The Major.

With more genealogy research, I was looking into Laurie's family. This is Major Augustus D. Blanchet of the 27th New Jersey Volunteers. I found this photo on the New Jersey Archives site. He was Laurie's great-great-grandfather, on her mother's side. He lived in Morrisville, New Jersey. Going beyond the Major has been tricky, since family names change quite regularly, but it appears the family descends from French colonists on Guadeloupe and a collection of knights and similar nobility from Normandy and Brittany, and probably more than that. I'll try to get it all sorted out.