How I Rewrote My Family’s Forgotten History Thanks to MyHeritage
I’ve always had a passion for history — especially the medieval period, when genealogy and heraldry were living knowledge at the heart of family traditions. My goal? To document my family tree, structure it, place it in time and relationships — great-grand-aunt here, great-grandmother’s first husband there — so I could share it with my cousins, uncles, aunts… niece, nephew, the whole tribe!
Philippe Laine
My admittedly slightly obsessive mind needed a clear system to absorb all the anecdotes, faces, dates, and professions. Maybe I was hoping to find a prestigious ancestor, I’ll confess. Instead, I uncovered a heritage of farmers, laborers, carpenters… and I’m perfectly happy with that.
When the puzzle becomes an obsession
It all started with digitized departmental archives: an ancestor’s signature, amusing old-fashioned first names, forgotten occupations. My collector’s instinct kicked in, and I couldn’t stop.
On my mother’s side, I already knew several ancestors well. But on my father’s side, things were hazier: my paternal grandfather, who died when I was young, remained a mysterious figure. He had been a sailor, an amputee, a member of the Resistance, a man of the Left, a pendulum enthusiast, a painter, humorous, strict in his parenting… in short, a fascinating man.
Shattering family myths
Family myths can be persistent. Take our “Breton origin,” for example: my paternal grandfather, Maurice Laine, had lived in Nantes, so we said we were Breton. In reality, thanks to Record Matches, I traced the line back to Haute-Marne, then to a small village in Haute-Saône, where our family name comes from. Tracing 300 years of lineage tied to your surname — and sharing it with everyone still living — is no small feat!
Birth certificate of great-grandfather Henri Laine, born in 1884. MyHeritage collection. “We knew nothing about him, and just discovering that my father bears his first name was moving,” says Philippe.
My father used to say that one of my great-grandmothers was named Aïda Sakaël, and that she was a fortune-teller! That was a complete fabrication. There’s nothing exotic or mysterious about it: the name “Aïda Sakaël” turned out to be a distorted mix of my great-grandmother Angéline’s name, the nickname of an ancestor from another branch, and the hobby of my grandfather’s first wife!
An unknown sister… and reconnecting with cousins
But the most moving discovery was an older sister of my grandfather, unknown to everyone. I realized he had given her name to his first daughter — an overlooked clue.
A Smart Match™ led me to a marriage record in Brittany: an entirely forgotten marriage that ended in divorce at the time of the Liberation, before he remarried my grandmother. And surprise: several children, including an unknown eldest daughter. A hidden sister, Rolande Alida Laine, born in Commercy… her descendants live in Brittany today. After I published these findings online, her granddaughter reached out to me. She was also searching for her roots.
My grandfather had joined the Free French Forces, commandeered a small civilian ship in Africa, and lost a leg in a hunting accident. Thanks to declassified records, I found documentation of his time in the Resistance, military documents, and even a photo of that ship.
My MyHeritage subscription changed everything: shared trees, Smart Matches™, Record Matches, digitized archives… a near-continuous flow of new discoveries. One striking example? A great-uncle in Switzerland who turned up as a hairdresser in Avignon before emigrating to Brazil.
Philippe’s great-uncle André Caillet-Bois and his wife Adeline emigrated to Brazil in 1946. MyHeritage collection, Ellis Island Passenger Lists and other New York lists, 1820–1857.
I do like this adventurous couple: their immigration papers and photos signed at the Swiss consulate in Marseille show that they accidentally signed each other’s cards!
André Caillet-Bois and his wife Adeline. MyHeritage collection, Brazil, Rio de Janeiro immigration records, 1900–1965
Passing it on
What matters most to me now? Passing it on. To my three sons — who I hope will pass it on in turn — and also to my many cousins, uncles, and aunts (my father has eight siblings!).
I’ll leave you with a word of advice to future explorers: Start with the living. Interview them, take detailed notes, and take full advantage of a platform like MyHeritage. Cross-check everything: errors in ages, spellings, names are everywhere. But with discipline, patience, and curiosity, you can give your family not just names, but stories, connections, and memory.
Many thanks to Philippe for sharing his wonderful discoveries with us! If you’ve also made some incredible discoveries with MyHeritage, we’d love to hear about it. Please share it with us via this form or email us at stories@myheritage.com.
