For some reason, the votive light I put on Drew Benton’s box of ashes, lasted till Mother’s Day, so I put it in my pocket and took it inside the LSD Church. I did not know it was Mother’s Day. Drew killed herself, and never became a mother.
I found out Drew was in an icebox for twenty days, when I responded to a young relative – who shot himself! We went camping near Blue River. Our relatives ran and hid from the Detective in Bullhead City. She had to track them down. Not one helped me with funeral costs.
So, I took Drew to a church service after many months, and put her candle on a book The History of Belmont. This was my way of performing a ritual I knew nothing about, and was explained by a new friends yesterday – at church!
When I opened the box containing the wrong urn, a fire in Los Agneles was just getting going. There was an image of the Titanic going down on the vase. Drew’s kin, John Fremont, prepared the way for Bringham Young.
Above is a video of our president, abandoning ship, after he set it on fire! His outrageously abusive and dangerous claim the Democrats stole the election again, is HIS DECLARATION our Democracy is DEAD, along with all the history of American Citizens – except his followers! This is a Declaration of Civil War, and an attack on the Free Press……all over the world!
The arsonist that started that fire, appeared in court a couple of days ago. I have been feverishly working on saving the real history of Jesus, from….
THE INFERNO AND THE BEAST THAT TRHIVE IN IT ALL CONSUMING FLAMES!
Trump is the rich man that would take an axe to all the lifeboats of his enemies. His followers will life with glee – until he goes after their life savers. When Hitler lost the war, he put boys in Nazi uniforms, patted their cheeks, slunk down into a hole, and took his life.
The Mormons fled Missouri. A praire fire followed them all the way to Utah. All they had for guidance, was John Fremont’s map. This is why there is a Lifesize statue of John at the This is the Place monument. This is why I gifted the statue of Christus to a church that has been kind to me, and made me feel welcome! Here I felt safe, to honor my dead.
Bronze figure representing John C. Frémont by Mahonri M. Young, part of This Is the Place Monument, situated on the east bench of Salt Lake City, July 2012. Photograph by Alexander L. Baugh.
High on the bench east of Salt Lake City is the This Is the Place Monument, erected and dedicated in 1947 as part of the centennial celebration commemorating the arrival of the Mormon pioneers in July 1847. Featured on the granite base and tower are a number of bronze-cast figures created by the renowned Latter-day Saint sculptor Mahonri M. Young (grandson of Brigham Young). Most notable are the large statues of Mormon leaders Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and Wilford Woodruff, who stand atop the centerpiece while gazing to the west over the Salt Lake Valley. In addition, nearly twenty other figures are situated around the monument’s base, including one representing John C. Frémont. A plaque, placed in front, provides a fitting tribute highlighting the contributions of the explorer to the Utah region and his influence upon the Mormon populace:
Around four this afternnon, I got a box containing the urn for Drew Benton’s ashes. It was not what I ordered. It was black, with an object I could not identify on it. Then I saw it was the Titanic! WTF?
Where Art Thou?
I don’t think I got a Mother’s Day. But, I am not alone. My three siblings didn’t get a Mother’s Day, either. It was Forboden, by King Victor who was called Vic ‘The Nazi; by one of his secretaries who worked in his home, She died when she was twenty-two.
I tried to celebrates My First Father’s Day, but, this was not allowed either. I bought Vic a fishing knife, and invited him outside on the front porch,
“Here Father. I bought this fishing knife for you!” said eleven year old me.
Victor growled at it, and said;
“You didn’t buy it for me. You boiught it – for you! Keep it!”
He turned, opened our front door, and shut it – hard! It was the last time I shed tears for my famil, until I line up to veiw Drew’s mother in her casket. I sobbed on my brother’s shoulder. He said;
“She’s not really dead!”
What he meant was, this was not a real funeral. Outsiders took it over. They made plans the day after Christine was killed by a “rogue wave” – NOT!
Members if my family ran and hid from the Police Detective, and left Drew Rosamlond Taylor Benton in a ice box for twenty days. I found out she committed suicide on my kin’s facebook. I payed for her creamtion, and was sent her ashes.
The night before I went to get blood work, and to the temple, I noticed Drew’s voive candle had become very faint. When I found the Stuttmeister linage at Riverbend, I nade up my mind I was going to become a member so I can get my dead family Baptzed. But, then I might – drop dead – in a day or two! So, I broght the history of Belmont book I just got, knowing I would have time to read it. I opened it in a waiting room where hung Christus.
