We know from parish records that my mother's family were Acadians.
They emigrated to Nova Scotia from France in the 18th Century.
When the English expelled them from Canada, the family stayed
in a refugee camp in Maryland until ships could be chartered to
take them to French territory in Louisiana. They settled across
the Mississippi River from Baton Rouge.
My father's ancestors -- Scots and Germans -- arrived in Georgia around 1705. His direct ancestor Barry Humphries came to Texas in 1836 and joined the revolt against Mexico. Fortunately, he fell ill before he could reach San Antonio where Santa Anna's army was preparing to besiege the Alamo. Barry Humphries convalesced in Georgia and returned to Texas in 1840 to claim land promised to every man who enlisted in the rebellion.
During the War Between the States, my Mother's great-grandfather: Lt. Louis Pardoe and his unit serving under General Robert E. Lee were decimated by Union troops around Richmond, Virginia. He was discharged and returned to the family's sugar plantation. By this point in the war, Vicksburg had fallen, and the Union controlled the Mississippi River from Cairo to New Orleans, so, the Pardoes and all the other civilians would have to take to the cellar for days at a time to shelter from Union shelling.
Within a few years after the close of the War, the Mississippi suffered the worst flooding in generations. The Pardoe's loaded their belongings onto a rowboat tied to the second floor balcony, and left for Texas. They settled in Waco, and one of the Pardo women married a man named Hill.
The Humphries family, who owned a dry cleaning business in Waco, did not approve of the Hill family. Because of this, my parents eloped a year and five days after Pearl Harbor. I was born 22 years later.