52 Ancestors Week 26: Legend

From Amy Johnson Crow:

The theme for Week 26 is "Legend." Do you have a legend in your family history that you've even proven or disproven? How about a legendary ancestor (or one who should be)? Maybe someone involved in a local legend or folklore? This should be a fun prompt!

I had fun making that image up there. =) It's not a quote from the actual "Legend of Zelda" series or anything. I actually combined a few of the games' plots into one concise entry and there have been a lot of "Legend of Zelda" games since 1987. It's probably one of my favorite game series from Nintendo.  It's also one of the few classic NES games I was actually GOOD at! Those games are hard! There's a reason why they were called "Nintendo Hard" back in the '80s. Enough about that. Let's talk about legends or "Family Lore".

My family has no shortage of family lore. Who doesn't have a legend or two? I managed to disprove a few of them. I'm not entirely sure about at least one. For that one, I think a considerable amount of travel is necessary.

No relation to Isabella.

One of the first legends I heard growing up was my grandma Ollie telling me that we were related to Queen Isabella of Spain. That one was a little bit of a stretch considering she was of Italian descent and Isabella, naturally, was from Spain. It would have theoretically been possible considering Italy, Spain and Greece are the titans of the Mediterranean. People from all three countries married each other for centuries. It's possible! But, I had my doubts.

When my cousin on the Carrabs side did work on our tree, I noticed a few odds and ends that made a connection to Queen Isabella less and less likely. She managed to trace that branch back to 1700s Gesualdo. Gesualdo, for those of your wondering, is a town located just east of Naples. Still quite far away from the hills of Spain.

When I finally was able to do research into Isabella's family tree, I noticed a few things. A few of her children survived to adulthood. One ended up marrying Henry VIII. I umm....think we all know how that marriage ended. I traced the other surviving childrens' lines downward through time and it still didn't seem likely.

Granted there are still several hundred years between 1700s Gesualdo and the lines from Queen Isabella. It may be true. But, in the end it's extremely unlikely. It could be worth checking out. But, it could end up being a wild goose chase.

I do have another Italian legend from that side of the family and it could actually be true and merit some research. In 2004, we visited my great-aunt Nicole for a week and she told me that there was a Count Ferraiolo in the family. Me being me, my mind immediately went to some weird places. Apparently his name was Count Marco Ferraiolo (Same name as my grandfather and my 2x great-grandfather.)

Naturally, I was curious. Was there a Count Ferraiolo? I'd love to find out. I recently found a Count Gesualdo in Gesualdo. He...umm....had a very different life. Check the Wikipedia article for details. I will give him this. He did have a cool castle in the middle of town.

Back to this Count Marco Ferraiolo. For this I would have to trace the family back very far and I've only gone as far back as Marcantonio Ferraiolo. I have no clue if he links up to this count my great-aunt told me about. I will, however, have to dig deep. And to do that I would have to travel all the way to San Pietro a Maida to discover the truth. Would it be cool to have a link to royalty? Like I said last week: It's cool and all. But, don't let it define you because there are millions of people alive today who could make that same claim.

On my mom's side of the family, I have a legend which is pretty much true. I grew up hearing that we had several soldiers of the American Revolution in the family and that I descended from Charles Hamel , who was one of the first two hundred settlers of Quebec. That's nice and is very interesting.

Another legend on that side of the family is that of a Felker who played in the White House band after the Civil War. I haven't found anything that could substantiate or disprove that claim. My 3x great-grandfather, Jeremiah, was certainly stationed in D.C..  However, he didn't seem to be musically inclined. I say this because I found another Union soldier in the tree who was. His name was John Sargent Fisher.

John was my 4th great-grandfather and he was a musician in the Civil War and was in the company band from Massachusetts. Could he have been the ancestor my other grandmother told everyone about? He certainly COULD have played in the White House band. He was obviously in one band. However, he traded the instrument for a gun later on.

What's weird is how the story of John Sargent Fisher got transposed onto Jeremiah. I guess with time things got a little twisted. It tends to happen. Older generations don't remember like they used to and facts get swapped around from time to time. That's why it's a good idea to verify legends when you can. The further back in time you go, the murkier certain legends become and it's up to us as genealogists to uncover the truth for future generations. That way there would be less mistakes.

Family legends are great, though. They often spark the imagination and get people interested in genealogy. It worked for me. Sometimes they are tall tales. Sometimes they are true. You just have to dig around for the truth.

Now if you'll excuse me....The land of Hyrule needs saving. Again. =)