Evening star., 1937-08-08
nd q garden which was the delight

ana garQen WHICH was Tue QellHnt
Of this wilderness.
Charles Hamet, another member Of
the Asylum Colony, was said to have
been 4 steward in the household Of
Louis vi. He and = country man
named Laporte. were among the
French refugees who did not return
to France when Napoleon offered them
amnesty after his accession to the
throne.
Hamet's descendants, thrifty and
prosperous, helped to populate what
is Bradford County, and town nearly
opposite Asylum was called Homet's
Ferry, his home having been located
In the lower part OF the town where
Methodist Church was subsequently
erected.
When the general exodus from the
colony to France began, Bartholomew
Laporte, always the trusted land
steward OF Talon, purchased in his
own right, and upon his own terms,
a large tract of land including Talon s
house. or "The Queens House" This
he paid for by installments as is at
tested by the deeds which may today
be seen in Towanda.
OF him at the time Of his death, the
National Intelligencer OF Washington,
said, He had one son, John, whom
before his death, the father had the
proud satisfaction of seeing elected and
reelected to a seat in the highest and
most dignifled deliber.tive body in
the United States or in the world" His
descendants still living on the site of
French Asylum, gave the land on which
in 1916, the memorial boulder COM
memorating the colonization and those
who had part in it. was placed. The
county seat of Sullivan County, not
FAR from Dushore, derived from Du-
petithouer name of the famous French
admiral. who for time was an inmate
OF the colony and later upon his re-
turn to France died hero's death in
the Battle Of the Nile with the British
fleet under Nelson bears the family
name Of Laporte
Court Florist Buried There.
In the town of 'Vyalusing, near
which are the ancestral homes OF
Capt. Chester Wells and Admiral Ed
ward Kalfus of the United States Navy,
is an old cemetery where rests the
bodies OF Anthony and Marie Iefevre.
Lefevre having been a court florist
prior to the French revolution.
A visit to the Bradford County
historical Society's collection with
courteous Miss Mary Wilt, who has
the museum in charge, gives a fasci-
mating glimpse OF very old map, worn
IN its creases, which was once the
property Of an early Laporte. It reads,
"A Plan Of the Town of Asylum" and
shows with meticulous care and de-
tail what the motivators of this
French colonization scheme in Penn
sylvanla had in mind for its develop
ment. An interesting group of fig
pres in one OF its lower corners is
shown with beckoning hand and
glance to be inviting toward this re-
treat those who would seek haven
there, it being estimated that a pos-
sible allotment Of homesteads up to
many thousands was envisioned
Another antiquarian treasure in the
Historical Society collection is A
rough tree stump from which some
long ago French refugee, either aris-
tocrat or artisan, caused to be carved
forth IN striking bas relief from it,
a bust. believed to be that of Louis
PHILIPPE. King Of France in 1880. With
his two royal brothers he visited
Asylum in 1897 and with them was
a guest for a considerable time at
The Queens House." presided over by