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The Family History Of Louis Hetet

He Korero Whakapapa no Louis Hetet


By Sybille and John Hetet

Published by Hetet Publishing, Grey Lynn, Auckland 1021

All Rights Reserved 2012 All Enquiries to louishetet@gmail.com

Who was Louis Hetet, the man who gave generations of King Country Ngati Maniapoto Maori their surname? We are all agreed that we know very little about the man himself, other than a rich oral collection of family anecdotes and what has been written about him in numerous New Zealand publications including the governments online encyclopedia Te Ara, which says: "Louis Hetet was a French settler who married a Maniapoto woman. He first visited New Zealand around 1835 on a whaling ship, and returned in 1842 to settle at Paripari (near Te Kiti). He married Te Rangituatahi, daughter of the influential Maniapoto chief, Taonui Hkaka. They had four children: George Ngtai, John Taonui, Henry Matengaro, and Mere Te Wai."

Te Aras information may be based on James Cowan, Settlers and Pioneers (1940). Craig, South of the Aukati Line (1962), describes Louis Hetet as a Huguenot, as other scholars do, following him, such as Tony Ballantyne and Brian Moloughney in: Disputed Histories; Imagining New Zealands Pasts (2006) and more recently Judith Binney in: Stories Without End: Essays 1975 2010 (2010). In contrast,Trevor Bentley (1999) describes him more accurately as The Ngati Maniapoto Pakeha Maori. From here onwards of course the Hetet family tree is history, thanks to the admirable work of Te Muri Turner who has painstakingly retraced the diverse family connections of all of those who had their roots in the union of Mata Rangituatahi with the pakeha Louis Hetet. Louis Hetet's own roots however have remained in the dark until recently The emergence of original documents has now helped us correct some of the myths that are in circulation about Louis. So let us start at the beginning.

Louis Hetet was not a Frenchman. He was born in England the 6 March 1815, in county Shropshire in the small hamlet of Bishop's Castle. His mother Mary Morgan brought him up as an only child. Mary lived with Louis' grandmother Catharine and helped her run their haberdashery store in Church Street, a street that has barely changed its face since the early 19th century. Louis would have been born as an Englishman and documents show was baptized a member of the Church of England. He was not a Huguenot and there were no Huguenots in his ancestry, as will be shown later.

There is, however, a strong and vibrant French connection. It was Louis' father, Joseph Louis Marie Hetet, a French naval officer. In 1806, Joseph had been taken prisoner after his ship, which was on a secret mission hatched by Napoleon, became isolated from the squadron and following a brief battle fell into the hands of a larger British frigate. The ship was taken as a prize, the crew 3

thrown into prisons, often ship's hulks, whereas the officers were billeted in the private homes of Englishmen, generally in towns and villages as far away from the sea as possible. They had to give their word of honour that they would not try to escape. The milestone on the country road outside their village was to be the limit how far they were allowed to venture. Go beyond that point and they would be arrested and put in a prison along with common soldiers.

Joseph Louis Marie is first sent to Tiverton, Devonshire. Five long years later, news spreads that a transport will be arranged to take long-serving officers back to France. Joseph is not among the lucky ones. Around the same time his father, Jean Franois Hetet writes a very personal letter to the French authorities. He speaks of his sons promise, his loyalty and merits; the high hopes his superior officer, General Willaumez, held for the young man before his capture. He also mentions his personal sadness to be deprived of his sons company for such a long period of time. There may have been the hope that the French Government would arrange a swap as was done on occasion with other officers. But it appears the most pressing issue is the long overdue promotion of the son to the rank of Lieutenant. Joseph, at this point is still an ensign, although, when taken prisoner, he was in fact second captain aboard his ship.

The intervention of the father is to no avail. At the end of the year, 28 December, 1811 rather than going home, Joseph is moved further inland to Bishop's Castle, an isolated village on the border between England and Wales. And whether it is an oversight by an English official or whether Joseph has decided to speed up his overdue promotion, the prisoner of war lists register his naval rank as that of a lieutenant de vaisseau.

