COINCIDENCE? I THINK NOT

The most amazing thing happened today. I received an email from one of my sisters. I know that is amazing in itself but stick with me here. She sent me some photos that she received from her sister-in-law that were taken in the early 1960's.
My sister was on a trip with her husband and his mother from Ontario to Nova Scotia to visit her brother in law in the navy. Their trip took them through Quebec. They sat down in front of some statues and had their picture taken. She never thought anything of it again until this week, over 40 years later, when she was sent the picture in an email.Isn't she pretty? That is my big sister on the left and her dear mother in law on the right. Nothing unusual here is there? Until you look at the statues and read the inscription. I have written about these people immortalized in these monuments before. They are our 11th great grandparents, Louis Hebert and Marie Rollet.
The odd thing here is that we didn't know this until a couple of years ago when I discovered our connection and added them into our family tree.

I am so excited about this. I actually had shivers up my spine when I saw the old photo.

GENEALOGY: Louis Hebert

Louis Hebert was a very important man in the early history of New France (Quebec). He was my 11th. Great Grandfather and here is what I know about him.
Louis was born about 1575 in St. Germain, d'Auxerre, France apparently living in a house near the Louvre. He was also married in France but came to New France without his family.
Louis Hebert was an apothecary. This would be like a herbalist/pharmacist at the time.
In 1606 Louis Hebert sailed with Samuel Champlain to Port Royal, Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia. There is a river and an island named for Hebert. In the summer of that same year they sailed to the southwest looking for suitable sites for settlement. The area they were attracted to is now Gloucester, Massachusetts. Louis was known for cultivating land and they planted a clearing there to test the soil fertility. He planned to bring his family there.
At one point in this expedition Louis, Samuel Champlain and others leaped from their ship in the middle of the night to aid some of the men from the ship who against orders did not stay on board and were now being attacked by the inhabitants of the area. They returned to France in 1607. I will continue this story with the return of Louis to New France in 1610 in another post.

GENEALOGY

You never know what you will find when you research your family tree. I found my 11th great grandfather, Louis Hebert and his wife Marie Rollet were considered the first family of New France (Quebec). He was an apothecary which today would be a pharmacist. There are statues erected in Quebec for each of them. Canada Post has also issued a couple of stamps with his likeness on them. He arrived in New France in 1617 with his friend Samuel de Champlain.