Ancestry/Genealogy

pipi_k

(21,020 posts)

6. Weird, isn't it...

Sun Feb 3, 2013, 04:03 PM

Feb 2013

On my father's side, I spent a long time looking for a link to the DeGray family in France.

What I found was that someone by the name of "Legoues" came over, and took the name of "Grais" from the military unit he was in that was sent to Canada in the late 1600s/early 1700s.

That was changed to "de Grais", then "Degre' ", and then to DeGray.

On my mother's side is evidence of a man with the last name "Regnier" adopting the last name of his wife, which was "Brion", and then maybe a generation later changed to "Brillion".

Oh, to have been a fly on the wall during all that time, to see what happened and why...

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question: why would a surname totally change in the middle of a long line? [View all] grasswire Feb 2013 OP

I don't know all reaons, but slavery and immigration are two. nt ZombieHorde Feb 2013 #1

From what I know Hayabusa Feb 2013 #2

Hapsburg to Windsor. TheMadMonk Feb 2013 #3

yes, this all is interesting grasswire Feb 2013 #4

Ah, the other direction socioeconomically. TheMadMonk Feb 2013 #5

Look into historical tension of the era in which the name changes. sybylla Mar 2013 #12

Weird, isn't it... pipi_k Feb 2013 #6

Not sure but I heard a great story from a friend. Her ancestor was coming in from Ireland and had jwirr Feb 2013 #7

For one thing, spelling means nothing HeiressofBickworth Feb 2013 #8

Something like that happened pipi_k Feb 2013 #9

The adoption of the surname of a relative to get an inheritance, possibly Spider Jerusalem Feb 2013 #10

My first thought is that SheilaT Feb 2013 #11

It doesn't seem like the 1400's was a very nice century to be alive. PADemD Jul 2013 #13