Generally the French officers were popular guests in the English towns and villages, especially with the ladies, as they added considerable spark and savoir vivre to the drudgery of daily life. They had good manners, knew how to dance, sing and fence and would have looked dashing in their uniforms. Many a dinner party was held out in the country only after the milestone had been moved under the cover of darkness in order to allow the presence of French officers. Not surprisingly, considering he was free to move within the village, Joseph meets a village girl, Mary and falls in love with her. She is the daughter of Samuel Morgan, a farmer - according to Louis later account- and his wife Catharine. On the 5 November 1813, Joseph and Mary are married in the local church. Witnesses are a French officer whose name is hardly legible and a woman by the name of Margaret Davies, probably from the Davies family in the neighbourhood. The wifes two brothers do not figure. Mary, on the day of the wedding would have been twenty years old, Joseph thirty-five. The parents appear to have been reasonably proud of the union because the event is announced in the London Monthly magazine or British Register of 1813. 4

The wedded bliss lasts little more than six months. When peace is agreed in the Treaty of Paris, Joseph, along with the rest of the French prisoners is repatriated. By the time he turns his back on England, Joseph will have spent eight years of his life as a prisoner. He is 27 years old when he is taken, with the prospects of a brilliant career ahead of him. When he returns home in 1814 he is 36. Part of a huge exodus of French prisoners, he leaves the country on 31 May 1814. The child Louis is Joseph's parting gift to his wife. There are exactly 9 months and 6 days between the departure of the prisoners and the birth of Louis Hetet, which is registered in the Church of Bishop's Castle. And there is no doubt that he does leave with the others - failing to do so would have made him a deserter. We know that a week later he is back in Brest, because he leaves a paper trail. Immediately, on his return he finds out that he has been given a posting to Rochefort, a military port on the west coast of France, about 500 km south of Brest. Exasperated by the lack of appreciation of his personal situation and history he sits down and writes a letter to his general in which he requests to be allowed to have his base in his hometown Brest because, he explains, that is the place where his entire family lives whereas in Rochefort he would be among strangers. The letter is dated Brest, 7June 1814.

According to Francis Abell (1914), in his book Prisoners of War in Britain, 1756 to 1815., Mary Hetet declined to join Louis in France. Abell does not name his sources, but if he is right, Mary would have had good reasons to decline, because marriages of French subjects to British wives were frowned upon and not recognised in catholic France. A life in France as the wife of a naval officer who was to spend a large portion of his time at sea as would have been extremely difficult for Mary.

When Louis is born, Mary would have been without her French husband. Joseph is back in the French navy and his service record shows that he spends the time from February 22 to December 22 in an administrative role in Brest. It is likely that Joseph never saw his son until the reported encounter in Paris years later. There is, however, a curious gap in Josephs career. For in July 1816 there is an entry in his record which says mis en non activit, meaning set free from service, followed by rappel lactivit (15 Octobre 1816). The reasons for this are unexplained.

Nevertheless, it appears that she remained in contact with Joseph because years later - Louis would have been fourteen or fifteen years old - Joseph wrote to send for his son to join him in France. By that time Louis had the perfect age to embark on a career in the navy, the same age in fact as Joseph when he first became a ship's boy back in 1793. 5

