Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Your (or Your Ancestor's) Personal History Timeline

Tonight's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge from Randy Seaver (via Taneya Koonce, one of my genealogy buds) sounds like a fun exercise.

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission:  Impossible! music) is:

1.  Taneya Koonce wrote a happy birthday post about her own life in Quick Tip:  Create Your Personal History Timeline:  The Birthday Edition 🥳.  What a great birthday idea.

2.  This week, write your own personal history timeline:  every 5 or 10 years, or the most important events.  If you don't want to do yours, write a history timeline for one of your ancestors.

3.  Share your personal timeline in your own blog post or in a Facebook, SubStack, BlueSky, or other social media post.  Leave a link to your post on this blog post to help us find your post.

Thank you, Taneya, for the idea!

Here's mine!

1962 (age 0):  I was born in Los Angeles, California in the County Hospital, the first child of Bertram Lynn Sellers, Jr. and Myra Roslyn Meckler.  My mother listed her address on my birth certificate as being in Whittier, which is where my godmother lived.  I don't know if my parents actually lived with her or if that was strictly a contact address.  I don't remember anything about Whitter.  I do remember County Hospital, only because many years later I volunteered in a pharmaceutical test and went there for the visits.

1967 (age 5):  My family was living at 537 Lochmere Avenue, La Puente, California.  We apparently were at that address at least from sometime in 1964, when my sister was born, until some point in 1968.  Also in the family was my brother who was born in 1963.  At the age of 5 I was probably in kindergarten.  I don't recall anything about kindergarten.

1972 (age 10):  In 1972 when I turned 10 my family was living in either Maroubra Junction or Pagewood, both suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.  I was attending 5th grade at Woollahra Demonstration School, a school for advanced students that had 5th and 6th grades.  I remember having a sewing class and a physical education class, although I don't remember the names of my teacher(s).  Somewhere I still have my school uniform and my physical education uniform, along with some of the projects I made in my sewing class.

1977 (age 15):  My family lived in Villa Tasso, Florida and had been there for about four years.  I was in 10th grade, attending Niceville Senior High School.  I was in advanced classes; I may have taken calculus that year.  I think my elective was French.  My siblings and I took the school bus 10 miles into Niceville to attend school.  I was a social misfit and did not attend school events.  I think I was working at my grandfather's stamp and coin store.

1982 (age 20):  I was living in Los Angeles, California in the dormitory at the University of Southern California during the academic year.  I was a junior and was on track to graduate the next year as a French major.  I was a work-study student in the Office of Overseas Studies; my boss was Connie Horak.  That summer I went on a student exchange program to Bordeaux, France and managed to take a one-day trip to San Sebastian, Spain.  At the end of the trip, when all the students gathered in Paris, we found a theater that was screening Pink Floyd — The Wall, which was even more surreal with French subtitles.  We went to see The Rocky Horror Picture Show in another theater, where we totally flummoxed the French attendees by doing all of the participatory things people do here.  When I returned from France I went to San Antonio, Texas to visit my family; I almost didn't recognize my mother at the airport, as she had gained a significant amount of weight after quitting smoking.  Back in Los Angeles I worked in the dorm cafeteria at the end of the summer and lived in one of the fraternity houses, which rented out rooms to bring in some money.

1987 (age 25):  In 1987 I was still in Los Angeles; I was either living in a small apartment or had moved to the lower half of a duplex with three housemates.  I had a female gray Russian blue-Persian mix cat named Tamara.  I was working at USC in the French and Italian Department and was in the Trojan Marching Band (The Greatest Marching Band in the History of the Universe).  One of my work-study students in the department was Brian Rhodes; we were co-uniform managers for the band.  At the beginning of the year the band had gone to Florida to support the USC football team, which had competed in the Florida Citrus Bowl.

1992 (age 30):  In 1989 I had moved to Berkeley, California; in 1992 I was living in an in-law house at the back part of a property there.  I still had Tamara.  I was working at Chessex Manufacturing in Berkeley, where I was the assistant production manager.  To celebrate my 30th birthday I took a trip to Hawaii with my then-boyfriend.  We were there when the Rodney King riots occurred; it was surreal to watch the news and see parts of Los Angeles where I had lived being burned, etc.

1997 (age 35):  I bought a house in Oakland in 1993, and I was still there in 1997.  The boyfriend from 1992 was now a former boyfriend but still one of my best friends, and he was my housemate.  I was working at Chaosium in Oakland, where I was an editrix and the convention schnook.  I think the pets in the house were dogs named Cody and Kirby and cats named Hank and Napoleon.  I don't remember anything distinctive about the year, though.

2002 (age 40):  I was still in the house in Oakland, although who else was living there had changed.  The housemate/former boyfriend had moved out; I had had two other housemates in the interim, but I think I was the only person at this time.  Hank and Kirby were still with me, but I had surrendered Cody to the Humane Society because she no longer got along with Kirby.  Napoleon had died a couple of years previously.  I had added a new cat named Sassafras, Sassy for short.  I was no longer working at Chaosium but had moved on to the Seismological Society of America, a scientific membership association, where I was the publications coordinator and the junior Web geek.  My friends helped me celebrate my 40th birthday by throwing a big party at a Mexican restaurant whose name is not coming back to me at the moment.  I also had started volunteering regularly at the Oakland Family History Center two years earlier, and I spent a lot of time there researching and helping others.

2007 (age 45):  Still in the house in Oakland, but at a different job.  I was working for a transcription company in downtown Oakland, where I learned a lot about the history of Kaiser, who was one of our major clients.  I also commuted for the first time in my life by bus, which was a much better choice than trying to find parking near the office.  Hank, Sassy, and Kirby were still there, along with another cat, Noodle, plus a guinea pig named Pulga.  I also had added birds:  Peaches (blue and gold macaw), Ray (sun conure), and Zach (green-cheeked conure).  Having eight pets was enough to keep me busy when I wasn't at work or the Family History Center.

