Dave, I write to you with much joy and great excitement!! I have, at long last, tied my lonely seafaring James Strang into the family of the above referenced Jean D'Estreng!! Here's how the direct lineage goes... [Note: Most of the following information comes from "The Strangs of Westchester" written by Charles Alfred Strange - an amazingly detailed and thorough work which may prove useful to others researching these lines.] 1. Jean D'Estreng b. abt 1598 2. Henry D'Estreng b. abt 1620 d. aft 1680 m. Marie BABAULT 3. Daniel Streing b. between 1654-1656 d. 1707, Rye,Weschester,New York m. Charlotte Le MAISTRE abt 03 Aug 1680 These are the immigrant ancestors having feld France for London and the New York as Huguenots. A NOTE ABOUT SURNAME SPELLINGS: It has been remarked that "the variations that certain Frenchmen of the seventeenth century enjoyed in teh spelling of their surnames. In the Paris documents concerning them, Daniel and his brother Jacques indulged in this caprice, the name being signed or appearing variously as String, Streng, Streing, Straing, Strain, and even Estrain and Estrang. In America however, Daniel's numerous surviving signatures are all written Streing, Although his wife's signature on her will is clearly Strieng. Daniel's sons spelled the name as both Streing and Straing. The thrid generation, as of the 1740s, agreed upon Strang, and, with few exceptions - such as that of the writer's (Charles Alfred Strange) family - it has been Strang ever since." 4. Daniel Streing b. abt 1692 prob. in New Rochelle, New York d. 1741 in either White Plains or Cortlandt, NY m. Phebe PURDY 5. Daniel Strang b. abt 1715 in Rye, Westchester Co., New York d. 25 Sep 1792 in Rye m. Elizabeth GALPIN prob in the early 1740s 6. Gabriel Strang b. 1754-55 at the family farm on the Connecticut line at Port Chester, New York or in Cortlandt. d. Bef 25 May 1826 (the date of the funeral) in Portland Parish, St. John Co., New Brunswick, Canada m. Siscely DAVIDSON 7. James Strang b. 09 Sep 1804 in St. John, St. John, New Brunswick, Canada d. 29 Nov 1870 in Charlotte Co., New Brunswick This is my 4x grt grandfather who I have been searching for since October 1996. I still have some further work to putting together the full story on his family. He appears to have had two wives, m. 1st Jane Connick d/o Samuel There were children from this union that I still need to uncover. m. 2nd Margaret < > abt 1835-36 >From census information, it appears that John Fielden (my 3x grt grandpa) and his sister Sarah were the only two children of this union. So, there you have it... I now have a STRANG past!! -- Tracy Vickers Maple Ridge, BC, Canada email: [email protected] Genealogy Home Port: http://tor-pw1.netcom.ca/~vickerst/family.html Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out. James B. Conant