Louis went and met his father in Paris. What happened then has been related by a third person in December 1892, a Taranaki journalist who must have had some good family sources: Talking about the King Country he recounts what we already know about Louis' background: "A Mr Hetet who resided there married a daughter of Taonui, and had a family of half castes of rank and influence. But then there is more: The father of Mr Hetet was a Count Hetet, who was a French officer, who while a prisoner on parole in England, married a farmer's daughter. After he was exchanged he did not trouble his head about his wife, but led a gay life in Paris. But then, confirming Francis Abells information about Louis trip to to Paris, the journalists account continues: The son was brought up in the' English merchant service, and, while in his teens, his mother sent him to see his father, in Paris. He found his father living with a mistress, a girl who had been sent to Count Hetet's care by a brother-in arms in the country to have her education finished in Paris. Count Hetet having abused his trust, the father resented his conduct, and called him out, and the Count shot him. He offered, and pressed his son to enter the French Navy, where the father's influence would have advanced him, but the son was too English to enrol himself with the enemies of England, and left his father, never to see him again. He was afterwards mate of an Indiaman, had fever at Batavia, and came on to New Zealand to recruit, making his home in it, and dying a few years ago. (Taranaki Herald,7 December 1892).

If it was correct, this information could only have come from Louis himself, but was there any truth to the story?

Thanks to the admirable French bureaucracy, a few documents have survived a smattering of facts, a name on dog-eared parchment, a profession, a place or a year. From those dusty ink stained documents a picture emerges that allows us to piece together what happened in Joseph Hetets world and to take an educated guess as to whether the claims from our Taranaki journalist were true.

Joseph Louis Marie Hetet is born on 5 December 1778 in Brest, Finistere, a windswept port city in the westernmost part of France, bordering the Atlantic Ocean. He is the youngest son of Jean-Francois Hetet and his wife Marie Jacquette Duchesne La Biche. There have been other children, a brother, Jean Baptiste, born a year earlier, a sister, Jeanne Victoire, who dies at the age of four 6

months and another boy, Jean Vincent Joseph Duchene-Labiche, born February 23, 1776. The entry in the parish records is marked with the black cross that denotes the birth of an illegitimate child. And although he does not marry Marie Jacquette, when the news of the pregnancy breaks, Jean Franois is present at the baptism of his son as a witness. Within five months he marries the mother of the child and in the church document acknowledges the son as legitimate. The marriage appears to be a modest affair, by the standards of Brests bourgeois society. The ceremony is marked by the absence of Jean Franois father and his stepmother as well as other close relations and allies, likely a sign of displeasure at a union lacking the parental stamp of approval. Only Marie Jacquettes parents are present.

Jean Francois Hetet, a man of the law, is by then well established in a comfortable career as "greffier", a high legal office at the Admiralty Court of Brest. The title of "greffier" like most offices at that time will have been secured for a considerable sum of money, put down as a bond, in the expectation that the rewards of office will more than compensate for the original outlay. In November 1784, Jean Francois is sworn in as a royal notary, a position that will give him an additional source of income. Some of his earnings as an official at the court of the admiralty will have been derived from dealing with so-called prizes. It was the practice at the time that during armed conflict with another country any ships belonging to the enemy were considered fair game and hunted down when the occasion arose. The state would sell licenses, letters of marquee to selected captains who, when lucky could make a fortune. If a ship was captured it would be escorted into a French port where, subject to the court of admiraltys decision, the ship and its contents would be sold with a share of the proceeds going to the state, another share to the captain and crew. Jean Franois Hetet would have been heavily involved in these procedures, working before the revolution at the Court of the Admiralty, after wards at the Court of Commerce. An example of his role can be found in the American State Papers where in connection with the capture of the American ship Diana J. Cox Barnet, Consular Agent of the United States of America certifies that he has received a true copy of the original signed by Hetet, Greffier of the Tribunal of Commerce. William Cobbett: Porcupine's Works; Containing Various Writings and Selections, Exhibiting a Faithful Picture of the United States of America (1801).

The French revolution in 1789 unravels the tight network of social structures and greatly affects many members of the Hetet family. Jean Franois is initially favourably disposed to the revolution, in fact he is chosen, along with his more experienced colleague Jean Maz to put together the Cahiers de Dolances, the Book of Grievances that is compiled by the three estates to present to the King of France. But the radicalization of the revolutionary movement and the destruction of the feudal system deprive him of the stream of income that he has come to enjoy for many years. By 1792, he finds himself heavily in debt. Not surprisingly 7

he sees no future for his sons in the legal profession.

