Tag: France

December 29, 2017 Dennis Ayers

Our first Jackson ancestor who adventured to America was William Jackson in 1679. With Jackson being a very common name, tracing his line further back in England is not simple. However, researchers in England and others have successfully traced back several generations to Thomas Jackson born about 1550 in Nottinghamshire, England. (Note this is around the time and place where Robin Hood, the heroic outlaw of Sherwood Forest in English folklore, became legendary.) Tracing further back from Thomas becomes even more difficult.

That being said, there is good reason to believe the Jacksons were actually descendants of the ancient Lascelles family from France. I’ll explain. Picot de Lascelles was a Baron who apparently come over from northern France in 1066 with a contingent of William the Conqueror’s army. He helped secure a strategic part of England around Cambridge by building a castle on a hill overlooking the river, and became the High Sheriff of Cambridgeshire. His son, Roger, was his successor. After that, history mentions several generations of de Lascelles mostly in the Yorkshire area.  Then around the late 13th century, Sir John de Lascelles began using the alias of “Jackson”. This apparently continued until eventually their descendants simply became known only by the name, Jackson. Since these Jacksons came from the same general area of Northeast England as our line  is highly likely that they are our forebears.

 

 

January 30, 2013 Dennis No comments exist

Depew Coat of ArmsThe earliest Depews appear to have come from the area near Paris, France, in the seventeenth century and were of noble origin. During that period, as elsewhere in Europe, there was a bitter struggle between the Catholics and the Protestants. In France most of the Protestants were called Huguenots (properly pronounced yu-geh-noh). They diverged from Catholic beliefs in the rejection of the Pope’s authority and in the individual’s right to interpret scriptures for himself. This placed them in conflict with both the Catholic Church and the King of France. The Huguenots advocated liberal reforms in religion and government, while the Catholics, who were in power, persecuted all who opposed them. In 1685, King Louis XIV went on the throne and began a campaign of unbearable cruelty against all Huguenots.

 

As a result of such intense persecution, it has been estimated by historians that by the end of the 1600s, up to 300,000 Huguenots had evaded authorities and made their way out of the country. In general, those who left France were of a superior type, many of them belonging to the nobility. They were industrious and independent, with many coming from the highly skilled artisan class. This exodus was a primary reason that French culture and artistic ability have been scattered throughout the world. Against this historical backdrop, some of the Depews were among those Huguenots who fled for religious freedom.

 

According to the book, The Trail of the Huguenots, by G. Elmore Reaman, Barthelmy Depew was born in 1650 and became a trusted Lieutenant in the palace guard of Louis XIV.  He retired in 1682 and married countess Susannah Lavillon. However, following his Protestant beliefs, he escaped to Germany in 1685 where he stayed for 14 years before going to England in 1699. He then sailed to America to a Huguenot settlemEngland-Franceent near Richmond,Virginia where he died in 1714.

 

Also, Walter (Gaultier) Depew was born in 1674, and although some researchers suspect he was a descendant of Barhelmy, to my knowledge it has not been proven. Like many other Huguenots, Walter, made his way to England about 1695 and located in Ludlow, Shropshire, where he is said to have been a soldier. That is where he died in 1728 at age 54. Walter was our Depew ancestor.

 

March 16, 2012 Dennis Ayers No comments exist

Veatta Derrie was married to Marshall Whistleman in 1958. Although he never spoke of it, Marshall was a WW II veteran with horrible memories. Born in Staunton, VA, he was living in Baltimore Maryland when he enlisted in the Army in 1943 at the age of 18. It was during the middle of the war, and Marshall was assigned to the infantry and sent to the European Theater. There he saw action in France and Germany, earning three Bronze stars which are for “heroic or meritorious achievement or service”.

 

He was taken prisoner by the Germans near Strasburg, France on Nov 25, 1944. He was first taken to the Stalag 12A POW transition camp near Weisbaden and later transferred to the Stalag 9B work camp near Bad Orb. Thankfully, Marshall was freed May 8, 1945 when the Germans surrendered. The living conditions were especially awful at Stalag 12A and on the transfer trains. About half of all POWs died, but Marshall was one of the lucky ones.

 

After the war ended, he completed his service in the Army at Fort Myer, VA, where he served as a guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery.  He left the Army in 1947 at the rank of Corporal.

 

December 2, 2011 Dennis No comments exist

As mentioned previously, the DERRIE surname originated as DüRRENBERGER in Europe. Extensive information about the Dürrenberger families in both Europe and later in the United States has been gathered by Brian Anton and other researchers, and Brian maintains an impressive website appropriately called “The Dürrenberger Family“  (freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~fams/durrenberger).  From his website and others, I have assembled a very quick summary of the origins of the Dürrenberger name.

Alsace Flag

 

The earliest Dürrenbergers of record lived in the Basel-Landschaft region near Basel, Switzerland, which is located where the borders of Germany, France and Switzerland come together. People in that part of Switzerland speak German and the name is Germanic in origin referring to someone who comes from a Dürrenberg or dry and barren mountain. The Dürrenbergers were thought to be Calvinists (Protestants) after the Catholic Reformation in the 16th century, and some of them migrated to the Alsace region to the north of Switzerland.

 

Alsace is a region between the Rhine River and the Vosges Mountains, with portions in eastern France and western Germany. During the 17th century, the region’s association with Germany which had lasted for hundreds of years was terminated in 1648. This marked the conclusion of the Thirty Years War, when Alsace became a part of France.

 

The Thirty Years War (1618 – 1648) had its roots in the ongoing religious struggle between the Protestants and Catholics. It was mainly fought in Germany, but spilled over into many other countries as well. A major impact of the war was the extensive destruction of entire regions, ravaged by the foraging armies. Then episodes of famine and disease significantly decreased the population of some regions including Alsace. With many towns nearly empty, the local feudal lords encouraged repopulation of Alsace by the Swiss. As a result, many Swiss people migrated northward to Alsace seeking land and economic opportunity. Several Dürrenbergers were among them, coming from Basel-Landschaft and settling in both northern and southern Alsace.  Mertzwiller was one of the towns in the North to which our ancestors relocated probably sometime after 1650. Their new homeland in France was roughly 100 miles from their previous homeland in Switzerland, not far by today’s standards, but greater back then.

 

Dürrenbergers in Europe
Dürrenbergers in Europe

 

Under their new political masters in Alsace, the Swiss people continued to speak German and follow German customs. But the changes were especially hard on the German and Swiss Protestants, or “Palatines”, as they came to be known.  The hardships were  associated with the persecution of Protestants everywhere at that time in central Europe by the Catholic majority. In addition to the Germans, Swiss and French Protestants (Hugenots) were also subject to harassment and persecution.

 

As Alsace’s population grew, people again sought economic and religious opportunity elsewhere. By the early 1700’s, a mass migration of these people ensued which took thousands from their ancestral lands down the Rhine River to Holland and then to England on their way to a new life in America, with the Pennsylvania and Carolina colonies as primary destinations.  Some Alsatian Dürrenbergers arrived in the American Colonies as early as 1738, and it appears our Dürrenberger ancestors were among this first group.