The Bonapartes in America

The name Napoléon evokes France instantly. But what if he had closer ties to the United States...? While Napoléon never came to the US (he thought about it for a hot second), his family did. Two brothers, Joseph and Jérôme, would spend some time here, dazzling American society. Achille Murat, a nephew, would renounce his titles and move to Florida. Join me on this wild ride to discover the impact of the Bonapartes in America!

Transcript

Kennen 0:09

Hello, everybody. Or for the sake of this episode, I should say. I promised that we'd be talking about a Royal family. That was probably even lessening a little bit because they were an Imperial family. And if you've guessed by the use of the French language, it is about the Bonaparte's. So this episode, you could really call Bonaparte's in America or in French, they burn a pill. Was. Was it. Yes, I love France. I am a very big francophone. But I'm not trying to shoe horn that into the podcast, but I came across an article a while ago. That one of Napoleon's brothers lived for quite some time in New Jersey and exile. That's random of all the places to go when you are. In one of the largest Imperial families at the time. And you could go anywhere through your connections. He chose to come to New Jersey. Which do Jersey wasn't quite the New Jersey. It is today. Even though I still love New Jersey. There's some really great parts. It's also really nasty and other parts. But the more I read about. The Bonaparte's. And there. Relationship with United States. It was really intriguing. So. Before we get into all of that, who came, one came, why, where blah, blah, blah. There are really four places that are involved with this, because if we're. Keeping track of where we go. The first is Borden town, New Jersey. Board in town is just south of Trenton on the Delaware river. If you look at a map and you see how Pennsylvania has that Southern pointy part. Right across from that is a board in town. It make more sense if you just pulled out a map. But Bordentown is really is just under halfway between both Philadelphia and New York. It's kind of a perfect place for someone who wants to stay in the elite circles of the newly minted United States of America. Another place we'll talk about is Baltimore, but that's more tangential. We don't really get into much of that like we would board in town and these last two. The first one is St. Augustine, Florida. Which sits on the Atlantic coast, roughly 37 miles as the Crow flies from Jacksonville. And yes. St. Augustine is famous for really being the first city in the United States. It's also going to become famous for being the home of irrelative of Napoleon. And then the third and final place is Tallahassee, Florida. Imagine, we're talking about the Bonaparte's one of the. Most widely connected to Imperial families in history. And one of their descendants ends up in Tallahassee, Florida. Pause for effect. And Tallahassee on the frontier, not Tallahassee today. Let's get started by talking about napoleon we'll get into more of the geographic part of it through each of the siblings of Napoleon. We all know about Napoleon considered to be one of the greatest generals and leaders. Well, okay, well, let's start at the beginning. Napoleon Bonaparte's was born in Corsica in 1769 to a noble family. Now this time, most course, the kids used Italian as the lingua franca so his last name. Would've been blown apart. I don't speak Italian. So sorry if I slaughtered that. He trained as an officer in the French army and quickly rose to the ranks in the first French Republic. A fancy words to note. The revolution. Sounds nice was not nice. The French revolution was basically a giant civil war of chaos that then spilled over the borders and became a continental affair. And so someone with his skills and persuasion managed to rest control from. The weaker party. And he. Over through the government and installed himself as leader. Let's later led to the creation of the French empire. As a result of Imperial ambitions. He then made a bunch of other European countries, client states of France. And he did this, especially through placing his family members and friends in positions of power. As a note, I will be pronouncing many of these names in French.'cause they sound better. And because they are. And well, from France. And they just, some of them will sound tacky in English. Napoleon was the second surviving child into adulthood from his parents. But the first was Joseph. He's particularly important because he's the one that moves to New Jersey. So it goes, Joseph Napoleon. Lucia. Aliza. His oldest surviving sister. And then UAE. Pauline. Kathleen and J home. The two, the last two capital ideas. Dean and J home. We'll become particularly important for the story. So he places them all in their positions of power. They're all super grateful. However Napoleon's power does not last forever. As we all know, he is first exiled to Elba and then he comes back and we have Waterloo. And then he's exiled to the tiny island of St. Helena in the Atlantic ocean. We obviously always talk about Napoleon's exile, but once again, he had all of those siblings and family members who then also had to flee into exile once the opposing powers took control. Napoleon himself did think about coming to the United States. Because Franco American relations were strong. Due to people like Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and the Marquis de Lafayette. However, he decided not to. And that's how we ended up on the godforsaken island of St. Helena, where he later died. Let's turn now to his siblings who fled into exile. And the first one is Joseph. Joseph Bonaparte was installed by his brother as the king of Naples and Sicily. And while he was in Naples, he was very well liked by the locals. He tried very hard to become