However, as one avenue closes, another opens. From 1786 on it had become possible for young men who were not members of the aristocracy to embark on a career as a naval officer. For centuries a career in the French navy had been the domain of members of the aristocracy. It was only in rare cases that exceptionally gifted and experienced officers from the merchant navy, the socalled officiers bleus (blue officers) had managed to make the transition to the Kings navy, but even then they rarely attained high rank. The revolution did away with the privileges of the aristocracy and opened the doors to the sons of the bourgeoisie, based on academic ability.

A career in the navy seems an attractive option for the sons, even though the Hetet family, farmers, merchants and lawyers have had no personal involvement in the marine. However, Jean-Franois mother in law, Marie Louise Pedron comes from a sea-faring family and may well have provided the necessary contacts and insights. Marie Louise Pedron is not the birth mother of JeanFranois wife Marie Jacquette Duchen Labiche, yet she is the only mother the young woman would have known, her own mother, Louise Penitot, having died when her baby daughter was 18 months old.

The time has come to be independent and Joseph joins the navy two months after his fourteenth birthday in the role of a mousse, a ships boy. But 1793 is a year of upheaval and uncertainty. Naval discipline has collapsed, due to the crews refusing to take orders from the remaining aristocratic officers while questioning their legitimacy. Lacking support from the revolutionary government in Paris and its representatives in Brest, many of the aristocratic officers go into exile, others are imprisoned, some executed. The ranks are filled soon enough, but it is impossible to replace the lost expertise in a short period of time. The navy suffers, so does the central government as structures collapse. Food supplies dry up, black markets flourish, available financial reserves are often not sufficient to pay the wages of the crews or provide adequate clothing for them. Mutinies break out. Between the ships commanders and their crews there is distrust and strife poisons the climate among the sailors. Joseph is among them, a teenage boy left to his own devices, embarking on a steep learning curve about the challenges of life.

One year into his career, at the age of 15, an aspirant de la marine of the 3rd class, he takes part in one of the biggest sea battles in history. Known in Britain as the third battle of Uchant or the Glorious First of June the French who have less reason to be proud of it, call it la bataille du 13 prairial an 2, a reference to the Republican calendar. The battle is a disaster for the French navy seven 8

ships are lost, thousands of men killed, injured or taken prisoners by the British.

Joseph, escapes-unhurt-on this occasion. In the following years, in which he enlistsfateful on a large variety of ships, he experiences a number of battles, only to be wounded and wounded again. He spends time in the merchant navy on a corsaire, a privateer and moves back into the navy. In 1801 Napoleon decides to send 30 000 men to the Caribbean island of Saint-Domingue, today known as Haiti. Joseph Hetet is part of the crew of the ship that takes them over. Under the leadership of Napoleons brother-in-law General Leclerc, the husband of his sister Pauline, the troups are to reassert French influence in a zone of growing economic importance. But the timing is ill chosen. A few weeks after the arrival the rainy season starts and with it come the mosquitos that bring the yellow fever. Within two months, 15 000 French troops are dead, including the General himself and at the end of the campaign only a few thousand survivors return to France. Josephs luck holds out. As time passes he rises through the ranks and in 1803 he is made enseigne de vaisseau, the equivalent of a ship of the line ensign. His progress in the naval hierarchy is on course until that fateful night in 1806 when his ship is taken by an English frigate off the coast of Brittany.

After his years as a prisoner of war, Joseph resumes his services with the French navy. For the next four years he is again on board various ships, again in the rank of an ensign. His failure to gain a promotion is becoming conspicuous. The yearbook Annales Maritimes et Coloniales (1817) once again lists him as an ensign. The entries following a strict hierarchy of length of service, have him right up there at the top of the list, for the world to see, the longest-serving ensign in Brest.

