Part I: 1850- 1922 The old world Baptiste and Victoria; Auguste and Yvonne
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“C’est bien vrai ce que tu me disais dans une de tes précédentes lettres, ma chère Victoria, qu’il ne faut pas compter sur les parents et surtout sur nous autres. Aujourd’hui, le mieux est de savoir se sauver tout seul, il en est ainsi dans toutes les positions, et où que l’on se trouve. (...) J’espère que tu vas le soigner comme il faut ce petit bébé ; quels noms veux-tu lui donner. Il n’y a pas beaucoup de temps d’ici la naissance maintenant.» . At one point during that period, perhaps tired of waiting for a posting closer to home, he got one of his Lot acquaintances to introduce him to a friend, also from the Lot, Mr Murat, in order to check the possibility of being transferred to Tobaccos, a related administration in the same ministry. Mr Murat answers that it is not a good idea, that Baptiste would have to start over again from scratch. The interest of this letter from 1889 is it describes the careers in Tobacco, which are in fact the same as Excise: L’administration des Tabacs comprend deux catégories d’agents: 1° celle des vérificateurs parmi lesquels on recrute le personnel des emplois supérieurs et qui débute à 1500 francs (par un stage de 2 années),, et dont le traitement s’élève jusqu’à 3000 francs, en passant par les classes de 1800, 2100 et 2500F. Les emplois qui dépassent 3000 F sont dits emplois supérieurs. Pour être admis dans cette catégorie, il faut être pourvu d’un diplôme de bachelier et n’avoir pas dépassé l’âge de 26 ans. Il y a en outre à subir un examen comprenant principalement des matières scientifiques (arithmétiques, géométrie, algèbre, physique, chimie et botanique.) La catégorie des commis qui est exclue des emplois supérieurs, sauf quelques exception pour aptitudes exceptionnelles, lesquelles paraissent devoir être d’ailleurs fort rares et n’ont encore présenté aucun cas. Cette série est exclusivement recrutée parmi les sous-officiers de l’armée, qui ne doivent pas avoir plus de 30 ans. L’examen à subir est à peu près de la forme de celui qu’on passe pour entrer dans les contributions indirectes. Les commis débutent par un stage de deux ans aux appointements de 1100F. Ils sont ensuite élevés au traitement de 1200 F et peuvent atteindre le chiffre maximum de 2400 F en passant successivement par les classes intermédiaires qui augmentent par degrés de 200F. Ils n’atteignent qu’assez tard les emplois supérieurs à 2000 francs. (...) Je crois devoir donner un bon conseil à M. Bouyssonie en l’engageant à rester dans les Contributions Indirectes où je suis sûr qu’il y a plus d’avenir. A letter from an old acquaintance (1892), who had joined the service a few years earlier, draws a picture of the Excise career for Baptiste, after congratulating him on his marriage: Parlons maintenant de votre changement. Je ne puis que vous féliciter sur le choix du poste que vous désirez, je crains seulement que vous vous y preniez simplement un peu tard. (...) Vous pourriez peut-être encore réussir avec un bon coup de piston, mais il faudrait vous en occuper sérieusement. A tous les points de vue, Toulouse ferait votre affaire, et vous n’auriez nullement besoin de solliciter un poste pour Madame Bouyssonie . Dans la brigade on touche en moyenne 250 F par mois, soit 95 d’appointements, 100 pour indemnités de route et de 60 à 70 de contentieux, vous pouvez voir par-là que c’est un chiffre respectable. De plus, nous voyageons en 2ème classe avec une carte de libre parcours qui vous permettrait d’aller jusque chez vous. Tout n’est pas rose cependant dans une brigade, car on fatigue et on découche quelque fois, ce qui occasionne des dépenses ; mais on s’y retrouve largement. Baptiste must have taken Mr. Murat’s advice, and stayed on in Excise, because, after a first failure in 1892, he was appointed after the 1893 concours to the grade of clerk (commis). A letter in April 1893 from a colleague or a patron actually working in the central administration, with an impressive letterhead, first informed Baptiste, on a confidential basis, that he is going to be selected. Then in July, a more formal, but not final letter from Clermont communicated to him the scores achieved in the competitive examination, which had been the basis of his appointment by the selection board. They shows the result of the examination: he was particularly good in maths and geography, his spelling was excellent, his weakest mark was “style”, whatever that may have been (8/10). At the risk of boring the reader, I will quote one last letter from a colleague, at the time when Baptiste was to take his last-but-one post in Maurs (1905). Things seem to have improved for him, but he was going to a place where there were no proper schools and one wonders why this post would be envied by colleagues: Tout d’abord, permettez-moi de passer sous silence la contenance [?] de la Recette, je préfère vous en laisser la surprise car je suis convaincu que du côté travail vous serez entièrement satisfait. Donc ne vous faites pas du mauvais sang au sujet des bouilleurs... Par exemple, s’il est facile de trouver des logements, peut-être un peu chers, il ne sera pas commode d’y adjoindre une écurie, enfin nous nous arrangerons... Soyez sans inquiétude. Un conseil cependant, si vous trouvez à vendre votre monture à un prix raisonnable, je crois qu’il est préférable de vous en débarrasser car ici pays d’élevage vous trouverez facilement à vous monter... du reste votre déménagement n’en sera que plus facile. Par exemple, pas d’Ecole Supérieure, une bonne école primaire préparant au brevet... et c’est tout. Cependant, je crois que Figeac, petite sous-préfecture voisine, en possède une... mais je n’en suis pas sûr... Ce que je sais, c’est qu’à Aurillac il y en a une... Mais c’est à 104 km tandis que Figeac est à 20km seulement Voilà tout ce que je peux vous dire concernant votre nouvelle installation. Toutefois, je ne dois pas vous laisser ignorer que votre nouveau poste est des plus enviés... et avec juste raison. Je crois du reste que vous en jugerez. Prévenez moi de l’heure de votre arrivée si vous voulez être piloté. The ambition of Baptiste’s nomadic life through a series of postings, with his little family in tow, must have been to home in on to his region of birth, just like subsequent generations of fonctionnaires would do, within the limits set by his suspicious administration. But for us, after a good start with Brive and Meaux, three postings in Cantal (Ardes-sur-Couze, Maurs and Pierrefort) would spell true hardship with its barren plateaux and freezing winters (described by Victoria in the letters to family). It is possible that that department was not quite as desolate as it is nowadays, and the Bouyssonies’ social life attested by the numerous letters seems to have been quite rich, but still, it must have been rather bleak. When Baptiste was transferred to Ardes-sur-Couze, it seems he had scored a big step upwards, judging by the humorous letter43 sent by his former colleagues in Brive, perhaps the only example of banter in the whole family file (apart from Guy’s letters much later). Baptiste seemed to have a nickname with his colleagues, and the condition of the commis must have been quite uncomfortable: “Mon cher Roublard. Je ne cacherai pas mon étonnement en recevant votre aimable lettre. Je lui ai fait les honneurs de l’ordre. Cela a été des ah ! des oh ! de la part de vos anciens compagnons de chaîne que (c’en était une bénédiction). Nous étions si contents de voir que vous n’étiez pas mort que Gasperet a sorti son chapelet et a récité une dizaine pour remercier Dieu ; pendant que Lager dansait la bourrée et que l’esclave Tabarly (faisait appel à tout son savoir et donnait le jour à la belle esquisse au verso ; d’autre part que nous vous prions de bien vouloir accepter et conserver en signe d’amitié et d’admiration !! Car, mon cher Roublard, on ne l’avait jamais vu dans aucun Brive. Un Esclave, né simple esclave parti de si bas (la vallée de la Dordogne) briser seul ses chaînes et s’élever si haut, si haut que les aigles des Pyrénées seuls pourraient l’atteindre. Quelle gloire pour nous tous !? Aussi, pour que le souvenir s’en perpétue au poste, nous avons réuni l’argent nécessaire pour faire étamer le carcan auquel vous étiez rivé. Un chainon en sera séparé et vous sera adressé après l’avoir fait dorer. Veuillez le conserver précieusement car il a été arrosé par nos larmes d’attendrissement. Enfin, être libre, Auvergnat et s’être élevé si haut que c’est beau ! Favier a trouvé le mot pour nous arracher à l’extase : « Et s’il est élevé sur place, il ira encore plus haut ! (texte incertain mais probable). Encore plus haut !!! Je ne peux pas y penser, nous ne voulons pas y penser et vous n’y pensez pas. Adieu. Nous vous baisons tous les mains. Moi j’en garde une pour vous la serrer bien cordialement en vous priant de présenter mes amitiés, nos amitiés à toutes les vaches… » On the reverse side there is a drawing depicting Baptiste on a horse at the top of a mountain called Ardes, « Altitude 1400 mètres au dessus de la merde … Marmara, la scène représente la joie d’un Ancien Esclave Affranchi ». (Signé) "le chef de poste, les commis, le préposé." When Baptiste became head of recette, he was naturally associated with the local worthies, notaires, chemists, and occasionally the sous-préfet. He moved among people who had an interest in the arts and sciences. One of his colleagues, A. Martigne, sent Baptiste in 1895 an signed copy of a small book of verse he had just published44. Here is an extract of a poem titled "La diplomanie", apparently inspired by his professional experience: " Hier soir, accoudé sur le bord de la table, Je lisais le jargon baroque et détestable De certain règlement pour un certificat, Erigeant la "rature" en un pontificat; Créant des professeurs pour cet art si sublime, Qui corrige les mots, les remplace ou supprime!... Soudain je m'endormis" (…) The poet dreams of being transported to exactly the year 1930 in which all men would be covered in diplomas with fancy titles: "directeur des Chemins; diplôme de tailleur de crayons et de plumes, inspecteur des gosiers; -- sous directeurs des rhumes," and the list goes on for another four lines that I spare you. All these characters are rushing about until the president calls them to order and announces a concours with the following subject: "Traduire l'horoscope Qu'on lit sur le granit, au bout du téléscope, Sur le troisième mont, dit de Tycho-Brahé, Des pics lunaires vus de l'Institut d'Hué45." Baptiste's career may have reached a peak in the early 1900’s, because of his modest education and certain character shortcomings, or even what could appear at the time as narrow-mindedness verging on bigotry, something like what Mauriac described as common in the country: "un certain rigorisme non d'essence religieuse"46. He may have got caught in the quarrel between the conservative establishment and the supposed conspiracy of the free-masons and the popular front. But we sorely miss some indication about his position in the Dreyfus affair, which agitated French society from 1894 to 1906. My guess, based on his upright, devout Catholic and fairly conservative character, would be that he was an anti-Dreyfusard, but probably moderate, as he never left any sign of his position, and his daughter Hélène never mentioned anything about it in later years. His manners may never had completely lost their rural side, according to Hélène, who used to say that he would, after the soup course "faire chabrot", to her great disgust.47 It is not clear whether he was not retired against his will, for some kind of political or managerial reasons (there is nothing in the archive except an ambiguous letter by a colleague) just after the war. But he did make the most of the opportunity that came his way, and appeared both happy and even wealthy once he retired to Carennac in 1918. At that time, his visiting card proudly bore the inscription “rentier,” and his profession was then “propriétaire”. The Excise was at the time a rather picturesque administration (one thinks of Balzac’s les Employés), with its fussy hierarchy and its sway over a population of tobacconists and alcohol outlets, and the fear of contraband. But the real nightmare was apparently keeping track of the “bouilleurs de cru”, these people allowed to distillate