The last two weeks I have been re-reading one of my favorite books (I only get to read when my daughter is napping). The book literally makes you believe that you are a fly on the wall in the French court during the reign of King Henri II. As I got closer to the end of the book, I found myself wanting desperately to find a book just as good for when I finished it.
So there I was with 3 browsers open. One for my librarything account with book recommendations, the second to get the best deals on the recommended books off of ebay, and the third to Wikipedia researching everyone from that time in the French court. I am a little bit obsessed I guess. I usually find myself reading about King Henry VIII, but this book has captivated my attention once again.
Then I get the idea that maybe, just maybe, I could have (way way way down the line) been linked to one of these greats perhaps...so this Saturday evening I have been looking into my own past, which thanks to my moms research, have found our lineage all the way back to England in the 1560's. Which, I believe, was during Queen Elizabeth I reign. Another interesting character.
I had already made up my mind at this point that I am definitely royalty of course. I just knew there would be a direct line all the way up to the Tudors/Valois somehow, it had to be!! Well, when I finally found the man who first made his way to America from England, I saw his name John, and in quotations beside his name were the words I had dreaded to see...'servant boy'. So in reality, I am related to John 'Servant Boy'. I am sure he was a nice man.
So unfortunately my days of daydreaming about courtly affairs will have to remain on the pages of my books for now. I haven't even scratched the surface yet, I just followed one man out of many.
I did learn something I found to be pretty interesting about my grandma though. Apparently she wrote a gossip column in the 1930's and was a certified welder during WWII.