A letter that Joseph addresses to the Minister of War on October 4,1816 may point to the reasons for the continuing snub. In it Joseph complains that he has had to defend himself against unjust accusations regarding the conduct of his private life which he suspects to be at the base of his failure to become a lieutenant. An annotation in the margin of this letter by the commander of the marine in Brest, Comte de Gourdon confirms his suspicion. This officer, it says, referring to Joseph, has probably been confused with his brother, captain of the merchant navy who is known to have inopportune opinions. Joseph, on the contrary is considered to be pure and loyal. (This brother is likely to have been Jean Vincent Joseph Hetet) In 1817 Joseph is given the command of the schooner La Creole which he holds until 1818, the same year which finally sees him promoted to the rank of lieutenant de vaisseau. One month later, on the 12 August, he receives the recognition that he has missed out on for so long - he is decorated. Awarded the Ordre Royal et Militaire de St Louis he is now entitled to call himself Chevalier 9

de St Louis, the equivalent of a knight, a title which he will use liberally in documents during the following years. It is likely that this is the title which our Taranaki journalist is referring to when he quotes Louis description of his father as Count Hetet.

A requirement for being accepted into the order as laid down by King Louis XVI is the adherence to the catholic faith. This needs to be certified by the bishop or the archbishop. The first article of the oath as of a chevalier reads: Vous jurez sur la foi que vous devez Dieu, votre Crateur, de vivre et mourir dans la Religion Catholique, Apostolique et Romaine. Joseph signs the oath. He has sworn on his catholic faith that he will live and die in the Catholic religion. Louis Hetets father is clearly not a Huguenot If he was, he would not have been eligible for the medal.

From 1820 onwards, Joseph spends three years in the employment of the Port of Brest, and then, towards the end of his seafaring career gets a posting on a ship of the line by the name of Jean-Bart, named after the celebrated French pirate who was the bane of seafarers in the 17th century. The Jean Bart sets out on a voyage to the island of Martinique in the Caribbean and ends up causing a scandal that is to occupy the international courts of justice for the next thirty years. In February 1823, east of the Azores, the Jean Bart comes across a Spanish vessel, out from Veracruz and Havanna and bound for Cadiz. It carries wealthy Spanish refugees who are fleeing the unrest in America taking their possessions with them in the hope of starting a new life in the old world. The ship is heavily laden with valuable goods vanilla, indigo and crimson, worth about three million French livres, and the same again in currency. Capture of this ship will make a rich man of each and everyone on board of the Jean-Bart.

Relations between France and Spain are extremely strained in 1823, but war between France and Spain has not yet has broken out, thus making the capture of the ship illegal. Meynard de la Farge, the commander of the Jean-Bart is aware of the problem. He takes the Spanish ship anyway. Against the protest of the passengers he forces the Spanish captain to change course to the island of Martinique. In a calculated move he anchors the Mariana Veloz in the harbour, but does not allow it to make landfall, thus avoiding registration of the capture. After some delay, he sails it back to France. By the time the Mariana Veloz arrives in Brest, war has been declared and he can consider his prize as a legitimate one. Clearly aware that the rules have been bent, he paints the Mariana Veloz as the aggressor in his report. The French government feels uneasy and does not proceed with the distribution of the prize money. There is a Spanish protest, much international discussion and the case drags on until 1852, when King William III of the Netherlands is brought in as an arbiter. His decision is final and it goes against the French. Crew and captain miss out on the spoils. 10

Joseph, deeply disappointed, spends his last active years in the service of the marine as an administrative official at the naval depot of Brest. On 13 February, 1829 he retires at the age of 50 years in the rank of a Capitaine de Frgate. After 43 years, 8 months and 16 days in the service he receives a generous pension. He is finally able to enjoy his life. And he does. After so many years at sea, being deprived of female companionship he has formed a romantic attachment to a young woman, Marie Perrine Celeste Vidal, thirty years his junior, the daughter of a master sail maker in the port of Brest. The father, a veteran of the American War of Independence is only 15 years older than Joseph.

