I have been re-thinking the Habsburg legend, and have revised my previous opinion in certain respects. To recap: The Hauris are said to be descended from an illegitimate branch of the Counts of Habsburg. As the story goes, the Count brought back a Muslim mistress from the Crusades. Their son took “Houri” as a surname. Houris are…
Author: Justin Durand
A Prayer
All-Knowing Zeus,Give me what is best for me,Avert evil from me, though it be the thing I prayed for;And give me the good which from ignorance I do not ask.
Alloway
John Alloway-Strange (1727-1811), a Planter in Fluvanna County, Virginia. He married Ann Mitchell (1728-c1781), daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth (?) Mitchell. John’s ancestors apparently came from the Orkney islands off the northern coast of Scotland. Some of his descendants used the surname Strange, while others used the surname Alloway. Abraham Alloway-Strange (c1758-1815), a Farmer in…
Habsburg
Origin of the Habsburgs: Three Major Theories There are three major theories of the Hapsburg ancestry, which are: (a) the Alsace theory, which would make them a branch of the Etichoni, who were themselves a branch of the Alaholfingians; (b) the Merovingian theory, which would make them a branch of the Merovingians; and, (c) the…
Indigenous Heraldry
Although coats of arms originated in Europe and customarily follow European forms, there has been some movement toward adapting the emblems of indigenous people to heraldry. My father, Ridge Durand (1933-2002) was a Lakota pejuta wikasa (”medicine man”) and a member of the Spotted Eagle Medicine Men’s Society. He was a hunkpa (”blood brother”) of Pete Catches (Petaga Yuha…