a man of the people and Amanti well liked of the people. So much so that many scholars say that his two year reign as the king of Naples and Sicily. Highlighted the best principles of enlightened despotism. He made lots of reforms. He was very open to listening to the common people. But it didn't last because Napoleon removed him from power, send him to Spain and then sent. His sister. Kathleen and her husband to replace him. But we'll talk about them later. Once Joseph arrived in Spain, he was extremely unpopular. Very very unpopular. He was a Freemason, which was very unpopular with the common Catholic in Spain. He probably tried a little bit too hard, but then to give him some credit, the Spanish were probably primed. To hate anybody that Napoleon sent because Napoleon it had sent them didn't matter. Of course Spain did not go well. You can go see some paintings about it by, Francisco Goya. There's some very famous paintings of the insurrections that happened under Joseph's rain. After Napoleon's defeat, he decided to go to the United States. As they were preparing to do this, It was recorded that Napoleon called him quote, an ornament to society and quote, which was probably why he took him from Naples and moved into Spain. And he even said that quote, Joseph we'll start a great institution in this country. You will see he will become an American Borzois and will spend his fortune tending gardens. And. He wasn't far off the mark. Joseph arrived in the United States under the assumed named miss your Boucher. And did come very close to being captured by the British. But I guess. The Missier Bouchard. Was good enough to fake them out. He first settled in New York and then moved on to Philadelphia and funded his lavish lifestyle with Juul. He had taken from Spain. He his wife, Maui, Zuni, Clary. Stayed behind in Europe at this time, too. He had one of his daughters with him. He kind of just made the rounds in New York and Philadelphia. Once here, he then styled himself as the cones, the. because he owned land in that part of France. He then purchased. A large section of land in New Jersey on the Delaware river. Near a board in town and he called it point breeze. As his brother, Napoleon, who was a very shrewd observer. Noted. Joseph would spend a great deal of time and money creating. A very. Stylized. Estate. He modeled it on, the Spanish palace Ellis Gordian the home of the Spanish Kings for centuries. Up until Joseph. And also say, how do you have any French Royal Imperial member not do that? And then his own personal state, Mort Fontan. was his estate north of Paris. It is quite close now. And it's really close to a theme park called Beck S. That's an interesting juxtaposition. Which while he wasn't exile, his wife sold the estate to. Have money to live off of because she was no longer in any power either. This a state became quite the place. The locals loved it. He welcomed the locals. He would let kids play hide and seek. There were many bridges and nooks and crannies and pounds. And when winter came, he would allow them to skate on the ponds. He would end up staging these elaborate shows. That we're kind of. Robin hood ESC in a way of where he would spend his money on luxury items such as oranges. And he would have his servants roll them. Out of hiding spots to the people who were on BSD. So it's fair to say that he was very well-liked in Bordentown. But it wasn't just his estate with the gardens and all of that. It was also the house. Some people have called point breeze, a 4runner to museums. In fact, we all know the famous portrait of Napoleon by Jackie Daveed, where Napoleon is on a horse that is rearing in the Alps with his hand up. It's possibly one of the most famous portraits of. Any leader. Ever painted. Joseph had managed to smuggle that out of Europe. And it hun in his house. If you've ever seen it in real life in Paris. It's massive. And so he had paintings that he had taken from Europe from his own collection by Jacqueline. We Daveed. He had Titian's and Rubens and many of the Renaissance masters. He had a sculpture that was done by Antonio Canova. Of his sister. Maybe a little bit bizarre, but still it was an Antonio Canova. And his library had 8,000 books. Now at this time, that was more than the library of Congress. The library of Congress at this time only had 6,500. So the man was wealthy and he shared a lot of that wealth with the people. He entertained presidents. And American elite. And also allowed a lot of the neighbors to come. I mean, the man had a massive library and a museum to live in and he has been noted. By many historians to be a catalyst for European art and culture in early 19th century America, and the quote. He's credited with really introducing a lot of those European ideals and styles. Which is fascinating. Now while his wife was away, Joseph kept busy with another woman. Whose name was a net Savage. And she ended up becoming called a Madam, the left furry. Which take that what you will. And that he had children with her and they had descendants. So there's some descendants of Napoleon. Now, living out their lives mean illegitimate, but they have bone apart, blood nonetheless. While he was in the United States, he was supposedly offered to the throne of Mexico. But he refused. Which was, why is that? Didn't last long. And he would eventually returned to Europe and reunite with his wife and live out his days in Florence. Now his estate point breeze was then left to his grandson, joseph. who then sold it to a Thomas Richards. Thomas Richards then sold it to Henry Beckett who was a former British console living in Philadelphia. Henry Beckett. Was a vehement Francophone. And for the sole sake of being owned by a Bonaparte. He raised point breeze and then built a new house. It was recently purchased back from a Catholic group to then turn into a