The liaison has consequences: in January 1829 a son is born, Celestin Louis Vidal. One of the witnesses is Josephs older brother Jean Baptiste, by that time a retired master helmsman, the other, Jean Joseph Bayol, a lieutenant of the naval artillery. Nobody appears from the mothers side of the family. The midwife, Mme Prusquet, presents the newborn and at the bottom of the document is Josephs unmistakable signature.

It is between 1829 and 1830 that Joseph moves to Paris. This would have been around the time when Louis went to see his father, the time when a young man would be at the perfect age to embark on a career in the French marine. In the account of the Taranaki journalist, Louis reports that his father is living with a mistress. This is very likely to be true. But what about the alleged duel between Joseph and Marie Perrines father? At this point there seems to be no evidence of a duel. But duels, although officially illegal in France, were in fact commonplace until well into the 19th century, especially among military officers. The opponents might have met at the crack of dawn, away from human habitation, the outcome could have been covered up, blind eyes turned on the side of the authorities it was, after all, considered a question of honour. We dont know and may never find out what took place. But we do have the death certificate of Jean Charles Vidal, master sail maker, sixty-five years old, still employed with the navy at the time of his passing. The date of his death is the 5 August 1829.

What made Joseph go to Paris where he had no known family support, we can only speculate, but there is the possibility that he found it expedient to keep a low profile for a while and go somewhere where nobody knew him. At he end of the year 1830, Marie Perrine bears him another child, a daughter this time, Marie Henriette Hetet and in 1836 another little girl is born, Clmentine Barbe Hetet. Joseph is now 58 years of age. Remarkably the two younger children bear the surname Hetet, even though the parents remain unmarried.

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It is likely that Josephs mother, Marie Jacquette Duchene Labiche moves to Paris at some point to be closer to her son and his family. Her husband, Josephs father Jean Franois had passed away in 1822. Her second son, Jean Baptiste had never married and there is no indication that her third son, Jean Vincent Joseph had a family in Brest or that indeed he was still alive. So it may well have been the joy about her new grandchildren, having missed out on the first one, which brought her to the capital. Be that as it may, the Paris civil registers have an entry for her death with the bare minimum of information: 5th arondissement , Marie Duchen Labiche 11 April 1832. Unfortunately many of the Paris civil records were destroyed in the unrests of the Paris commune in 1871, so what survives are transcripts of tables that lack the wealth of information supplied by the Brest documents of the time. The birth records of the two daughters of Joseph are equally scant, but one transcript survives with an interesting piece of information the street address of Josephs abode in 1836. At that time Joseph is registered in 200, Rue Mouffetard in the old 12th arondissement of Paris.

Rue Mouffetard today is a bustling lively street. Quite long, but just a few yards across and in parts still cobblestoned, it is lined with market stalls. Fresh seafood, pastries, cheeses, wine and fruit artfully arranged, vitrines with pastries, impossible to resist. Caf owners scrawl their menus in chalk on blackboard. The street is milling with locals and tourists alike, buskers on every corner.

Sadly number 200 does not exist any longer - it was once located at the end of the road where the small houses have been pulled down to make way for large apartment blocks and sweeping roads. But walk a few yards down the Mouffe, as it is affectionately called by the Parisians and you will find many houses that date back to the 18th century.

However, the ambience would have been very different in those days. John Frazer Corkran, an Irish journalist, describes the Mouffetard a few years later and pictures its inhabitants who, unless in their peregrinations into the better parts of the city in hunt of rags, bones and the sweepings of houses for the Rue Mouffetard is the residence of the Chiffoniers de Paris - must rarely see a broadcloth coat, never a private carriage or cabriolet, except at the further end, where the street is passed by visitors to the Gobelins. History of the National Constituent Assembly, from May, 1848 (1849) The street was home to rag pickers (chiffonniers) and tanners who pursued their trade along the malodourous river, la Bivre. They found solace in the numerous drinking holes and houses of ill repute. Criminals and runaways sought shelter in the warren of narrow alleyways but so did students, intellectuals and poets who were fascinated by the local subculture: Victor Hugo found the inspiration for his novel Les Miserables right here in the quartier Mouffetard.. 12

