Knights & Warriors Of My Past

Family Tree History & Research

Wed, Feb 21, 2018

 A Few Stories of Knights & Warriors & Chivalric Ancestors

As I continue my research into the old Family Tree, I came upon a few more interesting ancestral kin who made names for themselves in the annals of history. Come along on my latest journey into my mother's family lines and my recent discoveries.

Robert Guiscard

Robert Guiscard (1015 – 1085), widely known as the Wily or the Weasel, was a Norman knight who settled in southern Italy about 1047. After a series of adventures, he made himself Duke of Apulia in 1059, and transformed southern Italy into a Norman domain by extending his rule over Calabria, Naples, and Sicily, laying the foundations for the Kingdom of Sicily.

What...Do You Think Your A Saint or Something??

Family Tree History And Research
Feb 19h, 2018

WHO DO WE THINK WE ARE?

"What...Do You Think Your A Saint Or Something??

As I was growing up, I remember our mom used to ask me this question when I denied doing something wrong....even though she (and everyone else) knew I did do something I wasn't supposed to....

What is a Saint?

According to this definition in Wikipedia:
A saint (also historically known as a hallow) is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness or likeness or closeness to God.Depending on the context and denomination, the term also retains its original Christian meaning, as any believer who is "in Christ" and in whom Christ dwells, whether in Heaven or on Earth. In Anglican, Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Lutheran, and Oriental Orthodox doctrine, all of their faithful deceased in Heaven are considered to be saints, but some are considered worthy of greater honor or emulation;official ecclesiastical recognition, and consequently veneration, is given to some saints through the process of canonization in the Catholic Church or glorification in the Eastern Orthodox Church.

While I am not a "Saint" or even close to it, I have made a few family discoveries in the past few months that have my mother and myself and my siblings and their children the descendants of a few of these folks.

I cried when I discovered one of my ancestral Great Grandmother's was "grouped" in this realm of human beings.
So much so that even as I write this post, my brain is having a very difficult time grasping this find. To think that a person who is venerated by scores of people to this very day and that I share her blood, is probably one of the most profound things that I have discovered while researching my family's ancestral roots and history.

A few days ago, on another lark I decided to query some of the other saints through history and though I am still doing some pretty in depth research, I can now proudly say that I and my siblings and their children, through our mother, Marlene Grace Dietz Repinski, descend from some very neat people from history who were canonized as Saints in one of the many world faiths.

Today I would like to introduce everyone to the first of these "Saints".

Margaret Etheling Canmore

February 12th-Today in my Family History

Family Tree History and Research
Monday, Feb 12th, 2018

Today is a special day for me as it was the day that the Lord decided to let me enter this realm we call the Earth and to start my journey of learning and enlightenment. 
Below are some of the events that happened on this day in my family's history:

1973: The Death of my maternal Grandfather, Raymond Harold Dietz

Raymond Harold Dietz

An Amazing Discovery! The Father of Texas is my Cousin!

Family Tree History and Research
Monday, Feb 5th, 2018

As I was researching my family tree just now I stumbled upon and discovered a 14th Great Grandfather through my mother's family line from her father (my grandfather) Ray Dietz, named Stephen Austin, who was born in 1484 in Kent England.

On a lark I decided to research the ancestry of the namesake of Austin Texas to see if my ancestral great grandfather was somehow connected to the "Founder of Texas"......

Stephen Austin 

(1484-1557)

My 14th Great Grandfather

*Stephen F. Austin's 6th Great Grandfather*

Stephen F. Austin 

(1793-1836)

My 7th Cousin

Father of Texas

John Jenney-My 10th Great Grandfather

Family Tree History and Research
Monday, Feb 5, 2018

A Moving Video of my 10th Great Grandpa's ancestral home

My first discovery of a New England Ancestor from my mother's family line that I discovered about a year and a half ago while researching my great grandmother's family history.

Little did I know that making this discovery the August before last that I would be starting an amazing foray into the history of our world and that this marvelous journey through history would enable me to discover numerous ancestral great grandparents and aunts and uncles that came to America on ships such as the Mayflower and the Fortune and the Anne and the Little James and ships that sailed in the "Great Migration" of the Winthrop Fleet and more.

