Treasure Chest Thursday: A Second Letter from Adrienne La Forêt

As with last week's letter, this piece of blue paper is 21 cm x 26.8 cm.  It also has faded along the lines where it was folded into quarters.  It has the same watermark as last week's letter, but this time I can read the entire thing:  SANDRINGHAM DUALIS PP (with the P's linked) PARIS.  I can't find a reference online to this paper manufacturer, but progress has been made.

This letter is again handwritten in French, addressed to Mon cher Papa, and signed by Adrienne.  Jean La Forêt's older daughter wrote him a second letter that he kept.

The envelope in which the letter was contained is 14.2 cm x 10.2 cm, as with last week's.  Its blue is a little darker than the stationery.  It is again addressed to Monsieur Jean L. La Forêt at 615 Indiana Street in Vallejo.  It cost 150 centimes to mail, although this time Adrienne used three 40 centime stamps and three 10 centime stamps, as opposed to last week's two 75 centime stamps.  But this envelope has something last week's didn't:  a legible postmark!  The postmark says "MANTES A PARIS", which I have not yet been able to determine the location of, but I have found references online.  It does seem to be in Paris.  The postmark date looks like 24 August 1926.

I will again transcribe and translate Adrienne's letter.  The envelope is easy enough to read.

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Lundi 23 Aout 26

Mon cher Papa,

Je voudrais bien recevoir de tes nouvelles et savoir que tu vas de mieux en mieux a que je souhaite de tout coeur.

J'espère aussi qu'Emma et soeurette sont bien.  La petite Rosita devait lui m'ecrire un peu, elle est en vacance en ce moment et doit avoir plus de temps a elle, cela me ferait tant plaisir.

Je vait très bien en ce moment et me sens forte pour recommencer la lutte quotidienne.  Mais celas(?) c'est un grave problème maintenant que d'arriver a vivre, tant est hors de prix!  on va t-on?  on n'on sait rien, que les pauvres comme moi tant malheureux!  enfin j'ai du courage, pourra que j'ai la santé j'arriverai bien tant de mème a gagner mon pain.  Heureusement j'ai un tant petit loyer et suis petite mangeuse.  En dois voir sur les journeaux ce que tant coute en France!  Et dire que c'est pour ce resultat que nous avons laisser tuer des ètres cheris, et nous avons gagni la guerre, nous avons eu la victoire!  triste victoire si les ètres qui ne sont plus voient, ils doivent fremir dans leur tombeau et regretter leur sacrifice.

Mais je ne veux pas t'attrister plus long temps au contraire je veux te rassurer, le dire que j'ai du courage et que je veux arriver a me refaire une petite situation si ???? me donne un peu de santé.

Lorsque toi ???? mon cher Papa donne moi souvent de tes nouvelles, dis a Rosita de m'ecrire, embrasse les bien fort toutes deux par moi et pour toi recois les plus affecteureux baisers de ta fille qui t'aime et pense a toi

Adrienne

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Monday, August 23, 1926

My dear Papa,

I would like to hear from you and know that you are getting better and better, which I wish with all my heart.

I also hope that Emma and little sister are well.  Young Rosita should write to me a little, she is on vacation now and should have more time, it would make me very happy.

I am doing well currently and feel ready to start the daily struggle again.  But this is a big problem now that to live, at what price!  Where are we going?  We know nothing, with the pitiable ones like me so unhappy!  In short, I have courage, and if I am healthy I will be successful in earning my keep.  Luckily I have low rent and don't eat much.  You see on the news how much everything costs in France!  And to say that it is for this that we have allowed dear people to be killed, and we won the war, we had the victory!  Sad victory if the people we no longer see must shudder in their tombs and regret their sacrifices.

But I don't want to make you sad any longer, I want to reassure you, to say that I have courage and that I want to redo a small situation if ???? give me a little health.

While you ???? my dear Papa, give me lots of news, tell Rosita to write to me, give big kisses to the two of them from me, and for you loving kisses from your daughter who loves you and thinks of you.

Adrienne

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I'm very frustrated that I was totally unable to decipher two words in this letter.  I have enlarged the high-resolution versions of these images on my screen and simply got nowhere.  Maybe someone else will be able to tell me what the question words are.

