[Magdalen] Abjure

[Joseph Cirou]

Hi Allan,

My grandfather had to abjure allegiance to the Republic of France even tho the family had moved (temporarily I think) to Jersey and some relative had gotten him a commission in the Navy (mid 1880's) But he didn't abjure Queen Victoria. I don't know the full details but the tale is that he "ran away to sea" at the age of 16 and landed in Halifax and the authorities didn't see him since. So he made his way to Minnesota and fit in with the French Canadian community and married a young lady from Hull (limerick alert--) They tied the knot in 1896 but the names of his parents are absent in the registry at St. Michael's in Stillwater, After he gained citizenship in 1900 he took his family back to France and Jersey for a visit and aside from some correspondence with a sister (hasn't been completely documented) very little is known what happened among this branch of the Cirou's in France since--tho we do have family and the name is known tho not that common. I know enough to prove that it was not a variant of Sureau. Grandpa always said it meant six wheels. Since one of his trades was a cook I visualize him with several wheels of cheese (g)

Joe

-----Original Message-----
>From: Allan Carr <allanc25 at gmail.com>
>Sent: Jan 13, 2018 6:04 PM
>To: magdalen at herberthouse.org
>Subject: [Magdalen] Abjure
>
>Back in the day when I became a US citizen, I was wearing a US Army uniform and was not a Canadian citizen (there were no such things).
>
>I was an anonymous British Subject from somewhere or another on planet Earth.
>I had no problem whatsoever in abjuring being a British Subject or giving up any allegiance to whatever that was.
>
>Had there been such a thing as Canadian citizenship, I might have had second thoughts, although I doubt it.
>