The archives in Paris still hold plans from the pre-1860 period, before Haussman redesigned the city. The street maps are large scale and amazingly detailed. Rue Mouffetard, no 200 is clearly visible. Not bordering directly on the road, the house is only accessible through a doorway via a narrow alleyway, no more than three or four feet wide. It opens into a little courtyard, maybe nine feet across, from which two houses are accessed via one shared stairway. The first house looks onto the courtyard, the second onto what appears to be an empty piece of land. Alongside the alleyway and connected with it through a gap in the wall, runs another passage, quite long, but hardly wide enough to let a man pass. It slopes down steeply and connects to some properties, maybe workshops, right on the river. The houses on the courtyard are tiny and dark. Divided into two rooms and a windowless closet, they are not much larger than 9 by 12 feet. It is one of those two houses that Joseph occupies along with his wife and three small children.

We do not know why Joseph ended up in this neighbourhood. The amount he received as a pension would certainly have allowed a more comfortable lifestyle. His 1,742 French francs per annum were more than twice as much as his brother Jean Baptiste was paid, a master helmsman with 43 years of service. By comparison an able seaman after 48 years in the marine would only have received 300 francs for the year. Bulletin des Lois du Royaume de France, IX Srie, (1832)

It is clear however that retirement does not suit Joseph. In 1830, shortly after his arrival in the capital, political unrest sweeps the Bourbon King Charles X away and drives him into exile. He is replaced by Louis Philippe of Orleans, {the son of Philippe Egalit, aristocrat, supporter and finally victim of the 1789 revolution}, who consents to reign under constitutional monarchy. For three days turmoil reigns in Paris, a popular insurrection leads to a revolution, made immortal by Delacroix famous painting of Liberty Guiding the People, her breasts bare, the French flag in hand, triumphantly leading the people across a pile of dead bodies. Joseph, at the age of 52, fights alongside these revolutionaries for democracy. On day three of the struggle they succeed to plant the tricolore on the seat of the city administration- the turmoil is over.

Joseph has a keen sense that his King and country owe him for his services to the country and he is not shy. So, when he finds out in 1832 that the harbourmaster of the port of his hometown Brest has passed away and the position stands vacant, he sits down and writes a letter to the King himself. Sire, he begins and continues to explain about the trials and tribulations of his naval career, the merits of his father and the ruin of his family following the French 13

revolution. He does not omit the fact that he has fought in the revolution of 1830 and thus, having prepared the way, he asks the King for the position of the capitaine de port du commerce Brest. A handwritten note in the margin by a high ranking official supports Josephs application and praises him for having honourably renewed his loyalty in the trois jours immortelles the three memorable days of the 1830 revolution.

Whether the recommendation did him any good is doubtful. As we have seen, Joseph is still in Paris in 1836, living in the rue Mouffetard, when his daughter Clmentine Barbe is born. There is a lack of documentation for the following years, but by 1843 Joseph is on the move. He is working again, this time as an ombudsman for seamen. He has left Paris and, after a short stint in Vieux-Port, Normandy is moved to Rouen in the department of Seine Maritime. It is here, on 12 October, 1843 that he finally signs the papers for the recognition of his son Celestin, who by now is almost 14 years old.