When you read this letter and compare it to last week's, it's hard to say whether Adrienne had heard from Jean in between.  This letter repeats a lot of what was in the first letter.  Maybe Jean was too ill to write to her.  And it doesn't sound as though Rosita had written to her, either.  She wasn't ill; maybe she was a flaky kid, or wasn't that crazy about her older sister.  Or maybe Jean didn't relay the message?

It's nice that Adrienne sent good wishes for Emma in this letter and sent her kisses also.  I doubt that Adrienne thought of Emma as her stepmother in any way, but she's maintaining good relations.

Adrienne didn't include her surname anywhere, so we still don't know if she was married or single.  At least with the postmark we know she was in Paris.  And it does sound like she was taking the traditional August vacation and was getting ready to go back to a normal work routine.

And this is the last item I have in my treasure chest for Jean.  I need to look at my documents to determine who is next up on the list to be analyzed.  In the meantime, I may take a break next week for Treasure Chest Thursday to make my plans.

Treasure Chest Thursday: Jean La Forêt Receives a Letter from His Daughter

This piece of paper is 21 cm x 26.8 cm.  It's a lovely blue in color with some fading along the lines where it was folded.  It has a watermark:  I can read SANDRINGHAM clearly.  The next word is DUA, then some character I can't figure out, then IS.  From the other side the character looks like a J, but then the rest of the letters are backward.  Then comes a stylized PP with the two P's linked, and finallly PARIS.

The letter is handwritten in French on the front and back and is signed "Adrienne."  The salutation on the first page is Mon cher Papa:  "My dear Papa."  So here finally is proof that my conjecture about Adrienne was correct and that she was Jean's daughter.  No, this is not a letter from Rosita!  Unfortunately, Adrienne's handwriting is not nearly as clear and legible as her father's, so my translation tonight will probably be less than perfect.

The envelope in which the above letter arrived to me is 14.2 cm x 10.2 cm.  It's also blue, but a little darker than the letter.  It is addressed to Monsieur Jean L. La Forêt (Adrienne even included the circonflexe over the "e" in Forêt).  The address, 615 Indiana Street, Vallejo, California, is the same one Jean included at the top of his letters to the French Consul General that he wrote four months before this letter from Adrienne.  I cannot read the postmark over the stamps, so I don't know when it was sent or from where.

Adrienne's writing is clear enough on the envelope that it doesn't require transcription.  I have transcribed and translated the letter below.

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7 Aout 1926

Mon cher Papa,

Je reçois ce matin ta lettre du 19 Juillet.  Je suis très triste de savoir que ton etat de santé a necessité ton transport a l'hopital mais c???? tu me le laisser esperer j'éspère que a l'heure ou je t'écrit tu es rentré chez toi et en bonne voie de guerison.  Donne moi souvent de tes nouvelles car je suis inquiète de te savoir ainsi et voudrais tant te savoir gueri. – Je suis en vacances (forcies) en ce moment il n'y a pas causer a Paris cela me reprend qu'au commencement de Septembre.  Je m'ennui très un peu mais qu'y faire? –

J'attend toujours une longue lettre de Rosita cela me ferait tellement plaisir en attendant dis lui que je l'embrasser très fort ainsi que le chère petite haman(?).

On me present pour cet hiver une interstice meilleure, j'éspère que cela reussira, je te tiendra au courant, ce serait pour Octobre. – Je te quitte mon cher Papa, souhaitant de tout mon coeur que le très prochaines nouvelles de toi soient meilleures et en t'embrassant très affectueusement.

La fille qui t'aime

Adrienne

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August 7, 1926

My dear Papa,

I received this morning your letter of July 19.  I am very sad to learn that your health condition required you to go to the hospital, but ??? you left me hope and I do hope that as I write this you have returned home and are on the road to recovery.  Send me updates often[,] because I am anxious to know and want so much to know that you are better.  I am on vacation (involuntary) at this time[,] there is nothing happening in Paris to bring me back until the beginning of September.  I am very bored[,] but what to do?

I'm still waiting for a long letter from Rosita[,] which would make me so happy[.]  While I am waiting tell her that I send her a big kiss, the dear little [haman?].

