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In 1823 a Par (Nobleman) of France
named Theobald Choiseul Praslin married Altarice Sebastiani,
daughter of Mariscal Sebastiani of Corsiga, a former General
of the armies of Napoleon. After fifteen years of marriage they had nine children but the Duke thought that his wife did not have the abilities to educate them all. They had hired several nannies but they did not last long serving the noble house of Praslin in the Rue Faubourg de San Honoré N°55 in Paris, or in their Castle Vaux Praslin in Melum. Finally, he personally hired in 1841 a French governess that had been raised in England named Henriette DeLuzy Deportes (*1802,+1874). The governess apparently won the children´s appreciation. The duchess suspected that she had also captured her husband´s heart. She fired Henriette. A few weeks later the Duchess was found stabbed to death in her mansion in Paris, August 18th, 1847 was a somber day in Paris. The crime of the Duchess arroused a scandal among the French. The government had tremendous pressure to act. The police located and arrested the former governess, but 0the pressure continued. The Duke was investigated and found suspect. He argued immunity, but eventually he was confined to a special retention center for noblemen in Paris called Luxemburg. The case was difficult for the government because the Duke was cousin to King Luis Philippe, also besides the Duchess was well respected in her circle and among the common people. Case was closed by the police. Three days after the arrest the Parisian police reported to the public that the Duke had committed suicide with arsenic and that they had no alternative than to bury him that same night. The Police closed the case although many did not believe the story. Some people believed that he was allowed to escape and that he probably skipped the English Channel where he took a boat to London, and there were rumors that under a fake name he took a steamship to New York. His escape In 1851 while in New York he was recognized by someone, so he decided to move to California, he took a ship on Vanderbilt´s Transit Company through the Isthmus of Nicaragua, he disembarked in San Juan del Norte (Greytown), and came up the San Juan river to the lake of Nicaragua. Once he arrived in the new port of La Virgen he took Gottel´s stagecoach service to the port of San Juan del Sur in the Pacific Coast of Nicaragua. While there, waiting a ship to San Francisco where many adventurers were lured by the Gold Fever The Duke having some drinks in a tavern found out that French agents had been asking if somebody had seen boarding to San Francisco an elegant French gentleman carrying many coffers with him. Then he decided to change plans and find some place where nobody would recognize or look for him. He told the people in San Juan that he was a disillusioned Dutch painter, that he was fed up of big cities and wanted to find out beautiful place to live, far from civilization. He was referred to a German ship contractor living in San Juan named Jacob Teufel who bragged he knew every place in Nicaragua, Teufel told him that there was in the highlands of northern Nicaragua a idyllic little town called Matagalpa which was inhabitated mostly by Indians and few Ladinos, with temperate climate, plenty of greenery vegetation and pretty women. The trip to Matagalpa. The Duke bought four mules and hired some locals to help him with his belongings. Asking for directions he came to Metapa, a small town in northern highland of Nicaragua. He paid his helpers and sent them back to Granada, he stayed living there for several months, then he came four leagues from Metapa to settle in the small city of Matagalpa, capital of the province. Here he made a living acting like a medical doctor. One day he cured a small girl name Delia, Delia´s mother, a beautiful widow named Margarita Arauz, called by her friends "the White Rose", sent a maid to pay him for his services. As she did not have much cash she offered him, by way of her maid, her gold ring. He answered that he could not accept compensation from her. He had fallen in love with her and would retain the ring as a symbol of a wedding promise, At first she did not accept the offer but after some weeks she did, and ended marrying him. They led a normal life in Matagalpa and raised several kids named. They were0: 1. Jorge Choiseul Praslin (*1854 +1942), who became mayor of the city of Matagalpa in the early 1900´s. His grave inscription can still be seen in the local cemetery. 2. Margarita Choiseul Praslin, married Mr. Ramirez. After his death she married a lawyer named Adolfo Zapata. She is mother of Isolina Ramirez Egner, Maria Margarita, Amanda, Haydee and Graciela Zapata Choiseul, Graciela is grandmother of the famous Nicaraguan poet Gioconda Belli, and the American backed Ave Maria College´s President, Humberto Belli. 3. Eva Choiseul Praslin, she married Rito Guzman, who are the grandparents of the well known writer Milagros Palma who lives in Paris. 4. Gertrudes Choiseul Praslin, she married Mr. Gutierrez parents of Blanca and Soledad Gutrierrez. 5. Benjamin Choiseul Praslin, married Esmeralda Molina, they had no children. End of the Story The believed to be Duke Jorge Choiseul Praslin died in the town of Metapa (now Ciudad Dario) in 1892, at 87 years of age. His wife, Margarita Arauz, died surrounded by their children in the city of Matagalpa in 1899. The governess Henriette Deluzy Deportes married a American pastor named Henry Field and died in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1874, at 61 years of age. They had no children. Note: This story was published in Spanish by this author in a local newspaper. Someone in Paris reading international news on the Internet found it, and informed a friend, who happened to be related to the Duke. This gentleman wrote me saying that he is the descendant of Duke Choiseul Praslin and the Duchess Fanny Sebastiani, had heard about the story that the Duke had escaped, but they never knew where he may have gone. Now after more than 150 years after that tremendous affair there was some light for them. He wanted to know about the family here in Nicaragua, I told him that they are well known, among his descendants were academics, historians, writers, novelists, politicians, ministers and some military persons. Of the military personnel, one was Captain Rafael Praslin. A 6 foot 5 inch tall officer was one of first graduate of the Military Academy in 1933. He was killed after being arrested in an attempt coup d´etat to overthrow dictator general Somoza in 1954.Another military Captain Teobaldo Praslin lives in Los Angeles, California. |
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Km 140 Highway Matagalpa-Jinotega, Nicaragua telefax: 011-505-2772-3883
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