I really had quite forgotten about this connection. I found this fellow by Google-ing my great great aunt's name. I wrote the fellow and said that I'd love to connect, but he never got back to me, and now I think I know why.
I was checking back in on his site tonight, and was delighted by some new images of "Auntie Lou"s that he had posted. Then I found an album of his dedicated to Herbert Lyman Bigelow Jr., who just so happens to have died this Dec. 30, 2011. In my muddled mind of fuzzy memories, I realized who Herbert was. Herbert was the son of Herbert Sr., my great-grandmother's brother. There is a
family scandal involving Herbert, which perhaps I will share later, out of respect for the family right now. Suffice it to say that all family ties with Herbert Sr. were severed. I know my grandmother, his niece, found him living in the mountains of Boulder Creek, Ca. in the late 1960s. He had another family, and other children. I have no idea if Herbert Jr. is part of the original family or the second family.
In any case, I was reminded that LGB's father, Lyman Goodale Bigelow, was a pioneer in early flash powder photography. Here is a photo of my great great grandfather (the handsome devil).
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| Great great grandfather, around 1890. |
His daughter, Lou, grew into a photographer in her own right. In addition to taking a portrait of Wallace Simpson (long before she met the king and her future husband), she took this photo of Charles Lindberg.
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| Charles Lindberg, photographed by Lou Good Bigelow |
My mind is reeling tonight with family stories. I've emailed my dad, since I'm out of town, with the news of Herbert Jr.'s passing, and asked for any information he may have. Stay tuned.
For more information on Lou Goodale Bigelow, read this.
Post Script: Dad reports that, indeed, Herbert Jr. would be his first cousin. My research today indicates that Herbert was, in fact, married 3 times. My dad is stunned that I've found his first cousin, 15 years his senior.
