Paris and a Trip Down the Seine

Posted on June 18, 2014 by Roberta Estes

I lived in Europe in 1970 for a few months. During that time, I visited Paris for an extended stay, and as a student, loved it. I was so looking forward to going back an visiting, with an adult perspective, and maybe seeing some of my old haunts along the Seine River.

Since then, I have also discovered that one of my ancestors was born in Paris as well – Jacques “dit Beaumont” de Bonnevie. You’ll meet him in a future article. I was connected to Paris ancestrally and couldn’t wait to revisit with that in mind. I had been looking forward to this port since we first booked the trip.

The day finally arrived and began before sunrise in the quaint Port of LeHavre, above, the closest port location to Paris for big ships like the Carnival Legend.

Hmmm, not really sure what this is. A warning to invaders maybe?

Some areas were extremely foggy, creating some very interesting early-morning effects. Perhaps something like this is what my ancestors saw in the French countryside. Difficult to photograph from a moving bus though.

The ride to Paris was a long one, several hours, so I decided I was going to enjoy the beautiful French countryside. Except, it wasn’t remarkable. It looked much like the Midwest in the US – just kind of nondescript. We didn’t pass through any villages because we were of course on the major road that bypassed villages. Eventually, I fell asleep, looking forward to arriving in Paris. And in fact, when I woke up, we were greeted with a view of the iconic Eiffel Tower. How’s that for a wake-up call!

Our first stop was not at the Eiffel Tower, per se, but at a location where you could get a photo of the tower. The tower is so large that you can’t take a photo of the tower at the tower. Unfortunately, we only had 15 minutes and no opportunity to visit the tower itself. Disappointing.

From there we went on a driving tour of Paris.

Having visited Paris for some time in 1970, many of the places looked familiar, but a lot has been updated as well.

One thing unique to Paris is the marquis type of structures on the streets. Movies, plays and sometimes just local or neighborhood events or signs are posted here. In 1970 – lost dog, need a guitar player on Friday night for a pickup band and beer on sale from 4-7 in the local beer gardens. On a good day, in 1970, the band and the beers on sale were in the same place and some handsome young man was flirting….but I digress. Ah, I loved Paris in 1970. For that matter, I loved all of Europe in 1970, but that’s a story for another time. And, in case you’re wondering, I was STUDYING there. Yes, studying. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

Here’s a more contemporary marquis.

Photos were difficult due to the glass and glare in the bus windows. The good news is that we did have sun, not rain, but the down side is that it created glare.

The Arc de Triomphe celebrates French victories and honors those who fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary and the Napoleonic Wars, with the names of all French victories and generals inscribed on its inner and outer surfaces. Beneath its vault lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I.

The Fountain of River Commerce in La Place de la Concorde, a plaza rich with French history, and the Obelisk of Luxor in the distance.

The Louvre, with its contemporary pyramid, which wasn’t built yet in 1970. I understand that the entry line for the palace is hours long. It is a fantastic art museum and I would highly recommend a visit if at all possible.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get to stop at any of these locations.

And the traffic, did I mention the traffic??

The Eiffel Tower is ever-present in Paris. The city’s tallest structure, you can orient yourself if you can find this structure on the skyline. We did that a lot in 1970. Paris’s streets are not laid out in a grid, and it’s easy to get lost.

For example, here is a satellite view of the streets radiating from the Arc de Triomphe.

Erected in 1889 as the entrance arch to the 1889 World’s Fair, the Eiffel Tower was initially criticized by some of France’s leading artists and intellectuals for its design, but has become both a global cultural icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world.

We were told the story of one Parisian man who disliked the tower, felt that it was not warm and charming but cold and ugly. He went and had coffee underneath the tower every day. When asked why he did that, since he hated the tower, he replied that when sitting under it, you can’t see it, but everyplace else in Paris, it’s on the horizon someplace.

