Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1894-11-28
NAPOLEONIC STOCK.
his FATHER WAS A PATRIcIAN AND
HIS MOTHER A PEASANT.

Was Mother of Large Family
OF the father and mother of the en-
peror Professor w. M. Sloane writes
as follows in Century;
Certain undisputed facts throw a
strong light ON Napoleon's father. His
people were proud and poor; he endured
the hardships of poverty with equanlm-
ity. Strengthening what little influence
he could muster, he at first appears am
bilious and has himself described In ms
diploma as a patrician of Florence, san
Miniato and Ajaccio. On the other hand'
with no apparent regard for his person
al advancement by marriage, he follow
ed his own inclination, and in 1864, at
the ago of IS, rashly perhaps, but gal
lantly, welded lowly and beautltui
child Of Is, Letitia Ramolino.
Her descent was the reverse OF her
husbands, although her fortune was
quite equal if not superior to his. one
was of peasant nature to the last day OF
her long life-hardy, unsentlmental,
frugal and sometimes INSCRIPTIONS
Yet the hospitality of her little home IN
Aiaccio was lavish, after the manner
of her kind, and consequently famous.
Among the many guests who awaited
themselves of it was Marbeuf, COM
mander in Corsica of the first army OF
occupation. There was long afterward
a malicious tradition that the French
general was Napoleon father The
morals of Letitia di Buonaparte, like
those of her conspicuous children, have
been bitterly assailed, but her own good
name, at least, has always been Ylnd1-
Gated. The evident motive Of the story
sufficiently refutes such an asperslon as
it contains. Of the BRIDES extraord1na-
ry beauty there never has been doubt.
She was a woman of heroic mold, like
Juno in her majesty, unmoved IN pros
perity, undaunted in adversely. 1t was
probably to his mother, whom he strong
ly resembled in childhood, that the IA
nous son owed his tremendous, even gil
gantic, physical endurance. Ii In his
mother was reproduced the type OF a
Roman matron, in the son would be re-
called the virtues and vigor of an i'm
perator.
After their marriage the youthful
pair resided in Corte, waiting until
events should permit their return to
Ajaccio. Naturally of an indolent tenn
permanent, the husband was at first
drawn into the daring enterprises OF
Paoli and displayed temporary en-
6-,A
fore the end he wearied of them. At the
head of body of men of his own rank
he finally withdrew to Monte Rotondo
and on May %, 1859, a few weeks be-
fore Paoli' s fight, the band made form
al submission to the two French gen
erals, Marbeuf and Vaux, explaining
through Buonaparte that the national
leader had 1nisled them by promises OF
aid which never came, and that, recog-
nizing the impossibility of further re-
sistance, they were anxious to accept
the new government, to return to their
homes and to resume the peaceful con-
duct of their affairs. 1t was this pre-
cipitate naturalization of the father as
a French citizen which made his great
son Frenchman. Less than three
months afterward, on Aug. Is, his
fourth child, Napoleone di Buonaparte,
was born in Ajaccio.
The resources of the Buonapartes, as
they still wrote themselves, were small,
although theiF family and expectations
were large. An only child, Letitia had
inherited her fathers little home and
his vineyards in the suburbs, for her
mother had married a second time. Her
stepfather had been a Swiss mercenary
in the pay Of Genoa. In order to secure
the woman of his choice he became :
Roman Catholic and was the father OF
Nine di Buonaparte's half brother, Jo-
seph Fesch. Charles himself was the
owner of lands in the interior, but they
we're heavily mortgaged, and he could
contribute little to the support of his
family. His uncle, wealthy landlord,
had died childless, leaving his domains
to the Jesuits, and they had promptly
entered into possession. According to
the terms of his grandfather will, the
bequest was void, for the fortune was
to fall in such case to Charles mother,
and on her death to Charles himself.
Joseph, his father, had wasted many
years and most Of his fortune in weary
litigation to recover the property. Moth
ing daunted, Charles settled down to
pursue the same phantom, virtually de-
pending for a livelihood on his wife S
small patrimony. He became all officer
of the highest court as assessor and was
made in 1772 a member and later a
deputy of the council of Corsican mobiles.
The peasant mother was most prolific.
Her eldest child, born in 1856, YVES q
son, who died in infaneyj in 1867 was
born daughter, Marie Anne, destined
to the same fate; in 1868 son, known
later as Joseph, but baptized as Nabn-
lione; in 1869 the great son, Napoleone.
Nine other children were the fruit Of
the same wedlock, and six of them
three Sons, Luciep, Louis and Jerome,
and three daughters, Elise, Pauline and
Caroline-survived to share their BROTH
er's greatness Charles himself, like his
short lived ancestors-of whom five had
died within century-reached only
sarly middle age, dying i'll his thirty
ninth year. Letitia, like the stout Cor
sicap that she was, lived to the ripe age
of Sc in the full enjoyment of her facul-
ties. known to the world by the sobri--
quet Of Nine. Mere.
THE SOLACING WEED