alcohol in their own vats without paying the tax. Our friend Georges Fraysse was one of the last of this breed, which in 1956 was outlawed, except for those who had previously held the ‘privilege’. With this meritocratic and mobile career Baptiste can be counted as our first modern ancestor, and no small contribution to the elevation of his family into the middle class, within the general movement of enrichment of France over the period. A fairly bulky correspondence with family and friends was preserved by Hélène, giving interesting insights into the life of this provincial middle-class at the turn of the century. Victoria, and also Yvonne, kept in touch will all the cousinage on the Vergnes, Teulières and the Bouyssonies sides, and quite a few letters and postcards give us a view of those relationships. Some links are just superficial or conventional, but others are true friendships, even sustained over several generations, which is quite interesting (and not much explored by literature, except for Le Mas Théotime, by Henri Bosco, a delightful book.) The two most sustained family friendships are: - the Glanes connection: promoted by a double family tie on both the Vergnes and Bouyssonie sides, the friendship has been successfully sustained by Marie-Thérèse, who was a teacher in England at the same time as our Aunt Hélène (1914-16), and picked up with great affection by Marthe, who was very devoted to Hélène, without expecting anything in return, and is still a great friend to us. I have had countless meals at her house from childhood until the 80s. When she came to Paris to visit her niece Nicole, she also made sure we came to dinner to pursue the connection. After Hélène’s funeral in 1986, she invited the whole family back home to lunch; I now regularly visit her at her rest home, but she is declining rapidly in early 2017; - the Eymoutiers link: Maria, sister of Baptiste, was in close touch with Victoria until they died; her husband belonged to the same administration of the Indirectes, her son Georges seemed to have a crush on Yvonne, judging by the number of postcards he sent her. Later, the granddaughter Georgette was a bosom friend of Hélène until they both passed away. The connection is now unfortunately extinct. There is an intimate correspondence between Victoria and her sister Esther, where business difficulties gradually take over and dampen sisterly affection. As letters received were generally read to the whole family, at one stage Esther asks her sister to write a more confidential letter for herself alone. Yvonne, Victoria’s eldest daughter, was given her aunt as a godmother, as well as being named after her, in the expectation (from both sides) that she would stay close and one day inherit the old farm, as it was known early that Esther would not have any children. The mild quarrel about the annuity to be paid in compensation for the farm, after their father’s decease, put paid to those plans, which were finally wiped out by Yvonne early demise. To come back to Baptiste and Victoria, their different postings to small towns gave them an interesting life, closer to our lifestyle that that of the cousins who had stayed on the farm, or those who had turned to trade. Especially when he became head of his post, he was part of the official establishment of local worthies in those small towns, and seems to have had a busy social life with the local bourgeois, tradespeople and small businessmen. Hélène was impressed as a child that he needed to carry a gun during some of his journeys conveying funds. The gun, which is so small it looks like a lady’s weapon, is still in Carennac, though without ammunition. Two letters from colleagues are interesting for the look they give us into how the Excise officers viewed their job. The first, dated 5 January 1906, is from his brother in law Victor Gratias, a staff member of the Nontron recette, a town in the North of the Dordogne. Baptiste may have applied to be posted there. “Voici la consistance de la recette: 25 grossistes, 209 débitants, 14 recettes buralistes, 1 octroi qui me rapport du travail et pas un sou, et enfin, le meilleur de tout, 1450 bouilleurs du régime général, tout cela réparti sur 22 communes dans des pays accidentés comme les montagnes de Donzenac. La recette est divisée en 10 tournées, la résidence est vue 8 fois. J’ai comme par semaine 1 jour de repos et 1 jour d’écritures, il reste par conséquent 20 jours de route, la plus courte tournée extérieure comporte 36 km et la plus longue 48. L’attelage est défectueux sous tous les rapports : 1 pauvre bidet, manquant de taille et de nourriture, une vieille voiture pesant six à sept quintaux, des harnais achetés par pièces chez les chiffonniers, en un mot un véritable équipage de bohémiens, moins la lanterne, car nous n’en avons pas. Ceci t’explique le fond du caractère de mon receveur et de sa moitié. Je n’avais encore rencontré une telle avarice. Teyssier et Bonnet étaient des prodigues à côté de ce couple. J’attends l’arrivée d’un inspecteur pour demander une visite sérieuse du matériel. En ce qui concerne le caractère, mon receveur est le meilleur garçon du monde et je n’ai pas de mal à m’entendre avec lui. Je n’ai qu’à dire ce que je veux faire, il se mettrait en quatre pour me faire plaisir. Ce n’est pas lui qui fait du zèle : si on ne le stimulait pas, il négligerait absolument son travail et ne répondrait à aucune note. Je crois, et c’est du reste l’opinion des employés de la direction, qu’il est en train de devenir gaga. Je pense que ces quelques explications te suffiront pour t’enlever toute velléité de jalousie à mon égard. Quelle que soit la situation, j’ai pris le taureau par les cornes, je suis à jour, je chasse trois fois par semaine, . J’ai tué ici 4 lièvres, 1 perdreau et un lapin. Lorsque je connaîtrais le pays, je me promets de plus brillants exploits. (...) The family’s social life is also attested by the high number of letters from family, friends and acquaintances, particularly numerous on the two occasions when Yvonne was dangerously ill. This social life must have appeared to Baptiste as somewhat of a challenge (perhaps less so to Victoria), as the only book bearing his inscription, left from that time, is the “Règles du savoir-vivre dans la société moderne, par la Baronne Staffe’ (1899). There was also a self-help volume : “Pour faire son chemin dans la vie, moyens et qualités qui permettent d’arriver au succès et à la fortune". The Bouyssonie couple would probably not have been sensitive to the limitations of their social style. To help my readers get a better picture, I could refer them to many late XIXth century novels, but I prefer to warmly recommend a short essay by F. Mauriac, entitled "La Province" (1926)48, in which he epigrammatically opposes the brilliance of Paris and the dowdiness of the rest of France. For example, concerning dinners: "Les provinciaux qui reçoivent ne se fournissent presque jamais d'invités hors de leur milieu, de leur monde. L'intelligence, ni l'esprit, ni le talent n'entrent en ligne de compte, mais seulement la position. La conversation est un plaisir que la Province ignore. On se réunit pour manger ou pour jouer, non pour causer. (…) Cette joie de Paris: le commerce d'êtres dont la seule approche nous enrichit, est à peu près inconnue en Province."
Neither Baptiste nor Victoria could be said to be cultivated in any way, if we are to judge by the number of books in their house, which was virtually nil, and their exclusively practical correspondence. Considering how well all the other contents of the house have been preserved, and Hélène’s respect for anything in writing or print, we can discount the theory that books were lost or destroyed. The existing library was nearly all assembled by Hélène in later years. Baptiste read every issue of ‘L’Illustration’ for many years, and also ‘Le Petit Journal’, many copies of which are still in the house and after having been used for insulation in the attic, now make good reading. This would have brought Baptiste both the news and entertainment before the days of radio then television. In the 30's when he was retired in Carennac, he read "La Dépêche du Lot". In spite of the professional satisfactions, as soon as he had bought the Carennac house (1903), Baptiste made a point of returning each year for the harvest, after which he would make his own wine. It is possible that having lived throughout his childhood on the farm, he could not think of any higher pleasure than treading his own grapes once a year. He also liked to attend the agricultural fairs in the neighbourhood, like Vayrac or Gramat, where he would probably come across relatives and acquaintances from the old days. Another yearly outing was his cure in Alvignac, where he lived at the hotel Darnis, an establishment which had its own postcard. But he never left home alone for very long, and sent a postcard every day to his wife, from the time this item became of common use (1905). The purchase of the Carennac house was one of the most important decisions made by Victoria and Baptiste. They were securing their future peace of mind and a comfortable lifestyle, for the time they were looking forward to when Baptiste could retire on his savings and the newly introduced pension that he would receive. Victoria was already slated to inherit some landed property in Carennac, so it must have been natural to think first of settling there, rather than in Gignac, where Baptiste would receive nothing. And it may be difficult to imagine, but already in those days Carennac had a reputation as a spot of special beauty and interest, even though the village itself was no different from surrounding ones, fully devoted to agricultural pursuits. The presence of the river was a source of fresh fish as well as sport, and offered the luxuriant vegetation in contrast with surrounding sceneries of dry Causses, or bleak Auvergne forests. In 1897, in a magazine telling travel stories, a short article on Carennac49 gives us an idea of what it was before tourists and house renovators arrived there. J’ai pris le train, ces vacances dernières, à la gare de Cahors, vieille ville […] je descends enfin à la station de Rocamadour […] aussi de la crête du coteau qui les domine, nous saluons avec une réelle satisfaction la verdure, les arbres, le vieux clocher de Carennac [dans le texte] dans un pâté de maisons blanches, et ,derrière ces peupliers déroulant au loin leur rideau capricieux de quenouilles vertes, nous devinons la Dordogne qui s’étire avec lenteur dans des replis paresseux, là-bas, vers l’admirable cirque de Montvalent. Carennac ! le village est banal ; banal aussi le café Télémaque, où nous nous reposons un instant des fatigues de la route, mais la simple plaque de tôle qui se balance au-dessus de nos têtes , portant son enseigne en belles majuscules, grince doucement à notre oreille la chanson des vieux souvenirs. Ce petit bourg perdu de Carennac a bien le droit de s’enorgueillir d’avoir abrité dans les murs de son vieux prieuré l’abbé François de Salignac de la Mothe Fénelon. (...) Que reste-t-il aujourd’hui, du Prieuré de Carennac ?Des ruines salies, qu’il faut aller chercher dans une misérable ruelle de village, au fond d’un cul de sac obscur. Deux tourelles ,encastrées aux trois quarts dans un pâté de maisons noires, mangées par elles, presque méconnaissables; un joli morceau de cloître ogival, effrité, saccagé50 lui aussi, mais gracieusement évocateur de mélancoliques songeries, avec ses fines nervures de pierre que tapisse une frondaison romantique de lierres, de pariétaires et de fleurs grimpantes. Passez mais ne vous arrêtez pas sous ces voûtes, vous vous heurteriez à des portes sordides d’étables dans lesquelles le propriétaire actuel de ces ruines élève, pour le profit, des bêtes grogneuses et immondes. Tout à côté visitons l’église, monument historique du pur roman, curieux surtout par sa porte dont le tympan est orné d’une statue du Christ , en médaille, entouré des évangélistes et des apôtres, au-dessus d’un cordon de bêtes symboliques. Descendons sur la place, et ,tournant le dos au château de Carennac, masure remaniée, retapée, vaniteusement quelconque, jetons les yeux devant nous. A nos pieds coule la Dordogne, luisante et câline, semant çà et là des ilots verdoyants de terre grasse. Sans aller bien loin, dans notre bonne et chère France, on peut faire de faciles et ravissantes excursions.
