This originated as a website that migrated from one host to another over the past 15 years.  It has had no home for several years since the last server died.  Rather than move it to another web-hosting site, I decided to let it stand as a blog.  I have tried to preserve it as best I can here.

Because of the many intervening years, much about it might be faulty.  Links might be dead, for example.  Since it will never be perfect, I am putting it up as is and will tweak the problems as I find them.   Sharing the content is more important than waiting until it is perfect.  It will never be perfect, so please bear with me.

***

This site is dedicated to our family – those we know about and those we do not. If you happen to know something we have not learned about our relatives, we would appreciate the new information.

We  had Puritan ancestors.  My Grandmother was such a strong character that I thought we were completely Irish and Catholic. When you look at this picture of her with the kids, they could be taken for an Irish immigrant family.

The truth is that both of my grandparents were born here.  My grandmother and her sisters were  educated by the Sisters of the Sacred Heart in Tarrytown, NY.  All the classes were taught in French, a language she forever after refused to speak.

My grandfather, dad, aunts and uncles were the descendants of some very early French settlers here – militant Protestants – Huguenots. They migrated first to Holland and then braved very rough conditions both on land and at sea to find religious freedom here.

The settlers had it very hard. I wonder, in fact, how they ever survived. Had they not, of course, I wouldn’t be here and neither would this site. Since a lot of the family (and some American) history is tied up somehow with this place, I think this is a good spot for a link to The Hermitage – a National Historic Landmark in Ho-Ho-Kus, N.J.   If you go through the text from the 1800’s, you see some information involving the family.  Great-grand-aunt Flo used to visit the two surviving Rosencrantz sisters who still lived there when the house was in disrepair and looked haunted.

The Hermitage is located across the street from St. Luke’s Church.  I made my First Communion there and attended  K-3 at St. Luke’s (I defected to public school after 9th grade).  My parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins all graduated from St.Luke’s.

Here is the class of 1935.

Here is a closer look.  That is Father Pindar top center.  My Uncle Jim is on the left and my dad is on the right.  Yes, they were identical twins.  My mom is in the bottom row center beneath Father Pindar.  She was valedictorian despite having blown up the chemistry lab.  That is why I was never allowed to have a chemistry set – the real reason (i.e. not because “girls don’t have chemistry sets”).

Here is another picture from later that day.  The twins graduated from H.S. at St. Luke’s the same day Aunt Peg graduated from eighth grade.

If you sneezed, Grandma used to say this.

God bless us and save us said Mrs. O’Davis.

The good Lord kiss ya.

The divil miss ya.

It’s a good blessing,  even if you haven’t sneezed.

Grandpa used to sing this.

I love a lassie, a bonnie,  bonnie lassie.

She’s as pure as the lily in the dell.

And she’s sweet as the heather,

The bonnie purple heather,

Mary, my own blue bell.

When he sang it to me, he made the name Rosemary.  I am pretty sure he did the same for Patty, Lynn, June, Peggy, Kathy, and even Susan, although she was really young and tiny at their house in Ridgewood in a carriage with a bonnet and a windburn.   He might also have sung it to Connie.  None of us ever felt betrayed when he changed the name in the song.  We knew we were all his blue bells.

Copyright © 2014, Rosemary Rowlands

Lynn Rowlands Knoll and Margaret R. Casey, Informants.

No original portions of these pages may be reproduced without the written permission of the author.

All Rights Reserved.

The French

The British

The Irish

The Descendants