thank you for reading all the way through the trilogy! I appear to be in most excellent company

History is full of such sad tales. Overall, more civilization has probably been wiped out than have survived. I wish I knew an easy answer. But if it helps, the Huguenot book I've glanced through seems to acknowledge the natives and traded with them. The same goes for the history of other colonies. I think the eradication began as population grew and the good land became scarce.

It's history, and history fascinates us. It was a brilliant question and I thank you again!

Well, we did the DNA thing to uncover the secrets but didn't get very far. There are gaping holes all over it. I'm glad your sister was willing to dig deeper. I want the stories too but don't have the time to sort through all the pounds of material. The one family alone has a tome 800+ pages long!

ancestry.com simply makes it too easy... watch for sales.

depending on how far back we want to go, we're all a hodgepodge and all the way back, we probably all came from Africa. It's entertaining to see how we've divided ourselves up!

The Holocaust certainly ended far too many family histories. It's too heartbreaking to consider. I haven't quite figured out the timeline but the Hasbroucks were also Dutch. There was a lot of movement among the reformists. The Huguenots were just one piece of the puzzle. My father belonged to the Dutch Reform Church, and the Dutch definitely settled the Hudson. I've not tried to make the connections.

It's easy to see why Wenches write historicals--there are so many untold stories in the past! Desperate times and situations drove our ancestors to do so many interesting thngs.

LOL, we used to get that from my husband's family. "He was a scandal who had to run away and change his name..." And really, there was a lot of that going on in earlier times. Love the connection between England and the colonies!

oh wow, a real physical connection to the past! I love that. So often, though, our children just aren't interested. I wonder why that is?

It's sad to lose all those stories, but maybe sadder still to repeat them! Except they fascinate me...

oh yes, please! We just finished our strawberry rhubarb pie. Custard sounds delicious!

The beauty of nature soothes the soul. Food helps.

Oh, exciting! We should have brought our cooks to learn from you...

Deviled eggs are always welcome, and there is plenty of everything to go around! Thank you for coming with us!

are you bringing any books? I think I found one of Andrea's mysteries packed in my basket. When we're all stuffed full, we can talk about books!

LOL! Our blog is much more likely to perch on the sofa and sip tea!

oh yum! We will be so healthy by day's end!

the books live on... Oh, some of us could bring books and read aloud!

This will be a picnic to end all picnics! Perhaps we should have brought fireworks...

oh, your cheerful self will be most welcome. Pull up a blanket and let's talk!

Wow, none of that Nancy Drew/Agatha Christie that the rest of us cut our teeth on! Straight to the hard stuff... impressive. I've tried some of those recently but they're so heavily laden with unnecessary description that I want to edit the heck out of them. thanks for the URL! I'm gonna take a peek....

Twee, yes! there are still a few good ones with more meat to them but I am easily bored and six books of cupcakes (or even Evanovich) does me in. I'm trying to space out the historical mysteries so I don't run out of books to read!

I think those were my first mysteries too, along with Trixie Belden. I graduated to the Golden Age authors not long after!