state park. And hopefully restore some of the remaining buildings and also. Clean up a lot of the estate back to that time period. So one day I'm going to have to go back. I've already been to Trenton. Don't need to go back again. But I guess I'm going to have to get close and go to board in town to see point breeze. So that was Joseph story. He didn't stay long. But then his younger sister Caroline bonaparte who was married to Which, if you remember, they're the people that replaced him on the throne of Naples and Sicily. They had two sons. The first one now polio a shield. And Lucia Mohab. Of course, the name Napoleon will come up so much. And this list of family members, because Y name anybody, anything else? And so they were nephews by blood to Napoleon the original. Napoleon Nashville, who just goes by a shield. Move to America, age 21, renounced his titles and became an American citizen and settled in Florida near St. Augustine. And you can actually still go see the movie house in St. Augustine, where he used to live for a little while. It's a house in town. But then he also, once he was settled, more or less. He purchased an extensive amount of land and developed it into a plantation called Partha. Nope named after the Greek colony, Naples was founded on and this will become a theme with him. He seemed to remember Naples fondly and incorporate it into his life. For all the time afterwards, he was an exile. However, as Sheila was known for being slightly eccentric. He would escape the Floridian heat. Cause remember no AC. It's gotta be brutal for most of the year in St. Augustine, all the swamps and mosquitoes blue. Maybe that's what drove him crazy. But as someone who wanted to escape that he would have a reclining chair placed in a Creek. In what she would go sit naked. With only a mosquito net over his head to keep the mosquitoes away. People also noted that he would only wash his feet after he wore out his shoes and hated bathing. And he slept on a mattress stuff with Spanish Moss. No, I'm unsure if that's really eccentric or if that was normal, because I mean, it hanging everywhere. But regardless it added to his. Mysterious. European eccentricities One neighbor said that he was quote obsessed with the stability of the whole animal tribe. End quote. He was known for trying baked Turkey, buzzard, boiled owl, roasted Crow, stewed alligator lizards, and rattlesnakes. It all just sounds like something out of Harry Potter. Or Bewitched. Pick your poison or your. Weird meat. But boiled owl. Just sounds. Gross. Or roasted Crow really? That's given some Harry Potter vibes. After living in near St. Augustine for awhile, he then purchased land east of the small city of Tallahassee. And he developed that into a plantation called li Pona. Which is an anagram of Napoli, his former home. There it is again. And this was purchased at the. Prodding of the Marquis de Lafayette peer pressure, peer pressure. It was part of his land grant system, which I'm unsure of exactly how that worked, but it enabled the Marquis de Lafayette to then also own land near Tallahassee. After moving to Tallahassee he's erroneously thought to have been elected alderman. Of Tallahassee and later the mayor. But there's no substantial proof in any of the society books that they kept or the records. And in fact, they said, Tallahassee, wasn't even a city by then. So there was no legal way for him to have been a leader like that. So if you see that, just know that's false. As Sheila would also then accompany the McKee, the Lafayette on his farewell tour of the United States in the 1820s. In 1826, he married Catherine Willis gray. The great grand niece of George Washington. We've really got some mingling of the elites here. They would not have any children, however, so he has no descendants. He continued some slight eccentricities while in Tallahassee, he would get involved with the duel, with his neighbor and lose half of his right hand pinky finger. And while there he also befriended Ralph Waldo Emerson. And Emerson said of, uh, she'll quote, a new event is added to the quiet history of my life. I have connected myself by friendship to a man with as ardent, a love of truth as that, which animates me. With a mind that surpasses mine in the variety of its research and sharpened and strengthened to an energy for action. To which I have no pretension by advantages of birth and practical connection with mankind. Beyond, almost all the men in the world. And to quote. Found a fan, Ralph Waldo Emerson. We then also became a major figure. Really interesting that. Ralph Waldo. Emerson has obviously always talked about. And. American culture, American schools, George Washington. Obviously, obviously. But no one really ever talks about Ashima that who was related to Napoleon Bonaparte. And then decided to settle Florida. Became related by blood to George Washington, befriended Ralph Waldo Emerson, and was also friends with the Markita Lafayette. I guess that'll be one of the great mysteries why he's not more well-known. A few years later after the July revolution in 1830 as Sheila and his wife would return to Europe. Hoping to get back some of his parents' property that had been taken. And the last downfall of a Bonaparte. But he was unlucky that never happened. They never really regained any of that. So they returned to Florida four years later. And didn't stay long there because a year later in 1835 as Sheila and his wife would move to new Orleans. Where they would buy a town home and then also a farm. And he would try to practice as a lawyer, but it was not successful. They kind of wasted all their money. At new Orleans and they returned to the panhandle of Florida where he would live until his death. After I shield died his first cousin Napoleon, the third. Sent a large sum to his wife to set her up financially. And then also