“Walter Alfred Emmet and Matt O’Neil bought the business pictured below from Carl Janke in 1880.” (Courtesy of Belmont Historical Society)
Until I paid good money for my family history did I read…
“Courtesy of Belmont Historical Society” This is key, because the author accused me of violating her copyright when I posted photos of this busines and my great grandfather, and his brother. I believe “courtesy” means – they were loaned. Maybe a man of law would know. But, I was in shock on Presdient Street. Not only do I not get a Mother’s and Father’s Day, I don’t get an Ancestor Day!
Drew got know Family Service, because my nephew picked a fight with me;
“Your Knights Templar study is allot of crap!” I think he was refering to Hl[ern who ripped off part of my study, and tried to trick me into signing a NDA.
So, fearing Drew would lose the opportunity to be in a church worship with folks singing and praying…..I snuck her in, in my coat pocket. I carried the History of Belmont, after nixing carrying it in a bag.
“What do you got there, brother?”
“Oh, not much. Just my Janke family history, the Founders of Belmont!”
“Good! Good! Keep up the good work. I’ve been working on my family tree for twenty years! Ho! Ho! Ho!”
I did not know it was Mother’s Day until a uoung man around fifteen talked about his mother at the pulpit. Oh boy! Ouch! I didn;t attend my mother’s funeral becauce my family didn’t tell me she was dying. I missed her by one day, I didn;t get to say goodbye! Sooooooooooooo…….I invited Rosemary to Drew’s pre-Chrsitnen with funeral event – and inrtroded her to her husbands semi-famous ancestors she didnt know a damn thing about, causing her and my father to have vicious fights over…
“LOST PRESTIGE”
I summoned the photograph of Rosemary and her four children about to leave our home on San Sebastian Avenue to go to Easter Sunday Mass. Out church was full so we rushed to another. There, Victor almost got into a fist-fight with an usher that was going up and down the isles with a longs stick – poking folks on the back of their head for talking.
If he gets near me with that pole, Im going to shove it us his…..”
After services I made bacon and eggs and wathed the golf torney. I live Ricky Fowler who almost won. I was trying to relax and stop worrying about…
GETTING REJECTED AGAIN!
Around nine, I wondered if the Jankes owned Emmett Store, did they come to own
THE EMMETT HOUSE?
I Google it, and saw that is was up for sell for a whopping
$2,788,000
Wow! If I came to own that house, this would be a great Recovery of Lost Prestige Story, even greater than ‘Gone With The Wind’. Did you know Cark Janke and his wife were dug out of their graves in the middle of the night. This dovetails nicely with my ancestoris being dug out of their graves in the Oddfellows cemetery,
Drew died childless. She was never a mother – in this unkind place! All her prestige was taken from her, by the false smiles of the pretenders.
Last night, when I started walking towards the podium at the Springfield City Hall meeting, I felt faint, and almost stumbled. It was like I had been at sea for a year, and when I stepped on to solid ground, I still had my sea legs. My voice faltered when I spoke. I realized the gravity of the moment. There was the Mayor of Springfield before me with her ears at ready. She wanted to hear what I have to say. I was, shocked! I have had some fierce rejection.
Around 5:00 A.M. this morning on Yom Kippur, I found THE PROOF I have been searching for for over fifteen years! John Fremont, the first candidate for the newly formed REPUBLICAN PARTY, played a paramount role in….THE CONQUEST OF CALIFORNIA! Eureka!
For a month I was in contact with five Mormon Sisters about enrolling my ancestors in their Genealogical Bank, so they would be redeemed. No problem – they guaranteed me.
“But, my family is huge and includes most of the folks who made American History! “
When I discovered a statue of Fremont at the ‘This Is The Place’ monument, and, a Mormon militia escorted John to Washington when he was court-martialed, I told my friends I’m going to author a history book about all this. How about a lawsuit against those who have – DESTROYED THE REPUBLICAN BRAND – including the Republican Judges on the Supreme Court?
On this Day of Atonement, I forgive all members of my family – living and dead!
So be it! It is done!
To prove I own the right stuff, allow me to show you my solution for the mystery of what Jesus wrote in the dust!
This has everything to do with the judging of the woman accused of adultery that I ALONE solved the riddle of. I announced that I know the answer surrounded by men and women carrying guns. One said;
“No one knows the answer!”
“I do!” says I.
