Footprints in the Sand

Dr. Brian A. Smith, a chiropractic physician, internist, historian, and avocational genealogist has been researching his ancestors since 1985 and has self-published several books including biographies of his father in World War II and grandfather in the Great War. Other works include "A Select History of New Jersey," "Il Regno" (a history of Southern Italy), "A History of Central Eastern Europe," "A Critical Analysis of the Myth of the Crusades," and "Magna Carta and Isabel Dutton." He has made several works published in French and Spanish available to English readers for the first time through his translations. Professionally, he has authored many works appearing in peer-reviewed journals including two papers awarded "Research Paper of the Year" by the Association for the History of Chiropractic and one of the first papers on HIV infection published in the chiropractic literature: "Chiropractic and the HIV+ Patient" that appeared in the December 1997 issue of "The Internist."

This work is the culmination of over two decades of research into the ancestry of Antony Jansen van Salé who appeared in the Dutch colony of New Netherlands in 1630. His father, Jan Jansen van Haarlem, became known to the world as Morat Raïs (the Younger) a corsair located in Salé, Morocco. This work traces the connections between Jan and the Royal House of the al-Hasani sheiks of Morocco to their origin in the town of Yanbu on the Red Sea. The ties to the dynasties of the Abd al Wadi of Tlemcen and the al-Hafsi of Tunis are also covered. The al-Fihri dynasty that stretched from 7th century Egypt to 11th century Southern France is also included. They were related to the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) and appear to be related to one of the wives of Jan Jansen van Haarlem.