It was in the early 1930s that a friend of Hélène, G. Védrenne, wrote the first book celebrating the beauties of the region, and of Carennac in particular. That is the time when rural tourism really took off, in connection with the development of thermal stations. We have two signed copies of Vedrenne’s books which he offered to Hélène: - a 35 page brochure on ‘Carennac, prieuré-doyenné de Cluny’ including a map and 8 photographs by the author ; - the book ‘En Quercy, de Souillac à St. Céré par la vallée de la Dordogne et le Causse,’ 110 pages, includes a short section on Carennac. This book has been in print ever since the first edition in 1930. Those were also the years when celebrated painters Piero di Francisco and his wife Clara Valentini made long stays in Carennac, and partly paid their board at the Hotel des Touristes by selling their works to the owner Daniel Lacroix. Baptiste and Piero became friend, and we have two portraits, of Baptiste and of Hélène, from the Italian’s hand. To close the list of the main books about Carennac, in 1950 the English writer Philip Oyler, who owned a house in Chapou, wrote his book “The Generous Earth”52, which put the Dordogne valley on the shortlist of prettiest and most pleasant places in France. The bulk of the book is however devoted to the quality and abundance of the food, and picturesque anecdotes about local colourful characters, rather than the beauty of the scenery and buildings. There is a photograph in the book depicting the priest supervising the production of the liturgical wine in front of our house. The family house in Carennac We know from literature that a house can become, by association with human families and destinies, a character in its own right exerting some invisible influence on its inhabitants. Anatole de Monzies celebrates his Saint-Céré house in such terms: "Ma maison est si propice au rassemblement des pensées et à l'assemblage des écritures que j'aurais peut-être dû lui consacrer l'hommage entier des heures tardivement recueillies sous ses bonnes voûtes tutélaires." In 1903, Baptiste and Victoria we able to buy the house that we now consider as our main family house. The ownership was right from the start a cause of pride for the Bouyssonies. It came with two gardens, but they were small and it was only after several further purchases of allotments that Baptiste was satisfied that his domain was extensive enough, and reached the size that we now enjoy, or complain about.
“(Les immeubles) appartiennent au sieur Jean Teulières, vendeur, pour les avoir acquis de M. Frédéric Vergnes et des cohéritiers Challong suivant acte reçu par Mr Bouygues notre prédécesseur immédiat le 7 avril 1893. Ces derniers en étaient propriétaires conjointement et par indivis entre eux pour leur avoir été attribués dans l’acte de partage des successeurs de M. Pierre Vergnes et dame Marie Teilhac reçu par ledit Me Bouygues le 7 septembre 1893. How old is the Carennac house? From the basement walls, and from general history of rural buildings53, it appears that the house started out as a one-room cottage, as they used to be built in the XVIth century. The single room was called "oustal". A bedroom was added during the following century. In the 1807 cadastre, the house figures as three separate dwellings, an additional lighter structure leaning against the original frame having been erected in the meantime (where the kitchen is currently sited). The evolution of the first floor may have been separate from that of the basement walls, as there was no internal staircase.
After buying the house, Baptiste continued to snatch up property in the village, perhaps in an attempt to corner enough land to start a little farm, or just to round off the estate. First, he extended the garden, by buying the little plot next to the presbytère, then the lower field called Le Coustal (where now the swimming pool stands) and “Maud’s cellar”. At some stage, Victoria’s inheritance brought four additional plots of land and vineyards. He may have retired early, as in those early days of the pension system, people left as soon as they had made enough money to live in leisure. Life expectancy was also lower, and there were fewer expensive activities open to retirees, who may have adopted Voltaire’s solution to find happiness in cultivating one’s garden. Though we have always considered the house quite primitive and uncomfortable, it is good to stress that Baptiste, and even Hélène later on, were always proud of its facilities. Much care had gone into furnishing it, upgrading the heating by building an extra chimney with a modern stove in the front room (destroyed during the 1990 renovation.) One of the most convenient features was the cistern, as other families had to drink the water of the Dordogne, exposing themselves to disease, while the Bouyssonies always had clean water. In his autobiography, "Dédé de Carennac" tells of having to scrounge water from neighbours. The garden was supposed to provide plenty of fruit and vegetables, and the early photographs show the garden was entirely made over to plantations, right down to the Delmas limit. The initial toilet was right at the most distant corner of the garden, against the fence where the walls of the shed still remain. Electricity was installed in 1928, and at first the subscription was billed at so much per lightbulb. After 1903, the Bouyssonie family had somewhere to stay, and it seems they visited quite often, bearing in mind the difficulty of travel. When vacationing in Carennac, they would do the round of the cousins, as shown by the text on Yvonne's 2 August 1910 postcard: Nous sommes chez Clara54. Nous venons de la Saule où on nous a reçues très aimablement avec le cousin Paul et Irène55. Nous avons été à Bétaille ce matin. Tante Marie était partie. Le capitaine a été très gentil ses parents aussi. Nous allons partir pour visiter la vigne qui est très belle, paraît-il. On trouve que nous avons de la chance . A demain d'autres détails. In Carennac, where he lived from around 1913 to 1944, Baptiste is remembered by our distant cousin Jean-Claude Ayroles as a rather loud authoritarian, a type of character that seems to have been partly inherited by his daughter Hélène, where decisiveness is softened by benevolence. Jean-Claude was present, as choir-boy, when Baptiste received the last rites from the village priest, during his last brief illness. He maintained a horse and cart, with which he could fetch visitors at the station in Bétaille. After the fire of the outer barn, a stable was organised in part of the ground floor, with its direct door to the garden. That was before the neighbour built the cement stairs in the venelle adjoining the house, which unfortunately block this direct access. One of the big events in his life after retirement was accompanying Hélène to her school in England in April 1914. The voyage and the early impressions of both father and daughter are summarized by Victoria in a letter to her Gratias cousins that was considered so brilliant that it was returned many years later to Hélène, who kept it. It is too long to quote in full here but it is great fun reading. Here are just a few sentences to illustrate the frame of mind of this Carennac mother in 1914 about England: Tous les professeurs de l’établissement sont des demoiselles. Hélène donne des cours de français et suit tous les cours d’anglais, ses devoirs lui sont corrigés. Son travail n’est pas chargé. Puis les Anglaises ne travaillent pas comme nous il s’en manque. En dehors des cours, elle est libre de faire ce qui lui convient. La nourriture est bien à son tempérament ; elle fait 6 repas par jour et dit qu’elle ne s’est jamais si bien portée. Lever à 7 :30. Déjeuner à 8 heures consistant en jambon ou sardines, tartines beurrées, énorme bol de café au lait. 10 :30 petit lunch composé de gâteaux secs et lait (ce dernier, ainsi que le beurre, sont fameux). 2 heures : déjeuner : toujours de la viande, toujours des pommes de terre bouillies ou en purée, entremets soit pudding, blanc-manger, crème, etc. Comme boisson de l’eau pure. 5 heures : thé : tartines beurrées et confitures, thé au lait ou pur. 7 heures dîner. Ce repas se fait en cérémonie, le service, le couvert, grand genre. On change de toilette . Viande, légumes, gâteaux comme boisson limonade, en Angleterre, il n’est pas de bon ton de manger beaucoup de pain ; à 9 heures, encore gâteaux et lait. En Angleterre on ne boit d’alcool. Baptiste n’a pu s’en faire servir dans les cafés. Il n’y a que bière, limonade, thé, lait et des gâteaux en quantité. Du vin, il n’y en a pas non plus. Ce régime ne lui allait pas et il lui tardait de revenir en France. Ils sont partis de Dieppe. Là ils ont fait halte pour aller voir une Dame riche qui tous les ans vient faire une cure d’air ici. Elle les a gâtés et bien soignés. Hélène a eu le mal de mer au bout de 2 heures seulement. La traversée a duré 4 heures ; c’est trop long. Par Boulogne, il n’y a qu’une heure et demie. Baptiste n’a été malade qu’au retour. La mer était démontée il faisait orage. Le steamer bondissait : cela lui rappeler sa jeunesse et ses longs voyages. Il disait : « que c’est beau la mer ! ». J’appréhendai beaucoup cette séparation. Je faisais tous mes efforts pour me raisonner, mais que c’est dur de voir aller si loin une enfant. ! Rentrée à la maison je me suis transformée en fontaine. Quand j’ai revu cette chambre, ce lit, ces effets… Unfortunately, Victoria did not reach a ripe old age, but died in 1928, after a series of diseases perhaps brought on by the sorrow of losing her eldest daughter six years earlier. From then on, the widower Baptiste went on to live another 16 years, between his annual wine-making, his daily visit to the Ayroles household and long chats with his mates on the Palissade. He ate his lunch at the Hotel des Touristes56, already run by ancestors of the Lacroix family (Virginie then her son Daniel). It was there that he met and befriended the Italian painter de Francisco, who drew his portrait and that of Hélène, and probably many other interesting holiday makers and visitors. Francisco was a guest at the hotel with his wife Clara Valentini, also a painter. Baptiste life's from 1930 to 1844 is well documented by the avalanche of letters he wrote to his daughter Hélène, who was teaching in Brive and who visited very regularly. The series contains a lot of news about Carennac and its inhabitants, including some details about the war, with the arrival of refugees and the billeting of a number of soldiers and their activity to kill time. They contain distant echoes of Guy’s travels, often received via Orthez (were Auguste lived.) [this stock of some 50 letters needs to be summarized] From a few indications from Hélène, Baptiste was very serious about religious issues; he supported a conservative catholic faith. He would have been deeply troubled by the growing anti-religious climate in public affairs, or at least in some parties. To illustrate this controversy, I quote a passage from a little book bought in another brocante: "L'avocasserie de village a tellement égaré l'opinion et faussé les esprits sur ce mot religion, qu'il est nécessaire presque de prouver à un grand nombre de gens qu'on ne fait pas nécessairement profession de bêtise et de petitesse d'esprit en pratiquant la religion."57 He was none too pleased that Hélène, during her time as a student in Paris, took up with a Protestant student association58, and was befriended by Suzanne de Diétrich, a moderately well-known theologian59.