2012 (age 50):  Still in Oakland, amazingly enough, considering how much my family moved when I was a kid.  The pet line-up had changed, though:  Ray, Zach, Hank, Sassy, Kirby, and Pulga had all passed away.  I still had Peaches and Noodle, and Caesar and Brandy had joined the family.  Just before I turned 50, I started training to become a train operator at BART, which I really enjoyed.  My friend Anne set up a huge surprise for my 50th birthday; at a costume event commemorating the launch of the RMS Titanic, she managed to coordinate having a band play "Happy Birthday" and about 150 people singing along.  I had announced I wanted a fuss for my birthday, and I certainly got one!

2017 (age 55):  The big event for me in 2017 was moving from Oakland, California to Gresham, Oregon, which I did at the end of the summer, arriving at 9:30 a.m. on September 1.  I still had the same furred and feathered children:  Noodle, Brandy, Peaches, and Caesar.  I sold my house in Oakland and found a similar-sized one in Gresham that had enough room for me, the pets, and all my belongings (which took more than an entire truckload to bring here).  The early part of the year was spent preparing for the move, and the months after arrival were taken up with unpacking as much as I could.  But I did start volunteering at the local Family History Center within two weeks of arriving, and by the time I moved here all five of my grandchildren were within relatively easy driving distance.

2022 (age 60):  This was during COVID, so not a lot was going on anywhere.  I had shoulder surgery in 2020, during the heart of COVID, and was still recovering from it for the majority of the year (it usually takes about two years to fully recover from shoulder surgery, and it did this time).  So on top of COVID, I wasn't doing much of anything else anyway.  The list of pets changed again.  Noodle died in 2018, only a few months after we moved, and I added Frankie to the household to be company for Brandy.  Then a macaw needed a home in 2020, and I welcomed my first female bird, Angel.  Later that same year Brandy passed away, and I fell in love with a gorgeous little female Siamese.  Unfortunately, she and Frankie didn't exactly get along, so they lived in two different parts of the house.

And that's my life broken down into 5-year synopses.  As usual, Randy remembers far more details than I do, but I hit the highlights.  All my grandchildren were born in in-between years, and I couldn't figure out how to weave that in well.  Maybe I'll revise this post later after thinking about it for a while.

Ever Hitched a Ride?

Since 2020, apparently, July has been celebrated as National Hitchhiking Month, at least according to National Today.  What's strange, however, is that when I Google "national hitchhiking month", I get a hit on the Chicago Tribune site that shows a date of July 5, 1995, five years earlier.  Unfortunately, I don't have a subscription to the Trib, so I can't see the page and figure out if Google is steering me wrong.

I searched for the origin of the word "hitchhiking", and the earliest that the Oxford English Dictionary (which I love!) records it is 1921, which is very recent.  I had been wondering if the concept went back to the days of horses and wagons, but apparently it does not.  It seems firmly connected with cars.

Anyway, National Today suggests that people should celebrate National Hitchhiking Month by hitchhiking or by giving a hitchhiker a ride, but I don't feel that adventurous in my old age.  Instead, I'll mark the occasion by writing about the only time in my life that I hitchhiked, which was in France, of all places.

During the summer of 1982, I visited France on a student exchange program.  The woman I was working for at USC, Connie Horak, was the coordinator of the program, which was part of a sister-city alliance between Los Angeles and Bordeaux.  High school students alternated yearly between Americans going to Bordeaux and French coming to Los Angeles.  I spent a good amount of my regular at-work time that spring typing lots of paperwork for the program, including lists of students who had applied for the first time or who were participating for their second summer.

At one point, Connie learned that a female American student who had hosted a French student the previous summer had decided not to go to France.  She asked if I wanted to go to France in the place of the American student, so that the French student would have someone to participate with.  I jumped at the chance.  Not only did I figure this was a great (and relatively inexpensive) way to visit France, but I was actually a French major, so it was also a way to practice and improve my speaking skills.

I know we flew to Orly from Los Angeles.  I think we traveled by train from Paris to Bordeaux, where we met our students.  Sylvie, the student with whom I was paired, had decided that the perfect way to spend the summer was at a campground in Biarritz (more details of which is a story for another day).  While we were there, I don't remember why, but at some point we wanted to go somewhere else.  We didn't have a car, so we hitchhiked.

I was very nervous, because the reputation of hitchhiking in the United States by that time was that it could be very dangerous.  I remember the man who picked us up was driving a Citroën.  I think it was a 2CV.  No memory of the color at this point!

And somehow, we survived.  Nothing untoward happened to us; we arrived wherever we were trying to get to, and the driver let us leave the car with no problem.

I only recall the one hitchhiking trip, so we obviously found a different way to get back.  And I've never even attempted to hitchhike since then.

How about you?  Any good hitchhiking stories?

Image by Tumisu from Pixabay.  Used under license.

There's a National Subway Day, You Say?

Novoslobodskaya Station, Russian Metro
by Alex 'Florstein' Fedorov, CC BY-SA 4.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=46392339

I was talking with a friend a couple of months ago and we started comparing notes on which subway systems we had each traveled on.  Somehow my mind went from that to thinking that could be a fun subject to blog about, then to wondering whether there was any sort of official "national subway day."  I Googled it and found that yes, indeed, someone had declared a National Subway Day on November 3, 2015.  That also seems to have been the only day it was celebrated, but I took it as an excuse to blog on the topic anyway.

I'm not sure that subways are my favorite form of transportation, but I don't mind using them, and I've been on several.  In no particular order:

Moscow, Russia Metro, 1982:  At the time I was there, it was still the Russian Soviet Socialist Republic, one constituent member of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.  And the Metro (pronounced mye-tro) was beautiful.  Each station was a work of art, and we were told that was the intention.  I don't recall that it ran late.  One incident that happened to me when using the system was when a friend and I were leaving the station and standing on the escalator as it gently took us back to fresh air.  For some reason I had my friend's passport in my hand and was looking at it in detail, when one of the people ahead of us, who appeared to have been drinking heavily, suddenly stumbled backward and fell onto me.  Not only did I catch him and not fall myself, I didn't even drop the passport.  But my friend and I took a few steps backward, just in case it should happen again (it didn't).

