Favorite Family Photograph

A New Discovery!

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 8 Theme: Favorite Family Photograph

Norman Miller Holland 
and Nelle Naomi Hartman Holland
with one of their children,
probably Norma Lucille Holland Aden

Generations 5 & 6
My Great Grandparents 
probably with my "Granny"

Rigsby, Kienlen, Aden, Holland, Hartman/Holland

When I learned about this week's theme, I thought I knew which family 

photo was my favorite. It was hard to choose. There are so many, and I thought I had one.

That all changed when my mom's cousin so kindly shared one of her 

photos with me. These are my great grandparents, Norman and Nellie Holland, with who we think is probably their first child, my Granny, Norma "Lucille" Holland.

I love this photo. My great grandpa is dressed up in overalls and a hat. There is a chair to his left, and I can imagine him sitting out there in nice weather enjoying the 

sunshine while his wife quietly worked around the house. 

I don't mean that to sound sexist. 

That's just how things were.

This picture was taken in the winter or early spring. My great grandma, "Mom Holland", seems happy. She is smiling. I never knew her when she was young, but now I can clearly see that Lucille will grow to resemble her. 

They were still a very young couple. There were seven more 

children in their future.

My favorite family photo changes a lot. Usually it's the one I've most recently discovered.

A Montréal Surprise

A Montréal Surprise

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 6 Theme: Surprise

Augustin Hébert dit Jolicoeur

Generation 13
My 8th Great Grandfather

Rigsby, Kienlen, Brazeau, St. Cyr, Hebert


Last summer I visited Québec with my oldest daughter. We knew our French Canadian roots were deep, and we wanted to visit some of the places our ancestors lived. We wanted to see what they saw, to walk where they walked.

We visited Montréal first. We visited many historic sites, the Archives de Montréal (too briefly), and some of the surrounding towns and villages that were important to our story. We happened upon the Pioneers' Monument Obelisk in Montréal and took a few pictures of it. The name of Augustin Hébert was listed along with his wife, Adrienne DuVivier. I didn't think much of it because I believed our ancestor was Louis Hébert of Québec City. 

I admit that I didn't put all of my facts together prior to our trip. In the past, like most of us, I copied a lot of family trees that weren't sourced. I started a Do-Over in 2015, and I take this effort in accurate source citations very seriously. I wasn't back quite this far yet because all of the French documents need translating and my translator (my daughter) has her own life to live. I don't add things to my tree anymore that aren't properly sourced.

I was aware that there are Héberts in my family tree. I believed they were descended from Louis Hébert in Québec City - our next destination. Once we arrived in Québec City, I pulled out my information on Louis Hébert and I became confused. Louis Hébert did not have descendants that shared his surname. Were we really related to Louis? Who passed the Hébert surname to our 18th century Illinois 

ancestors if it wasn't Louis?

Some quick research yielded a nice surprise. We are directly descended from both Louis and Augustin! Had I planned a little better, I would have realized this from the start. On the up side, now I have a reason to 

revisit two beautiful cities.

(*Those unsourced trees I used in the past were correctly linked back to Augustin Hébert. I'm working on finding and translating all of the proof for the information below, and for more of the story of my 8th great grandparents.)

An afterthought: 
When we were at the Pointe-à-Callière museum, I was found myself drawn to this little cemetery. I kept going back to it, and I took a lot of photos and even a few videos of the exhibit. For some reason, it touched me.
I didn't know it at the time, but my ancestors shed tears here. They buried their newborn daughter here. 
I am not a superstitious person. I don't really believe in magic or ghosts or anything like that, but this has happened to me over and over. I was drawn to this cemetery, and then later I found out I had ancestors who buried a child here. I love New Orleans and even visited the city 3 times in 5 years, then later learned I had ancestors who lived in New Orleans. I had favorite places in Scotland, for no particular reason, then found out later than I had ancestors from that region. These feelings always surprise me, but clearly there is something in my DNA drawing me to certain places. I need to pay attention to these feelings.

The Library Mural Artist and his Wife

The Library Mural Artist and his Wife

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 5 Theme: At the Library

Robert Lawrence Rigsby
and 
Marjorie Catherine Clark Rigsby

Generation 6
My husband's Great Grandparents

Rigsby, Rigsby Clark

"The Birth of St. Louis" by Robert L. Rigsby, 1934
Source: St. Louis Front Page www.slfp.com; Photo of mural, Bob Moore


My husband's grandfather, Robert Lawrence Rigsby, was an artist. Sadly, that talent wasn't passed down to my husband or any of our children, but we are lucky that we can still see some of his grandfather's work.

This mural depicting the founding of St. Louis, Missouri, hangs in the Carondelet Branch of the St. Louis Public Library. It is very large and impossible to photograph, which is why I couldn't use my own picture here.

There were no family stories about this. My husband didn't even know. We happened to read about it in an old newspaper article.

This is definitely tops on our list of things we discovered at the library!

More of Robert L. Rigsby's work can be seen in my story below: