The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1895-02-16
N~APOLEONIC STOCK.
HIS FATHER WAS Al PATRiclAN AND
HIS MOTHER Al PEASANT.

"~ AA@A6N E&1%s nj
OF the father and mother OF the en-
peror Professor w. M. Sloane writes
Rs follows in Century: 8
Certain u~ndisputed facts throw q
strong light ON, Napoleon's father. His
people were proud and poor; he endured
the hardships of poverty with equanim-
ity. Strengthening what little influence
he could muster, he at first appears am
bilious and has himself described in his
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 inclination, and I'm 1894. at
the age of is, rashly perhaps, bat gal
lantly, welded a lowly and beautiful
child of Is, Letitia Ramoline.
Her descent was the reverse of her
husbands, although her fortune was
quite equal il not superior TO his, She
was OF peasant nature to the last day of
her long life-hardy, unsentimental,
frugal and sometimes unscrupulous.
Yet the hospitality of her little home in
Ajaccio was lavish, after the manner
of her kind, and consequently famous.
Among the many guests who awaited
themselves of il was Marbeuf, COM
mander in Corsica of the first army of
occupation. There was long afterward
% malicious tradition that the French
general was Napoleon's father. The
morals of Letitiae di Buonaparte, like
those of her conspicuous children, have
been bitterly assailed, but her own good
name, at least, has always been vindi- /
Gated. The evident motive Of the story |
sufficiently refutss such an dispersion as
it contains. OF the brides e~xtraordina-
~ beauty there never has been a doubt.
She was a woman of heroic mold, like !
Juno in her majesty, unmoved in pros
perity, undaunted In adversely. 1t was
probably to hismother, whom he strong |
ly resembled in childhood, that the ia
nous SON owed his tremendous, over gi-
gantic, physical endurance. II in his
mother was reproduced the type of al
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 mt first
drawn into the daring enterprises of
Paoh and displayed a temporary en-
thusiasm, but for more than q year be-
fore the end he wearied OF them. AT the
head of q body of men OF his own rank
he finally Withdrew TO Monte Rotondo, /
and on May 23, 1888, o few weeksibe-.
fore Paoli's flight, the band madefokm-
81 submission to the two French gem
erals. Marbeuf and Vaux, explaining
through Buonaparte that the n~ati0nal
leader had misled them by promises Of
aid which came, and that, re6og-
the impossibility Of further re-
sistance, they were anxious to acceps
the new government, to return to their
homes and to sur the peaceful con-
duct of their affairs. It was this pre-
naturalization of the father as
. French citizen which made his great
SON a Frenchman. Less than three
months afterward, ON Aug. Is. his
child, Napoleone di Buonaparte,
was born IN A1acC10.
The Of the Buonapartes, rs
still wrote themselves, were small.
although their family and expectations
we're large. An only child, Letitia hadI
Inherited her fathers little home and
his vineyards in the suburbs, Tor her
mother had married q second time. Her
stepfather had been o Swiss mercenary
IN the pay OF Genoa. In order. to secure
he woman of his choice he became q
Roman Catholic and was the father of
Nine. di Buonaparte's half brother, Jo-
leph Fesch. Charles himself was the
,wner of lands in the interior, but they
we're heavily mortgaged. and he could
contribute little to the support or his
His uncle, q wealthy landlord,
had died childless. leaving his domains
the Jesuits. and they had promptly
inferred into possession. According toi
he terms of his grandfafher's will, the
was void, for the fortune was
fall in such a case to Charles mother,
md on her death to Charles himself.
Joseph, his father, had wasted many
and most of his fortune in weary
litigation to the property. Moth
ng daunted, Charles settled down to
'ursue the same phantom. virtually de-
'ending for q livelihood on his wife's
mall patrimony. He became an officer
the highest court as assessor and was
made In ira a member and later q
of the council of Corsican mobiles.
The peasant mother was most prolific.
Her eldest child, born in 1855, was d
who died i'm infancy; in 1851 was
'orn a daughter, Marie Anne. destined
o the same fate; i'm 1868 q son, known
~ Joseph. but baptized as Nabu-
lone; In 1869 the great son, Napoleone.
Vine other children were the fruit Of
he same wedlock, and six OF them-
hree sons, Lucien, Louis and jerome,
md three daughters. Elise, Pauline and
Jaroline--surviyed ID share their broth
greatness. Charles himself, lie his
hort lived ancestors-of whom fiya Ind
lied within . century-reached only
Iarly middle age, dying in his thirty
ninth year. Latitia, like the stout Cor
3-A- @H-A - .--mk Ts-EH 49, t&E #7ME III 4