This week's assignment asked readers to post our "top genealogy moment" of 2009. While nothing tops marrying my 7th cousin once removed, that wasn't done for genealogical purposes, so I would say my top genealogy moment would be meeting my recently-discovered Sonnier cousins in Scott, Louisiana. The four sisters and brother I met, children of John B. & Aline (Legere) Sonnier (and my half-2nd cousins), were delightful and welcoming, as were their relatives. I felt like I'd known them for years, and we're still in touch.(Aline (Legere) and Jean Baptiste ("John B.") Sonnier. Digital photo of portrait owned by the Sonnier family.)
And so, cousins who descend from my great-grandfather Constant Legere's first marriage (to Estelle Babineau or Babineaux, the Sonniers' great-grandmother) and his fourth and final marriage (to Marie Octavie "Tavie" McBride, my great-grandmother) are now reunited.
But I'm all about the lagniappe*, so here are two other moments:
• My 2nd cousin Janice, who shares great-grandfather Newton King Brady Pate of Ringgold, Louisiana, with me, voluntarily took photos of my McCoy ancestors' Delaware landmarks and obtained burial records for me while on a trip there. And she isn't even related to this family branch! Thank you so much, Janice--one of these days, we really have to meet in person!* (Detail of our wedding favor bag, which contained pralines made by my Californian (via Texas) mother-in-law with pecans from my Louisianian parents' trees. Digital scan.)
• My husband and I honeymooned in New Orleans, the first time I've returned since discovering my colonial NOLA ancestry. Walking on the French Quarter land where I now know my ancestors once lived gave me a whole new perspective on the Crescent City.(left: Muriel's Restaurant at Chartres & St. Ann in New Orleans, which occupies land first owned by my 8th-great grandfather Claude Trepagnier in the early 1720s. Digital photo.)
Wishing you & yours a New Year full of wonderful genealogical and non-genealogical moments!
