This past Tuesday – July 4 – was the anniversary of Fr. Pensier’s tragic death. May he rest in peace! Fr. PL (Pierre) Pensier was born in France around 1846. Like many of the clergy at the time, he responded to the call to be a Missionary Priest in
The life and Accomplishments of Kirby Lee Vidrine Sr. By John R. “Randy” Vidrine Kirby Lee Vidrine Sr. was my paternal grandfather. He was the son of Aurelie Vidrine and his second wife Louisiana Singletary. Aurelie’s first wife Zoe Fusilier died June 26, 1891. Her youngest child, a daughter Marie
Today is the anniversary of the Normandy Landings known as D-Day when the Allied (American, British, and Canadian) forces stormed the beaches of Normandy during WWII. No soldiers from the Vidrine Family are known to be among the nearly 10,000 Allied causalities on June 6, 1944. However, there is one
This morning, Mardell Sibley and I gave a Presentation entitled “Voyage au Pays des Illinois” at the Evangeline Genealogical and Historical Society’s quarterly meeting where we shared the history and relevance of the Fort de Chartres and surrounding area through photos of our trip there in October 2016. How wonderful
Elisabeth Tisserand de Montcharvaux (1744–1816) Birth April 22, 1744 Tomorrow will be the 273rd anniversary of the birth of Elisabeth de Moncharvaux, the young bride of Jean Baptiste Lapaise de Védrines and matriarch of the Vidrine family in LA. Elisabeth was born on April 22, 1744 at the Arkansas Fort
This is a cool video of the cemetery of St. Joseph Church at Prairie du Rocher, IL. It’s one of the oldest parishes still in existence in what was the Pays des Illinois or Upper LA (before the French lost to the British in 1763). Margaret Kimbrall Brown who is