Early "JUAN FERNANDEZ" mystery!
I am very much hoping that a researcher of the FERNANDEZ surname will be able to help me on this one!
I start out about as far from Fernandez as you can get, researching the English Loyalist Freeman and Burley families of Dutchess County>Saratoga, Albany County, NY ca the American Revolution, and then on to Ernestown, Ontario, Canada.
About 1750 or so Dorcas FREEMAN md. John BURLEY, and their son Joseph Burley had a daughter SARAHBURLEY born ca 1812 whomarried a colorful and very interesting woodsman and trapper named JOSEPH SOLES about whom many stories survive.
For some unknown reason this couple named a son "FERNANDEZ SOLES", whose name, understandably, got mangled to "Vanandus" and Ferdinand.He was born ca 1838 in Frontenac, Ontario, Canada.
This man's brother had a son JUAN FERNANDEZ SOLES. Which name caught my interest.
This was in CANADA, in a family with NO KNOWN HISPANIC CONNECTIONS. Researchers have surmised that SARAH BURLEY must have been SPANISH, but she decidedly was not.
Off I betook myself to Google.com, and using their advanced search option I narrowed down the "Juan Fernandez" entries to only a few thousand!!Slogging through them, I was amazed to find:
JUAN FERNANDEZ FREEMAN (recall that the Freeman and Burley family were connected in the research that began this saga) born 1829 in Otsego, New York. I have found a considerable amount about this man's life, but have not found his parents.
There might be some connection of this JUAN FERNANDEZ to theDUBOIS family.
I am VERY curious about all this.
Was there an early famousJUAN FERNANDEZ-say ca early 1800s, after whom these folks could have been naming a son?Or, does anyone have known FERNANDEZ connections to the Burley, Freeman or Dubois family of New York or Canada, or have a FERNANDEZ in New York that early?.
Does anybody even have a GUESS about an explanation for this??
Regards, and my thanks,
Sharilyn Whitaker
More Replies:
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Re: Early "JUAN FERNANDEZ" mystery!
Sharilyn Whitaker 4/08/03
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Re: Early "JUAN FERNANDEZ" mystery!
Siobhan Foley 5/21/04
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Re: Early "JUAN FERNANDEZ" mystery!
L. Brock 8/03/04
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Re: Early "JUAN FERNANDEZ" mystery!
Sharilyn Whitaker 8/03/04
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Re: Early "JUAN FERNANDEZ" mystery!
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Re: Early "JUAN FERNANDEZ" mystery!