-----Original Message----- From: "R. Hotard, Degruy List Administrator [Please do not send me anonymous, forwarded, chain emails. Thank you.]" <degruylist@earthlink.net> Sent: Jul 15, 2005 10:32 AM To: DEGRUY-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: pingrows; francois verloin degruy line letters Hi, >>Well I didn't realize your Pingrows were from France. I thought you meant they were in LA. I didn't check France for the name. Also re the letter... again, I thought you were talking about a letter from long ago referring to this famous duel. I wouldn't have asked you to share a "current (sort of)" letter. Hope I didn't cause a problem by my email. Heh, I must type as fast as I talk :-) and need to slow down. No, I had mentioned the duel hoping someone would have a story about it, and the names I mentioned, including Pingrow, were Florida lines. None of them did the LA thing as far as I know, though they are all in my maternal branch. >>Bonnie, Isabel, Celine? do we have any kind of "policy" about how current or distant information should be before we share on the list? I think when I get home I'll be able to piece this together as I just had communication from my grandfather identifying a couple of possiblities. Depending on what you guys decide about non-ancient stuff, I've transcribed some letters. I'll paste transcripts of the ones that I don't think can offend. ** transcript begins** [undated] I have been wanting to send you this bit of information about the de Gruys a friend from Switzerland sent me: … this family (Gruyere) moved in 1200’s to the city of Berne and changed the spelling to “Von Greyerz.” Greyerz is the Swiss name for the village Gruyere. The “Von Gruyerz” were counts, a branch of them (with the French spelling) were employed by the French kings in 1300 and 1400’s. This branch died out. The branch at Berne is still “living” but there are only a few. These people belong to the few of famous aristocrats families of the city of Berne. They often had the given name (males) “Wala.” Wala is a very old Swiss word for foreigner meaning from a foreign speaking country. The [Vaud?] canton in which the village Gruyere is located was between 1200’s and 1800’s conquered territory of the Republic of Berne. The 1815 [Vaud?] became its’ state. [with a different pen] Verloin could be the French or American version of Wala – Thought this was interesting. Berne is about 7 miles from Gruyere – can see the town from the castle of Gruyere. Will write more later – have a nice day – Love, Dee Dee [Era Coney deGruy] ***transcript ends*** Karma ________________________________________ PeoplePC Online A better way to Internet http://www.peoplepc.com