| Text |
Peter Reff
Monday, November 29, 2004
11:29 PM
Peter Reff
From: ITS4BRETT@aol.com
Sent: Monday, November 29, 2004 11:29 PM
Hi Paul;
I attached some info for you below, My Great Grandmother also had a table from the house built for Napoleon, it was lost when she moved from NY to California, she left the table there and planned to return to NY to pick it up, but it was gone! whoever has it has no idea where it came from, and the historical significance of it. The house was called the Cup and Saucer House. I will check my Ancestry Tree, hopefully it's still there! I have not worked on it for a while.
CAPE VINCENT, NY
The community
After the Revolutionary War, French-speaking people from Canada settled both sides of the St. Lawrence to harvest timber, floating it down-river to Montreal and on across the Atlantic to Europe. The region was strategically important during the War of 1812, and the islands are sprinkled with historic forts built by the opposing American and British forces. Soon after, when Napoleon was defeated and imprisoned, relatives and sympathizers fled France for Cape Vincent. Thinking he was sure to escape, they built the "Cup and Saucer House" as his refuge. But the Emperor never made it to the New World: he died on the South Atlantic island of St. Helena in 1821. French influences and surnames still pervade the town of Cape Vincent and neighboring villages. A French Festival is held every July on the Saturday closest to Bastille Day.
French Heritage: In France, Vincent LeRay de Chaumont lent moral and financial support to America during the Revolutionary War. Benjamin Franklin resided at the Chaumont Chauteau using it as his headquarters while enlisting the aid from the french. In the early 1800's, Vincent's son James came to America to purchase land to which the French Aristocracy loyal to the failing Napoleonic rulers could flee. The land he chose encompasses most of what is now Jefferson County. Cape Vincent is named after James LeRay's son. Count Pierre Francoies Real, Napoleon's Chief of Police, built a house for Napoleon there, in anticipation of his escape from the island of St. Helena. Both Napoleon's sister Caroline and brother Joseph lived in Cape Vincent before returning to France.
Both the Reff and Edus families trace their lineage back into old France, the Edus clan having come from historic Rosiere, American emigrants from which brought the name and bestowed it upon that area of the town of Cape Vincent known as Rosiere, home of many a fine old French family. As for the Reff family there was Peter Reff, a native of France, who served under Napoleon, came to this country at the age of 40, settled in the town of Cape Vincent and died at the age of 86.
Talk to you soon!
Brett
Created with Microsoft Office OneNote 2003
One place for all your notes |
