Some Family History.

I absolutely love family history, and if some of you have a request, I might be able to find out a little bit for you- a coat of arms, maybe a motto, maybe a little information. The resources on the internet are kind of limited (most places want you to pay for their services) but I still manage to scrounge up some good information.

For example.

The earliest ancestor I've been able to find is a man named Sir Oliver D'Esse, who was a Norman and a companion to King William, Duke of Normandy. Also known as William the Conqueror after 1066, when he sailed from what is modern-day France to conquer England. Sir Oliver has a coat of arms almost identical to my own. A silver shield, two black chevrons. My modern family heraldry is the same, with two silver five pointed stars inside the top of each chevron. Our last names are also remarkably similar. The family motto is "Non nobis sed omnibus", which means "Not for us but for all". Good stuff. This is on my father's side of the family.

On my mother's side of the family, I'm related to a town in France. Hazebrouck. Our family was apparently so influential there that we had our own door in the side of the cathedral built in 1494. It's still there to this day- a side door, our own private entrance, with the family coat of arms above it. The research my mother has done shows that we're related to two or three founding fathers of America... can't remember which ones off the top of my head.

Love family history.

So where the hell did I go wrong, eh? All this greatness behind me and I'm delivering pizzas.