He had years before written his will twice in the holographic format. Though superseded by the second one, the 1928 will is more interesting and probably on more secure legal grounds. It is quite moth-eaten and difficult to read for that reason, for having been kept carefully in the wardrobe for decades by Hélène, instead of a proper cupboard: Ceci est mon testament. Je soussigné, Pierre Baptiste Bouyssonie déclare, étant sain de corps et d’esprit, vouloir que ma fille Hélène prélève, avant tout partage, la somme de quatre mille francs. Pareille somme avait été donnée, à titre gracieux, en contrat de mariage, à ma regrettée fille Yvonne. De plus, je désire que ma fille Hélène jouisse entièrement de la maison de Carennac et de ses dépendances. Que cette maison ni les deux jardins ne soient jamais vendus autant qu’il y aura un héritier direct. Une somme de deux mille francs sera déposée à mon décès pour le repos de mon âme et avec les mêmes intentions pour mon épouse regrettée et pour ma très chère Yvonne. Je désire qu’on (trois mots illisibles) mon petit-fils Guy Montin. Qu’il soit élevé en bon chrétien dans la pensée de pensée et prière pour ceux qui ne sont plus. Fait à Carennac, le 21 janvier 1928. This will was legally superseded by a second draft two years later, in much simpler terms. This is the text that was interpreted by the notaires as asking for Hélène to be granted the quotité disponible, i.e. in this case one third of the assets, meaning the split would be one third/two thirds in her favour. But the desire expressed in the first will bound Hélène for the rest of her life, and may have saved the house for us, from being sold away, as Hélène herself told us on many occasions when Guy had given her displeasure or offence. Je donne et lègue à ma fille Hélène Bouyssonie tout ce que la loi me permettra de lui donner, sur ma maison de Carennac à l’époque de mon décès. Tout se reste sera partagé entre elle et mon petit-fils Guy Montin. Telle est ma volonté. Carennac, le 14 mai 1930. It is clear that Baptiste had some legal help to re-write his testament with binding, more legitimate clauses. He could validly not ask, as he does in the first version, that she "fully enjoy all the assets", nor could he validly stipulate that the house should never be sold as long as there was a direct heir. The second text sticks strictly to what the law allows him to do to favour his daughter. All in all, Baptiste is an important figure in this memoir. He raised himself from a landless peasant to a respectable position in the administration, mainly by self-improvement and a wise marriage, and most importantly bequeathed the Carennac house and land to us, insisting that his daughter never sell the house. It is probable that Hélène already entertained reservations about the suitability of the spot for permanent residence, as she found the locals "primitive" and the village greatly over-admired. Yvonne’s childhood and youth Now that we have got to know her parent, we can examine the life of Yvonne Bouyssonie, who was to marry Justin Montin. Contrary to the dearth of information on my grandfather’s youth, Yvonne’s early life is quite well documented. The eldest daughter of Baptiste and Victoria, was born at Meaux in 1887, at a time when Baptiste was a clerk in Villeroy. She probably experienced the early hardships of a struggling young family at a time when everyone was poor. She was in general of fragile heath, perhaps because of those hardships during her infancy, and at least twice she had a brush with death, in 1892 of an ear infection and 1912 of typhoid fever. In a letter to his sister which was returned by a cousin to Hélène much later, Baptiste gives a full account60 of Yvonne’s dangerous illness, and the treatment she received in those days before antibiotics. After an operation in Clermont, the little girl developed gangrene the next day, and was delirious for two days before some vaporisations in the throat brought gradually her back to life. She could then sit up in bed, play with her toys (“bibelots”) and “boss her mother around for the medical attention”. In 1920, even her fiancé wondered about her very pale complexion, which could either be because she had an intense fear of getting tanned and looking like a lower class girl, or because she was not in the best of health. She was educated in the schools of the places where her father was posted, rather than sent like her mother and Hélène to a distant but recommended school. But Victoria must have insisted on a religious school, and indeed when it was possible, like during their Brive posting, she was taught by the nuns. At the end of her schooling, she was an accomplished seamstress and embroiderer, she was considered quite bright and artistic by her entourage. When necessary, she writes very good French, her uncle François praises her style. In addition, the two Bouyssonie girls were musical. Their violins have been preserved, as well as quantities of violin methods61 and musical scores that have remained from those days. Yvonne and Hélène must have reached an advanced level, judging by the difficulty of the works that they could perform in duos, for the pleasure of their parents and friends during the long Carennac evenings before television. They also sang, and the full music of the opera Barber of Seville is also among the scores. Many letters of friends and relatives condoling with the parents on those occasions show both the sensitivity of people of that time, as well as their courtesy and letter-writing skills. A letter from cousin Doctor Amédée Teulières62, established in Saint-Denis (north of Paris) gives some details: “J’ai reçu ce matin votre lettre et j’apprends avec peine que la santé de la petite Yvonne laisse à désirer. Elle est atteinte d’ottorrée chronique qui, ayant débuté par une oreille, y a causé de lésions internes (perforation de la membrane du tympan, et lésions probables de l’oreille moyenne, et sous l’influence d’un mauvais état général, d’un vice de sang, cette même lésion s’est propagée l’autre oreille, et au nez. » The letter contains another three pages of diagnostic and treatment, and contains two prescriptions for medicaments. Yvonne may have had an early talent for expression, or thought so by her relatives, judging by the fact her parents preserved a letter she wrote to them from la Saule (her aunt’s property) while holidaying in August 1895 (she was 7): “ Je vous écris ce petit mot qu’il me tarde de vous voir avec plaisir, et puis je m’amuse bien avec la bichette parce que j’ai toujours un bâton à la main pour la taper quand elle est prête à me donner des coups de tête. Ma marraine63 me donne beaucoup de chiffon pour faire les habits de mon petit baigneur; elle m’a donné une boite pour mettre les habits de mon petit baigneur. Et dis-moi encore si ma petite sœur va bien. Je suis déjà allée à la foire vendre les lapins et je fais toujours ma prière et puis je vais toujours à la messe. Cher Papa et chère Maman et Hélène je vous envoie de gros baisers. (Signé) Yvonne Bouyssonie.64 From several letters from relatives, it seems that Victoria was intent on bringing her daughter up in a very religious spirit (see the letter for confirmation). She took first communion in 1898 and was admitted in to the association de Notre-Dame de la première communion.65 She was presented with a richly bound missal by her aunt/godmother Esther, a 450 page book of prayers, and an “abrégé du cathéchisme de persévérance” in also 450 pages, at a time when books were rare and expensive. The prayer book was entitled “chants pieux ou choix de cantiques en rapport avec l’esprit de l’Eglise” and was published in 1873. Also inscribed with her name, we have a few of her school books, that give us an insight into what she was supposed to learn: - “petit abrégé de l’histoire ancienne”, which covers the period between Sesostris and Theodosius in 350 pages. - two geography books inscribed “Esther Vergnes, couvent de la Magdeleine, Albi, 1878”, the first by Abbé Gautier (1867) and the other seemingly more official authored by ‘Eusséric,’ 1874. - notions d'histoire générale, par les abbés Bailleux et Martin, Putois-Cretté, 1899, covering the whole period from holy history to modern days in 400 pages; Yvonne may not have known the "Lavisse" (1894), which concentrates on the history of France, with a lay, republican slant probably not approved of in the religious schools; - Leçons de langue française, par les frères des écoles chrétiennes, cours supérieur. This is an excellent, impressive-looking 450-page book, devoting over a two year course about half of its pages to a detailed grammar, followed by syntax, style, and lots of practical tools such as short biographies of the main authors, examples of good drafting, etymologies, etc. It is far more detailed and interesting than the "Larive et Fleury" (1882) which may have been used mainly in state schools; - Economie domestique, par R. El. Chalamet, Armand Colin, 1887; this book is stamped "hommage de l'éditeur", so it seems it may have been sent free to Victoria, who was a teacher of that subject, and who must have given it to her daughter; the book covers morals, housekeeping, hygiene and care of the sick, gardening, basic sewing, and even some instruction civique; it is worth quoting the passage about the purpose of the schoolbook: "Il voudrait vous apprendre à bien vivre; vous aider, s'il le pouvait, à devenir de bonnes écolières, de bonnes filles, de bonne sœurs, plus tard de bonnes femmes et de bonnes mères, et enfin de bonnes Françaises;" - other unsigned books include, from the same family library: ‘Leçons de littérature spécialement rédigées pour les pensionnats de demoiselles, par l’auteur du Livre de piété de la Jeune Fille: Du Style Epistolaire, 1881.’ Judging by the date, this was perhaps handed down from her mother or aunt. - ‘Les poésies de l’enfance, recueil de pièces de vers, par l’abbé Lalanne, 1893.’ Finally, I would like to quote an older book, found in a brocante, which Yvonne probably did not have because it would have been old-fashioned by her time: "La civilité des jeunes personnnes, par J. B. J. de Chantal, librairie Jacques Lecoffre, 1869 Yvonne must have been quite bright at school, as shown by the little library of prize books still in our Carennac house, which I will list below. All the volumes are presentation copies, solidly bound, though not in any luxury material. They give us a list of the subjects taught at school, - in 1894, when she was 6 ½, and schooled at Pithiviers, she was given “Inconduite et travail, histoire d’une famille d’ouvriers”, par Abel Richard - in 1895, after the family moved to Brive, perhaps in the middle of the school year, she attended the école publique de filles, she got the 2nd prize for spelling, and perhaps other prizes not rewarded by books, or books since lost; - in 1896, she had been moved to the more correct Pensionat Sainte-Marie, run by the Soeurs de Nevers, to which her aunt Félicité belonged: prizes are in Maths, Reading and accessits for Writing and Analysis - in 1897, her prizes were more numerous: Politesse, Récit, Orthographe, with accessits in Maths and Analysis; - in 1898, she added Writing and Style to her awards; - in 1899 she seems to have found a competitor and her prizes are all seconds, but still the same, with Drawing added to the list; - in 1900, her roll of honour is even more impressive, six firsts for the same subjects, two second prizes for Spelling and Politeness and an accessit in History. All those books are edifying reading specifically aimed at little girls, containing in general historical stories stooped in Christian spirit. In addition, she had a handful of other books in the same style, and among them: “L’écolier vertueux, ou vie édifiante d’un écolier de l’université de Paris, par l’abbé Royart, 1892”, or “Christophe Colomb, sa vie, ses voyages, sa mission religieuse,” unnamed author, 1892. The most beautiful, perhaps a Christmas present, is: ‘Contes et conseils à ma fille, par Jean-Nicolas Brouilly,” a book first issued in 1809, and still for sale in antiquarian bookshops. The whole collection would certainly have deserved the label “bons livres” used by her uncle François, the missionary, in his letter to Guy in 1935. More interesting for us, it seems that Yvonne was the first literata of the family, if we believe her uncle, the missionary, who lamented that she had read not only good books, but also, ‘un peu de tout,’ presumably books borrowed from libraries, if they existed, or a few cheap editions that she could procure66. There is in the Carennac a little store of such books, featuring the writers of the time, and a few near-classics, none of them belonging to authors completely forgotten, which indicates some taste, or help selecting the titles: - René Bazin: Donatienne, inscribed with Yvonne’s name; - Marcel Prévost : lettres à Françoise ; - Paul Bourget: l’envers du décor; - George Sand : Elle et lui. - René Bazin : Davidée Birot, presumably published on 1 February 1922, may have been Yvonne’s last book.67 Without any encouragement to read, it is quite remarkable that Yvonne did develop a taste for literature which helped her grow up into a smart young woman knowing her own mind and endowed with some artistic talent. Her innate sensitivity would also have been encouraged by her readings, which were quite conventionally sentimental at the time. She may even have had some literary ambition of her own, as shown by her diary at the start of the war. When she was of marriageable age, while living with her parents in Maurs (Cantal), the next question of course was who was she going to wed. A good marriage was a natural career at the time in bourgeois families, this is explained and illustrated in countless novels, and often satirised. Though it is not explicitly stated as such, Yvonne was probably given a chance to widen her matrimonial horizons when she was 19 by spending six weeks at Paris, living at the home of the friendly cousin Dr Teulières and his wife Marie. This must have been a major event in the family, but in spite of being a good learning experience, and lots of fun, Yvonne did not bring back an elegant Parisian fiancé. In spite of her fine education, and above average knowledge of France regions, she may have appeared somewhat provincial to possible suitors. Baptiste accompanied his daughter to Saint-Denis, where he stayed at the Modern Hotel while his daughter lived at their friends’ house. On a postcard dated 1 June 1906 he reports to his wife who had stayed at home in Maurs: “Hier, Yvonne a fait un grand tour de Paris. On a usé du tramway, du taximètre et du métro. On a parcouru une grande partie de la capitale et l’avenue du bois de Boulogne, visite du Trocadéro et du Champ de Mars. Ce matin elle est un peu fatiguée. Cet après-midi, excursion sur le lac d’Enghien. » The next day, Yvonne wrote a card to her sister : « Je mène une vie si mouvementée depuis que je suis ici que je n’ai pas le temps d’écrire pendant que tu étais à Maurs. Lundi on a été au lac d’Enghien qui est une jolie ville d’eau à quelques km d’ici. Hier j’ai été à Paris voir M. Laborde et j’ai visité avec sa jeune femme le musée du Luxembourg et le jardin des Plantes. Au retour Papa a dit qu’il était assommé. Moi je ne suis pas trop fatiguée. Le bruit est ce qu’il y a de plus fatigant . Il fait aussi une grande accablante. Nous irons seulement ce soir voir mon le professeur. Mon parrain est très gentil. Ma cousine charmante et très bonne. Elle me soigne très bien, elle m’a commandé des oeufs frais et du lait que est meilleur que celui de Maurs. Elle voudrait que tu viennes ici avec moi passer les vacances. Elle viendra à Maurs en septembre avec son parrain... " In the many postcards sent in the following days, Yvonne tells of visits to museums where she is naturally interested in all forms of clothing and costume; she accompanies her father to visits to ministry colleagues and to dinners at friends. After a week she starts getting used to the noise and the dust and declares she loves the capital: “on y est chez soi”. No wonder she stayed in Paris until the end of July, apparently spending much time in transport or walking with the maid, or calling on Mr Vincent in the ministry. Cousin Marie Teulières stayed a lifelong friend, sending dozens of postcards of her numerous travels, unfortunately with no text at all, just the signature, according to usage of that time. We can imagine that this great stay in Paris must have had a lasting appeal to Yvonne, and perhaps given her an inkling of what life could be in the wider world. Not a word appears however on any dissatisfaction she may have felt with her narrow life in Maurs, which in spite of the numerous cousins, must have got even more restricted once she came to live in Carennac seven years later.
“La guerre est déclarée. Depuis huit jours qu’elle nous menace, beaucoup ne veulent, ne peuvent y croire. On espère, on se dit :cela s’arrangera. Aujourd’hui, il n’y a plus d’illusion à se faire, on vient d’apprendre que les Allemands sont en Belgique. Depuis quelques jours je ne dors presque pas. Au début de la semaine dernière, nous étions bien inquiets. Vendredi cela est devenu de l’angoisse. Les propriétaires de chevaux ont pendant la nuit reçu l’ordre de les mobiliser. Nos deux médecins Rayrolles et Jouve étaient dans la nuit partis avec les gendarmes pour avertir les communes de la circonscription. Dans la journée qui a été très belle, Nénette est venue me chercher pour nous promener. Nous avons été au pré Fabre où nous avons ratissé un peu. Le docteur Jouve affectait une gaité qu’il n’éprouvait pas. A un jeune homme qui avait attrapé une brindille dans l’œil, il a dit en plaisantant « il y a un blessé déjà. » Cela m’a jeté un froid. Un moment après on entend le tambour. Emotion. Ce n’était qu’un castagnaire. On respire. La journée était chaude, le soleil radieux. L’ombre des arbres délicieuse. Les petits jouaient, les jeunes gens plaisantaient, il faisait encore bon vivre. Quelqu’un a dit que c’est bon la vie champêtre, et j’ai pensé : oui mais demain nous aurons la guerre...[...] On dit que dans les villes les populations sont animées d’un merveilleux élan patriotique. Ici tout n’est que tristesse, appréhension.» The diary continues for a few days, and it is clear that Yvonne is trying to record the emotions people around her are experiencing in those exceptional times, such as what they all felt when the friendly family doctor, Dr Jouve, presented his will to his wife. It is clear that the Bouyssonie family did not share the anti-German sentiment. They knew about German culture, as shown by a book found in the library, dated 1913: ‘Légendes du Rhin, traduites par V. Sylvestre de Sacy”. I will have to transcribe the full text of Yvonne’s diary, which is about 2,000 words, and ends with this scene about the doctor’s uniform, where we recognise Yvonne’s obsession with clothes: “J’ai fini de coudre bien solidement tous les boutons de la tunique. J’ai donné les points nécessaires à la doublure qui se décousait ainsi qu’aux agrafes du col. J’ai cousu sur le côté droit la deuxième partie du scapulaire. Je fais tout cela en pensant aux horreurs dont seront témoin ce joli vêtement si bien coupé, si seyant. Car on a beau dire que cela s’arrangera.. Je crois qu’il y aura une guerre et une guerre affreuse. Puissé-je me tromper. » In has been recorded by historians that it was the people in the cities who were most belligerently inclined, perhaps fed by government propaganda, while country folk remained more cool-headed and more fearful of the consequences. Yvonne did not spend the war sewing for the troops, she volunteered as a nurse at the hospital of Brive, perhaps introduced there by her aunt Soeur Félicité. This may also have been the time she heard about the American airman Mossmann. I now come to the only near-secret that I recently uncovered in the life of my grandmother Yvonne, by my thorough search through the 1000-strong postcard collection. Hidden inside the old boxes of wilted cards, I came across a batch of pictures from the United States, with plentiful text in English on the reverse side and unexpectedly addressed to Yvonne. The sender, a William Mossmann, was a native of Idaho, who was a soldier in the Flying Squad sent to campaign in France in the late stages of the war. The correspondence continued for a year after his return to the US. As time goes by, he at least grows fonder, and in the end the cards are addressed to his “dear sweetheart” and are signed “your lover” or “love and kisses”. From the texts, it seems the pair did not seem to know each other very well, and may never have met. Perhaps Yvonne was a war-godmother, according to the custom of the time to support the morale of the troops, described in Hélène war letters. William strongly hopes that Yvonne will visit and stay as his wife in the US, or himself settle “in an old house” in France. Two photographs taken in France give a little more evidence: one of the man accompanied by two women with a mention at the back “Padirac 1918”, and another in Vierzon a few days after the first world war had ended, but they are no proof that they ever met in person. This part of Yvonne’s story will remain forever a mystery, but has survived probably because Hélène thought that the English language protected the confidentiality of the episode. But it also shows that for a moment she must have entertained the idea of dropping all her familiar world and emigrating to an English speaking country. She was probably a much more adventurous spirit than what the official story of her life told by relatives and friends credits. Another surprising piece of evidence is part of an undated letter from Yvonne to her sister Hélène about her matrimonial prospects. She is reporting the arrival of two Delord68 brothers who are in the process of setting up a business selling American motorised machines that could yield a 10% return on sales of 1 million francs. She writes what is the single most sincere letter of the whole archive: “Malheureusement, si le gendre de