My husband's earliest known ancestor was Balthazar Israel. Notes from a famiy genealogy sheet say he was "a German, came to New York WITH HIS BROTHER about 12 years before the American Revolution." ... "He went to Digby, Nova Scotia with two dependents in 1783 from New York on the ship "Joseph".

I have found nothing else about this brother, so there may be related lines of which I am not currently aware. Any speculation about who the brother might be would be of interest!

We started an Israel family DNA group on Ancestry.com, based on his DNA test, and are hoping to find other family members. If you know anything about this family, or are interested in joining the DNA group, feel free to write to me at svickery@knology.net and go online to the Ancestry DNA site to request membership in the group. (If you do this, please do send me an e-mail as I want to approve you right away!) (My husband's family is one which changed the original name from Israel in the early 20th century, but he is a direct descendant of Balthazar Israel)