Paris, France Métro, 1983:  I don't remember as much detail about the Métro in Paris, probably because whlie I was there I was dead broke and walked almost everywhere rather than pay for transportation.  But I did ride it a couple of times.  I don't recall that it was awful or great, just kind of there.

London, England Underground, 1996:  The Tube, as it is commonly called, has a reputation all its own.  People ride it just to say they've done so.  I rode it to get from one point to another, but I did notice the signs saying, "Mind the Gap," which are well known.  When I was going from the Prime Meridian to the Tower of London, I should have taken the Tube, but I didn't realize how far I was going to have to walk.  By the time I got to the Tower, it was closing for the day, and all I did was walk around it.  So that was one time I really blew it by not taking the subway.

New York City Subway, 1997 and 2005:  Another transportation system famous in its own way, the New York City Subway has the most stations and is one of the busiest and longest in the world.  In 2005 I wanted to visit a cousin who lived in the heart of Manhattan, and she convinced me not to even think of driving but to take the subway instead.  So I did.  It was a nice trip there and back.  I also took it once with my sister when I was visiting her in New Jersey, because she found out I had never been on it.  So we rode into The City and walked around for a while.  We somehow fortuitously ended up on 57th Avenue and I was able to show her around The Compleat Strategist, an adventure games store that carried products from the company I was working for at the time (this was in 1997).  She is still the only family member who actually got excited to see my name in print, jumping up and down in the store.

Washington, D.C. Metro, 2000 and 2011:  The outstanding feature of the Metro in DC is how huge the tunnels are.  They are absolutely cavernous.  I was told that the reason for their ridiculous size is that they're supposed to be emergency shelters for people if something really horrible happens outside.  But that doesn't make sense, unless the people are supposed to stand on each others' shoulders, because most of the space is up.  So I suspect the real reason is something else entirely.  But it's a nice system, and I definitely enjoyed riding it.

Montreal, Quebec Metro, about 1999:  I traveled to Montreal once for work, and while there I learned about the underground transportation systems.  Not only is there a subway, but there are underground walkways between buildings so that people can move around in the dead of winter.  I thought that was pretty smart of them.  I don't remember anything in particular about the Metro, so it couldn't have been bad.

Boston, Massachusetts Subway, 1991, 1992, 1993:  The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) looks and feels ancient, or at least it did when I was using it.  I used to go to Boston at least once a year and took the subway a lot.  The cars always felt rickety, and when they careened around curves you worried whether you were going to go airborne.  The cars seem to just barely fit in the tunnels.  I heard rumors (never substantiated) that some people who were working had been crushed.  Not a friendly system.  I have one friend who knew the system inside out, backward and forward, to the extent that he could figure out in his head that if we went two stops past where we wanted and then came back one stop, we could walk far fewer stairs to get to the street.  He was amazing.

San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit:  The subway system with which I am most familiar is BART (I love acronyms!).  Not only did I live in the Bay Area for 28 years, but I worked as a train operator at BART.  I have to admit, I loved riding BART around, especially in San Francisco, because I hated driving in San Francisco.  BART is a great system.  I even wrote two blog posts about using BART to get to genealogically important research sites (in San Francisco and in the East Bay)!

So that comes to eight systems.  Hmm, I thought it was more than that.  I guess I need to get out there and ride a few more!

=========

Late Addition, December 31, 2024

San Francisco Muni Metro:  For some reason, it recently occurred to me that I had ridden not only BART in San Francisco, but also San Francisco's Muni Metro, the light rail vehicle system that is partly a subway and partly above ground.  So in the interest of completeness, I'm adding it now.  The main reason I used the system was when Sutro Library, the genealogy-focused branch of the California State Library system, was moved from a location to which you almost had to drive to two floors in the CSU San Francisco library, which was reachable by, you guessed it, Muni Metro.  And as I mentioned above when writing about BART, I hated driving in San Francisco, so given an option to avoid that, I very quickly did so.  I was never a fan of Muni buses, but I liked the rail system.  I probably took it about half a dozen times out to Sutro.  And it is a totally different system from BART, so that brings my total to nine.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: What Was Your First Real Job?

With Labor Day just around the corner, Randy Seaver has decided to focus on work for this week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun.

Here is your assignment, if you choose to play along (cue the Mission:  Impossible! music):

(1) It's Labor Day weekend in the USA.  Do you have memories of your first real job?  What and where was it?  What did you learn from it?  How did it affect the rest of your life?

(2) Tell us in your own blog post, in a comment to this blog post, or on Facebook.  Be sure to leave a comment with a link to your blog post on this post.

My first "real" job came after two jobs that weren't quite as formal.  Those first two were babysitting for neighbors and working in my grandfather's stamp and coin shop.  For both I was paid in cash, no deductions.  I count myself fortunate that I did not need to have a regular job before I graduated high school.

Then I went to college at the University of Southern California (USC) in September 1979 and got a job through the work-study program, which was part of my financial aid package (because USC is really expensive and I was not and still am not rich).  I don't remember how I found the job; there probably was some sort of listing of available positions?  But I began working for the Department (or Office) of Overseas Studies pretty much the same time that I started classes in the Fall semester.

When I started, the department head was a man named Bill Gay.  I don't remember much about him other than that he was stocky, was reasonably nice, and also happened to be gay.  I do recall that he hosted a Christmas party for the office staff that first year.  One of the other people working in the department was a Jewish woman named Miriam (Mimi) Kaplan.  She was upset that even though I identified as Jewish, I sang along with all the Christmas carols (because I love singing Christmas carols!).

The work was mostly administrative stuff:  typing, filing, answering phones, stuffing envelopes for mailings, that type of thing.  Those kinds of skills are always useful to know, and it definitely helped with jobs I had later in life.  I still remember lots of area codes and ZIP codes from working there, because of mailings and lots of phone calls.  I kept the job throughout my four years of undergrad studies.  It was part-tiime, because that's how work-study is set up.  I took full-time courseloads all four years also.

