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Huge Archive, 62 items, 112pp, French Businessman in Antebellum America & France During World War I! Fantastic Content
Huge Archive, 62 items, 112pp, French Businessman in Antebellum America & France During World War I! Fantastic Content
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Description:

Connecticut; World War I
Connecticut; France, ca. 1835-1863, 1917-1919
Huge Archive, 62 items, 112pp, French Businessman in Antebellum America & France During World War I! Fantastic Content
Archive

[CONNECTICUT; WORLD WAR I.] Archive of 62 documents, 112 pp. 1835-1863, 1917-1919. The archive includes letters addressed to Henry Migeon on business matters, 1847-1863; a group of 6 bonds and 2 promissory notes from 1857; a group of 21 receipts from 1839-1840, 1847-1849; and 9 letters from France in French and English, addressed to Florentine Hayden, 1917-1919.

This composite archive features several documents regarding the business ventures of French-American businessman Henry Migeon in Antebellum and Civil War America, and an interesting series of letters to his granddaughter Florentine Hayden from her aunt in France during World War I.

Highlights and Excerpt
- Manuscript Document, Obituary of Jonas B. Brown, ca. October 1835, Boston, MA. 3 pp., 6.25" x 7.875".
"With him, the ‘American system' was a science. He had studied the principles of trade and examined thoroughly the operations of the laws touching the products of our domestic manufactures and the physical resources of the country. He was one of the most active and vigorous advocates of a protecting tariff; for he saw that without the protection of government, the total annihilation of capital, which the government had driven to seek employment in manufacturing, would be inevitable."
"During several sessions of Congress, while the tariff question was in agitation, so necessary, and even indispensable, was the presence of Mr Brown considered by its friends in that body, that he was often obliged to sacrifice personal convenience to public benefit, and leave the immediate management of an extensive corporation, of which he was the directing soul, and spend week after week, and month after month, at Washington. We have had personal knowledge of long and painful and vexatious consultations at Washington, at New York, and at Boston, among the friends of domestic industry, to devise measures for the safety and success of the system, and we know that in these consultations, the intelligent mind of Mr Brown shed a light upon the darkness and with the gloom Which at one time, seemed to overwhelm the hopes of the boldest and most confident. He enjoyed the satisfaction of seeing that policy which he honestly believed to be the true policy of the nations, prevail in the government; and though it was not adopted to the ful extent of the wishes of its patriotic friends, and though it has since been abandoned by one of its most eminent advocates, the country can never lose the strength it gained from the operations of the protecting tariff of 1828."

Jonas B. Brown (1795-1835) was a merchant and manufacturer in Boston. A version of this obituary was published in the Boston Courier (MA), October 31, 1835, and Niles' Weekly Register (Baltimore, MD), November 14, 1835.

- Nunn & Clark, Manuscript Document Signed, Receipt for Piano Forte, April 3, 1848, New York, NY. 1 p., 8" x 8.75".
"This Piano Forte is warranted to be in perfect order & may be returned & Exchanged at any time within one year from date should any defect appear in the Instrument."

- Printed Petition of George C. Woodruff, executor of the will of Henry Migeon, 1877, Litchfield County, CT. 8 pp., 6.875" x 9.5".

- L. Brahy, Autograph Letter, to Florentine Hayden, August 30, 1917, Paris, France. 4 pp., 4.5" x 6.875".
"The prospects are that we will pass another terrible winter tis our brave soldier boys that are to be pitied, but who knows perhaps the brave American boys will change the course of this terrible war. I see them pass, occasionally and I feel as though I wanted to cry out Hip Hip Hurrah, Three cheers for the red White & Blue."

- L. Brahy, Autograph Letter Signed, to Florentine Hayden, April 21, 1918, Toulouse, France. 4 pp., 4.25" x 6.625".
"Yes it is 6 weeks since I left my Louis and home! the Gothas that were falling all around us every night; at the sound of the sirens, was obliged to get up at all hours leave my warm bed, dress, and go hide me in a dark corner or in the cellar was not amusing—and every boum! boum! twisted all my insides till I could not breathe nor talk, I was so nervous it seemed as though I would burst."
"The Gothas we see and are warned before their arrival on us: so we can hide but the canon comes on full day so one does not go out in security."
"I don't know how high things will reach in price everything has doubled and continues but we have enough provided we have bread and potatoes!"

- L. Brahy, Autograph Letter Signed, to Florentine Hayden, July 8, 1918, Toulouse, France. 4 pp., 4.375" x 6.75".
"we are always the same waiting for the end of this horrible situation which I hope and have great confidence that the brave boys of our U.S.A. will aid us to end it soon, for the[y] have great courage a[nd] pluck and are the admiration of all Europe. if you have friends in Paris, tis too bad I cannot receive them for we will not return till all is quiet."

- Translation of French letter, February 1919, Buzancy, France. 6 pp., 5.5" x 8.5".
"From a letter by Mathilde to her mother Nelly—Translation—J.H.H.
"The house presents a most terrible sight.
"Three shells landed on the roof, one in the middle near the skylight, one at the corner of Marie's room and took out a piece as far as the window, and one struck back toward the stable or coach house, one shell entirely demolished the stable. At the back corner all the wall and roof have fallen over the door of the laundry.
"During all the winter rains, everything was drenched from top to bottom and the ceilings fell. To crown all the house was occupied by English and Americans and to keep warm they disposed of everything. Such is the inventory of the devastation."

Henry Migeon (1799-1876) was born in France. He married Marie Louise Baudelot (1799-1871) in 1820, and they had seven children, including Achille F. Migeon. They immigrated to the United States in 1828 and introduced French machinery for the manufacture of woolen goods. He became a naturalized citizen in 1839. In 1850, he was a cloth finisher in Litchfield, Connecticut. He died in December 1876 in Wolcottville, Connecticut.

Florentine Harriet Hayden(1859-1943) was born in Connecticut, the daughter of inventor and manufacturer Hiram W. Hayden (1820-1904) and his wife Pauline M. Migeon Hayden (1820-1873). Her maternal grandfather was Henry Migeon. She became an artist and writer, known for her landscape paintings and book illustrations.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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