I would find Ancestors that would settle Colonial America and become the founders The United States of America.

I would then find Ancestors that would lead me back across the ocean to England and mainland Europe and beyond.

I would find Ancestors that have given me noble and royal ancestors that in my wildest dreams I never imagined would be possible, but the pedigrees are all there written down.

I would also find through these Ancestors that humanity is ONE BIG FAMILY and that we are all related to one another in one way or another.

John Jenney-My 10th Great Grandfather

Today I would like to introduce everyone to my 10th Great Grandparents and my 9th Great grandmother who I descend from through my mother and through her grandmother on her father's side of her family.

When I first discovered my line to him, all I knew was the following (I penned this paragraph in my journal back in Sep of 2016):

That I accidentally discovered a direct line of descent from one of my great grandmothers to a family that helped settle Plymouth Mass., though they did not arrive on the Mayflower is unbelievable!

So it is that My 10th great grandparents, John and Sarah Jenney sailed a few years (1623) after on a ship called “The Little James”. 

They were part of the group that went to Leiden Holland in the early 1600s with William Brewster and the other pilgrims but for some reason they decided not to embark on the Mayflower and instead waited until 1623 to make the journey to New England. Once they arrived in Plymouth, they quickly became an important part of the new colony by erecting the 1st successful “Grist Mill” for grinding corn into mill and flour. 

John also created the 1st salt works for the colony and was part of the early governing council. Family records indicate that they were close friends of William Bradford and Miles Standish among others.

My 10th Great Grandparents-America's First GristMill

Beyond the Pilgrim Story

Alice of Saluzzo, Countess of Arundel

Family Tree History and Research
Sunday, Feb 4, 2018

Alice of Saluzzo, Countess of Arundel
23rd Great Grandmother
1269-1292

Another new discovery today.
And another noble ancestral Great Grandmother!
Through my mother's (Marlene Grace Dietz Repinski) family line comes a young lady who only lived for 23 years but it must have been a pretty awesome 23 years.
She comes from a very old Italian family line and married into a noble English line which would give her many descendants that would help shape the history of our world.

This line descends to my mother and my siblings and their children through her grandmother (our great grandmother), Grace Pope Dietz. From Grace's line, this branch would go back through her fathers Pope family line to my 5th great grandmother, Ruth Hammond Pope and through her mother, Sarah Holmes Hammond's line to her Clark family line and then the Strong family line (which I have not had a chance to research yet).
Eventually this line would lead back to the noble English Leigh and Strafford families to the Goushill and then finally the FitzAlan noble lines.
In this line would be knights and ladies, a Lord Mayor of London and other historic figures of English history.

Alice (or Alecia) Saluzzo FitzAlan is the 1st ancestor of Italian heritage I have discovered.


Shall we get to know this woman, who though she only lived a short 23 years, left descendants including me and my siblings and the Dukes of Norfolk, the English Queen Consorts of Henry the VIII, Winston Churchill, Princes Dianna and the current Royal Family.

Alice of Saluzzo, FitzAlan-Countess of Arundel

Hans-Adam II, Prince of Liechtenstein- 15th Cousin

Family History Research 

Feb 1st, 2018

Our Noble and Royal Ancestors

Repinski-Dulek Family Line

Another discovery a few days ago while researching a number of my mother's family lines back to Europe gave me quite a surprise...


A 15th cousin from my father's (Maurice Joseph Repinski) family line through his mother, Evelyn Dulek Repinski.
...And a Royal cousin at that!!

Introduction

This particular line I knew of, but didn't know of this branch until this last week.
A line that has nobility and royalty going up and down everywhere it seems...

My Grandmother Evelyn Dulek Repinski and her Noble Nalecz Ancestral Branch

From what I have been able to discover, it seems that my paternal grandmother, Evelyn Dulek Repinski descends from a line of "Szlachta" that goes back from her father's mother's line and back to her 6th Great Grandmother (my 8th Great Grandmother), a woman named Anna Katarzyna Pradzinska Gostomska H Nalecz.