Something I learned there that wasn't par for the course:  One year we had a work-study student who was half Japanese and half Korean.  She taught me how to count to 1,000 in both languages.  Unfortunately, all I can remember now is up to 10 in Japanese.

I don't remember when it happened; maybe after my first year?  But Bill retired(?) and Constance (Connie) Horak took over as head of the department.  And Mimi wasn't there anymore.  Anyway, Connie was my boss for the rest of the time I worked in Overseas Studies.

After I had been there for a while and was a known quantity, Connie had me sign lots of paperwork for her.  I learned that imitating someone's signature well enough to fool people is extremely difficult.

At one point we wanted to paint the walls in the offices to refresh them, but we learned that the only colors officially approved by Physical Plant were four shades of off-white.  So instead of going through the university procedure, we painted the offices ourselves.  It was some kind of burnt orange that I wasn't crazy about, but it was definitely more interesting than off-white.

Connie and I got along well.  She had season tickets for the Los Angeles Dodgers and took me to a game against the Montreal Expos (my favorite team at the time) every year for my birthday.  Now that's a great boss!

One of Connie's volunteer activities outside of USC was coordinating a Los Angeles–Bordeaux, France sister city student exchange program.  In alternating years, students from one city would travel to the other city and be paired up with students from there.  The visit was for six weeks; the students were with their exchange partners for the first five and a half weeks or so, and then everyone got together for the last few days.  One year an American student who had hosted a French student the previous year didn't want to go to France, so Connie asked if I was interested.  I jumped at the opportunity, and that's how I was able to visit France economically.  It didn't quite turn out as expected (which I really should write about some day), but it was a great experience and I'm very happy I was able to go.

I don't know why, but I didn't stay in touch with Connie after I left that job, even though I continued to work at USC for six more years.  I only discovered while writing this that she passed away two years ago.  She apparently had stayed with USC since starting work there in 1975.

Wordless Wednesday

Armistice Day, November 11, 1918

My friend's grandfather Zalmon Orloff served in the U.S. Army during World War I.  He was in Saumur, France when the armistice was signed.

Zalmon wrote letters to his girlfriend about every other day while he was in the Army.  For some reason, after he returned to the States and was mustered out of the service, Zalmon had his girlfriend type up the letters he had written and send him the typed copies.  This means that a hundred years later, my friend has copies of the letters Zalmon wrote, including the one he wrote on Armistice Day.

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

S.A.S.

Saumur, France

Dear Sarah:

I don't know how to begin my letter.  The beginning though, does not matter anyhow.

The main thing is that the population of France, Saumur included, is gone stark mad with joy on account of the armistice signed this morning.

French and American soldiers, men, women, boys and girls are embracing one another and the words "GUERRE EST FINIS" were on everybody's lips.

The wine shops were doing a rushing business and the natural merriment was greatly increased by the artificial one.

Groups of Americans and French gathered around every corner and sang the Marsellaise on the top of their voice.

Every nook and corner was full of children, who, waving the tricolor or the Stars and Stripes, sang their favorite songs and exploded fireworks in your very face.

The French and American buglers were blowing every tune imaginable and I doubt whether Saumur ever witnessed a similar scene.

Have read in the papers the conditions of the armistice and about the revolutionary movement spreading in Germany.

Why, Sarah, it seems as if it were a dream and I have to pinch myself to realize that I am wide awake and the wonderful news is a real, genuine unadulterated fact.

I never expected that the end of the misery will come so soon.

Hurrah!

Zalmon

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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: Jean La Forêt Is Concerned about Italian Espionage

This is an 8 1/2" x 11" piece of paper (finally!  modern size!) that probably was once a pristine white but is now quite yellowed with age.  It has a watermark that says "LAKESIDE BOND."  It was in an envelope and was folded into quarters previously, but I have flattened it.  Someone, likely Jean La Forêt, has typed on the front and back.  I am surprised at the red ink Jean used for his name and return address at the top; I wonder if he had a separate typewriter ribbon for that or if there was a row of red on his regular ribbon.  I've seen both.  (Yes, I do remember typing with ribbon, thank you very much.)  With several typed-over corrections, this wouldn't have been the final version of a letter; it looks like it might have been a draft.  Supporting that hypothesis is the second letter that was in the same envelope.

This is another letter on an 8 1/2" x 11" piece of paper.  As with the first, it is yellowed but was probably white, and was folded into quarters.  It also has the same watermark, "LAKESIDE BOND."  It has Jean's name and address on the top — in black this time — but typing on only one side of the page.

Both letters have a mix of English and French.  They are Jean's reaction to a news item that appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle on April 15, 1926.  The first letter is dated the same day and might have been Jean's initial reaction to the article, while the second letter, dated April 18, is a more condensed version of his initial reaction.

And here's the envelope the letters were in when I received them.  It is a perfect 22 cm x 14 cm; the standard measurements are 8 5/8" x 5 5/8".  It's very brittle and looks as though it has taken on color over the years, but I'm not sure it was originally white.  The preprinted return address on the envelope is "American Consular Service, Algiers (Algeria)", so it was likely printed overseas, ergo the metric size.

Here's the short item that caught Jean's attention in the Chronicle.  He did a very good job of transcribing it, with the only mistakes being one added comma and one omitted comma.  Not bad, Jean!

San Francisco Chronicle, April 15, 1926, page 2

Jean's typing is very clear and easy to read, so I did not transcribe the sections written in English.  I have transcribed the French sections and translated them (but not Jean's strikeovers), and the handwriting on the envelope, which is mostly in English.  Unlike Jean's handwritten items, these letters have no diacritical marks, so he must have had a standard American typewriter.

