Appendix I:

Presse Ocean article linking Barack Obama and Mareen Duvall

(Marin Duvall being proven ancestor

of not only mj lorenzo

but also this website’s webmaster Bruce C. Duvall)

English translation of the article follows:

(original French newspaper article is printed below this English translation)[1]

from the French language newspaper’s website in Nantes, France:    PresseOcean.fr   (a printed newspaper with an online version and an audience of about 150,000 ‘regular readers’)

web address of the article at the time was:    http://www.presseocean.fr/actu/actu_detail_-Marin-Duval-l-ancetre-nantais-de-Barack-Obama-_11425-741417_actu.Htm

date of newspaper and online article:    Friday November 7, 2008, three days after Barack Obama was elected U.S. president

Marin Duval, French ancestor of Barack Obama

is from our own town of Nantes, France

(photo montage in online article:)

[from top left to bottom right, going across:]

44^th U.S. president Barack Obama [with wife and two daughters];

33^rd U.S. president Harry S. Truman [the day he beat Dewey];

Hollywood actor Robert Duvall [with awards];

and Vice President [under Bush the younger] Dick Cheney [with his wife Lynne]:

are all [four men] descendants of Marin Duval from Nantes, France: Photo DR

Unbelievable but true: the new American president descends from a Nantes Huguenot Protestant who lived exiled in the English colony of Maryland during the 17^th century.

His birth town has forgotten everything about him including his name. No building, plaque or street helps Nantes remember him.

And yet: the simple fact is that without Marin Duval, the United States of America possibly would never have been able to elect, at the beginning of the 21^st century, its first black president.

This Huguenot (Protestant) from Nantes is indeed one of the ancestors of Barack Obama, the successor of George W. Bush, as head of the most powerful country in the world.

An escape

Marin Duval was born (the date is not very certain) about 1625. He fled the persecution of Protestants well before 1685, when King Louis XIV finally revoked the Edict of Nantes, thereby definitely suppressing the liberty of the [Calvinist Protestant] Huguenots once and for all.

After his crossing to England, we find him, around 1655, in the colony of Maryland, in the county of Anne Arundel. American historians have preserved the boundary outline of his first property, in 1659. Its name, ‘La Val’, since it was the name of an ancient French town which is presently the capital of the French ‘departement’ [or state] of Mayenne, pinpoints the genealogic seat of the Duvall family.[2]

A well-to-do plantation owner

The many Huguenots who had to take flight, quite often planters or craftsmen, might have lost their wealth and possessions but took with them their most precious know-how. Marin Duval, now called Mareen Duvall, cultivated his Maryland land and sold its produce. The planter rapidly developed his plantations and affairs, to the point of being respected notably for his ‘civic spirit’ when he died in 1694.

The very least we may say about Marin Duval, the unheard-of Nantes expatriate, is that he contributed a lot to America. The fact is he gave it two presidents: Harry S. Truman (1884-1972) and now, today, Barack Obama, the 44^th president. But his descendants are divided fairly between Republicans and Democrats: George Bush’s vice president, Dick Cheney, and Barack Obama are actually cousins!

Eight generations

It’s Lynne Cheney, wife of the vice president, who has put together the genealogic tree and done the research for a book about her growing up in Wyoming: “If you go up eight generations, they have a common ancestor. The mother of Barack Obama, born in Kansas, is descended, like the vice-president, from a 17^th century Nantes Huguenot, Marin Duval, who fled France and its religious persecution,” a-t-elle révélé lors d'une émission de télé,[3] as she revealed during an interview on TV.

Informed of his surprising familial line, Barack Obama took it with a smile: “As they say, every family has its black sheep (mouton noir).” Yes, but not all are cradled in the capital city of [the fanciest castle region of France AND THE WORLD,] Pays de la Loire.”[4]       

Pierre-Marie Hériaud

honored webmaster of this website, Bruce Duvall

as ring bearer at his Uncle Eddie’s wedding in 1950

(he bore a resemblance to little boy mj lorenzo in 1950 when they were both 7 years old)
[maybe because both, like the celebrities above
are descended from Marin Duval]

The original French article follows:

vendredi 07 novembre 2008

Marin Duval, l'ancêtre nantais de Barack Obama

Incroyable mais vrai : le nouveau président américain descend d'un huguenot nantais exilé dans le Maryland au XVIIe siècle.

Sa ville natale a oublié jusqu'à son nom. Aucun édifice, aucune plaque de rue n'entretient sa mémoire à Nantes.

Et pourtant : la petite histoire retiendra que sans Marin Duval, les États-Unis d'Amérique n'auraient peut-être pas élu, au début du XXI^e siècle, leur premier président noir.

Ce huguenot (protestant) nantais est en effet l'un des ancêtres de Barack Obama, le successeur de Georges W. Bush à la tête du pays le plus puissant du monde.

Une fuite

Marin Duval serait né (la date n'est pas très précise) en 1625. Il a fui les brimades exercées sur les protestants bien avant 1685 et la révocation de l'édit de Nantes par Louis XIV, qui supprimait définitivement leur liberté de culte.

Après un passage en Angleterre, on le retrouve en 1655, dans la province du Maryland, dans le comté d'Arundel. Les historiens américains ont gardé la trace de sa première propriété, en 1659. Son nom ? « La Val », « comme le nom d'une vieille ville, la capitale du département de la Mayenne en France », précise le site généalogique de la famille Duval.

Un planteur aisé

Les nombreux huguenots qui ont dû prendre la fuite, agriculteurs ou artisans bien souvent, ont perdu leurs biens mais emporté le plus précieux, leur savoir-faire. Marin Duval, lui, devenu Mareen Duvall, cultive la terre et vend ses produits. Le planteur développe rapidement ses plantations et ses affaires, tout en devenant un notable respecté pour son « esprit civique » jusqu'à sa disparition, en 1694.

Et le moins que l'on puisse écrire est que Marin Duval, le petit expatrié nantais, aura beaucoup apporté à l'Amérique. Il lui a en effet donné deux présidents : Harry S. Truman (1884-972), le 33^e, et aujourd'hui Barack Obama, le 44^e. Mais sa descendance se partage équitablement entre Républicains et Démocrates : le vice-président de Georges Bush, Dick Cheney, et Barack Obama sont en effet... cousins !

Huit générations

C'est Lynne Cheney, l'épouse du vice-président, qui a reconstitué l'arbre généalogique en faisant des recherches pour un livre sur son enfance dans le Wyoming : « Si vous remontez sur huit générations, ils ont un ancêtre commun. La mère de Barack Obama, née dans le Kansas, descend comme le vice-président d'un huguenot nantais du XVII^e siècle, Marin Duval, qui a fui la France et les persécutions religieuses », a-t-elle révélé lors d'une émission de télé.

Informé de ce surprenant lien familial, Barack Obama a pris la chose avec le sourire : « Que voulez-vous, toutes les familles ont leur mouton noir ». Mais toutes n'ont pas pour berceau la capitale des Pays de la Loire...

Pierre-Marie Hériaud