I should have a better break this winter, I hope it will be successful[.]  I will keep you informed, it would be for October.  I leave you my dear Papa, wishing with all my heart that the next news about you is better and sending you fond kisses.

Your daughter who loves you

Adrienne

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The big news from this letter is that a couple of months before he died, Jean was in the hospital with some unknown ailment.  We'll have to wait to find out if he did get better and make it out of the hospital at some point.

For some reason, I'm happy to hear that Adrienne and Rosita were in touch with each other.  Over these months that I've been questioning whether Adrienne was actually Jean's daughter, I also wondered how much communication there was between her and Jean's "second" family.

It sounds as though Adrienne was living in Paris, but because I can't read the postmark, I don't know where she was spending her forced vacation.  If she had a forced vacation, maybe she was working?  Or maybe this was just the normal "everyone leaves Paris in August" type of vacation.

In 1926 Adrienne was 42 years old.  She didn't write her name on the envelope, so we don't know if she was married or was still a La Forêt.  We really don't know much about her at all.

Treasure Chest Thursday: The Last Pages from Jean La Forêt's Journal

We've reached the end of the pages in Jean La Forêt's journal that have entries on them.  These pages seem to be notes rather than something organized.  Maybe these were just pieces of information Jean wanted to remember and keep track of.  None of this writing requires translation.

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Marie Josephine Leonie Adrienne – 1 fevr. 74

Pauline – Eugen Stein
Eugen Messein.

Fred Frantz & Joe
Endert – Crescent City

63 – rue Ramey, Paris

Mabel Cornwell – Vaughan – Gallegly
Mrs. Harve A. Gallegly.
Dazey – North Dakota

Henry Pelissier – Sonoma
Lawrence Villa —

John Steiner — " —

Mrs. Curdt Elizabeth
Wellston, Mo.

Mr. Otto Villamarin
Calle Real, Paris Saloon
Cavite,

Major General Tom Barry, comdt
West-Point Military Academy

Marie Robert
rue le Regratier #8

Elisa Dudot
rue St Bernard #11

Tony Kaul
Sablon(?) – Pont-à-Mousson
Elsie Fachette

Wilson B. Morse
Athlone, St Joaquin Valley

Marion P. Mauss [sic], Gen'l

Louis Soudieux – Salonns[?]

Les Messeins  — " —

Oscar & Ferdinand Levy

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As with the list of birthdays last week, some of these are names we've seen before, but most are totally new.  Adrienne's full name is very pretty.  About halfway down the list is Emma's mother, Elizabeth Curdt, in Wellston, Missouri.  And near the end of the list is Wilson B. Morse.  He's the man Jean visited May 14 to June 14, 1890.

Jean had a Pauline in his birthday list, but her last name was Cohen.  Maybe Pauline Cohen married Eugen Stein?  But is Eugen Stein the same man as Eugen Messein?

Some names appear to be people Jean met on his travels bu didn't mention previously.  We know he was in Crescent City and Cavite.  Considering the problems he had in Crescent City, I'm surprised he cared to remember anyone there.

The Paris address might have been Adrienne's, since the photograph of her has Paris written on it.  With no context for the other names, I have no idea who they were.  I'm sure many cities have a rue St Bernard, but maybe not as many have a rue le Regratier.  Jean has left me another mystery to work on.

Wordless Wednesday

Treasure Chest Thursday: Important Birthdays in Jean La Forêt's Life

While I finished last week with the chronological journal entries Jean La Forêt had in his little notebook, there are other pages in the book.  I thought I had three pages of birthdays, but the third page surprised me when I read through it.  The first two pages are almost entirely names and dates, so I am not making a separate section for the one phrase that required translation.  The third page, however, has more French and does have a separate translated section below.