Delord est le plus beau des hommes (underlined twice), son frère est tout petit et tout noir, petit comme René Compagnon69. Il est gentil bon intelligent mais très peu instruit et d’éducation négligée. Je suis fort embêtée car sa situation est ébouriffante et Brive une ville bien agréable pas éloignée. Si j’étais sûre que Mossmann guérisse, je n’aurais pas (mot illisible, peut-être ‘hésité’) à faire sa connaissance. Mais guérira-t-il ? Si les renseignements que tu as demandés ils pourraient nous renseigner là-dessus ce serait une bonne chose. Le petit Marcel Delser [Delord mal écrit ?] a de l’étoffe il est actif, paraît sérieux, il a fait toute la campagne dans l’artillerie, celle de Verdun, sans une égratignure, et n’a jamais été malade de sa vie. Comme traits il n’est pas mal. Avec de la distinction il aurait une tête assez bien, il est intelligent expressif mais brun, brun, brun (mots soulignés trois fois) tout ce qu’il y a de plus noir. Je ne sais à quel saint me vouer et suis bien embêtée de manquer une si belle situation car ce petit là est capable de tout simplement de devenir millionnaire grâce à la collaboration de son frère qui est (mot illisible) au moral et au physique. Marcel me goberait très facilement et m’écouterait facilement si je voulais l’éduquer, d’ailleurs il se rend compte parfaitement qu’il en a besoin. Mais en attendant je ne sais quelle résolution prendre. Je t’embrasse. Yvonne” This confession may have been spared the stove by being near undecipherable, or because Hélène could not burn such an anthology of female wiles. It gives us a privileged insight into the motivation and values of Yvonne, who could no longer wait for her family to provide, in the context of the aftermath of the war and dearth of eligible parties, a suitable bachelor intent on marrying. It seems to indicate that she had not met the American in person yet. I also like to note that her dislike of dark skin was later expressed by her son Guy, who was very happy to have married a fair English girl and have light skinned children. He even had a special name for dark-skinned people: “mokos” (origin of the word unknown). Auntie Hélène Another family figure important in our history is my great-aunt Hélène, born in Brive in 1895, at a time when Baptiste was posted there. Hélène had a most interesting life, as an early example of independent womanhood. Born in 1895 in Brive, perhaps brighter than her older sister, she was educated at the religious school in Aurillac, which she remembered with a shudder for their stinginess. “Goûter” consisted of a bread crust and a mouthful of water drunk from a single goblet for all the pupils in the playground. The Carennac house preserves many(the brother of a close friend from school) of her exercise books and prizes. One funny aspect of her schooling was the galloping Anglo mania she displayed with some of her friends, writing to each other in English, perhaps as a foil to circumvent the nuns in charge of the school but nevertheless quite picturesque. Hélène’s story would also be worth telling, but in the meantime, here is a brief outline: - after Aurillac college, Hélène was able, by sheer determination, to obtain a suitable position as a junior teacher in Chingford, not far from London; she stayed there two years, sending home more than a hundred letters and postcards. I have transcribed only a very entertaining summary made by her mother for the benefit of the cousinship, but this source would certainly yield much useful information about England at war; - Hélène was then a student in the Sorbonne for two years, - Her first postings, and a hardship one, was to St Louis, in Alsace, in 1920, which was still smarting from the ‘liberation” by the French victorious army. Hélène told of the deep hatred of the locals for teachers sent by Paris to bring them back into the national fold; - Her career as an English teacher continued in Saint-Céré, Chatellerault and Brive; - during the 30s and the 40s, except during the war, she travelled extensively to Italy, Spain, Corsica and the Alps - she retired from teaching in 1961, to take up residence in Carennac, from where she did not move much until her death in 1986. There is an excellently drafted speech given by the director of her school at her retirement party. Hundreds of letters and postcards would make it easy to write her biography, but that is not the purpose of this memoir. Though she never married, Hélène did have a fair number of suitors. The best documented attachment was with a Danish student from Uppsala, who sent many letters and postcards. It seems that the death of her sister, then of her mother, and the strongly felt duty to support her father, may have played a big part in her decision to remain single. After, that, in the 1930s, her foreign travels must have showed up the advantages of independence, but she came to suffer intensely of solitude later in life. Auguste and Yvonne: marriage of love or marriage of reason? To entertain my literary family, all of which are J.A. fans (except Isabelle), I am now going to try to make the most of the nicest episode in the family saga, the story of Auguste's and Yvonne's courtship. Among these two or three aspiring families of Carennac-Bretenoux, there is plenty of intrigue (which of her beaux will she choose), drama (is the dowry large enough), suspense (will the stream at Autoire be fordable so that Auguste’s horse can carry him to Carennac for the key interview). But this is real life, no detail is invented, and the story ends in tragedy with Yvonne’s death. But in the meantime, let us enjoy the romance. Our information about who brought the pair together is richer than at the previous generation. A glancing remark in one of the letters indicates that it is Mme Blanc, from a village friendly family, who introduced the prospect to Yvonne’s parents. Contrary to the two previous suitors, there is no letter giving us her impressions on this prospective husband but we can guess that she may have found him a little old for her, perhaps slightly less cultivated than she would have liked, certainly a little provincial compared to the elegant Parisians she had met a few years earlier. On one count I think Auguste passed: from the photographs, he seems to be quite clear skinned, especially for an ex-peasant of the Ségala. It is quite possible that the previous connection with the affluent Landes family would have given him the little extra elegance and better manners, making him a little more eligible to marry into the genteel Bouyssonie family. At that time, Yvonne, who was 27, had passed the best time for getting married in those days, because of the war, but she was an accomplished young woman. Like her sister Hélène, she was a violinist, admired by the family friends, and particularly skilled at needlework, as attested by the presence in our cupboards in Carennac of all the tools and materials of this activity or art, and examples of her talent. Three letters from Auguste to his fiancée have been preserved, and deserve some attention, as this memoir is doing its best to ferret out snippets of information that may throw a light on feelings and motivations now nearly impossible to reconstruct, so much time having elapsed since. So the question is: was Auguste simply in love with Yvonne, or was he (again) marrying for money ? First we note that the tone of the letters is much more modern than at the previous generation. Auguste professes great love for his sweetheart Yvonne. But in spite of his passion, he seems not to forget practicalities. There are some fascinating developments in his 3 March 1920 letter. After giving news of his son Charles whom he is visibly very fond of, he proceeds: “Je vois que vous n’avez pas très bien compris le sens de ma demande au sujet de votre dot. Ce n’est pas du chiffre que je vous parlais, car je sais très bien que le père Bouyssonie n’avait pas oublié. Ma demande avait un autre sens que je vous expliquerai. Et si quelque chose me préoccupait, ce n’est pas cela, je vous l’assure. Vous avez pu trouver étrange que je vous questionne au sujet de votre santé, je vous autorise à en faire autant de votre côté, car n’oubliez pas, chère Yvonne, que ceci passe de beaucoup, pour moi, avant toute autre chose, sauf la moralité. Et si je vous ai paru préoccupé, rassurez-vous, c’est ma manière d’être, et ce qui vous permettra toujours, de lire au fond de ma pensée. Tout en restant calme et froid, la moindre impression de mon esprit se reflète sur mon visage. Je suis très heureux que le coup de soleil redouté ne soit pas venu modifier l’harmonie pâlotte de votre teint en brûlant votre épiderme si velouté. Quant à moi, je ne me suis ressenti nullement de la course, je n’en conserve au contraire qu’un excellent souvenir que je renouvellerai avec plaisir, chaque fois que le cœur vous en dira. Mais je comprends que dimanche me réserve une partie de confessionnal sérieuse, je vais faire mon examen. En attendant, hier je me suis occupé de vous toute l’après-midi. J’ai rentré votre chambre, et l’ai installée dans la grande chambre, en attendant qu’elle prenne sa place définitive. Je craignais que quelqu’un passe par derrière, elle faisait envie à tout le monde. J’ai tout obtenu, il n’y a que les draps à mettre... » This is an interesting insight into the frame of mind of these slightly mature fiancés. Rumours had probably reached Auguste that Yvonne had twice narrowly escaped death, and he was concerned, as everyone was in those days, that marriage was forever, and caution was required before signing up. Let us not forget that the poor Yvonne died two years later in giving birth to my father.70 In another text written shortly afterwards, 15 March, all the clouds seem to have been dispelled, and the letter starts with “mon Yvonne chérie.” "Vos deux lettres arrivées ce matin m’ont apporté un clair rayon de soleil, dans cette journée maussade et triste que nous vivons aujourd’hui. Elles sont gentilles et aimables, vos lettres, et dénotent (mot incertain) un état d’esprit sensé et bon [mot qui semble avoir remplacé ‘adorable’ biffé mais ce n’est pas sûr] chez l’auteur. Je préfère de beaucoup vos phrases simples et lucides à ces soi-disant merveilles de prose, qui remplissent des quantités de pages pour ne rien dire et qui font penser à ces bonnes âmes qui passent leur vie dans les salons à déblatérer sur leurs amis. Je ne suis pas du tout étonné par l’accueil qu’a rencontré votre Père, et par le bien qu’on lui a dit de ma famille. Ceci est le résultat logique de la longue vie de bien et d’honneur qu’ont mené mes bons parents. Ainsi, même après leur mort, ils continuent à nous servir et à nous protéger. Exemple dont nous devons profiter, si nous voulons que nos enfants soient comme nous, aimés et estimés, parce que leurs bons parents avaient été honnêtes et charitables. Je vois d’ici la joie de Madame Blanc, se voyant délivrée du secret professionnel, je suis bien persuadé qu’à cette heure les cloches elles-mêmes n’apprendraient rien au dernier des Carennacois." The rest of the letter is