Her maiden name being "Gostomska H Nalecz". 

In Poland at this time, the maiden name was given after the married name and often that maiden name is a conglomeration of two family surnames.

I started researching the reasoning for naming system and what I have found is that the part of her surname that is Nalecz, is the "Szlachta" or "Clan" name of a number of noble polish family lines. 

The Nalecz Coat of Arms

The Nalecz Coat of Arms explained

Szlachta

The Polish term "szlachta" designated the formalized, hereditary noble class of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which constituted the nation itself, and ruled without competition.

In official Latin documents of the old Commonwealth, hereditary szlachta are referred to as "nobilitas" and are indeed the equivalent in legal status of the English nobility.

Today the word szlachta in the Polish language simply translates to "nobility". In its broadest meaning, it can also denote some non-hereditary honorary knighthoods granted today by some European monarchs. Occasionally, 19th-century non-noble landowners were referred to as szlachta by courtesy or error, when they owned manorial estates though they were not noble by birth. In the narrow sense, szlachta denotes the old-Commonwealth nobility.

In the past, a certain misconception sometimes led to the mistranslation of "szlachta" as "gentry" rather than "nobility".

This mistaken practice began due to the economic status of some szlachta members being inferior  to that of the nobility in other European countries.

 The szlachta included those almost rich and powerful enough to be magnates down to rascals with a noble lineage, no land, no castle, no money, no village, and no peasants.

At least 60,000 families belonged to the nobility, however, only about 100 were wealthy, all the rest were poor.

As some szlachta were poorer than some non-noble gentry, some particularly impoverished szlachta were forced to become tenants of the wealthier gentry. In doing so, however, these szlachtaretained all their constitutional prerogatives, as it was not wealth or lifestyle (obtainable by the gentry), but hereditary juridical status, that determined nobility.

An individual nobleman was called a "szlachcic", and a noblewoman a "szlachcianka".
Definition of Sclachta

Our Branch to the Nalecz/ Sxlachta Noble Line of Poles

Brief Bio of My 8th Great Grandmother, Anna Katarzyna Pradzinska Gostomska H Nalecz:

Gender: Female
Birth: circa 1680
Death: November 9, 1739 (55-63)
Łąkie?, Pomorskie, Poland
Immediate Family:

Daughter of Jan Jerzy Babka Gostomski h. Nałęcz, Sr. and Anna Katarzyna Babka Gostomska
Wife of Jakub Aubracht Prądziński
Mother of Elżbieta Depka Prądzińska; Anna Pałubicka and Józef Aubracht Prądziński
Sister of Jan Jerzy Babka Gostomski Jr.; Julianna Katarzyna Prądzińska and Konstancja Trzebiatowska

I do not know much more about her than the above. I do know that her father and going back 3 further generations carry the Nalecz Szlachta Coat of Arms/ Clan Surname though (See pedigree below).

 It is from my 13th great grandfather in this line, Dobrogost Gostomski, and his brother that our lines diverge, with one brother's line going to Prince Hans and the other brother's line descending to myself and my family through our other ancestors.

**And for those that know my father and his brothers and sisters, let me know if anyone sees in the photo of Hans below, a resemblance to any of them.  I do!!

The Line of Family Divergence

(Two branches of the same branch divide)

Our Mutual Ancestors

Dobrogost (alias Anzelm) Głowacz z Pawłowic (z Pawlowic vel Gostomski).
*Dobrogost was my 14th Great Grandfather and Cousin Hans' 14th Great Grandfather as well.

A little bit about 14th Great Grandfather, Dobrogost:
Born: early 1400s

Place: Sandomierz, Poland
Died: around 1466 

Place: Torun, Poland

Parents: Jan "Głowacz" Leżeński and Katarzyna Leżeńska
Jan and Katarzyna (our 15th Great Grandparents) had the following children:
1.Hieronim Dogrobost Z Pawlowic Vel Gostomski(our 13th Great Grandfather).

2.Jakub Dobrogost Z Pawlowic Vel Gostomski (Han's 13th Great Grandfather).