One of the things I didn’t get to do as a student in 1970 was to take one of the Seine River boat rides. It was just out of my financial reach at that time. But this tour included a river cruise and lunch. You can see one of the cruise boats plying the waters of the Seine below. This photo is just so quintessentially Paris – the river which is the heartbeat of Paris, bridges and church spires in the distance.

We boarded the boat and we were fortunate enough to actually get a seat for the lunch where we had access to a window. Unfortunately, this boat wasn’t one that you could go upstairs where there was no glass between you and the sights. I couldn’t escape glare on the glass.

When I was in Paris before, I loved Notre Dame – just loved it. May of the students hung out on the rather bohemian left bank, La Rive Gauche, with its artists, cafes and booksellers, just across from Notre Dame. The cathedral was open all the time and welcoming of visitors, Catholic and non-Catholic alike. I suspect it still is, but seeing it again was like seeing an old friend. I so longed to walk over the bridge to the cathedral and visit again. But time ashore wasn’t included in the day’s itinerary.

Above, Notre Dame from the river just below the cathedral. It’s quite in imposing structure and considering that it was built beginning in 1163, amazing indeed.

One thing of note is that the French were extremely, exceedingly rude. We had been warned about this, but I hadn’t experienced it in 1970 and I figured it was probably exaggerated. It wasn’t exaggerated and it was very pronounced. I was very surprised. This is not something we have experienced on our side trips before and I suspect Carnival strives to avoid anything like that. But on the boat, the waiters couldn’t be described as anything else.

So basically, we ignored them and had fun anyway. We were fortunate enough to have a lunch partner couple who were also camera bugs and he took a good photo of Jim and I. Jim enjoyed the wine. I didn’t so he sacrificed and drank mine for me!

Paris is a city known for her bridges. It’s a city bisected by the Seine river so bridges every few blocks are a must.

Each bridge is unique and beautiful, and a good photo catches a nesting effect of 3 or 4 on down the river.

Art is everyplace, even beneath contemporary bridges. Paris is an incredibly interesting eclectic mixture of old and new with exciting morsels hidden in the most unlikely places – all yours for being observant.

This bridge is quite interesting. Look at the railings.

Some of the bridges in Paris have mesh type railings and they have become iconic locations for lovers to visit and then add a padlock as a type of “forever” symbol of their love. You can see the couples above. The lock is often inscribed with their initials and the key thrown away, symbolizing unbreakable love. The river bottom is probably lined with lock keys.

Here’s a closeup of the Pont des Arts bridge, above, compliments of Wiki.

Unfortunately, the combined weight of these locks on a structure that wasn’t intended to support it has caused the collapse of part of the structure in some places.

The Seine in Paris has a very social element. There are walkways and stairs all along, and they are regularly used. In 1970, we sat, drank coffee and tea, talked and read by the river. We strolled and chatted, visiting merchant shops and stalls. Sometimes we walked alone and people-watched. Paris is and was extremely cosmopolitan. It looks like people are doing much the same things today.

You just never know who you’re going to see riding by…maybe an ancestor…

The perspective from the river is certainly different than anyplace on land. This is much more authentic to what our ancestors would have seen – minus the cars and hubbub that the walls block.

As we return down the Seine, we see Notre Dame in the distance again.

In the center of Paris is an island, Île de la Cité, the heart and origin of Paris. You can see the islands on the right and the location of the Eiffel Tower, at left, as well.

A this point, the river splits and flows on either side of the island. Of course, Notre Dame is on the left.

I have no idea about the orange building…but it was very interesting and creative, and you can’t miss it. No question about directions either – “go to the orange building and turn left.”

Coming full circle now.

Back to the Eiffel tower.

France is culturally different than any of the other countries in Europe. It feels different. The people are different. One aspect that stands out, other than their obvious dislike of tourists, are their laws about DNA testing.

Any paternity testing without a court order is banned, due to the official desire to “preserve the peace” within French families, with the French government citing psychologists who state that fatherhood is determined by society rather than biology. French men apparently don’t agree and often circumvent these laws by sending samples of DNA to foreign laboratories, but risk prosecution if caught. The maximum penalty for carrying out secret paternity testing is a whopping one year in prison and a €15,000 fine.

