Re: The Original Fransoy
-
In reply to:
The Original Fransoy
carol kivatisky 3/24/07
I have been working with the New Jersey-based FRANCISCO family for over 20 years now. The best "take" I have on the man I call Jean Francois is that he was most likely a Dutch National of French Huguenot (i.e., French Calvinist) refugee stock who married a Dutch woman named Geertruy or "Geesje". It is my belief that the original spelling of the Latinized FRANCISCO surname was actually FRANCOIS and the alternative (mis)spellings of FRANSOY, FFRANCIS and FRANSER came later. (I tend to see Fransoy as a Yankee misspelling and/or misprounciation of Francois.)
Thankfully, many early French Huguenot refugee records still exist for Walloon and Reformed Dutch Churches in The Netherlands, Germany and Great Britain. The main problem we Francisco family descendants are going to have in trying to locate our ancestor is the possibility that the FRANCOIS/FRANSOY surname could have been coined by the immigrant upon arrival to indicate nothing more than his ethnic origin. (Francois means "French" or "Frenchman" in French.) If this indeed proves to be the case, it could be well nigh impossible for us to trace our immigrant's European origins!
More Replies:
-
Re: The Original Fransoy
Carol Weir 9/30/10