Re: origin of the strangs
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In reply to:
origin of the strangs
Jeanne Eckersley Garbarino 9/25/02
THE STRANGS OF WESTCHESTER
CHARLES ALFRED STRANGE
In addition to the genealogical data on Daniel Streing and his descendants compiled and published by Richard Wynkoop (Rec. 21:130ff, 41:146ff), Miss Emily W. Roebling (ed., Journal of the Rev. Silas Gonstant, 1903), and Mrs. Josephine Frost (Strang Family Genealogy, 1915), there are statements concerning the family in most of the histories of Westchester County, New York, and of the Huguenot settlement at New Rochelle. The chroniclers include the Reverend Robert Bolton Jr. (History of the Several Towns, Manors and Patents of the County of Westchester, 1848, 2:385, 673), the Reverend Charles W. Baird (History of Huguenot Emigration to America, 1885, 1:211; History of Rye, 1871, p.149), J. T. Scharf (History of Westchester County, 1886, 2:438), Morgan H. Seacord (Sketches and Index of the Huguenot Settlers of New Rochelle, 1941, p.49; with Wm. S. Hadaway, Historical Landmarks of New Rochelle, 1938, pp.9, 14), J. S. Wurts (Magna Charta 1944, 3:507), and Miss Mildred E. Strang (in the Westchester County Historical Society Quarterly, Jan.1965).
None of these researchers was aware of the French public records dealing with Daniel Streing, his wife, Charlotte Le Maistre, and their antecedents. Except for Seacord and, in a few instances, Wynkoop, no one took the pains to identify his source of information, even when it contradicted statements published by an earlier author. All of the early researchers accepted the vital statistics and text of a family manuscript written about 1800, and attributed by Baird and Wynkoop to the attorney, John Strang (55*). This document was printed in full from Baird's transcript in THE RECORD (2:179-86), and in Mrs. Frost's book, from the manuscript in the collections of the New York Historical Society. A slightly different version is preserved at the Huguenot and Historical Society in New Rochelle. Mrs. Frost remarked on the Gallic flavor of John's English, with no apparent recognition of the fact that he was of the fourth generation in this country, three generations of which had taken Yankee brides, and that his surviving briefs before the State Supreme Court of New York show an exemplary command of the language (State Supreme Court Records, 1782-1785, New York County Clerk's Office, Parchment Files 41E3, 29E6, 145C10, et al).
It would seem that the manuscript marked the origin of the appellation De L'Estrange, to which Wynkoop took exception. Despite his excellent and persuasive development of contrary evidence, Mrs. Frost some twenty-five years later reverted to the manuscript claim. Bolton simply stated that Daniel's surname was L'Estrange, and forthwith awarded him the coat of arms of the English baronies of LeStrange of BlacI-mere, Knockin, and Ellesmere. By adding the motto "Memento Mei" to the crested color plate in her volume, Mrs. Frost further limited the arms to those of the Irish branch of that same British family that spells the name L'Estrange. Wurts named "the family genealogy" as the source of his assertion that Daniel1 was the son of the English journalist Sir Roger L'Estrange of Hunstanton Hall, Norfolk. Daniel, in contrast, was apparently unaware of this English connection when, in his marriage contract, he named the parents of his brother Jacques and himself as Henry and Marie (Babault) Streing of Gien, Loiret (Archives de France, Chatelet de Paris, Etude XLIV 1.2, August 3 and August 21, 1680)!
Hadaway remarked on the variations that certain Frenchmen of the seventeenth century enjoyed in the 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 Daniel (4) and Henry (8) spelled the name as both Streing and Straing. The third generation, as of the 1740's, agreed upon Strang, and, with few exception~such as that of the writer's family-it has been Strang ever since.
If the name was originally L'Estrange, as the family manuscript maintains, this spelling would have to antedate 1672. And if the family should be entitled to a registered coat of arms, the writer would suggest that a future investigator look for clues to a liaison with the French family de Lestrange of Languedoc (Hamon Le Strange, Le Strange Records, 1916, p.374). The writer has had a cordial exchange of correspondence with the present Marquis and also Viscount Francois of this family. Both are interested in the possibility of an American connection and volunteer to check any evidence presented to them. But according to records in their possession, that family, which is of the Catholic persuasion, produced only one Huguenot; his name was Claude, and he died without issue.
Another French correspondent, Miss Maggy Carof of the Archives de France, has suggested that the name was initially Strang, and that the first immigrant from Scotland, where the name is not uncommon, may have been a follower of Queen Mary Stuart. The Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris in its Cabinet des Titles carries mention of a Strang of Patgort. Thus it is seen that, in the search for a family coat of arms, the possibilities are many but the facts are few.
Those who have written about the family have identified twenty-eight male Strangs of the fourth generation as living in this country by the time of the Revolution, but fifteen of them are dismissed without further mention. The writer has been successful in locating additional information concerning twelve of these fifteen, in most cases their lineage to the present day. There are also two Canadian branches of the family which traditional and circumstantial evidence identify with two emigrant Loyalist males of the fourth generation.
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Re: origin of the strangs
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Re: origin of the strangs
Anthony Gagliani 12/20/02