equally interesting, and concludes : « A demain mon Yvonne chérie, je vous adresse toute ma tendresse et tout mon amour, dans un doux, très doux, baiser. » The third letter (19 March) is mainly concerned with the success of the first meeting between Charles (aged 13) and his new mother (called an aunt according to custom of the time, like “Tante” Louise later.) Auguste seems most pleased by fact that his son will now find the love of a mother, which he had lacked since Charles's mother died six years earlier. He is looking forward to the meeting of the two families at the wedding, which takes place only a week from later. What were Yvonne’ feelings at acquiring a teenage son are left to our imagination. It is just possible that the young Charles would be insufferable, having lived mostly in the orbit of his well-off grandparents and uncles. With only notaires and chemists in the Landes side, it is possible that he would start looking down on his father, and even the new connection with the Bouyssonie. The only fault which was recorded at the time: his father complains to Yvonne that his son puts games first, and then there is no time to write to his old father. Hélène, Yvonne’s sister, later gave a less rosy picture of the marriage, less to the credit of her brother-in-law. Apparently, eligible bachelors were in short supply at the time (Hélène herself never got married), and Auguste “negotiated” the best possible deal from Mr Bouyssonie, who had to give his eldest daughter a good dowry71, to be deducted from her future inheritance. How much of this can be true? Or is it only the resentment at the man who took her sister and ultimately was the occasion of her premature death? Luckily the marriage contract, signed at the office of the familiar notaire Bennet on 5 April 1920, the same day as the wedding (and giving us the first typewritten legal act in the archive), shows that things are not quite so simple, and that we may laugh at the dowry system, but we are caricaturing. There must be some element of truth, because Guy, in later life, often used the "famous Bouyssonie-Montin" opposition to justify his behaviour towards his aunt. The marriage contract, typical of the times, spells out what each party is bringing to the community, using the same word 'dowry' for both spouses: in this case, Auguste is contributing what is officially called his "personal dowry", and it amounts to 20,000 francs, which he has in cash and values ready for inspection. Yvonne brings a personal dowry of 15,000 francs, which is not just handed over in full to the husband for him to use as he pleases. The monies are immediately transferred to two relatives of Auguste, M. Laurent Landes, the chemist, and the abbé Louis Landes, vicar of Assier (not far from Leyme), probably both uncles of Auguste's first wife. We know from Auguste’s 1918 will that these two relatives had lent him money, perhaps to buy property in Plagnes or the house in Saint Céré. The idea behind the contract, as far as I can tell, is to give the young couple with a clean start, i.e. enough productive assets not encumbered by debt to start off on a comfortable married life. The 12,000 from Yvonne were provided, up to 11,000, by her father, as shown by an IOY signed by Yvonne for 11,000 francs, the money being an advance on her future inheritance and not a gift. This is a case of the famous avancement d’hoirie so frequently discussed in this type of family. She had presumably saved up the remaining 4,000 francs, or received some gift from her aunt Esther. There is another figure in the contract, but it is difficult to interpret: “pour la perception des droits d’enregistrement les parties déclarent que les apports cumulés des futurs époux sont d’une valeur de 36.000 francs (instead of 35,000). This may mean that Baptiste’s net capital at the time was 21,000 francs, but I stand to be corrected. Immediately after their wedding, the new couple left for a honeymoon by the sea. They stopped in Brive, to visit Auntie Nun (Félicité, sister to Baptiste), stayed overnight in Limoges, and from there went to Bordeaux and Royan by train. In a series of postcards, Yvonne tells of her happiness at seeing the sea, especially at Soulac-sur-mer. She reports on wonderful long walks on the beach, up to 12 km, and gazing at the waves on the Soulac sea-front. It was perhaps the first time she saw the sea in spite of her numerous journeys across France. “ce soir je ne pourrais pas m’arracher de sur la digue tant les vagues me captivent. Tout autour de nous les sémaphores scintillent dans la nuit”. On their way back they stopped to visit Charles, Auguste’s 13 year old son, a boarder in the Sarlat ‘collège’ and stopped for the night in St Denis-près-Martel. From there, they rallied Saint-Céré after a detour via Gramat and putting Charles on the train for Paris. The last card also contains an invitation for Baptiste and Hélène to spend a day in Saint-Céré, to see Hélène before her departure for her post in Saint-Louis (Alsace), and the request that Baptiste bring Auguste’s bicycle, “so as to be less crowded in the car” (whatever that means). The young couple were apparently frequently commuting between Saint-Céré and Carennac on their bicycles. This would not have been because of a taste for exercise, but because it was the only transport they could afford. After her wedding, Yvonne must have been happy, judging by the tone of her letters, and she was able to stay in close touch with her parents back in Carennac. When she was not cycling, she could take the train to Bétaille, just two stations down the line, where her father would fetch her with the horse and cart.. In March 1921, Auguste started working with an associate called Frégeac on an industrial and commercial venture in Biars. A few details are given by an agreement signed in February 1923 to liquidate the association. The firm had a few machine-tools, a horse and cart and two “fardiers” which went to Frégeac in the division, and an automobile truck, kept by Justin. They produced and sold beams and other carpenter’s material, and traded in other construction material, and also chemical fertilisers. It is possible that the industrial premises were just next to the house that they were living in at the time, at 45 Avenue de la République, in Biars, which still has a hangar just next to the living quarters. From Yvonne’s letters to her parents, we get the picture of a happy newly married little bourgeoise, anxious to set up a nice home, which is already supplied with electricity. In Carennac her parents had to wait another 6 years before being connected. Yvonne's first concern was to find a suitable maid to assist her in the domestic chores. After several failures, Auguste asked his brother Joanny, who lived a little closer to the Segala in Estal (a village half way between Glanes and Teyssieu), to search for the “boniche” as Yvonne calls her. Later, in an undated letter, she says that Joanny had found the right girl, named Bertha, incidentally giving us an idea of the chores of keeping a house in those days, and showing how it was already difficult to find suitable servants: “Il me tarde d’avoir des nouvelles de maman. J’espère que son nouveau traitement lui fera du bien. En tous cas elle peut venir ici parce que ma bonne, quoique bien petite, est arrivée ce matin et que c’est une enfant très bien douée, intelligente, sachant faire un peu de tout : cuisine, lavage, raccommodage, tuer et préparer une volaille, laver les planchers, etc... Elle est habituée au travail et se débrouille. Je dois vraiment quelque chose à Joanny pour m’avoir déniché une gamine pareille, très propre, bien tenue, mignonne et très jolie. Je la ferai raccommoder et tricoter. Tu vois, maman que tu n’auras pas à te fatiguer quand tu viendras."
“Et puis pourquoi vous êtes-vous mis dans l’idée que vos moyens ne vous permettent de vivre qu’à Carennac? C’est insensé. A St Céré grâce au marché dont je commençais à savoir tirer quelque parti quand je l’ai quitté72 vous pourriez vivre très gentiment sans vous fatiguer. Les loyers et les légumes n’y sont pas chers, les marchés si bien approvisionnés fournissent des occasions pour quelqu’un qui y sait comme maman. Réfléchissez mais tirez-vous de là où vous ne pourrez jamais être tranquilles. Je vous proposerais bien de venir ici où on trouvera bien à vous loger une fois ou l’autre mais les loyers sont [ 3 mots illisibles] hors de prix et les légumes inabordables. Et il n’y a pas d’eau en été. On est loin de l’église et sans aucune distraction ni société. Je ne vois que St Céré, Vayrac et Beaulieu, à Puybrun et Bétaille pas de marché. Si vous vous décidez pour St Céré on vous fera arranger la maison73 à neuf de haut en bas, mettre dans la cuisine un évier commode et bien (illisible), changer les cabinets de place pour les mettre sur le (illisible) avec accès sur le palier de l’escalier. Auguste y mettra toute la bonne volonté possible. Il comprend fort bien que Carennac n’est pas ce qu’il vous faut du moment où il vous faut de la tranquillité. Si vous ne pouviez pas habiter chez la (Sœur ?) vous seriez bien en attendant de trouver une petite maison avec jardin. A St Céré les loyers sont variés, et il y en a de bien gentils, très abordables, derrière l’église des Récollets. Il y a aussi des jardins pas très chers où on peut faire bâtir. N’oubliez pas le fichu beige j’ai trouvé de quoi l’envelopper avec de la mousseline. Après il ne me manquera rien pour le poupon... " It is clear that Yvonne wants her parents close by (at the end of the tramway line) but not too close.
On the other hand, it shows that she was happy to have left the deep country, making a new life in even for a one-horse town like Biars, with little entertainment or society. Other letters give an account in great detail of her preparation of the baby’s kit (layette), for which Yvonne gets lots of help from her landlady Mme Cance. It is an opportunity for her to exercise her main skill, sewing. The number of nappies, probably embroidered, and several “béguins de coton perlé” which are to be produced with a special crochet tool left behind in Carennac. The cot is "ravissant" according to Yvonne herself, adorned as it is with a "noeud de taffetas rase, un plissé de (mot illisible) avec dentelle de Valenciennes autour de la bercelonnette." The letter to her mother goes on for another ten lines of details about the cot's construction and decoration. On the same day, she wrote to her sister Hélène (living in Alsace at the time) with the same news, but also a more ominous note: "La bercelonnette est splendide. Depuis que tu es venue, j'y ai ajouté un valant tout autour en limon plissé bordé de Valenciennes et pour tenir le Christ un splendide nœud de taffetas rose que j'ai fait avec un coupon. C'est tout plein gentil. (…) Mais tout cela n'est pas l'essentiel, tu me diras. Je sais bien qu'à ma place tu te ferais une bile de tous les diables, mais à quoi cela m'avancerait-il ? Il m'arrivera ce qui pourra. L'essentiel est qu'on baptise un beau poupon ne demandant qu'à pousser?"
