Celtic?
An ancient history going to a Celtic origin of settlement in 1500 BC when Celts first began to cultivate the land, it appears today a place where time stood still around the Medieval era.
Alsace, as named, is older than both Germany and France as they are named as modern countries. In around 58 BC the Romans invaded Alsace and set it up in the industry of viticulture. The production of wine in Alsace stands today as a main agricultural industry with world wide acclaim. During the Roman era Alsace was part of what was known as Germania Superior. Germania Superior included western Switzerland, the Jura area of France, and southwestern Germany.
One might be confused by the word Franks, as it sounds like French. Franks are historically known to be Germanic tribes from the lower and middle Rhine and later as the people of Gaul. Gaul typically brings to mind France, but actually was a region in western Europe, during the Iron Age that is now the area of France, Luxembourg, Belgium, most of Switzerland, and parts of Northern Italy, the Netherlands, and Germany on the west bank of the Rhine.
What seems to be a big dividing factor is language. French is a Latin language as is Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Romanian. Germanic languages are of course German, Danish, Dutch, Swedish, Icelandic, Norwegian, and English.
Northern Europe in general has many similarities genetically among the people. In France the most stand out group would be the Basque who are genetically unique and also have a very unique language that is neither Germanic or Latin. Because France has a Celtic history going back over 2,000 years Celtic ancestry can be found in most all of the people.
For this classification as Celtic, without going to great extremes of migration explanations and for the purpose of this blog post, we will call Celtic people who spoke the Celtic language and who emerged during the Bronze Age to the Iron Age (+/- 1200 BC) with home base being purported as the area of Austria. The last of this Celtic tribe in France is said to be the Bretons in Brittany.
Alsace and the Lorraine is a territory that was gained by France from the Germans, or Germania. This area is a mix of Germanic and Celtic origin.
The official language of France is French of course. In Alsace there is no exception. Still most people living in the area speak both French and German. There is another language though and that is Alsatian which is a dialect of Alsace of Germanic origin. Alsatian dialect.
Genetics
If you have had a genetic test, or would be interested in taking one, you may be interested in participation in Membership in the Alsace Geographic Project. This is open to any male who has a patrilineal (yDNA) connection to Alsace. This means you must be a male descending in a direct line from an Alsatian male. The Y chromosome is only handed down from father to son and doesn't change regardless of the mother. To learn more about this project click here: Alsace Ancestry DNA Project. As of this blog post there are 62 participants.
The goal of JSgenealogy tours is to help people connect with their past. There is no central index in France of important documents like birth, marriage and death certificates as they are kept locally. We can help you in finding information you are looking for regarding your ancestors.
We can assist you through digital research on family names and particular individuals, field research which includes going to the villages gaining access to the documentation on your ancestor(s) and gathering this information for you, or a genealogy tour. You never know what you will find as it is not uncommon to still have living family members living in Alsace who are more than happy to meet you!
We welcome comments and questions. We look forward to serving you to help you connect to the past, and your Alsatian heritage.
In our next blog post we will attempt to mark major historical events that have shaped our modern Alsace. We will attempt to note the periods of time that there were the biggest emigrations out of Alsace and the destinations of immigration.
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