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.
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.
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.
I am related to Louis too;hi cousin!
ReplyDeleteTrees for French Canadians are usually fairly accurate because there are reliable sources. I don't think I've ever found anything different from going through church records myself than what people take from Tanguay's genealogical dictionary.
ReplyDeleteThe French Wikipedia page for Adrienne Duvivier says her daughter Pauline was the first white child baptized in Montréal: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrienne_Duvivier. Maisonneuve and Jeanne Mance were the godparents. It also says the couple was the first to bring over an engagé, or indentured servant.