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Notes à tenir [Notes to keep]

Birthdays

Hattie – Sept. 28

Nat – " 29

Adrienne – Febry 1

Marie Davis – Fevrier [February] 2 [18]59

Annie W. – Dec. 6

Theresa  Nov. 9

Robert  fevr. [February] 4

Père [?] W.  Dec. 19

Pauline Cohen  Sept. 8

Tellie Van der Heyde  July 28 [18]84

Marie Petit  Avril 25 85

Camilla – March 19 1895

H. Petit – Jan. 5 (J. J. Thirion)

Helène Christmann – Jan. 9 (Lina)

Nettie ——"——  Sept. 2  ——

Emma – Nov. 14 – 1866

Camilla – February 19 – 1895

Marie Petit – April 23 – 1885

Eugene – June 19 – 1996 [sic]

Helen (Lina) Christmann  Jan 9th  Sept. 2nd

Annie Witz – Dec. 6th

Theresa Witz – Nov. 9th

Robt. Witz – O. M. Dec. 19

Mama Witz –

Marie Davis – Mrs. Chas. S. Johnson – Febr. 2 [18]59

Nettie Christmann – Sept. 2

Adrienne – Febr. 1st [18]74

Rosita Emma  Sept. 4 [19]09

Naissance de Rosita Emma le 4 Sept. 1909 à Versoix, Canton de Genève (sur les bords du lac Leman)

Parti de Suisse : 30/4–10
A Lyon (France, du 30/4–10 au 3/5–10
A Marseilles du 3/5–10 au 6/5–10

A Alger et Algérie : du 7 May 1910 au 13 Août 1918

via Marseilles, Paris, Brest, New York, Washington, St. Louis à Overland, Mo.

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Birth of Rosita Emma on September 4, 1909 in Versoix, Geneva Canton (on the banks of Lake Geneva)

Departure from Switzerland:  April 30, 1910
In Lyon (France) from April 30, 1910 to May 3, 1910
In Marseilles from May 3, 1910 to May 6, 1910

In Algiers and Algeria:  from May 7, 1910 to August 13, 1918

Via Marseilles, Paris, Brest, New York, Washington, St. Louis to Overland, Missouri

-- >< -- >< -- >< -- >< --

I wonder why Jean wrote several of the names and birthdays twice.  Sometimes he didn't include the last name, sometimes he did.  I'm sure his method made sense to him.

A lot of names here are totally new to me.  Who are the Christmanns?  And the Witzes?  I don't recognize the name Marie Davis or Charles S. Johnson.  I have no idea who Nat, Pauline Cohen, J. J. Thirion, and Tellie Van der Heyde are.

We have seen the name Hattie before.  Jean acknowledged that his survival from the assassination attempt in 1889 was in part due to Hattie.  Was the woman whose birthday was September 28 that Hattie?

Marie, Camilla, and Eugene Petit are Emma's children by her first husband, Emile Petit.  It's good that Jean was keeping track of his stepchildren's birthdays, even if he had two of them wrong the first time he wrote them down (but he was close).  The dates for Camilla and Eugene are almost the same as those Emma gave when she registered as an American citizen in Switzerland — Jean wrote that Camilla was born in 1895, while Emma said 1894.  I'm guessing Emma was probably correct.  Obviously, Jean didn't really mean that Eugene was born in 1996.  And now we have a birthday for Emma's oldest daughter, Marie.  But H. Petit?  Maybe that's one of Emile's parents?

Camilla and Eugene, by the way, are almost definitely the children in the photo between Emma and Jean in yesterday's Wordless Wednesday post.

The remaining name in these lists is Adrienne.  I haven't written about her yet, but I know a little bit about her — I have a photograph of her from 1890.  Her last name was . . . La Forêt.  The writing on the photo looks more like Emma's than Jean's.  If Adrienne was born in 1874, and Jean was born in 1853, there's a good chance she was his daughter.  If that's the case, then who was Adrienne's mother?  Neither Emma nor Jean has written anything about a previous marriage.  According to Jean's first recommendation letter, in 1874 he was an instructor in Salonnes.  I guess that's where I'll start looking for information about Adrienne.

Then there's that third page.  Funny how I joked last week that maybe Jean would add Rosita's birthday out of order, as he did his marriage to Emma, and then it shows up this way.  And there's no question about the order of the pages:  These pages are still attached to each other, and the notes about travel dates definitely come after the birthdays.  But because Jean added these notes, we know he came back to the United States a little less than one year after Emma did and went to Missouri.

And my geography lesson for the day is that Lake Geneva is called lac Léman in French.