Louis Nolibos, born in Siarrouy, Hautes-Pyrénées, a small French town, probably pressured by the economic problems that plagued his family at the time and without prospects of improvement in his country of origin, followed in the footsteps of his sister Anne Nolibos, who with her husband Pierre Bellan and her daughter Magdeleine, had emigrated to South America in 1854. Louis left Bordeaux on April 4, 1858, at the age of 24, bound for Montevideo, Uruguay, in search of the unknown, but full of dreams and hope for a promising future. After less than two years, he settled in São Borja, Brazil, where he thrived and left deep roots represented by the large number of his descendants recorded in this book.