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1713-ish Territory Map
French-Indian War Map
War of 1812 Map
This is what I feel like I'm trying to be when looking for my ancestry. Have you ever researched your ancestry? I'm finding holes. Those holes make me believe that my gut is right. Let me start from the beginning…
My great-grandmother was 95 when she passed. Up until her husband had passed, she was very aware and had her wits about her. He was 89 when he passed and she was 92 [yup, he went for an older gal]. Anyways, she had told many of us that we were Iroquois from Montreal, Canada area. Her family was of [known] French decent. She had given my grandfather a copper bracelet. It has the Ojibwe [Anishinaabe] Thunderbird on each link. I now have that bracelet. Reading up on the Iroquois and Ojibwe history, it's very possible that the Iroquois that my granny was referring to, was of the portion that disbanded from the Iroquois Confederacy and joined the Ojibwe in their fight against the English to keep their land in Michigan and parts of Canada. Because of course during that time, that was French "Territory". Guess it's a good thing that the French befriended the Natives, eh?
Well, in my quest, I've been reading up on "American History". Most of which has been from the Seven Years War - North American Theatre [French and Indian War], the American Revolution [incl. War], and the War of 1812… So far anyways. In what I've read thus far, it's putting together a story that would fit with my theoretical view of my ancestry.
The names I find in 3 of the 4 corners of my family are of French decent [even the Belgium relatives were French, I've found out]. I haven't dug too far into the Adams [4th corner] of my family yet. That will play a bit more difficult considering it's such a common name. It's rumored that we are related to 2nd US President John Adams, his son 6th US President John Quincy, and so on. It would make sense considering they were against slavery, befriended the French and were for the Native Americans keeping their land. Further down that bloodline, Charles Francis Adams Jr. was part of the Union Army during the American Civil War.
On to my theoretical view [considering I have a TON of digging to do still]…
Sometime prior to the Seven Years War – North American Theatre [French and Indian War], I believe is where my North American family started. I use North American as a general whole here. My French family was in Canada before migrating south to the US [Michigan mainly… Some in Wisconsin and some in Vermont]. I think the French family met the Ojibwe in Michigan and had a grand ol' time. I still, to this day, have a sneaking suspicion, my family helped some of the African-American slaves, evade the southern states, prior to the American Civil War, and had some fun times there too. Unfortunately, these things seem difficult to trace considering, the name would still be French no matter who the men got together with and married. I just need to suck it up and do the blood test to determine what's there and what's not. To me, $150 doesn't seem overly expensive to learn of my family history/ancestry... I just need to have $150 I can use for that. I'm one that prioritizes things and this is [sadly] towards the bottom of said list.
