Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1895-03-26

triots were scattered, and their leader
found refuge in England.
1t was in the midst of these agitations,
civil and military, that the Buonaparte
family emerged clearly to view. Carlo
Maria Buonaparte was born in Ajaccio.
March 20. 1746. At the time Of the fail
ure of the revolutionary movement and
the loss of his country's Independence, he
was twenty-five years of age. Mean.
while, in his eighteenth year. he had
fallen in love with Letitia Ramolino.
dargh.sc Of a well-to-do Corsican peas
ant. With her, nature had been prodigal
Of all gifts. She was beautiful to q de-
gree; strongly marked in feature and
person with the excellencies of the Ital.
ian race.
Of the Ramolino family, not much is
known. Suffice it that Carlo di Buona-
parte-though a noble-recklessly took
Letitia in marriage when she was but
fifteen years of age. She brought him
her beauty and portion of properties,
but no additional rank. She is said to
have been a girl of heroic qualities.
queenly in her bearing, rather silent in
manner, healthy as to her bodily life,
and ignorant of sentiment. Her face.
preserved in q hundred forms of art,
shows Enthusiastically the origin of that
Napoleonic visage with which the whole
world will be familiar to the end of hu-
man records.
TIE character of Carlo di Buonaparte,
though discoverable only in fragments,
shows a mixture of courage and adven-
ture. He was protector of many things
"A visionary. His education was OBJ
tanned in Italy. He had been o student
at Rome, and afterward at Pisa, where
he prepared himself to be an advocate,
and obtained q reputation for youthful
eloquence. The University of Pisa con-
ferred on him. about the time Of the
birth of Napoleon. the degree of Doctor
Of Laws.
The collapse of the patriot cause had
induced Carlo Buonaparte, as q measure
of prudence. to leave Ajaccio and retire
to Corte. The latter, being an inland
town ans having a mountainous situa-
ton, was more deeply pervaded with
the patriotic spirit than was the low
land region about Ajaccio. The coast
country gave itself up freely to the
French domination. During the first five
years of the married life of Carlo he
oscillated with his young family back
and forth between the two towns, final.
ly-when safety came with peace-fix.
ing himself at Ajaccio This was in the
early part of 1863.
Meanwhile, before this removal, three
children had appeared, in rapid success
sion, at the hearthstone of Carlo Buona-
parte. All of these were born at Corte.
The first was q daughter, Elise, whose
birth was in 1865. This child died in
infancy, as did also the next, Marie
Anne, who was born about two years
later. Then, on January 9TH, 1868,
came the first son, and to him the pa
rents gave the name Of Joseph Nabu-
lione, or. as a secondary spelling would
have it, Joseph Napoleone, or, Napo-
leon. The latter name, though appear
ing in the birth-record of the family. was
dropped in the case of the oldest son,
Joseph only being retained. It was the
custom Of the age, in the case Of the
death Of children, to repeat their names
for those born afterward. Nor was there
anything exact, as in the customs Of the
nineteenth century, in the spelling en-
ployed.
The surname, as we'll as the given
names, in the family Of Buonaparte fluc-
tuated into many forms, and gave rise
to some discussion and confusion after
wards. One story ran to the effect that
Napoleon Bonaparte was born January
eth, 176S, and Joseph about nineteen
months afterwards, that is, August 18th,
1869. 1t was believed at one time that
the father interchanged the dates Of the
birth of his two eldest sons, in order to
get Napoleon into the military academy
before his tenth year-a thing necessary
under the law. But it is now known that
no such thing occurred. The only ground
for the invention of the fiction was the
fact that Joseph's middle name was
originally Nabulione, and that this
name. in a modified form, was after
wards conferred on the younger son.
The estate of Carlo di Buonaparte,
though augmented by his intermarriage
with the Ramolino family, was unequal
to his tastes and desires. He possessed .
property at Corte, and another in Ajac-
ClO. AZ tuC AAttC1 NO Cthulc UdCk LILO
early part of 1869, and established him
self in the house where Napoleon was
born. The homestead di Buonaparte was
favorably situated. The house is still in
excellent preservation. 1t is four stories
in height. From the upper windows one
may see the ocean. The building is stuc-
coed, is rectangular. and has a fiat roof,
with a small cupola. from which the
flag of France was flying at the time
when the first emperor Of the French
came into the world.
About the birth of great men cycles Of
fiction grow. Friends and enemies alike
invent significant circumstances. The
traducers of Napoleon have said that he
was illegitimate-that his father was
the French marshal Marbpuf. They also
say, on better grounds, that the mar
riage of Letitia Ramolino to Carlo Buon-
aparte was not solemnized until l767-
that the first two children were there
fore born out of wedlock. On the other
hand, the idol worshipers would fain
Il