Montigny/Riedell Genealogy Page

01/13/2025

Oooh... I've found some new (to me) resources/family trees created in Canada. Allegedly - I'm just starting to confirm this - Here's my 9th great grandfather, and first French family settler in Canada (following back the Heberts on Memere Montigny's side).

Is this your ancestor? Compare DNA and explore genealogy for Antoine (Hebert) Hébert born abt. 1621 France died 1693 Port-Royal, Acadie, Nouvelle-France including father + descendants + 7 photos + 12 genealogist comments + Y-chromosome DNA + more in the free family tree community.

11/27/2024

How cool that 23 & Me has confirmed my genealogy research! My Founding Ancestors stayed around Boston for about a minute before founding towns up and down the Connecticut River. Of those ancestors, the ones who got up to Quebec were kidnapped there from Deerfield and the area.

08/19/2024

A great story for a dark and stormy night like this! I re-upped my Newspapers.com subscription after hitting far too many Hints I couldn't follow in my research. I was NOT disappointed.

August 13, 1833: A thunder storm in upstate New York. The correspondent was standing in the door of the Post Office when Rev. Safford's druggist and book store "shivered as if a barrel of gun powder had been exploded in it." In the rubble were (my 5th great grandfather, maybe) William Safford and Ezra Eastman. Ezra was crying for help while William was shocked into silence.

Both appeared to have survived (especially if that was my 5th-great grampa Bill, since he died in 1857), though they were both badly burned and injured. What happened? "The lightning first struck the chimney and then passed in part down the stove pipe. The bricks were thrown from the chimney to a great distance, two were lodged on the roof of the building...60 or 70 feet distance." As for William and Ezra - "Not a piece of the pantaloons of either of them could be found larger than the palm of the hand, and their shoes were also literally torn to pieces and thrown from their feet."

Remember, kids! Stand away from the wood stove during a thunder storm!! :D

08/18/2024

Oh hey! Long time, no post!

So I'm returning to some frayed ends, and am looking into my 9th great-grandmother who *might* be my earliest relative born in America, Deliverance Langton in 1627. I'm curious about how she was was born in Springfield, MA to English parents, so I'm looking into her parents. Her father, George Langton, was born in England (she might have been too, looking at his timeline)...
..but he was a Hugenot. Yet again, another "English" line turning out to be French... 🤣🤣🤣

11/14/2023

Oh hey, long time no check! Anywho, I have been continuing to update the family tree in Ancestry, but more in bits and pieces.

So yeah, today I was indulging in some old newspapers, since I saw Jacob Edwards Library (in Southbridge) had some Southbridge papers. I was browsing through 1900, and found the attached clip.

WHAT?? SAY MORE!!!

Turner's Circus was a smaller one, but since they were in the Northeast, all the info I've found has been tangential to PT Barnum. My next aim is to review papers in Western Mass, so I may find more there. I'll let you know!!

(Newspaper clipping from July 1900 reading, "Alex Mominee has returned to this town after closing his engagement with Turner's Circus." My 2nd great grandfather was Alfred, and he did have a brother Alexander. Alex was married but had no children. Also, not much information on him before 1900... **Shakes first at the destroyed 1890 Census AGAIN**)

08/28/2021

We're going to Historic Deerfield today, where my 9th great grandfather died in a massacre, so I've been brushing up on my colonial lineage. Which is so twisted and confusing as there are like 20 families in colonial New England.

I came across a genealogy I hadn't found before, so I was doing some transcription. This person, though.... Most genealogies will start with Person 1, who marries someone (who may or may not get a number too), and their children are Person 2, Person 3, Person 4, etc. I love this because you'll get a pretty good family picture, and even in tangled families, everyone is also generally spaced out by generations - the higher your number, the farther from the "Home Person."

This guy though.... He put himself as Person 0, with his parents as Person 1 and Person 2. Then it's Person 1 (dad), who is the son of Person 3 and Person 4. Person 2 (mom) is the daughter of Person 5 and Person 6. And WHAT THE HELL DUDE???

07/03/2021

Jenn's morning:
1 - Googles when the next census is going to be released.
2 - Marks calendar for April 1, 2022.
3 - Cries about the 1890 Census. Again.

06/06/2021

Hello hello! I'm still poking around, as well as getting some interesting prospects on the horizon. One thing I did want to share as I've gotten further and further into my genealogy rabbit hole...

(First, can I mention that I'm proud I finally learned how to spell genealogy? 🤣🤣)

With the work I've been doing on my tree, I currently have about 14,860 people listed. And that's mostly just relatives *in America.* This work has put my bleeding heart/willingness to help/spirit of community into a new perspective.

You have ancestors from Southbridge? Marlboro, VT? Heck, even Wi******er - a town I moved to simply because I liked this piece of land? Yup, I'm probably related to you. And the more I look, the more connections I see. So WHY would I possibly refuse to help someone?? Chances are really, really high that we're some kind of cousin - even if I was the type of person who only helped people connected to me, it's more apparent than ever that we are ALL connected. 💜

01/31/2021

One good thing about my great-grandmother's (Mominee/Montminy) family - I was able to figure out where in Quebec her grandfather was born thanks to a couple legible entries in the Drouin Collection. Makes it much easier to confirm his siblings...

Also, here would be the parish:

Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle, QC J0J 1V0, Canada

01/17/2021

Today I found one of my great-grandmother's brothers, who I lost track of around 1918. Here's part of his "Application for Seaman's Protection" from 1922, where I realized how I "lost" him.

He was using the last name Montigny.

His name is Chester Arthur Mominee.

There are a LOT of Mominees in Southbridge who somehow got mis-labeled as Montignys, which got super fun when my great-grandfather Jerome Montigny married my great-grandmother Lauretta Mominee. Gotta love the French names!!

Oh, and how do I know this is Chester Arthur Mominee? I did find the official record from Southbridge that does read Montigny, but has the names of his Mominee/Prosper parents. I also found another brother of hers who worked on a ship during the same period of time, so it would make sense for the brothers to have similar professions. Oh, and - we didn't call her Little Memere for nothing. 🤣

12/27/2020

His 6th great-grandfather is my 9th great-grandfather, Henry Rice (1616-1711); Through the Hebert line

12/27/2020

So far, this is my favorite line from an obituary I've ever read (from the husband of John's 1st cousin 4x removed):
"Mr. England was one of the best known residents of the town and died a poor man because he could never see a case of misery without doing his utmost to relieve it."