This particular family starts off in France as de Caumont.  We were already rich
French Huguenot land-owners/title-holders.  But after losing 2 family members to
the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre...a surviving ancestor helped King Henry IV
tremendously as he was a fellow Huguenot.  Then we were given the land de la
Force & we were given the title duc de la Force...as well as Marshall & Peer of
France.  You basically can't get any better than this...unless you're the King
himself.

We had at least 3 castles that I know of.  After the Revocation of the Edict of
Nantes...we gave everything up & fled France.  Two of our old castles are still
standing.  One is now a medieval war museum.  The other was taken over by
Josephine Baker & her rainbow tribe & is now a museum about them...which I
happen to think is VERY cool.     

I believe our ancestors fled to England.  And I believe England was full by the
time they got there.  I believe people in England offered them land here in
America & our ancestor Renald Rene LaForce I obviously accepted.  He was in
charge of about 200 French Huguenots that came here.  And right off the bat they
were ripped off.

They were sold land which was unsuitable for them...so they had to buy more
(near Manakintowne, Va.) after they got here.  Our ancestor made the payments to
Gov. William Byrd II on behalf of his people.  He's mentioned in Byrd's no
longer secret diary.

From Renald Rene LaForce I we eventually have my ancestor John Bradley LeForce
who moved to OK.  3 of his sons married partial Cherokee Indian women.  These
women came from basically every famous Cherokee name you've ever heard.  All the
old famous Cherokee people basically married each other...so we're related to
Maj. George Lowrey Jr., his cousin Sequoyah (inventor of the Cherokee Alphabet),
& Nancy Ward (fought in battle like a man therefore beloved woman to the
Cherokee Nation).  And all these "kids" came from Chiefs.

Here we'll keep the names/statistics.  Because this site's free we can only
upload 50 pics.  So versus uploading pics please link to them in the notes
section.    

Here: http://leforce.smfforfree2.com is where we'll tell the story & discuss it.
 There's also room for more pics/notes/etc.  Hope to see you there.