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

Transcriptions

First letter

[name and address]

Le 15 Avril, 1926

Monsieur le Consul General de France,
          San Francisco, California

Monsieur le Consul General,

          Dans le "SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE" du 15 courant, je viens de lire un petit article intitule:
     [article title]
et concu en ces termes:–
[transcription of newspaper item]

[paragraph in English]

     Traversant l'Italie en 1909, je me suis arrete a Genes pendant environ trois semaines, fin may et premiere moitie de Juin.  Ayant besoin d'une carte pour m'orienter, je suis alle chez un libraire pou[r] en acheter une, demandant la carte la plus recente obtainable.  Le libraire me presenta une carte publiee tres-peu de temps avant et je l'achetai.  En arrivant a l'hotel je l'ai examinee et je me suis apercu que j'ai fait une emplette tres- interessante et, a mon point de vue, assez valuable.  Les revendications suivantes y sont clairement donnees:–
     1.– Republique de St. Marino;
     2.– Ile de Malte ( Angleterre) ;
     3.– Ile de Corse ( France) ;
     4.– Province de Nice (France) ;
     5.– Principaute de Monaco (France)
     6.– Suisse italienne (Suisse) ;
     7.– Canton de Ticino ou Tessin (Suisse)
     8.– Tirol Italien; Cercles de Pusterthal,Belsane, Trente, et Rovereto; Illiria Italienne;
           Cercles de Gorizia, Adelsberg, Trieste (Illiria) et le territoire de Trieste.

     Vous l'Italie n'est pas rapace, elle ne demande que peu de choses! . . .

     Cette carte est marquee:–

[map companay name and address]

     Cette carte est a votre disposition si vous desiriez en prendre une copie photographique.  La carte elle meme, je veux la conserver comme souvenir interessant.

     Ou serait l'Italie sans le secours de la France?  C'est le prestige de la France, le sang de ses soldats et ses finances qui ont fait l'Italie.  Que serait l'Italie aujourd'hui sans le concours, l'aide materiel de la France?  La Carte de l'Italie aurait surement un tout autre aspect:  Allemande et q.q. petites principautes eparpillees sur la peninsule.

     Si vous le desirez je viendrai vous voir a votre office et vous pourrez decider ce que vous desirez faire dans cette affaire.
     En attendant j'ai l8honneur [sic] de me dire,
          Monsieur le Consul General,
               Votre tout devoue serviteur,
                     Jean L. La Foret,
     De 1915 a 1919 U.S. Vice Consul et Charge d'Affaires a Alger, Algerie
                                      des Etats Unis


Second letter

[name and address]

Dimanche le dix-huit Avril, 1926.

Monsieur le Consul General de France,
          Consulat de la Republique Francaise,
                    SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

Monsieur le Consul General:–

          Dans le "SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE" du 15 de ce mois, j'ai lu un petit article intitule:
     [article title]
L'article est concu en ces termes:–
     [transcription of newspaper item]

     En lisant cet article je me suis rappele qu'en traversant l'Italie en 1909, je me suis arrete a Genes pendant environ trois semaines, fin Mai et premiere moitie du Juin.  Ayant besoin d'une carte pour m'orienter dans mes excursions, je me suis rendu chez un libraire demandant la carte d'Italie, la plus recent obtainable.  Le libraire me presenta une carte publiee tres-peu de temps avant et je l'achetai.  En arrivant a l'hotel je l'ai examinee et je me suis apercu que j'ai fait une emplette tres-interessante et, a mon point de vue, assez valuable.  Les REVENDICATIONS ITALIENNES y sont clairement donnees, les voici:–
     1.– Republique de San Marino;
     2.– Ile de Malte (Angleterre) ;
     3.– Ile de Corse (France) ;
     4.– Province de Nice (France) ;
     5.– Principaute de Monaco (France) ;
     6.– Suisse Italienne (Suisse) ;
     7.– Canton de Ticino ou Tessin (Suisse) ;
     8.– Le Tirol Italien; les Cercles de Pusterthal, Belsane, Trente, Rovereto;
           Cercles de Gorizia, Adelsberg, Trieste (Illiria) et le Territoire de Trieste.

     Vous voyez, l'Italie n'est pas rapace, pas du tout, elle ne demande que peu de chose! . . .


Envelope

ITALY and GENOA ——

Italian Revendications —

Very interesting —

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

Translations

First letter

April 15, 1926

Mr. Consul General of France

Mr. Consul General,

          In the San Francisco Chronicle of today, the 15th, I just read a small article titled:
     [article title]
and which stated:–
     [article text]

     [paragraph in English]

     Going through Italy in 1909, I stopped in Genoa for about three weeks, from the end of May to the first half of June.  Needing a map to orient myself, I went to a bookstore to buy one, asking for the most recent one available.  The bookstore offered me a map published very recently, and I bought it.  On returning to the hotel, I looked over it and realized I had made a very interesting purchase and, from my point of view, a valuable one.  The following claims are clearly made:
     1.– Republic de San Marino;
     2.– Island of Malta (England);
     3.– Island of Corsica (France);
     4.– Province of Nice (France);
     5.– Principality of Monaco (France);
     6.– Italian Switzerland (Switzerland);
     7.– Canton of Ticino or Tessin (Switzerland;
     8.– Italian Tyrol; areas of Pusterthal, Belsane, Trentino, et Rovereto; Italian Illyria;
           areas of Gorizia, Adelsberg, Trieste (Illyria), and the province of Trieste.

     You [see], Italy isn't greedy, it hardly wants anything! . . .

          This map is marked:–

[map company name and address]

     This map is at your disposal if you wish to make a photographic copy.  I wish to keep the map itself as an interesting souvenir.

     Where would Italy be without the assistance of France?  It is the prestige of France, the blood of its soldiers, and its treasury that have made Italy.  What would Italy be today without the aid and assistance of France?  The map of Italy would surely look totally different:  German and several small principalities scattered over the peninsula.

     If you wish, I can come see you at your office, and you can decide what you wish to do in this matter.

