relatives out there who see it."

Gilbert has been a frequent Instagram user in recent years, butdeactivated her accountfor a few months after authoritiesissued a warrantfor the arrest of her husband,West WingstarTimothy Busfield, on child sex abuse charges in January. (Busfield has denied the allegations.) Sherejoined the platformearlier this month.

Due to the heightened scrutiny around her family, Gilbert has been limiting comments on her social media posts — but turned them back on for this particular post about her father.

"If things get weird, or nasty, I'll turn them off again but I know there are so many people out there with similar stories and experiences," she wrote. "I'm compelled to share mine and want, very much, to hear yours."

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Gilbert hasdefended her husband, calling him "the last person in the world who would hurt a child" in a recent interview withGood Morning America. "We are grieving what we had," she said. "All of our plans, all of our dreams, all of our ideas, all of our projects… For Tim, it's done. He's canceled and this will never — even if he's exonerated, he will always be that guy."

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