Maternal side has lots of good stuff, goes back to the Saxons in England, related to Samuel Chase , signer of Dec. of Indepedence, elegible for DAr, ETC. But on dad's side, until about 10 years ago, little was known of his family. Dad was orphaned at the age of 5 or 6, and never even knew if he was born in America or Belgium, and come to find out, he didn't even know the correct spelling of his name. Back when he searched for his baby brother at the Catholic orphanage where they were placed, he was told there were no records( at that time they didn't give out that information). My sister and I were finally able to unravel that information, and learned that the way Dad spelled our last name was close , but not correct. So , I have the distintion of having as a surname, the only surname like that in the USA. Dad and mom were able to locate his mother's sister and an uncle , to reunite all of his siblings except for baby James Emile, and we couldn't find him either. During the search, it was heartbreaking to learn of the things children went through back in the early 1900s, when they became orphans. Some were just used as cheap( FREE) labor by the people who took them from the orphanages. Dad was only able to attend school to the 6th grade, but he was one of the smartest men I know. He raised 6 children, in a comfortable home, family was the most important thing in the world to him, he was highly respected in his community, none of his chidren caused any illegal problems. I am the youngest of his children, born when he was 48 years old. His wish was to live long enough to raise me through high school. Dad died two months after I graduated. He was born and died on the same date, 65 years apart. I salute you Dad, and I love you so much!!!!