Former President Donald Trump filed a defamation lawsuit against CNN on Monday that accused the network of deploying “ever-more scandalous” labels to describe him, including “racist,” “Russian lackey,” and “insurrectionist.”
The lawsuit also complained that a CNN guest compared Trump to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
Comparing Trump to “arguably the most heinous figure in modern history” shows that CNN had “actual malice” toward him, the lawsuit claims.
Last month, Trump’s case was thrown out of court as he tried to sue Hillary Clinton and dozens of others whom he said conspired against him with what he said were false Russia accusations.
In “Origin,” Jessie began the article by remembering her youth and the ways in which her father stirred her imagination with descriptions of “India and Oriental life, and of European power.” Recalling the days of meeting men like William Clark, the explorer “who had first explored the Columbia to the Pacific,” Jessie stressed the role Thomas Hart Benton played in western expansion. Jessie informed her readers that she herself practiced that “self-renunciation” that allowed her to be useful to her father while her husband ventured across the Rockies during 784 Josiah Royce, “Frémont,” The Atlantic Monthly, October 1890: 584-557 785 Jessie Benton Frémont to Robert Underwood Johnson, August 28, 1890, John Charles Frémont and Jessie Benton Frémont Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 318 his first two expeditions. She recounted the story of the mountain howitzer, and her role in preventing John being recalled to Washington at the start of the second expedition. She included part of a letter written in July 1886 from George Bancroft, a historian, politician, and President Polk’s Secretary of the Navy.786 Bancroft, a longstanding friend of the Frémonts, wrote his recollection that Thomas Benton had sought U.S. western expansion, that Polk had stated his desire to take California in 1846, and that he, Bancroft, saw the “acquisition of California by ourselves as the decisive point in the perfect establishment of the Union on a foundation that cannot be moved.”787
Jessie concluded the article with words that reflected her firm belief in the importance of her husband and her father in the historical narrative of western expansion: Rarely does life offer such opportunities; more seldom still do men, each specially fitted to his part, combine to carry out such noble, enduring work—work which time has proved good. And . . . people feel the truth, “Though the pathfinders die, the paths remain open.”788 Even as she praised both men, it was to the memory of John, the Pathfinder, that she attributed the true opening of the west. In “Conquest of California,” John had written the first section, consisting of a basic overview of the west as it was understood prior to his first expedition. He wrote of meeting early mentors Joel Poinsett and Joseph Nicollet and of becoming “a member of Senator Benton’s family.”789 Coming to 1842 and the first two expeditions, John had written an outline that Jessie 786 No relation to Hubert Howe Bancroft, the California historian. 787 Jessie Benton Frémont, “Origin of the Frémont Explorations,” Century Magazine, March 1891: 766-771. 788 Jessie Benton Frémont, “Origin of the Frémont Explorations,” 771. 789 John C. Frémont, “The Conquest of California,” Century Magazine, April 1891, 917-919. 319 then followed.790 Addressing the issue of the instructions received from Gillespie, the gist of the argument between the professional historians and the Frémonts, John (or Jessie) reiterated what John had included in his Memoirs: namely, that he received instructions to “watch the interests of the United States in California.” Of the letter from Thomas Benton also delivered by Gillespie, John wrote that he “learned nothing but it was intelligibly explained to me by my previous knowledge, by the letter from Senator Benton, and by communications from Lieutenant Gillespie.” John (or Jessie) went further, noting that Benton’s letter “was a trumpet giving no uncertain note.” The coded family language gave John the authority necessary to stir up aggressions in California. To this restating of his original justification, John (or Jessie) added a new twist—following the instructions that were given to U.S. Consul Thomas Larkin was “no longer practicable, as actual war was inevitable and immediate; moreover, it was in conflict with our own instructions.”791 No longer did the Frémonts argue that Larkin had not received his own instructions from Washington; rather, those instructions did not apply. The views of George Bancroft were also captured in this article, including the understanding that Polk wanted to take California. In a copy of a letter of September 2, 1886, and included in the article, Bancroft cleared John of any wrongdoing, writing that John had been “absolved from any orders as an explorer, and became an officer of the American army, warned 790 Jessie Benton Frémont to Robert Underwood Johnson, August 28, 1890, John Charles Frémont and Jessie Benton Frémont Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 791 John C. Frémont, “The Conquest of California,” Century Magazine, April 1891: 