Pez had ancestors in America before me!
Deacon Edward Convers (Converse; 1589-1663) emigrated to Salem, MA, from England on 12 Jun 1630. He signed the town orders that created Woburn, MA on 18 Dec 1640. The town was incorporated Sep 1642 by Edward with 6 others, including Samuel and Ezekiel Richardson, Edward Johnson, John Mousall and Thomas Graves.
Edward Converse was the brother of a direct ancestor of Pez through his father's maternal side.
My family's not too shabby, though. I recently discovered that I'm a direct descendant of Charles Kinsey, a Congressman for NJ back in the early 1800s under President Monroe. He was later a judge at the common pleas court in Bergen Co, NJ, and a paper manufacturer who invented continuous roll paper!
I've also unearthed a lot of French on my mother's side, hailing mostly from Normandy (Rouen), Picardy, and Maine (Le Mans -- no wonder I've got such a lead foot). Two of my ancestors were "filles de roi" or "King's Daughters", women who agreed to travel to and marry settlers in Nouvelle France (Canada) in exchange for a 50 pound dowry from the French King. The name I've been following here is Pradet dit St Gelais. It actually started as plain Pradet but morphed over time with the "dit" name to Singelais.
Still, I must now put up with a British husband who appears to have earlier footing in this country than many of us Americans can claim! Genealogy is so much fun.
XOXOX, Mez
