Bennett – Many Branches, One Tree

Letter to My Great-Great Grandparents

My Dear Great-great Grandparents, François and Catherine, A reminder popped up on my calendar today that you, Francois, died of meningitis 127 years ago, on May 26, 1891. It prompted me to reflect on your lives and the values you imparted to your descendants, now seven generations strong. As one of those descendants, I write … Continue reading

Friday’s Faces from the Past

Do you know this soldier? This photograph of an unidentified young soldier was in a frame with a family tree group, hanging on a wall in my Aunt’s living room. Is he English? When my family and I traveled to Mexico City to visit our Huesca family in June 2003, I spotted a large … Continue reading

Sentimental Sunday: Family Treasures

When we moved from Mexico City to California in the spring of 1967, what I dreaded most was being far from our extended Huesca family. Cause for Celebration: Our family got together for holidays but also birthdays, anniversaries, and other special occasions, such as this one, taken between 1956 – 57. My mother wrote the names on … Continue reading

Mystery Monday: The Railway Men of Orizaba, Part 2

Edward Joseph Organ (1859 – 1893) Looking over the collection of photographs that belonged to my great-great grandmother, Catherine (O’Grady) Perrotin, I found one that was especially compelling and have been wondering about its subject for some time now. Though he was not my ancestor, he certainly was related to someone, and it seems only … Continue reading

Mystery Monday: The Railway Men of Orizaba, Part 1

Who are these men? This cabinet card photograph is part of a larger collection of “mystery pictures” that belonged to my great-great grandmother, Catherine (O’Grady) Perrotin. From the date on the back, it appears she received the photograph while living in Orizaba, Veracruz, Mexico, perhaps as she was preparing to move to England in 1895 … Continue reading

Sentimental Sunday: “…Wise unto Salvation”

Inscription in Bible by Catherine O’Grady Perrotin to her grandson, Edward Bennett, 1893 Cover of Bible given by my great-great-grandmother, Catherine (O’Grady) Perrotin to Edward Bennett, eldest child of María Dolores Perrotin and Timothy Bennett. It has been passed down to my cousin, Dorothy (Meek) Stephens, daughter of Jane Bennett, Edward’s sister and the youngest child of Maria Dolores and Timothy Bennett. Edward … Continue reading

Francisco Perrotin: 1866 – 1899

Francisco Perrotin 1868 – 1899 “The first cases (of yellow fever) in Orizaba were all of persons living in a small radius, close around the railroad station. In the next epidemic they spread out a few hundred yards farther and took in another block of houses a little farther off from the railroad station as … Continue reading

A Legacy Renewed, A Cause for Celebration

A legacy renewed, a cause for celebration On a cold wintry morning on the eve of the Civil War some 150 years ago, a dashing red-headed French baker and a wide-eyed, dark-haired Irish seamstress pledged their undying devotion in a loving embrace before God as they were joined in marriage in a small Catholic church … Continue reading

A Dream Come True

Perrotin Family Reunites for First Time in 112 Years Tonight my family and I will bust a decades-old family myth when we meet for the first time members of a branch of the Perrotin family, who were supposedly killed by a bomb during the Second World War. Their names are Don and Jennifer Murray, and … Continue reading