Genealogy Searches Can Be Rewarding

When I see that commercial of the person who thought he was of German descent, but found it otherwise, I can certainly relate to this.  I was told that I was one fourth of German descent, three sixteenths of English descent, one sixteenth French directly from France, one fourth Irish and one fourth Cajun French.  Some of this was right, but some was so far off it should never have been claimed.

The facts are that my maternal grandmother has roots in Germany.  But I now know these roots come specifically from Bavaria.  Bayern is one location that comes up.  My maternal grandfather has some origins in Sussex, England, where his father came from and later returned to.  His mother was in an orphanage at a young age, and I cannot get any information from the past her except for her last name and the fact her father was from France.  This scant information comes from her marriage license, so she herself did not know her parents first names.

On my father’s side things were completely in error.  Searching the name Smith was surprisingly easy, since the line go back to some rather famous people.    Originally, it was Smythe, but changed hundreds of years ago.  The Smith.Smythe line is well documented, and some of those in it had titles.  In fact, the last man to be found as a Smythe was High Sheriff John Smythe, and his son was William Smith, a godfather of William Shakespeare.  The Smythe line ends with Lord Michael of Carrington Smythe.  The lords and ladies from my ancestry intermarried with others with titles, and I am able to follow branches back to Emperor Louis I of the Western Holy Roman Empire, then to some other impressive names.  Many of these ancestors arrived in England from Bavaria and other locations, in particular the spouses of the lords, whose lines can also be traced.  Indeed, the line is documented to Charles Martel, Charlemagne and Clovis.  If a line of such significance is entered the work of going back g unless gets easier, but not equally so for the branches that come into it via spouses unless they are also of significance.    

Finally, my father’s Cajun heritage is not so simple.  I can trace ancestors to Nova Scotia, the origin of the Cajuns, and others to Quebec.  Others came directly from France, one as the personal physician of Bienville.  Then came Spanish names, which were traced to boats that brought people to Louisiana from the Canary Islands off North Africa who are genetically Berbers, which is what North Africans of Egypt, Morocco, and other Mediterranean countries are.

I soon had a long list of names, but so what?  Even of the person had a title it would not serve me to be a descendant.  I began to ask why was I being compelled to continue looking back.  Then, as I searched back I started learning much about history.  The search was providing me with an interest in learning, and I was absorbing the information because it involved my ancestors.  It was providing an education in history.  I am degreed in both physics and in mathematics, so history was not an interest before, as it is now.  And, I became keenly interested in the culture and the geography of the areas I am finding, especially England, Germany, France, and Canada.

The one thing I have really gotten out of my search is my direct line to Bishop Arnulf of Metz, a person later elevated to sainthood.  He served in Pepin of Hershel’s court, and later entered a monastery.  While his life story is interesting, he is one of several saints that I found in my line. 

A few years ago I had a kidney stone, and at the hospital there was discovered something on the opposite side kidney.  My doctor determined it to be cancer, and proclaimed “You have a friend named God.  Had we not found this early there is no cure.  But God sent you the kidney stone.”   The cancer was removed surgically, and all is fine.  I suspect Saint Arnulf had a hand in the detection of the cancer, even though at that time I had no idea he had ever existed.  Now, I have a family saint which is the best benefit I have gotten out of an ancestry search.  So, the continued searching now has meaning, an unexpected turn of events. 

Indeed, I have found several other saints in my line, but Saint Arnulf of Metz is possibly the most significant.

Louisiana was not one of the thirteen colonies that broke from England in the American Revolution.  Yet I find people in my line who are credited with service in the American Revolution.   There are two distinct stories here.

First, the French speaking Catholics of Arcadia, Nova Scotia, were expelled shortly before the American Revolution because they were Catholics and spoke French.  They found their way to Louisiana.  Louisiana was founded by the French, and had passed to Spanish control.  The Spanish governor, Galvez, allowed them to enter, and they settled in the swamps.  Spain, like France, was also Catholic, and there were many of French descent already in Louisiana.  When war broke out there were English forts at Manchac and Baton Rouge.  General Galvez realized New Orleans was in jeopardy, since the port would serve the British army well, so he decided to remove the threats.  He assembled his army, which soon was joined by the new arrivals, the Cajuns, who had just been uprooted and sent into exile.  Thy were still upset with the British of Arcadia.  This now large army won both battles and cleared the area of British troops.

The second story involves my ancestors from the Canary Islands.  Spain decided to recruit from the Canary Islands, which belonged to Spain, and opted for entire families.  This was to provide coast watchers to warn of British warships menacing New Orleans, and to further populate the area.  So, this wave of immigrants came as a direct result of the American Revolution.

This told me much not only about who my ancestors were, but about how they came here, and their roles in the history of America by an area on the sidelines for the American Revolution.

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