Adventure, Piracy, and Exploration
This is the webpage for the Journal of Jesse DeForest, an early explorer of Brazil. His journal recounts his trip in 1623 to the Amazon River searching for a place to start a Dutch colony. This was a time when navigation was sketchy at best, vast portions of the world were still unknown, and meeting a foreign ship almost inevitably led to acts of piracy. It's a swashbuckling tale, full of adventure and exotic locales. So take a look and see what it was like, risking your life for a better future for your family.
You can find a translated copy (the original is in French) of the journal in this book A Walloon Family in America Vol. 2, or see my maps. I have taken the various journal entries and entered them into Google Maps so it is possible to actually see where the ship was.
Jesse DeForest also happens to be a distant ancestor (12th great grandfather) of this page's author. The author's mother is the family genealogist which is how he knows Jesse is his ancestor. Stumped with what to get his Mom for Christmas he decided to create this page for her so she could see where her ancestor traveled. So Merry Christmas Mom, I hope you like your present.
-Christmas 2012
You can find a translated copy (the original is in French) of the journal in this book A Walloon Family in America Vol. 2, or see my maps. I have taken the various journal entries and entered them into Google Maps so it is possible to actually see where the ship was.
Jesse DeForest also happens to be a distant ancestor (12th great grandfather) of this page's author. The author's mother is the family genealogist which is how he knows Jesse is his ancestor. Stumped with what to get his Mom for Christmas he decided to create this page for her so she could see where her ancestor traveled. So Merry Christmas Mom, I hope you like your present.
-Christmas 2012