Greetings from Brunswick-Luneburg-Canada !

[Geoffrey VBC]

My ancestor Theodor (1750-1824), was the illegitimate love child of Carl I Duke of Braunschweig-Wolfenbuttel (1713-1780) - an ancestor of, and cousin to, pretty much all the monarchs in Europe for 800 years.
Theodor was adopted by Capt. von Pincier of the Brunswick Army. While Theodor was not formally recognized by his father, he received every privilege associated with nobility in his youth. Lt. Theodor von Pincier left Brunswick in 1776 as part of the British auxilliary forces to fight against the Americans in the war of independence. Theodor was held as a prisoner of war until 1783, whereupon returning to Brunswick he received a discharge from his half brother reigning Duke Carl Wilhelm Ferdinand (after Carl I death in 1780).
Theodor returned to Canada as a british subject and struggled as a new world settler, spending many years as a provincial surveyor, dying impoverished in a Military hospital in Sorel Quebec at the age of 74. A very tragic end to a very long and interesting life.
The Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel line, a branch of Brunswick-Luneburg and the ancient House of Welf - Este (Guelph) ended with the death of His Highness William Duke of Brunswick in 1884. William also had numerous illegitimate children but the Duchy was passed into regency under Prussia and finally into the control of Hanover.
The "de Pencier" descendants of Carl I VBW are alive and well and send greetings from Canada !
Geoffrey Kinney (von Braunschweig-Wolfenbuttel-Canada :)
Note: August 1st is the 300th anniversary of Carl's birth (www.carl300.de).