     Meanwhile I have the honor,
          Mr. Consul General,
               Your devoted servant,
                     Jean L. Foret,
From 1915 to 1919 the U.S. Vice Consul and Charge d'Affaires in Algiers, Algeria


Second letter

Sunday, April 18, 1926

Mr. Consul General of France,
     Consulate of the Republic of France

Mr. Consul General:–

          In the San Francisco Chronicle of the 15th of this month, I read a small article titled:
     [article title]
The article stated:–
     [article text]

     While reading the article I remembered that while going through Italy in 1909, I stopped in Genoa for about three weeks, end of May to first half of June.  Needing a map to orient myself during my travels, I went to a bookstore and asked for a map of Italy, the most recent available.  The bookstore offered me a map published very recently, and I bought it.  On returning to the hotel, I looked over it and realized that I had made a very interesting purchase and, from my point of view, a valuable one.  The ITALIAN CLAIMS are clearly made; here they are :–
     1.– Republic de San Marino;
     2.– Island of Malta (England);
     3.– Island of Corsica (France);
     4.– Province of Nice (France);
     5.– Principality of Monaco (France);
     6.– Italian Switzerland (Switzerland);
     7.– Canton of Ticino or Tessin (Switzerland);
     8.– Italian Tyrol; areas of Pusterthal, Belsane, Trentino, Rovereto;
           areas of Gorizia, Adelsberg, Trieste (Illyria), and the province of Trieste.

     You see, Italy isn't greedy, not at all, it hardly wants anything! . . .


Envelope

ITALY and GENOA ——

Italian Claims —

Very interesting —

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

It appears that the letter dated April 15 was written right after Jean read the article in the Chronicle.  Whether he intended it as a draft or simply put it aside for a few days to think about it a little more, the letter dated April 18 seems a little more streamlined and smoother.  It does not have the paragraph in English at the beginning.  It also seems a little less inflammatory, but I'm not sure I have the entire letter.  This one page does not include a closing or Jean's name at the end, so the second page may have been typed on a separate sheet and has gone missing over the years, and Jean may have repeated his comments about how much Italy owed to France.

I'm not sure how to interpret the ending of the draft letter, where Jean offers to visit the Consul General.  I don't know if he's talking about a decision on whether to copy the map or what to do about the Italians taken into custody.  If the former, he makes it sound much more momentous than I think it warranted.  If the latter, he may have had an inflated opinion of his position after seven years out of foreign service.

The map does appear to have been interesting, although I don't think I have it either.  While some of the cities and territories claimed by Italy that Jean listed had been under Italian control in the 19th century, some go back 500 years or so.  It would have been difficult to find any support for those claims.  Even more interesting is that in the current day, some of the territories on the list have indeed been returned to some level of Italian control.

Jean included an entry in his journal for his trip to Genoa.  This was when he traveled with Emma on what looked like it could have been a honeymoon trip, and Genoa was a stop on their way to Switzerland.  The dates Jean gave in this letter match his journal.  This man was very organized.  Who knows, maybe he even consulted the journal before he wrote the letter!

These letters are the first dated items I have for Jean after he and Emma returned to California from Missouri (unless I find another misfiled item, of course).  Sometimes between July 11, 1925 and April 15, 1926, they moved to Vallejo.  And less than five months later, when he had been back in California for only a year or so, he died.  I wonder if he received a response from the Consul General before then.

Treasure Chest Thursday: Another Letter from a Paytavin for the La Forêts

Well, not actually a letter, but an envelope.  This envelope is 4 3/4" x 3 3/16".  It is light blue and lightweight, the type of paper commonly used for airmail, when that cost more than regular mail.  It did not come with anything in it, and none of the loose papers match the date on the postmark of January 10, 1913.  The postmark indicates the letter was sent from Peyrolles (en Provence), Bouches du Rhône, France.  The stamp is 10 centimes.  The back of the envelope has a postmark for St. Eugène, Algeria dated January 13, so it took the letter three days to travel from France to Algeria.

The envelope is addressed to:

Madame et Monsieur
     La Forêt
Restaurant Boujarel
Route de Malakoff No. 53
     St. Eugène
Alger.

Beginning in the upper left corner and written diagonally down is:

Mme Isabelle Paytavin

Isabelle Paytavin's name appears to have been written by Jean, in the same way he made notations on other letters and envelopes he received.  At least now we know her first name, which did not appear in any of the items announcing her son's birth.

I am no handwriting expert, but the handwriting for this address seems to be different from that of the envelope I wrote about last week.  My guess is that last week's was written by Mr. Paytavin and this week's by Mrs. Paytavin, because of the name "Isabelle Paytavin" written on this envelope.

The address for the La Forêts, 53 route de Malakoff, is the same as on last week's envelope, but this time we have the addition of "Restaurant Boujarel."  Does that mean the La Forêts were living above a restaurant?  (I'm going to assume they weren't living in one.)  That doesn't seem logical for a U.S. Vice Consul.  Searching for "malakoff", "boujarel", and "alger" hasn't gotten me anywhere, so I don't know anything about the restaurant yet.  There is a Baedeker's Guide for the Mediterranean for 1911 that apparently covers Algeria; maybe it has a listing for the restaurant.

The letter from last week was postmarked December 17 (probably), 1912 in Constantine, Algeria.  During the intervening month the Paytavins, or at least Mrs. Paytavin, appear to have moved to Peyrolles (which is pronounced very similarly to "payroll").

I just wish I knew what Mrs. Paytavin wrote to the La Forêts.

Treasure Chest Thursday: Two of Jean La Forêt's Letters Go around the World

We're going to take a step back in time — otherwise known as I just discovered that I have earlier documents relating to Jean La Forêt that were hiding in the folder, probably because they're smaller items.  So I have rearranged everything in what I hope is now chronological order again.

These are two empty envelopes that are covered with postmarks on front and back.  I cannot read them all clearly, so I'm not sure I can trace the complete path of either envelope.

The first envelope is dirty white and is 5 1/4" x 4".  The original postmark seems to be June 23, 1906, when Jean mailed it from Cavite, Philippines.  His return address at the time was Headquarters, First Brigade, USMC, Depot Quartermaster's Office, Cavite.  The envelope was addressed to Mrs. and Mr. Edward Briam, General Delivery, Post Office, San Francisco, California, U.S.A.  The cost of postage was 2c.