This argument for preserving the peace is in direct conflict with why people undertake paternity testing elsewhere. And not to be undone by the law, there has been a boom in DNA testing on kits from France in adjacent countries.

Of course, DNA testing for genealogy (as does medical testing) certainly has the potential to indicate, quickly and easily, if a father and son are not related, both utilizing the Y tests and the autosomal tests – even if that’s not the intended purpose. Therefore today, in genetic genealogy, we rely on those who have moved away from France or are the descendants of a group like the Acadians to represent French families. For people having French heritage, this is a very frustrating situation.

So if your matches map at Family Tree DNA has a big blank spot with no or few balloons in France – don’t presume that there’s a message about your ancestors. The message could well be a modern one having to do with French laws and not ancestral migrations.

______________________________________________________________

Disclosure

I receive a small contribution when you click on some of the links to vendors in my articles. This does NOT increase the price you pay but helps me to keep the lights on and this informational blog free for everyone. Please click on the links in the articles or to the vendors below if you are purchasing products or DNA testing.

Thank you so much.

DNA Purchases and Free Transfers

Genealogy Services

Genealogy Research

Legacy Tree Genealogists for genealogy research

Acadian Maryland Historical Marker Unveiling

Posted on August 21, 2013 by Roberta Estes

Acadians, as we know, are a French-Canadian people who settled at Port Royal, Nova Scotia, in 1605 (replica above) and intermarried with the Native people, primarily Mi’kmaq. They were expelled from Canada by the British in 1755 and set adrift, winding up literally dispersed to the winds, landing in various places in the US, Europe and in the Caribbean, before they congregated in Louisiana and became known as Cajuns.

A group of about 900 of these displaced people, now refugees with nothing to their name, arrived in Maryland, a Catholic colony, and spent several years living there, many trying to make their way back to Canada. With the end of the war in 1763, these Acadians desperately wanted to settle among their own people. Some did return to Canada, but the rest found their way to Louisiana, the last group leaving in 1769.

Marie Rundquist, an Acadian descendant and founder of the Amerindian – Ancestry Out of Acadia DNA project, lobbied for 2 years for a sign commemorating this forgotten episode in Acadian and Maryland history.

Marie says, “One of my personal goals is to assign dignity to the heritage that I have learned is truly mine. To have a sign like this brings an Acadian history into the mainstream, and recognizes a people whose ancestry has not always been held in the highest esteem, and whose integral role in early American history has been largely dismissed by traditional scholars.

That the DNA of Native Americans of Canada rolled into Louisiana, and other parts of the United States, by way of this diaspora is at the heart of the Amerindian Ancestry out of Acadia project. The British didn’t pick and choose among whom they would toss into the Ocean…all went; it mattered not if your family had been in the area 150 years or 18,000!”

On July 28^th, 2013, on the day of the Acadian Memorial and Remembrance, when Acadians around the world recall the expulsion of 11,000+ Acadians from Nova Scotia in 1755, Marie celebrated by unveiling the sign in Princess Anne, Maryland. Way to go Marie!!!

______________________________________________________________

Disclosure

Thank you so much.

DNA Purchases and Free Transfers

Genealogy Services

Genealogy Research

Legacy Tree Genealogists for genealogy research

Family Tree DNA Conference 2012 – Native American Focus Meeting

Posted on November 12, 2012 by Roberta Estes

Wow. Talk about drinking from a firehose. From the minute we arrived in the lobby Friday afternoon until we got back to the airport Sunday evening, we barely had time to breathe.

This was an amazing conference in many ways. I’ll try to hit the high points in a separate blog, but in this posting, I want to cover the Native American Focus meeting and talk a little bit about the interests of the different attendees.

The first event, at 4 on Friday afternoon, was a small meeting of people who are admins or have a specific interest in Native American heritage. Rebekah Canada, haplogroup Q project administrator, coordinated this meeting and a hearty thank you goes to her for her efforts. We have never attempted this type of event before, and we all agreed, we need to do it again.

