Bonjour à tous
Let me introduce myself. My name is Laura Hootman Edwards. I’ve been passionately addicted to French genealogy since 1998. It’s in my blood. And I’ll tell you why. It started with my father. You can’t keep secrets from an inquisitive and nosey daughter.
My father was very secretive about his French mother; what she was like, when shed died, and what did she die from. He either deflected or gave me a different story every time. So, of course,
I will be turning 69 years old in December. The younger crowds, think I’m ancient and near death. The older crowds think my age bracket consists of rowdy youngsters.
I was born in Coronado, California, USA. Since my father was in the US Navy, my family moved to one Naval base to another, including one in Japan. After he left the military, we still moved every two years or so because of contract work with companies until we landed in Idaho. I lived there for 16 years, My travel claim to fame is as living several states in the ‘Northern Rocky’ region, in the North East, on the West Coast, and in the South of the United States. I understand each of those states ‘dialect’ and culture. My husband and I now live in West Virginia, though my heart is in Tennessee.
I’ve been married two times, and have 6 grown children; 3 sons, and 3 daughters. I had an additional son named ‘Benji’ who died in 1982 at the age of 7, of bacterial meningitis. I still miss him very much, and wonder if he would be bald like my three other sons !
I became a Born Again Christian in 1983, and love my Lord Jesus with all my heart. I taught Sunday school for years, but I was drawn to those who were suffering and suffered from a lost of a child.
After decades of nitty gritty research, my mission in finding my French and Belgian ancestors has nearly come to an end. There are some ‘missing ancestors’ that I will continue to track down. The oldest ancestor on my French side was born in 1595, and the oldest ancestor on my Belgian side married in 1688. His name was Remy Morinier from Angers or from the duchy of Anjou. It’s hard to make out the letters from a document written in Latin of the 17th century.
You can visit my family tree at Geneant.org or at My French Fam