Our mutual 14th Great Grandfather, Dogrobost, was the Ensign of Sandomierz, starost of Lublin, voivode of Sieradz, and one of the founders of the city of Głowaczów.

In 1445, as a knight of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Witold Kiejstutowicz, he fought the Teutonic Knights at Chojnice.

He died 1466 staying in Toruń during peace negotiations with the Teutonic Knights, of the plague.

Our Royal Cousin

Johannes Adam II Ferdinand Alois Josef Maria Marco d’Aviano Pius von Liechtenstein, Fürst von und zu Liechtenstein 

15th cousin.

Biography of Hans Adam of Liechtenstein

Pedigree From Myself to Prince Hans

John Joseph Repinski

(Me)

→ Maurice Joseph Repinski

 My Father 

→ Evelyn M. Repinski

His Mother

(My Grandmother)

 →John Sr. S. Dulek

her father 

(My Great Grandfather)

→ Antoinette Dulek

his mother 

(My 2nd Great Grandmother)

→ Magdalena Marianna Ossowska

her mother 

(My 3rd Great Grandmother)

→ Jan Antoni Kiedrowski

her father 

(My 4th Great Grandfather)

→ Marianna Kiedrowska

his mother 

(My 5th Great Grandmother)

→ Joanna Kręcka

her mother

(My 6th Great Grandmother)

→ Józef Aubracht Prądziński

her father 

(My 7th Great Grandfather

→ Anna Katarzyna Aubracht Prądzińska

his mother 

(My 8th Great Grandmother)

→ Jan Jerzy Babka Gostomski h. Nałęcz, Sr.

her father 

(My 9th Great Grandfather)

→ Krzysztof Babka Gostomski h. Nałęcz, Jr.

his father 

(My 10th Great Grandfather)

→ Krzysztof Babka Gostomski h. Nałęcz, Sr.

his father 

(My 11th Great Grandfather)

→ Walenty Gostomski h. Nałęcz

his father 

(My 12th Great Grandfather)

→ Dobrogost Gostomski

his father 

(My 13th Great Grandfather)

↘︎

→ Jakub Dobrogost z Pawlowic vel Gostomski

his brother 

(My 12th Great Uncle)

→ Anzelm Gostomski

his son 

(1st cousin 14 times removed)

→ Dorota Tarło

his daughter 

(2nd cousin 13 times removed)

→ Anna Chodkiewicz

her daughter 

(3rd cousin 12 times removed)

→ Barbara Kopeć

her daughter

(4th cousin 11 times removed)

→ Anna Barbara Sapieha

her daughter 

(5th cousin 10 times removed)

→ Konstancija Sanguškienė

her daughter 

(6th cousin 9 times removed)

→ Prince Paweł Karol Sanguszko h. Pogoń Litewska

her son 

(7th Cousin 8 times removed)

→ Anna Jabłonowska

his daughter 

(8th cousin 7 times removed)

→ Dorota Barbara Jabłonowska h. Prus (III)

her daughter

(9th Cousin 6 times removed)

→ Józefina Maria Czartoryska

her daughter

(10th cousin 5 times removed)

→ Countess Julie Potocka

her daughter 

(11th Cousin 4 times removed)

→ Alfred Alois, Prinz von Liechtenstein

her son 

(12th Cousin 3 times removed)

→ Alois, Prinz von und zu Liechtenstein

his son 

(my 13th cousin 2 times removed)

→ Franz Joseph II Maria Aloys Alfred Karl Johannes Heinrich Michael Georg Ignaz Benediktus Gerhardus Majella von Liechtenstein, Fürst von und zu Lichtenstein

his son 

(My 14th Cousin once removed)

→ Johannes Adam II Ferdinand Alois Josef Maria Marco d’Aviano Pius von Liechtenstein, Fürst von und zu Liechtenstein

his son

Johannes Adam II Von Liechtenstein is John Repinski's 15th Cousin

I hope to meet my cousin someday and now that I know we have kin in the little principality of Liechtenstein, I will surly be putting that little mountain country on my bucket list of places to visit someday.

Warm Regards

The Family Historian

John