Ramblings of Poe

Pierre de Régnier 4th Cousin, twice removed   Known by his pseudonym "Tigre" (The Tiger), was a French writer, poet, illustrator, and chronicler of Parisian high society, born on September 8, 1898, in Paris's 16th arrondissement. He was the son of the acclaimed Symbolist poet and Académie Française member Henri de Régnier and Marie de Heredia (who wrote under the pen name Gérard d'Houville), daughter of the Cuban-born French poet José-Maria de Heredia y Girard.  Officially recognized as Henri's child, Pierre was widely rumored to be the biological son of his mother's lover, the poet Pierre Louÿs—a scandalous detail that fit the bohemian family dynamic. From a young age, his unconventional mother affectionately nicknamed him "Tigre," a moniker that would define his public persona as a flamboyant dandy of the Roaring Twenties (les Années Folles). Régnier showed little interest in formal education, attending the Lycée Janson-de-Sailly but preferring the...

Capt. Luis Joseph Peguero Ortiz "The First Dominican" (c. 1724–1792) 5th Great-Grandfather The great-great-great grandson of Captain Alonso Estéban Peguero Gómez-Portes, was a Dominican historian, poet, moralist, and cattle rancher born in Baní, in what is now the Dominican Republic (then the Spanish colony of Santo Domingo). Little is known about his early life, but he came from a modest background in a rural area and became a prominent figure in colonial intellectual circles. Peguero is best remembered as an early chronicler of Dominican history, blending factual accounts with poetic elements in his writings. His work focused on the island's conquest, indigenous resistance, and colonial events, often infused with fervent Catholicism and a sense of local pride. He died in Baní in 1792, leaving a legacy as a foundational voice in Dominican literature. A key highlight of Peguero's career is his 1762 work, Historia de la conquista de la isla española de Santo Domingo, w...