@SusanEllen66
You are one of the originals! My roots here do not go as far back. My brother has done some work on our ancestry. Both of my parents passed away when I was a teenager so I never had the chance to ask them about our roots. My mother's parents both died when she was a teen as well. All roots go back to Italy and what was then Yugoslavia. I really believe that my celiac disease/neuropathy might be traced back to the trauma of losing my family so early in life. You mentioned European dynasties--does that mean royalty?

Anyway, I am taking a page out of your book and trying to involve myself in anything that distracts me from my leg issue. I am now focused on de-cluttering but hope to get more creative down the road.

@SusanEllen66 I descend from the Puritan founders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Roxbury, MA, now a suburb of Boston. Captain John Johnson, my 10x Great-Grandfather, came over in 1630 with a large group financed by Lady Arabella Fiennes, in the same group John Winthrop' arrived with. Captain John Johnson was the Constable of Roxbury and in charge of the arms, ammunition, gunpowder and jail. Many prominent people descended from him including Franklin Roosevelt (FDR). My Johnson ancestors fought on about every war, including the French and Idian, the American Revolution, the War of 1812, and the Civil War (on the side of the Union. I also unfortunately suffer from neuropathy. Welcome to the group! Photo below, Capt. John Johnson, Constable (left) with John Winthrop, founder and Governor of the Massachussetts Bay Colony.