The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-11-29
Easy to Get
Coat of Arms
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| That John D. Rockefeller was salts
fed to be shown to be the descendant
of a mediocre medieval French baron
called Roquefeuil is a point for his
modesty. The pedigree seekers of the
| British museum, the Astor or Boston
| Libraries, or the Bibliotheque Rationale,
would have made him out the rejeton
of the Capets, the Hapsburgs or the
| Hohenzollerns for a less sum of money
than the great oil magnate probably
earns in half a day, says the New
York World. Nor could these pedigree
mongers have been very well gainsaid
| For if, o ancestor hunter, you calcu-
late that you had two parents who
were, in their turn, possessed of four,
who acknowledged eight, who owned
sixteen, who must have had thirty-two,
who boosted of sixty-four parents-if
you travel along on this ratio for ten or
twenty generations, you will find that
the people Of France, let US say, who
are alive and active today. must neces-
sarily have been related to all those
French people who existed six or eight
or ten hundred years ago.
One thing is incontrovertible on the
simple figures of the matter, and that is
that every white man, now alive in the
world, can show relationship with
every white man who existed 1900
years ago. In other word, no European
could be held to be untruthful who
should say that he was descended from,
say, the first BFntas, for after certain
number of generations of blood admix-
lures it matters very little in the
descendant whether his claim be direct
or collateral, as far as any of the char
acteristies, or even blood, of the origl-
nal ancestor is concerned
Just consider the British nobility as
good, it may be presumed, as any other
in the world. The present Duke of
Norfolk owns a castle which was in
possession of the Earls of Arundel in
the eleventh century. The duke would
be hard put to it, however, to show
that he had any more Arundel or Fitza-
Ian blood in his veins than any of the
Smiths, or the Lamberts, OF the How
ards, or the Stapleys who live in and
around the Arundel region.
Winston Churchill, the active young
English politician, bears the name of
John Churchill, the first Duke of Marl-
borough. 1t is more than doubtful,
however, if he has any Churchill blood
in his veins. As good historian, he
would probably admit this, and tell you
that his real name is Spencer. The real
name of the Dukes of Northumberland
is not Percy-the descendants of the
medieval Hotspurs-but Smith. AS
a matter of fact, the originator of the
present Dukes of Norfolk was a pros
porous lawyer at the end of the middle
ages who was in no way related by
blood to the old Fitzalans. As for the
Churchills, the real Churchills of the old
stock are to be found in the yeoman
classes in England, and among the mid
die classes of this country.
1T is safe to say that direct ancestry
cannot be traced in European families
much beyond fifteen generations; or,
roughly, five hundred years. The fable
that King Edward is a lineal descend
ant of Hengist and Horsa is about as
ridiculous as the statement that the
Hapsburgs are directly sprung from Oc
tavian, the nephew of Julius Caesar.
1t is common knowledge that there are
English and Scottish families who live
very unpretentiously, but who could
show as good right-if ancestry alone
counted-to the throne of England as
any descendant of the German Georges. |
Evolution has clearly enough shown
that animals and plants cease to propa- |
gate after having done so for a certain |
number of generations. This would be |
all the more so in generations of no.
bIlity or gentry which are almost in |
yariably inbred or exclusive So it is |
clear that Mr.. ROckefeller-who is far !,
too wise, probably, to care one way or |
the other-may have a coat-of- arms of |
the Roquefeuil family; but it is certain |
that he has derived neither blood nor !
characteristics from that highly respect
able house.
The Greeks made few mistakes in /
their choice of words. They called the !
best man "aristos without reference |
to birth-and the best people "aris |
tor. - 1t is pleasant to reflect that one
may trace a close relationship to an
: arlstos, > four or five generations
back, and so construct kind of nobil-
lty OF blood and breeding upon the fact