Josephs career with the navy ends in Elboeuf in 1846. After more than 15 years away from home he moves back to Brest and, somewhat surprisingly, decides to get married. He is now 68 years old. His residence is given as the parish of Crozon, only a short ferry ride away from Brest, where he has a cousin. His bride, marie Perrine Celeste, 38 years of age, lives in Brest. Whether the separate homes were a belated concession to bourgeois propriety or caused by expediency or strife, we do not know. Whatever the reason, they tie the knot in the administration of the brides residential quarter of St Louis on March 9, 1847. The ceremony is witnessed by Josephs faithful older brother Jean Baptiste, as well as Marie Perrines brother Jean Franois, sergeant major in the marine. The other two witnesses are friends. At the bottom of a document not designed to allow for so much information, a cramped scrawl, hardly legible, lists the details of the three children which the couple recognize as theirs. The register is signed by all participants. Brother Jean Baptistes hand is quite unsteady, he is not a well man anymore and has only got a year to live, Josephs signature is small, neat and self-contained with the final t deeply rooting into the space below like an anchor. The bride is clearly a woman used to writing, with a fluid signature, energetically sweeping left and right. She signs herself as Celeste Vidal. It is tempting to speculate why it took him eighteen years and three children to finally agree to marry his mistress. While illegitimate children were not unknown in early 19th century catholic France, it was highly unusual for anyone of his social standing to father several children out of wedlock while continuing to live with his mistress. Joseph may have worried about the legal consequences of his marriage in England, even though the French authorities did not recognise these acts. He may have felt beholden to Mary, the mother of Louis. Without further documentation coming to light, Josephs motifs will remain in the dark.

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Despite his advanced years and the settled life of a family man, Joseph has not yet done with life and its injustices. And so he goes to battle again, this time in the political arena. It is still the loss of the prize money from the ship laden with riches, the Nueva Veloz Mariana, which rankles with him, decades after the capture.

As we have seen earlier, King William III of the Netherlands in his role as an international arbiter had found in favour of the Spanish. His decision was pronounced on 13 April 1852. Only three weeks later, on 10 June 1852, in open defiance of the King Williams judgement, Joseph and four seamen from the ship Jean Bart present a petition to the senate of France on behalf of the entire crew, claiming their share of the prize they had captured back in 1823. They base their claim on the fact that on 20 December of the same year the commandant de la Marine had declared the prize legitimate, a decision that was overturned 2 weeks later, on 3 January 1824. It is not the first time, we learn from the presenter of the case, that the petitioners, under the leadership of Joseph Hetet, have filed their claim.They have addressed it over the years to every single previous administration since the event. As nothing has occurred since their last appearance to present further evidence in their favour, the gentlemen, not unexpectedly, are given short shrift and their petition is once again dismissed. Procs-Verbaux des Sances du Snat. Anne 1852, Tome Premier (1852)

Joseph is indefatigable. In 1857 he is back in Paris with the same petition. He gets the same result. In the minutes he is reminded that the Senat has already refused a similar petition, signed with the same name, having the same object and coached in the same terms. The commission proposes the same answer as previously and the order of the day is called. Procs-Verbaux des Sances du Snat. Anne 1857, Tome Premier (1857)

This time Joseph doesnt wait 5 years. Just 10 months later he presents yet another petition. The answer is terse. It is now the third time, he is reminded, that a similar claim has been made in recent times. As the decision of the King of the Netherlands has forced the French Government to reimburse the value of the Mariana Veloz to the Spanish, there is no reasonable grounds for the renewed petition. The order of the day is called. Procs-Verbaux des Sances du Snat. Anne 1858, Tome Premier (1858)

Joseph is now 80 years old, What drives him to pursue these repeated petitions, we dont know. Whether it is the wish to provide financial security for his wife and children or the moral obligation to the families of the seamen on the Jean Bart or whether it is just plain stubbornness we will probably never find out. But in 1859 15

Joseph is back with yet another petition. Predictably this one is turned down again. The minutes are short : Le sieur Hetet, parliament is reminded, has already been turned down several times with the same petition in the name of the crew of the Jean Bart. They dont this time give him the honour of calling the order of the day before turning to the next petitioner. Procs-Verbaux des Sances du Snat. Anne 1859, Tome Deuxime (1859)

This is the final straw. Joseph does not try again, he has reached the end of his crusade. Eleven months later, on 6 April 1860, at the age of 81 years and 4 months, he dies at his Brest home in the Grand Rue.

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