Unfortunately, many projects that are focused on or include Native results did not have a project administrator here and were not represented.

Peter Roberts is the administrator of the Bahamas project. The Bahamas are rich with Native history, but evidence they existed in the DNA record is slim. The Lucayan Indians were removed from the Island by the Spanish. While we know they existed, their results, surprisingly, are not showing up directly in the yline or mtdna results. We also know that some Seminoles arrived later from Florida and others came from the mainland as well. Low levels of Native heritage are showing up in autosomal testing.

David Pike discovered his Native heritage quite by accident. His father turned out to be 3.4% Native. He believes it is probably MicMac (Mi’kmaq) or perhaps Beothuk, a now extinct tribe, in Newfoundland, but is still researching. Dave mentioned an opportunity for tribal membership in Canada for those who can prove Micmac heritage and will be providing that information. I will blog it when that arrives.

Marie Rundquist is the administrator of the AmerIndian Ancestors out of Acadia project which began in 2006. I love this project, somewhat from a selfish perspective, since I’ve connected so many of my Acadian ancestors, and Native ancestors, through this project. This is also one the most successful mitochondrial DNA projects, if not the most successful, there is. Marie’s project has served to prove or disprove several Native rumors, and has found other Native people quite by accident. She wrote a book, titled Revisiting Anne Marie and I’ve blogged about her success with the Doucet results. This project is not just for Acadians in Canada, but reaches to Louisiana, and families with Acadian heritage outside of the primary relocation areas.

Kathy Johnson’s cousin came back with a haplogroup Q results. Subsequent testing revealed 4 new SNPS in her sample. This Pembrook family is believed to be from the Mohawk River area in New York.

Georgia and Tom Bopp, administrators of the Hawaii project, from Hawaii, attended. Frankly, I had never thought about them and Native ancestry, but certainly Hawaii did have a Native population. They had a very interesting situation where one of their early tester’s mitochondrial results came back as haplogroup B. They were told they were Native American, then they were told they were Polynesian. Native was reasonable, but Polynesian somewhat confounding given that their ancestor was a slave in Maryland. Eventually, it was discovered their maternal ancestor was from Matagascar. Georgia will send the information and we’ll do a blog about this in the future. How very interesting.

Rob and Dyann Noles administer the Lumbee Tribe and Wiregrass Georgia projects. Rob maintains a data base of over 250,000 individuals related to these projects. While the Lumbee project is named as such, it is not endorsed by the Lumbee tribe itself. However, numerous individuals descended from those who are early tribal founders have tested.

As haplogroup Q project administrator, Rebekah has been instrumental in the ongoing testing of haplogroup Q individuals. Many members have been SNP tested and more than a few have participated in the WTY (Walk the Y)) which has resulted in many new haplogroup subgroups being discovered. We’ve made more progress in the past two years than in the previous 10 in haplogroup Q. Someday, I hope we’ll be able to identify at least members of different Native language groups by results. Maybe I’m dreaming here, but goals are good!

I shared my work with the Native Heritage project and my ongoing transcriptions into the Native Names data base. We now have over 8,000 different surnames and well over 30,000 people, and I’m no place near “done.” Of course, it’s always a great day when I find a proven Native surname of someone who has tested Native in our haplogroup Q project.

We discussed the reluctance of recognized tribes to test and their concerns. We all respect their decisions, although from a genetic genealogy perspective, we are glad when descendants test.

I suspect that many of the Native genetic lines have become extinct. The Native people, aside from having to survive in a harsh, cold climate upon arriving from Asia, have had to endure multiple genocidal attempts (Native as well as European) in addition to many epidemics. Some epidemics wiped out entire tribes. In 1838, a smallpox epidemic took half of the powerful Cherokee. No one was immune. That combined with intermarriage, assimilation, and adoption through either traditional cultural means or kidnapping have caused the “Native” DNA results to not always be what we expect.