The second envelope is a muddy buff and measures 5 7/8" x 3 1/2".  It was originally mailed on August 20, 1906, from the same address.  This envelope was addressed to Monsieur Edouard Briam, Poste Restante, Lyon, (Rhone), France. Europe.  Postage for this letter cost 5c.

Trying to follow the travels of the first letter, it has a second postmark on the front from December in Manila.  It indicates it was forwarded to Paris, France at some point.  It also has "Retour a l'envoyeur par" (Return to Sender), "ret Cavite", "Returned to Writer", and "From Dead Letter Bureau / Manila P. I."  At the top, in red, "Mare Island Cal." is written and the original return address in Cavite has been crossed through.

On the back I can read one on the 20th of an unreadable month in 1906, probably in Cavite; July 1906 somewhere; July 28, 1906, San Francisco, California; July 30, 1906, San Francisco; October 20, 1906, Dead Letter Office, F. D. U.S.A.; December 13(?), 1906 in another Dead Letter Office; December 19, 1906, Cavite; December 25, 1906, Cavite; December 25, 1906, Manila; February 7, 1907 in (I think) Vallejo, California; and a stamp in the middle that has "NON RECLAMÉ" (unclaimed).

So my best guess is that after Jean mailed this letter from Cavite to Edward Briam in San Francisco on June 23, 1906, it transited another post office in July, then arrived in San Francisco at the General Delivery office on July 28.  From there it acquired another San Francisco postmark on July 30, perhaps on its way out of the city to the forwarded address in Paris.  It was not claimed there by Briam.  On October 20 it was postmarked in a Dead Letter Office in the United States, then went to a second Dead Letter Office, which sent it out on December 13.  This is probably when it wended its way back to the Philippines.  It was postmarked in Cavite once on December 19 and then again on December 25, which I think came before the December 25 postmark in Manila.  The Manila postmark on the back has "1130 A", as does the second postmark on the front, although I don't understand why it needed to be franked on both sides.  The final postmark, February 7, 1907, would seem to be when the poor letter finally made its way back to Jean, who had transferred to Mare Island from Cavite.  This also matches the information from Jean's journal, where he wrote that he was in Mare Island from November 1906 to December 1907.

Sometime between when Jean wrote the first letter in June and the second letter in August, he apparently learned that Mr. Briam had moved from San Francisco, and so the second letter was mailed to France.  It has a second postmark on the front, January 7, presumably 1907, from Manila.  It also has markings of "OVER", "Returned to Writer",  "From Dead Letter Bureau / Manila P. I.", "Retour a l'Envoyeur" twice, and "Mare Island Cal."

The back has Jean's return address in Cavite at the top and bottom, which has been crossed through in both places and "Mare Island Cal." written beneath it.  Above the address is something in pencil.  I can read "100" and a word after it that starts with a "G", but the rest is very light.  It kind of looks like Guam, but that doesn't make sense.  The postmarks are August 20, 1906, Manila; August (probably) 22, 1906, Rhone; November 20, 1906, Dead Letter Office, F. D. U.S.A.; January 4, 1907, Dead Letter Office, Manila; January 8, 1907, Cavite; January 9, 1907, Cavite; January 9, 1907, Manila; and another "NON RECLAMÉ" stamp in the middle.

This letter didn't have as many postmarks because it didn't take a detour through San Francisco before it went to France.  Otherwise its travels were similar to the first letter's.  Jean mailed it on August 20, 1906 to his friend, whom he thought was in Lyon, France.  It went through Manila on the same day, then arrived in a Rhone post office on August 22.  As with the first letter, it was not claimed.  It went to a U.S. Dead Letter office, which postmarked it on November 20.  From there it traveled back to the Philippines, where it was received January 4, 1907.  It went back to Cavite on January 8, was sent back to Manila on January 9, and probably that same day was routed to Jean in Mare Island, although this envelope does not have a postmark indicating when it was received in California.

Even more impressive than these letters' international travels, at least in my mind, is the fact that Jean kept the envelopes.  Both envelopes are empty, so the letters themselves might have eventually made it to Edward Briam.  But why did Jean consider the empty envelopes important enough to keep?  He not only kept them, he had them in their own envelope:

This envelope is off-white and measures 6" x 4".  I realize the handwriting didn't scan well, because the words are written in blue pencil:  "Briam letters around the world."  Maybe Jean and Mr. Briam laughed about the letters following Jean back to California.

Briam is not mentioned anywhere in Jean's journal:  no stories about him, not included in the birthday list, no address or other notes about him.  How could Briam be so important that Jean kept these envelopes, yet this is the only memento of him?

An interesting side note that occurred to me is that Jean mailed the first letter in June 1906, only two months after the earthquake and fire in San Francisco.  I wonder if the quake is the reason Mr. Briam was no longer living in San Francisco?

Treasure Chest Thursday: Jean La Forêt Receives a Letter after the War

This is a letter written on a lightweight bluish-yellowish 9" x 6" piece of paper.  The paper has a visible weave but no watermark.  It has a hard fold down the middle lengthwise and was also folded again, probably to fit into the envelope it was in when I received it and which appears to be the envelope in which it was mailed.  A letter was written on the paper based on the hard fold, so the pages of the letter are 4, 1, 2, 3 as the images appear here.  I will transcribe and translate the letter in numerical order, though.  The writing, in black ink, is clear and easy to read.  Jean wrote in pencil on the first page when he responded.

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

[page 1]

Saint-Eugène, le 25 Juin 1919

Answ'd 7-17-19 [in pencil]

Mon Cher Ami,

L'Allemagne vaincue accepte les conditions de paix des alliés.  Cette nouvelle nous a été annoncée hier soir par une salve de nos corps de canons.  Aujourd'hui Alger est en fête, les écoles sont licenciées.  C'est la fin de la guerre.

Dans ce moment de joie ma première pensée va vers vous, vers ce brave Monsieur La Forêt qui m'avez toujours encouragé et soutenu dans les

[page 2]

mauvais jours.  Maintenant c'est la fin de ce long cauchemar.

