The Resurrection of William Andrew Rigsbey/Rigsby

I'm excited to share one of my favorite photographs. There it is, just to the left of the title of this week's post. 

The man on the left was just a boy here, in his late teens I'm guessing. 

Meet William Andrew Rigsby (or Rigsbey). He went by "Andy."

Andy was born in 1878 in Crab Orchard, Kentucky. His family, including aunts, uncles, and cousins, moved to Macoupin County, Illinois between 1880 and 1900. They all changed the spelling of their last name from Rigsby to Rigsbey when they moved. According to family lore, 

they wanted to disassociate with their father.

My husband's branch went back to the original spelling. Most of the others did not.

Andy's parents were John William Rigsby, born in Lincoln County, Kentucky, and Anna Eliza Conn, born in Garrard County, Kentucky. 

This was her second marriage.

You can see "Eliza" Rigsbey below. 

Andy, my husband's great grandfather, spent most of his life in St. Louis, Missouri.

He was an artist - a sign painter.

Back in those days, billboards were actually painted by artists. I'll talk more about this in a 

future post (he took photos of his work!).

This week's theme is "Mistake."

Andy enlisted in the U.S. Army and served for 3 years. I don't know much about his service yet, mostly because the information is more difficult to find. He wasn't in one of the "big" wars. He served in the Spanish American War and in the Boxer Rebellion.

At some point, his family thought he was dead. I can't imagine how his mother felt when she heard the news. It must have been horrible. I came across an article about her happy ending published in the Daily Illinois State Register in Springfield, Illinois on March 30, 1902.  I learned from his military headstone application that he was also awarded the Purple Heart, but I don't know how he was wounded. There is always more to discover!