What Are We?

WHAT ARE WE?

The Truax name is such an unusual one, and it’s origins so complex, that there have been many answers proposed to this question over the years. Even knowing the birthplace of our progenitor, Philippe du Trieux, has done little to clear up the question of “What are we?” The problem is that there are many answers that could be considered ‘correct’, so I will try to clear up some of the confusion.

We all know that Philippe du Trieux was born in Roubaix, France around 1588. This would seem to indicate that he was French, except for one small problem: in 1588, Roubaix wasn’t part of France - it was part of the Lower Netherlands (Flanders). Since Flanders is part of modern-day Belgium, this would seem to make him Belgian. However, Belgium as a country didn’t really exist at the time. It was part of the Netherlands, which would make Philippe Dutch. To further complicate matters, the whole area was under Spanish control at the time, so one could even argue that Philippe was Spanish!

Perhaps the most accurate summary of Philippe’s cultural and ethnic identity is to say that he was a Walloon. The Walloons were (and are) a French-speaking, largely Protestant group who are said to be descended from the original Celtic tribes of the region, the Belgae. But still, it’s hard to tell someone that your family is Walloon. When asked, I usually tell people that we’re Belgian, but really you can take your pick and still be right.

We aren’t the first Truaxs to experience confusion over our family origins - our ancestors seem to have as well. One of the nice things about Canadian census records is that instead of (or in addition to) asking about ‘race’, they often ask about ‘ethnic origin’, and the answers given by the various Truaxs over the years can be quite interesting. In the 1871 census, for example, there were 17 Truax head of households or strays in Ontario. The reported ethic breakdown was: 4 Dutch, 4 French, 4 English, 4 German, 2 Dutch, 2 Irish, and 1 Scotch. Many of these folks couldn’t seem to decide, either - in at least three cases, the first and sometimes second responses were scratched out and replaced by another. In one instance, the person originally said he was Canadian, but this was apparently unacceptable to the census taker.

While some of this confusion can be attributed to adopting the ethnic identity of the mother’s line, some of the responses can be downright bizarre. In 1901, my own great-grandfather Albert Truax said he was ‘Pennsylvania Dutch’, which is about the only thing that he wasn’t. And over the years, I have heard from folks who were told by their families that the Truaxs were anything from Norwegian to Mohawk Indian (True-Ax?).

So, when someone asks you ‘What are the Truaxs?’, don’t feel bad if you can’t give them a simple one-word answer. We’re much more interesting than that!