We are hopeful that ancient DNA will shed a light on extinct lines as well as answer the ever-present question about whether European or perhaps African DNA was present in the Native population before the traditional dates of European contact

I want to thank everyone who attended for their participation and sharing, and encourage anyone else who is interested to let either Rebekah or I know.

______________________________________________________________

Disclosure

Thank you so much.

DNA Purchases and Free Transfers

Genealogy Services

Genealogy Research

Legacy Tree Genealogists for genealogy research

Germain Doucet and Haplogroup C3b

Posted on September 18, 2012 by Roberta Estes

I love a good mystery, don’t you? Well, the Doucet family has one and it’s a doosey.

Marie Rundquist, the founder and administrator of the Amerindian Ancestry Out of Acadia project at Family Tree DNA has recently written a new paper about the C3b results within the project.

Marie’s paper, titled “C3b Y Chromosome DNA Test Results Point to Native American Deep Ancestry, Relatedness, Among United States and Canadian Study Participants,” tells about the project and the findings relative to haplogroup C3b. Her raw data is available within the project. The Native American people involved are the Mi’kmaq and ironically, while we have found several Mi’kmaq men who carry haplogroup C3b, we haven’t found any carrying the much more common Q1a3a.

The Acadian people were French and settled in the eastern-most region of Canada beginning in 1605 in Port Royal, Nova Scotia. They mixed freely with the Native people and intermarried. Beginning in 1710 and continuing until 1755, when they were forcibly deported, they were in conflict with the English government and refused to sign an oath of loyalty to England. The families were highly endogamous. Today, if you discover you descend from an Acadian family, you will discover that you descend from many Acadian families. I have one cousin who discovered that he and I are related 132 different ways.

The map below shows Acadia just before the Acadians were deported.

Marie’s paper shows that 6 different families with different surnames carry haplogroup C3b and all are related within 16 generations, or between 400 and 500 years. Many are, of course, related much more closely.

The Doucet family is represented by 8 different males who all tested as haplogroup C3b. They descend from various sons of Germain Doucet, born in 1641. Germain was always presumed to be the son of the French founder, Germain Doucet, born in 1595 in France, the commander of Fort Royal.

Hmmm, this is known as a fly in the ointment. Indeed, the original descendants of Germain Doucet (1595) who had tested carried haplogroups of R1b1a2, clearly European, just as we would expect. But then, there was another Doucet test and he was discovered to be haplogroup C3b.

Keith Doucet, the man who tested to be C3b, and Marie subsequently wrote about their discovery and the process they went through to find other men to confirm that DNA result in a story titled “Confirmed C3b Y DNA Results Test the Heritage of Cajun Cousin Keith Doucet.”

This of course, raises questions, none of which can be readily answered. Doesn’t every genealogy find raise at least two new questions? Well, this one raises a few more than two.

The other son of Germain Doucet (1595), Pierre tests to be R1b1a2, while “son” Germain (1641) tested to be C3b. Obviously, these man cannot both be the genetic children of Germain Doucet (1595) and unless a Native American Mi’kmaq male made their way to France sometime in the distant past, Germain (1641)’s father was not from France and was not Germain Doucet (1595).

We know that Germain Doucet (1595) arrived in Port Royal in 1632, was noted as the commander in 1640 and returned to France in 1654 after Port Royal fell to the English, leaving at least two of his 4 children who had married in Port Royal.

So what happened? Here are some possibilities.

Germain Doucet (1595) and his wife adopted an Indian child and named him Germain Doucet

One of Germain Doucet’s older daughter’s had an illegitimate child and named him Germain Doucet, in honor of her father.

Germain’s wife became pregnant by a Native man.

A Native person adopted Germain Doucet’s name out of respect. When Native people were baptized in the Catholic faith, they were given non-Native names.

So, through Marie’s project and hard work, we’ve solved one mystery and introduce yet another.

______________________________________________________________

Disclosure

Thank you so much.

DNA Purchases and Free Transfers