provided a yearly stipend for her to live in comfort. She was much better with money. So she was able to live in relative luxury for the rest of her life. She purchased a plantation outside of Tallahassee and called it Bellevue. Which in the 1960s the house was moved to the Tallahassee museum. So you can go and wandering house. That was purchased with money sent from napoleon the third emperor of France For his cousin's wife. It's wild. I'm just impressed. How close. We are too. Much more than we think. And as I said, they left no descendants. So that was kind of it with SU. Now the final Bonaparte child, what we will talk about is J home Zoho, Mr. As the baby of the family. And he definitely acts like it. He gets away with a lot and in fact, almost murder. But he. Knows enough about his brother to want to avoid his. Temper, I guess is what you'd call that. Jay home was 16 years younger than Napoleon. And he was pressured. Pressured or wanted doesn't really clarify. He ended up in the French Navy and the west Indies and the Caribbean. And through poor decision-making, he almost caused an international incident. With the British. It's already a tense time anyways. He almost caused this. Incident with the British and before anything could really happen. He fled to Baltimore. He was going to wait out his brother's temper in Baltimore because some guy had said, you know what? Baltimore has some really rich people. It's got some pretty girls. In fact, the prettiest girls of the U S. And so. Young J home was gonna go there. He ended up meeting Elizabeth Patterson, who was the daughter of a wealthy Baltimore merchant. And he married her. They were both quite young. It was against everybody's wishes. He was known for being a philanderer. In fact. There were multiple accounts of him. Ruining a woman's honor. And quote in both Baltimore. And the Caribbean. And people wrote to Elizabeth dad and said, you should know that. Uh, he's not exactly the best person. He's kind of your stereotypical rich young man who thinks he can get away with anything and everything. Despite that they were married. And soon after they were married. And Napoleon's temper kind of waned enough for J home to go back. So he was recalled back to France. However Napoleon was not going to let dear American Lizzie come back. She tried to land an Amsterdam, which was controlled by France buy one at the brothers Louis. However Napoleon made it very clear that she was not to set foot on any soil ruled by France, because that would mean her unborn child would then be French and be accorded. A great many honors, especially as a Bonaparte. So she ended up going to Portugal. Her son. Jay home, Napoleon Bonaparte Patterson, was known as Bo. The two of them did not stick around in Europe very long with her connections back in the us and. The impending downfall of the Bonaparte clan. She hightailed it back to the United States. However, before that could happen, Napoleon kind of gave the final say and said, you're divorced as emperor France. He took that prerogative. And he told Jay Holmes. He was never to see her again. And instead he was going to marry a German princess, Catherine. Who was the daughter of king Frederick? The first. King of Westphalia. It's probably safe to say that J home did not need to be told twice that, Hey, look, you know, a German princess is probably worth a lot more Baltimore merchant daughters. So he was fine. Ditching his American wife. And moving to Germany. Elizabeth came back and she would style herself as Madam Bonaparte, the rest of her life. Her son. Bo. Would it be. At age 14 to live with his uncle Joseph in Borden town, in the hopes that he would educate him in the European fashion, introduce him to the wider world. That's what she had hoped for. Before. When they lived in Europe. But Napoleon quashed, those dreams really fast. So she had to settle for shows F. And then Joseph of course, returns to Europe. Beau. Would marry a woman by the name of Susan May Williams, who was also the daughter of a Baltimore merchant. And his son. Joe homey, Napoleon Bonaparte Patterson. The second would go to west point and after graduating from west point. He would go over to France to serve relative. Once again, Napoleon the third emperor, France. And fight in the Crimean war. After all of that was over. He returned home to manage a large farming estate. They had two children. They had a daughter, Louise Eugenie Bonaparte, and Napoleon shells blown apart. I mean, those children. They were there. The other son of. Bo. Was Charlene Joseph bona pelt. And he kind of became. The last great hoo-rah of the Bonaparte's in the United States.'cause he would end up becoming the United States attorney general. The secretary of the Navy and the creator of the bureau investigation, which was the forerunner of the FBI. How did you do all this while it pays to have friends in high places? Especially when it's a Roosevelt. Charles Bonaparte was a close friend and confidant of Theodore Roosevelt. He was probably the second closest. Of his advisors and confidence. He had no children either. The Bonaparte line kind of disappeared into normal American society. Or they just went back to Europe after exile. I should have stayed. So that's the Bonaparte's in America. It's wild. So next time you're in Tallahassee St. Augustine. Or really God forbid, Trenton. Don't go to Trenton. Go to Borden town instead and go to point breeze and enjoy. Enjoy the vistas over the Delaware river. And the curated paths that the brother of Napoleon Bonaparte designed himself. So that's it for today. Maxi. Thanks for listening. And next week we are headed south. Close to Tallahassee. Well, actually in between Tallahassee and new Orleans, which we've talked about today. To a town called pass Christian. Thanks for joining, have a great week and we'll see you next time.