I am a 14th generation descendant of Ghislain Vigne, leader of the first 30 Walloon families to settle Manhattan Island in 1624 for the Dutch West India Co. Every generation leading from Ghislain to me was born and raised within the former colony of Nieuw Nederland. My first nine English ancestors arrived 5 years later in 1629 with the Higginson Fleet, carrying a charter to establish the "MA Bay Colony", as well as a charter to establish a settlement north on the Bay to be named "Salem, MA." My first Norwegian, Danish, German, French and Irish ancestors were early immigrants to the Nieuw Nederland colony. More French and Palatine German ancestors arrived following the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes., followed shortly by Scottish ancestors, who were followed in the early to mid 1800s by my Frankish ancestors, who were followed in the latter 1800s by my Italian ancestors.