Vive la France, vivent les alliés, vive l'Amérique qui a si puissemment contribué à la victoire.

Ne m'en voulez pas trop, mon cher ami, de mon silence si prolonge, je voulait attendre la paix avant de vous écrire — vous m'aviez écrit après l'armistice et cette paix a été si longue à venir.  Mais ne croyez pas, parce que je suis négligent et paresseux, que je me pense pas souvent à vous.  Détrompez-vous.  Comment pourrais-je oublier

[page 3]

les bons moments que nous avons passés ensemble?  Comment pourrais-je oublier toutes vos gentillesses et vos bontés pour moi et pour ma famille.  Avec ma femme, nous parlons souvent de vous, de Mme La Forêt et de Rosita, qui doit grandir à vue d'oeil.  Vous devez vous trouver heureux d'être en famille.

Les vacances sont fixées le juillet et le 11, nous prendrons le bateau — toujours la Marsa — pour la France.  Maintenant qu'il n'y a plus de sous-marins

[page 4]

on peut voyager sans crainte[.]  Voilà sans que nous n'avons été au pays, il nous tarde d'aller embrasser les vieux parents et d'aller respirer un peu l'air des Pyrénées.  Ma femma surtout en a bien besoin.

Que faites-vous dans votre bled?  Comment passez-vous votre temps?  Croyez-vous toujours être chargé d'une mission en Europe?  Aurais-je le plaisir de vous revoir un jour et de trinquer ensemble?  Qui sait?

M. Dominique Amygues, Ben Geretta et bien d'autres me chargent de vous dire bien des choses.  Présentez de la[?] part, de ma femme et de Marie-Louise les meilleures amitiés à Mme La Forêt; et vous recevez une cordiale poignée de main de votre ami

Ortety

Embrassez bien fort Rosita pour nous.

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

Saint Eugene, June 25, 1919

My Dear Friend,

Conquered Germany accepts the Allies' peace terms.  This news was announced to us last night by a salvo of gunshots from our unit.  Today Algiers is celebrating, the schools are closed.  It is the end of the war.

In this moment of joy my first thought was about you, about brave Mr. La Forêt who always encouraged me and supported me during the bad times.  Now it is the end of this long nightmare.

Long live France, long live the Allies, long live America, which has contributed so powerfully to the victory.

Do not blame me too much, my dear friend, for my prolonged silence, I wanted to wait for peace before writing to you — you wrote to me after the armistice, and this peace has been so long in coming.  But do not think, because I am negligent and lazy, that I do not often think of you.  Think again.  How could I forget the good times we had together?  How could I forget all your kindness and your generosity toward me and my family.  My wife and I speak often of you, of Mrs. La Forêt, and of Rosita, who must be growing up before your eyes.  You must be happy to be with family.

The holidays are set for July, and on the 11th we will leave on the ship — again the Marsa — for France.  Now that there are no more submarines we can travel without fear.  Since we have not been home, we look forward to kissing our elderly parents and to breathing the air of the Pyrenees.  My wife especially needs it.

What do you do in your little town?  How do you pass your time?  Do you think you will still have an assignment in Europe?  Will I have the pleasure of seeing you again and of raising a toast together?  Who knows?

Mr. Dominique Amygues, Ben Geretta, and many others asked me to pass on their good wishes.  All the best from me, my wife, and Marie-Louise to Mrs. La Forêt; and a warm handshake to you from your friend

Ortety

Give Rosita a big kiss from us.

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I realize this is not on the level of the armistice, but I think it's pretty cool to have a letter celebrating Germany's acceptance of the peace terms.  It was an important historic event, after all.  And schools in Algiers closed for the day to celebrate!

The Saint-Eugène from which Mr. Ortety was writing is a neighborhood of Algiers and is now called Bologhine.

Whoever Mr. Ortety was, he appears to have been a good friend of Jean's while the latter was in Algiers.  Jean helped cheer him up.  The two families used to get together; both men's daughters are mentioned.  I notice he didn't use either wife's given name, but I guess that was just the conventions of the time.  Of course, I have no idea if Ortety was a given name or surname, though my guess is surname.  I notice that two of the friends had their full names given.  I tried searching for them on Google, but no results.

The French word that Ortety used for the little town where Jean lived was not a complimentary one.  Two of the translations are "boondocks" and "one-horse place."  Jean must have told him about Overland when he wrote after the armistice.

I tried looking for the Marsa that Ortety and family would have taken back to France.  Maybe it was the one on this page.

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The envelope is 4 3/4" x 3 1/4", and the exterior is made from the same type of paper as the letter.  The envelope is lined with a purple paper on the front and the envelope flap.  It has a 25 centime stamp from France (République Française) and three postmarks.  There are three notes written by Jean over the mailing address.

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Address:

Monsieur La Forêt
Overland, Mo.,
(St. Louis Co., Missouri).
U. S. of américa
P. O. B.ox 169

Notes written by Jean, from left to right:

Rec'd 7-16-19
Answ'd 7-17-19
Ortet (in very large letters), although the letter was signed Ortety

Postmarks:

One postmark is over the stamp, and I cannot read it over the dark blue of the stamp.

Moving right, the second postmark has "1040 / 25 –6 / 19" in the center, indicating (probably) 10:40 a.m., June 25, 1919, which date matches that on the letter.  The bottom of the circular writing appears to be "R DE STRASBOURG", which likely means "rue de Strasbourg", the street in Algiers on which the post office was situated.  Several letters in the top of the circle are not clear, but the part to the right might say "ALGER", which is Algiers in French.

The third postmark has "5 PM / JUN 30 / 1919' in the center and "U. S. ARMY M. P. E. S. 702" around the circle.  MPES stands for "Military Postal Express Service", so the letter took four days to clear the U.S. Army, which apparently was processing mail for the French?  The number 702 appears to be the APO (Army Post Office).  A quick search online did not give a clear answer where that was, but it seems to have been in France.