917-928. The end of the article contains the notation “The foregoing article has been edited by Mrs. Jessie Benton Frémont from the manuscript and notes of John Charles Frémont.” It is unclear just which parts were written by just which Frémont. As Frémont biographer Tom Chaffin write: “[W]hen using John Frémont’s published writings, I developed an axiom: Trust him on the details, take his conclusions concerning controversies with a grain of salt…, [b]ut when he addresses matters of controversy involving him, John tended to write with one eye on the defense of some already enunciated public position, the other on his reputation for posterity.” Tom Chaffin, Pathfinder, 504-505. To this can be added that Jessie also focused on John’s reputation and how he would be remembered. Because of this, it is difficult to ascertain which words and ideas were John’s and which were Jessie’s in this co-written article. 320 by your government of your new danger, against which you were bound to defend yourself . . . [i]f I had been in your place, I should have considered myself bound to do what I saw I could to promote the purpose of the President.”792
The article closed with an attack on the work of Hubert Howe Bancroft—or rather on a review of Bancroft’s work in the New York Sun from August 29, 1886. That review had included a summary of H.H. Bancroft’s interpretation of the Conquest, including the notation that “Mr. Bancroft thinks there is conclusive evidence that Frémont did not act in pursuance of instructions, secret or inferential, from the United States Government, and the Pathfinder is accordingly set down as a mere filibuster.”793 In response, John (or Jessie) included a statement from George Bancroft, also from 1886, in which that historian wondered how “can a man commit such blunders as are found in the New York ‘Sun’ of Sunday, August 29?”794 The fact that John and Jessie felt that a response was needed to a review of H.H. Bancroft’s work, four years after it appeared, spoke to just how determined the Frémonts were to maintain John’s heroic status. Josiah Royce was still not finished with the Frémonts. Beginning in March 1891, Royce published more articles on the Conquest and Frémont’s role in it. These included “Montgomery and Frémont: New Documents on the Bear Flag Affair” in Century magazine in March 1891, and “The Frémont Legend,” published in The Nation in May 1891. Each article, both those before and after John’s “Conquest of California” in Century in April 1891, shared a familiar theme: John was not the hero he was supposed to be but rather a self-aggrandizing filibuster. 792 John C. Frémont, “The Conquest of California,” 923-924. 793 “Some New Books,” The Sun, August 29, 1886. 794 John C. Frémont, “The Conquest of California,” 924. 321 Eventually, however, Robert Underwood Johnson, editor of Century magazine, refused to accept any further manuscripts on the topic. According to Royce, Johnson, while acknowledging that another article from Royce was warranted “for the sake of the truth of history,” said that Century’s readership was “restive,” and Johnson could not countenance yet another column inch dedicated to California.795
After the publication of “Conquest of California,” Jessie returned to writing under her own name. In 1890, she had collected her “Far West Sketches” for Wide Awake magazine into a book.796 Another collection of Wide Awake stories was published as The Will and the Way Stories in late summer 1891.797 Over the next few years, her work appeared in national publications such as the Ladies Home Journal and Youth’s Companion as well as in the California magazine Overland Monthly. 798
Perhaps her greatest writing endeavor involved an unpublished second volume to John’s Memoirs, entitled “Great Events During the Lives of Major General John C. Frémont, United States Army, F.R.G.S. Chevalier de l’Ordre Pour Le Merite; et., and of Jessie Benton Frémont.” Jessie, along with her son Frank, began work on this volume in 1891.
This 1850 German map of the United States recognizes the State of Deseret’s claim to the Southern California coast. Note, however, that Deseret’s official boundaries included the pueblo of Los Angeles, which this map excludes. | Map of Vereinigte Staaten von Nord-America und Mexico by Carl Christian Franz Radefeld and Joseph Meyer. Courtesy of the Internet Archive.
Lithograph by John Henry Bufford, Boston, Massachusetts, 1856. This image was made at the time Frémont was the Republican nominee for the U.S. presidency.
During the break in the Jan 6th. Hearing I google John Fremont and the Mormons and found this amazing article that says Brigham Young read the account of Fremont exploring Utah, and this inspired him to make his historic move.
“The people are so eager for it here that they have stole it out of the Library. The author is Mr. [Thomas Hart] Benton’s son-in-law. Judge D. [Douglas] borrowed it of Mr. B. [Benton]. I was not to tell any one in this city where I got it.”
EXTRA! June 23, 2020 5:45 P.M. I just found the Nation of Deseret that was proposed by the Mormons! Consider Fromond!
Victoria Bond had many dreams of a Ghost Fleet. I mentioned John Dee in July. Now it is clear…….Here comes the Royal Navy John Dee founded!
