Wordless Wednesday

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9UeE4P3k5k

https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2019/apr/16/assessing-damage-notre-dame-cathedral-in-pictures

https://www.wired.com/story/the-notre-dame-fire-and-the-future-of-history/

https://www.citylab.com/design/2019/04/notre-dame-cathedral-fire-paris-gothic-architecture-history/587191/

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: 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.

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

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

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

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

Search for Owners of Vaults in the Pantin (Paris) Jewish Cemetery

Old Jewish Graves in Pantin Cemetery

The rights for two hundred burial vaults in the Pantin Jewish cemetery may legally be transferred to the Paris cemetery administration, which can have the deceased exhumed, unless descendants of those interred are traced.  The vast majority of these vaults are "tombs bought in perpetuity."  This means that the only cost to descendants would be for maintenance of the tombstones.  For other vaults, the continuance of the burial "concession" (i.e., for 100 years) must be paid, otherwise the bones will be exhumed.

Bought at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century by members of the Jewish community of Paris, these burial vaults are much deteriorated today.  Up to fifty tombs can be found in any one vault.  The vaults could be protected through the intervention of direct descendants of the owners, but unfortunately most are unaware of the current risk to their ancestral graves.  More than 80,000 French Jews were victims of the Holocaust, and any surviving descendants they may have are now scattered around the world.

Anyone related to the following early 20th-century Paris Jews should send an e-mail immediately to Deborah Dreyfus at info@agudasyisroel-eu.org.

ALEXANDRE Simon AMRAN Jules ATLAS Adolphe BACHRICH Samuel BADY Maximilien BANCK Wolff BEHAR Esperance BERNHEIM Juliette BIRGE Henri BIRKEMOE Peter BLOCH Alexandre BLOCH Esther BLUM Clotilde BLUM Gustave BONN Julie BRANDENBOURG Sigismond BRUNSCHWIG Joseph BUTTENWEISER Benjamin CAEN Edouard CAHEN Emilie CANTOR Jacob CERF Charles CHAPIRO VOLBERT Boris CHIMENES Gaston CHRENPREIS Andre COBLENCE Mayer COBLENTZ Julie COHEN Abraham DA COSTA Silva DAVIDS Sylvain DE SCHAUENBURG Maurice DEITZ Leon DEWULF Justin DIAMANTBERGER David DREYFUS Gaston EIFA Aron ESKENAZI Albert FALAIZE LAVILLE Gabriel FEISEL Alfred FINKEL Max FREIS Simon FUCHS Charles GALICO Azaria GOETSCH Ernestine GOLDKETTE Bennevois GOLDMANN Morley GOLDSCHMIDT Lothaire GOLOBORODSKY Michel GOUGENHEIM Georges GRIBINSKI Maurice GRUNBERG Pauline HALPERIN Constant HELFT Gustave HERMANN Leon HEYMAN Babette HIRTZ Samuel HUET Adelaide IKELHEIMER Rosalie ISAACS Esther ISRAEL Paul ITZIG Philippe JACOB Celina JACOBER Benjamin JACOBOVITZ Abraham JACOBSON David JUNES Bibo COBOWITZ Maurice KAPLAN Henri KARTUN Salomon LAFERME Rosalie LAKSINE Charles LANG Maurice LAZARD Sarah LEIB Albert LEIBOVITZ Benjamin LEOPARD Pauline

LEVI Mathilde LEVI-BRAMIBRAHIM Henri LEVY Camille LEVY Emile LEVY Jacob LEVY Victor LUZATO Max MACAULAY Rachel MADERA Deborah MAHLBERG Samuel MARGOULISS Alexandre MAYER Raphael MENDELSOHN Berthe MEYER Estelle MIZRAKI Rebecca MOYSE Leopold NEINADEL Joseph NETTER Cecile NETTER Mathias NEUJARHR Isidore NUNES Joseph ORDENSTEIN Herman PENHA Mariana PERSON Mendel PICARD Eugene PIETTE DE MONTFOUCAULT Adele POLITZER Simon RABDEL Samuel RACOVSKY Leon RAPAPORT Jacques RIVELINE Hirsch ROSENBERG HACHMANN Leon ROSENBERG Ruben ROSENFELD Ernest ROSENTHAL Ernest ROSH Forestine SALOMON Alphonse SALOMON Arthur SALOMON Laure SALOMON Robert SARACHEWSKY Sabrina SCHARTZ Ignatz SCHILLER Henry SCHLUSSELBLUM Renee SCHNEEBERG Edouard SCHRKROB Pauline SCHROKB Henri SCHROKB Maurice SCHWOB Antoinette SEE Arthur SEGALL Armand SEIDLITZ Siegfried SENCIER Gaston SIMON Alexandre STERN Benjamin STERN Helene STIBBE Abraham STRIBREVER Nuhiu SUISSA Massaoud TCHOULOK Isaac THOREAU Charles TIANO Joseph TOLMAN Ephin et Naum VANPRAAG Elie VILLAR Charles WALDTENFEL Raoul WASSERBERGER Ignace WECHSLER Leon WEIL Adrien et Bernard WEIL Charles WEIL Ellen WEILL Charles WEISSMANN Maurice WOLOCH Isser WOOG Adele WORONICK Elias