"L'état de grossesse est un état normal, et non une maladie, pour une jeune femme: vivre d'une vie naturelle, bien réglé, sans fatigue d'aucune sorte, est la meilleure façon de donner le jour à de beaux enfants. Toute mère doit nourrir son enfant, son lait est préparé tout exprès, et aucun lait, ni de femme ni d'animal, ne conviendra autant à l'enfant que le lait de sa mère. Eloigner volontairement et sans nécessité absolue un enfant de sa mère, c'est augmenter volontairement ses chances de mort." The wisdom or common sense imparted by the Doctor comes in easily remembered commandments, such as: - un mois de repos pour l'accouchée: 10 jours au lit, 10 jours à la chambre, 10 jours à la maison; - une accouchée peut et doit manger de tout, de tout, de tout ce qui se mange; - il n'est pas vrai que le vin ou la bière favorisent la sécrétion du lait." Yvonne was ready for the next stage, with a book on how to manage the new-born: "Le nouveau-né, by Dr Auvard 75 which is even more technical. Both these books are still very interesting, for what it tells us of the state of science at the time (quite advanced), and about current concerns related to motherhood (very centred on breast-feeding, as there were many misconceptions about in those days.) In a letter that was probably the last she wrote, she shared with her younger sister her worries about the future, which paradoxically focus more on becoming a widow than dying herself: "Sais-tu que je pense très sérieusement à monter un magasin dans quelques mois? Mais oui, je louerai le logement des locataires d'au-dessus pour faire le magasin dans la salle à manger. Je trouve ma situation précaire. Si Auguste venait à mourir il faudrait que je songe à travailler, les rentes qu'il me laisserait seraient insuffisantes. Quand il part en auto avec Frégeac qui va à une allure folle et n'est pas prudent, je ne suis pas du tout rassurée et j'ai eu le temps de ruminer les choses pas gaies alors qu'il arrivait fort tard dans la nuit. Si j'avais un magasin, j'aurais en cas de malheur les soucis matériels en moins. Mon idée serait de vendre ce qui manquerait chez M. Jaunes et je t'assure que tout en se limitant aux articles jolis agréables, je pourrais gagner pas mal d'argent (…) Auguste préfèrerait me voir dans un magasin à débiter des vêtements confectionnés, de la parfumerie, des articles de voyage, etc." All in all, in spite of the efficient help of Bertha, who was not a charwoman for the heavy cleaning work, the pregnancy was quite a burden for Yvonne, who had to rest every day in the afternoon. Finally, the great day arrived, and naturally, Yvonne gave birth at home, in the house in Biars described right at the beginning. At first, everybody was overjoyed by the arrival of the baby Guy Jean Jacques. The happiness of the whole family at the birth of the “poupon” is expressed by several hastily written (undated) letters from Hélène. “J’ai reçu l’heureuse nouvelle ce matin: quelle grande joie! Je ferme les yeux et tâche de me représenter la scène ; toi toute pâle dans ton lit et le petit qui chante à côté et autour duquel on s’empresse. Comment est-il ce petit mignon ? Joli, j’espère, ; les cheveux ? les yeux, le nez? Il faut que je sache comment tout cela est fabriqué. Voilà, j’ai un petit neveu, un petit Guy. Je suis contente, contente. Je suis sa marraine76 et je vais tant le gâter que je te promets d’en faire un terrible gaillard. Vous vouliez une petite fille. Oui pour vous c’eût été agréable, mais pour Guy, il vaut mieux qu’il soit Guy, la vie lui sera plus douce. Et Auguste, qu’en dit-il ? Et maman ? Elle doit en être folle. Heureusement que je n’y suis pas, je l’avalerais ! Et toi, ma chère Yvonne, comme tu dois être fière ; je parie que tu n’as pas été malade. Cela ne m’étonne pas. La veille tu allais encore à merveille. J’ai reçu la lettre de Suède, ne vous tourmentez pas, je crois que tout s’arrangera pour mon bonheur et celui de papa et maman. L’émotion pour moi aujourd’hui a été intense. Je n’ai pas pu aller en classe. Je parie que je suis plus fatiguée que toi. Ça passera. Repose-toi maintenant très longtemps, laisse –toi simplement soigner. Je t’embrasse en te félicitant heureuse maman. J’embrasse Auguste et maman qui doit être là aussi, et je lui recommande d’être bien sage et ne pas s’énerver. Mon Dieu ! J’oubliais d’embrasser mon petit neveu. Je suis bien malheureuse de ne pas le voir. Il faut le faire photographier. Bien à vous. Hélène. Sadly, Yvonne died on 13 February, three weeks after giving birth to a so on 22 January 1922. The Bouyssonie family were distraught, and her mother never fully recovered and died in 1928. My father always bemoaned the fact that many years after Pasteur’s discoveries, country doctors still made a point of not washing hands before attending to childbirths. Yvonne was buried in Carennac on a plot bought on a perennial basis (concession à perpétuité) in the cemetery in July 1922, on which still stands the family vault, built in 1986. The vault contains the "ashes" of the Bouyssonie parents and their two daughters but the headstones shows that the tomb is ready to welcome the Montin descendants. It is a disappointment that my father, in his old days, preferred to break with both his parents' families, not even accepting to be buried in Orthez, where his father's and adoptive mother's tombs are. . Annex: Hélène Bouyssonie's career Voir cahier HB avec tous détails administratifs Débuté 15 novembre 1920 Titularisée: 1er janvier 1924 avec deux ans et un mois d'ancienneté Nommée au 5ème échelon le 1er janvier 1928 Nommée à Saint-Céré le 30 septembre 1925 Nommée à Chatellerault le 6 septembre 1930 Nommée 'ème classse 1er janvier 1932 Nommée à Brive 27 septembre 1933 Nommée 3ème classe: 1er janvier 1937 Nommée 2ème classe: 1er janvier 1941 Nommée 1ère classe: 1er janvier 1945 Classée au 4ème échelon avec deux ans d'ancienneté le 1er janvier 1949 7ème échelon le 1er janvier 1951 8ème échelon le 1er janvier 1951 9ème échelon indice 510 Appelée à l'honorariat le 10 avril 1957
Déclaration 1950: 371.000 F Déclaration 1956: 1.142.000 F Loyer 1955 à Brive: 21.162F 1 See the old 1/50.000th scale map. The borne no longer appears on the more recent, 1/25.000th editions. 2 This sounds like a sort of French Wuthering Heights, as translated in the 1930’s as « Haute-Plainte ». 3 Ferdinand Pressouyre, Teyssieu des origines à 1800, Association des Amis du Passé de Saint Céré (available from the bookshop in Saint-Céré). 4 « Domaine » is the word used by the former landlord when referring to the farm Le Merle. 5 On his military record, he was granted a honour diploma for services in the supplementary works of the Army, as an instructor in the casernes (barracks) and military hospitals. 6 Not as good as “Goodbye to all that”, but still interesting and quite as authentic. 7 Contract signed at Me Henri Landes, notaire in Saint-Céré (an uncle of Charles Montin). 8 Quoted by A. de Monzies, "contes de Saint-Céré" (1941) 9 Roseline Montin showed me the "exchange" legal act in February 2017. 10 Jean Jacques Montin, born 11 September 1897 in Cornac married Marie Elodie Antoinette Gaubert (born 26 September 1905) and died in St Céré on 16 June 1980. 11 See special issue 2016 of a magazine specialised on tramways. 12 These even further ancestors were Pierre (1884-1859) and Marie Delpeyroux (1793-1863) 13 The article was forwarded to Hélène by her cousin Georgette Gratias at the time. 14 For more, see Wikipedia. 15 From the website of the Missions Etrangères in Paris. Cousin Marthe says he was promoted to bishop before the end of his life. 16 Need to check if this word also applies to a small printed card calling relatives and friends to pray for him. 17 All in the archive. 18 These are the oldest handwritten documents in the family archive. 19 Notice the old spelling of the family name. 20 Remember ‘La Rivière Espérance” 21 Stories of sailors frozen to the decks told by his daughter, and a collection of tribal nudes on the file hidden at the bottom of the cupboard. 22 All Baptiste’s military papers are in the file. 23 Anatole de Monzies, Contes de Saint-Céré, p. 8. 24 The Colossus of Maroussi, 1941, quoted by Guy in a letter from Australia, and pictured with me in my cradle. 25 The following sentences refer to the Cro-Magnon days. 26 Louis Gratias, La coquette au soleil; 1927, p. 7. (found in a brocante) 27 Philip Oyler, The Generous Earth, p. 44. 28 For the full text, see http://www.recherche-fenelon.com/page-10092.html 29 See an account by Jean-Claude Ayroles, who retrieved municipal documents about the handover. 30 https://www.vexilla-galliae.fr/actualites/christianophobie/980-prions-pour-les-martyrs-oublies-des-pontons-de-rochefort 31 Annie, wife of Benoît Chaleix (who is a son of Dédée), is an eager genealogist and has uploaded much information about those distant cousins. 32 'Statistique pour servir à l'histoire du 2 décembre 1851 [BNF, Gallica], p 143 33 H. Magne, Le Pilori, liste des proscripteurs de décembre 1851, page192. 34 Histoire des crimes du 2 décembre 1851, par V. Schoelcher, représentant du Peuple, 1852, page 185 35 See full text in annex 36 Esther claimed that she had lost part of the farm due to the displacement of the river, and the compensation was no longer due, retroactively considering that it was an insurance against such an event. The parties eventually agreed a reduced compensation. It's all in the letters from the notaire. 37 Le baiser au lépreux, p. 462 38 Letter 17 September 1885. 39 28 September 1885. 40 H. Taine: "Vie et opinions de M. Frédéric 41 In another letter, she speaks of 'chez Laroque', and we know from a 1905 letter that that was the name of the tenant of the Carennac house in the Vergne days. 42 Letter from Esther, 14 May 1887. 43 8 January 1901 44 A. Martigne, Loisirs, Clermont-Ferrand 1895 45 Hué, a city in French Indochina. 46 Œuvres complètes, t. II, page 563. 47 For this coutry custom, see Mauriac, La robe prétexte, or also Philip Oyler. 48 F. Mauriac, O.C. t. II, p. 723. 49 The full text was published in issue n°14 of the Amis de Carennac bulletin in 2007, see website. 50 We have a 1903 postcard showing the cloister as a near-ruin. My father also told the story that he had actually witnessed his friend Georges Fraysse, whose father kept his cattle in the cloister, destroy one of the stone carvings. 51 Detail given by Daniel Lacroix’s daughter Mireille, who used the postcard as cover of her hotel’ stationary. 52 Ph. Oyler was a friend of Hélène’s, and he had a house in Chapou. She was at the time the only English-speaking person in the village. Oyler’s book influenced several English families to buy houses in the region, among which the parents of Chantal Stokely, and had a success similar to that of Peter Mayle (Provence). 53 Also good indications are given by Pressouyre, page 319. 54 Jean-Claude Ayroles grandmother. Paul and Irène were Glanes cousins on the Bouyssonie; Marie and the captain Teulières were more affluent cousins on the Vergnes side, living in Paris and Marseille. 55 Cousins from Glanes, also visiting the ancestral home. 56 For a description of this restaurant (food and patrons), see Ph. Oyler's book, p. 114. 57 Hommages de Napoléon à la religion catholique, Troyes, 1848. 58 See Hélène's copy of "Initiation Protestante" (Freddy Dürrleman, Société centrale évangélique), undated by stamped "Association chrétienne d'étudiantes", 11 Rue Jean de Beauvais, Paris, where Hélène visited in 1919-20 59 Le dessein de Dieu,itinéraire biblique, Delachaux, 1965 (signed by the author). 60 Letter dated 10 December 1992. 61 For instance, the German violin school by F. Mazas, and the Schubert duos. 62 13 March 1893 63 Her godmother was her aunt Esther. 64 Spelling has been corrected. 65 See pretty miniature leaflet for the objectives of that « archiconfrérie ». 66 See “nouvelle collection illustrée”, Calmann-Lévy éditeurs, each volume costing 95 centimes, and ‘Sélect-Collection”’ Flammarion éditeur 67 The next monthly volumne in the collection was due on 1 March 1922 and was a novel by René Boylesve. 68 A family of friends from Maurs, often quoted in the letters. 69 The brother of a close friend from school. 70 For the importance of health issues, especially T.B. and psychiatric disorders, in considering marriage, see F. Mauriac novels for example Le mystère Frontenac, (O.C. t. 3, p. 556.) 71 See both the marriage contract signed at the notaire Bennet on 5 April 1920, the same day as the wedding (the first typewritten legal act in the archive), which spells out the dowry of 12,000 francs, and a IOY signed by Yvonne for 11,000 francs. 72 Yvonne and Auguste first lived in the house in Saint Céré, rue de la Visitation, before moving to Biars probably for business purposes. 73 Auguste’s house in rue de l’ancienne visitation. 74 Maloine éditeur 1920. 75 Gaston Doin éditeur, 1922. 76 This is not quite true, unless the mention of Victoria as godmother on the official certificate meant that she was representing her daughter Hélène. This fact that Hélène may have been the godmother was never mentioned by either party in later years but Hélène certainly did act like a godmother, fondly loving her nephew. Download 438.63 Kb. Share with your friends:
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