Related to Tsar - continued?

Question:

Related to Tsar - continued?

Thank you SO much for all that information! You are amazing. I am getting a family tree today from a cousin, and with that I might be able to trace through my g.g.grandfather James Bevan and get his marriage certificate - which will give the name of the illigitimate Tsar's daughter. From there I might make a connection? Trouble is, I dont think I will ever get the direct link between her and Alexander I, as her birth link to him will probably never be proved. But who knows? I dont know how its possible to exchange email addresses so that we could continue this research without having to make it so public. On the other hand I am well aware that you have so kindly spent time looking up what you have and I wouldnt want to 'put upon you' as it were - but you certainly have a nose for sniffing things out! My family always knew the girls were called Ward - but surmised that perhaps they were called Ward because they were made 'wards'.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: What I've found in the last 28 years or so of doing this is that most of the story is fiction in things like this. There will be a grain of truth that's been embellished over and over again into a very large drama. There's usually much less truth and much more "creative energy" in stories like this. I had one in my own family...the Polish debutante and father, the nobleman who lived in a house as big as a city block, who purportedly disowned her for running away with "a stable boy". There were even stories of her grandfather having come over with Kosziusko to fight in the American Revolution. The truth was much simpler. The family had no noble roots. The father was a simple farmer from a tiny town near the former capitol of a kingdom in what is now Poland and his family were servants to Napoleon for the winter that he spent in Poland. But there was no house the size of a city block. Instead it was a 4 room shack on a farm in the middle of nowhere. The woman in question was well-educated, but that's because they lived near the church and the nuns took a liking to her and would read to her from the Bible and teach her mathematics because she was quite gifted in that way. She was even taught calligraphy. But in the end, she was still a farmer's daughter.

It's always fun to go down these roads and see where they lead. In all of the research I've ever done, I've only found 2 stories similar to yours to be legitimate on any level. It's fun to pursue them and see where the lead. The only caveat is that you have to be your own devil's advocate and make sure you're uncovering the truth and not letting the story lead you astray. Truth is what it is, there's no changing it. There's only the road to discovering it. We'll figure it out soon enough. Hang in there. I got your other note and will be happy to exchange messages through that channel. Never fear, we'll find them.