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Showing posts from March, 2023

Nicholas Regnier (1884-1920)

When scrolling through Woodlawn Cemetery in Fairmont in March of 2023, I was surprised to come across a grave stone written in French. After taking pictures at a variety of angles for the best reading (the stone is fairly worn), I discovered that it read: "Ici Repose Nicolas Regnier mor à l'âge de 36 ans et un mois mor le 26 Décembre 1920". Roughly translated, that's "Here rests Nicolas Regnier died at the age of 36 years and one month died on 26 December 1920". Curious to learn more, I turned to  Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers , which includes newspapers from (among many many others) West Virginia. It had some pretty horrifying results. Here's Nicholas' story. Nicholas Regnier was born November 25, 1884 in Liège, Belgium, the son of Jean François Regnier and Marie Jeanne Sion . He had three siblings- Catherine and Jules, who were twins, and Dennis. Jules immigrated to the U.S. in 1901, with Nicholas following in 1903, as well as