I have been working on a transition from my Bond book, to my Tolkien book. Now I see a movie about John Dee. I was born to write the screenplay and be the Art Director. I will title this move ‘Sea Lord’. My kindred, William and Peter Rosenberg, will be in this movie, and so will be Krumlov castle. My Bohemian Royalty is coming to California! Will, Dee and the Rosebergs sail on Drake’s the Golden Hind? Here we have Merlin in Oregon where a film maker claims the British Empire began! Everything is coming up roses for me – and my tales! I am in the catbird seat! I fought wiccans for a another magicians memorial – and won!
This will be the first Second Cold War movie aimed and pushing Putin back – way back! Ian Fleming employed females in a magical way. I founded the Country of Fromond. Now do you sea?
Fleming said he was a follower of the teaching of Mani, which is very similar to te teaching of Meher Baba, who I followed for over twenty years. My street theatre is inspired by Baba. I see a New England in the West.
John Presco
Copyrght 2018
Imperial vision
In 1577, Dee published a new vision for England, General & Rare Memorials pertayning to the Perfect Arte of Navigation, and proposed the rise of the British Empire using historical precedents, including prior claims to the New World.
Dee argued that this vision could become reality through maritime supremacy, and that England should reap the rewards offered by colonising new lands and exploiting new resources. The text was dedicated to Christopher Hatton, indicating his influence at court during this time, plus his ability to get the Queen’s ear.
I told the Five Sisters that were in my home on June 23, 2022, that I kept seeing newsfeed about the Salt Lake drying up and creating a health crisis. I read an article about Lake Mead drying up, and the idea to divert water from the Mississippi. What I see is a New Exodus.
Above is the Deseret Stone showing a beehive with Masonic eye. My kin, Thomas H. Benton, saved Albert Pike’s Library.
John Presco
“When the Union Army attacked Little Rock, the commanding general, Thomas H. Benton, Grand Master of Masons in Iowa, posted a guard to protect the home of Pike and his Masonic library.”
I suggested to my neighbor I might be a candidate for the Antichrist. I have no desire to be the antichrist, but, I do oppose the Evil Van Gelical Christ of the Fake Revelation. I have to be, before their Jesus, can be. They should protect me, make sure nothing bad befalls me.
Virginia’s mother was not happy with my incredible study of the De Bourmont-Landry linage. But with the Wilson-Rosenberg-Schwarzenberg line, this is a dream union. Especially if the Seinsheim linage is alive thru the Rosamond line. Here is Sleeping Beauty!
God restored my life – for a reason!
These filmed attacks by peasants and nobodies is proof I am of high noble birth. I believe the branch that emigrated to the Netherlands, is the Rosemondt family a form of Rosenberg. Then there is the Rougemonts. God bid me to rediscover the Rose Root that He did splice together.
Schwarzenberg (in the Czech vernacular Schwarzenbergové (pl.), Formerly also Švarcenberkové ) is the name of a native of Seinsheim in Franconianoble family , which named after the 1405 Schwarzenberg Castle in the Steigerwald , which is still in the family estate.
Since the 15th century, the family also acquired goods in Bohemia , where she was one of the largest landowners until 1946, also inherited lands in Austria and in southern and western Germany. The Frankish-Bohemian house Schwarzenberg placed many influential statesmen at the imperial court of the Habsburgs in Vienna, rose in 1599 to imperial counts and in 1670 to imperial princes and counts to the high nobility . The former royal house is still located in Bohemia and Austria.
A barbarian branch emigrated in the 16th century from Franconia to the Netherlands, where he was admitted to the local nobility and also exists today.
In 1600 Schwarzenberg inherited the title and lordship of his father, who died fighting the Ottoman Empire. In 1609, he supported Elector John Sigismund‘s claims to Jülich and Cleves.
Schwarzenberg married Margaretha Freiin Hartard von Pallant in 1613, but his wife died two years later while giving birth to his second son, Johann Adolf. Rather than remarrying, Schwarzenberg entered the Johanniterorden, becoming its Herrenmeister (“Lord of the Knights”, or Grand Master) in 1625. He retained that office until his death, sixteen years later.
My rosy kindred owned the Renaissance! Surely James Bond would want to spark a New Renaissance after defeating the enemy. What is missing in the latest Bond movie, is MOTIVE! Who owns the best motive.
John Presco 007
I beseech the Czech Republic to get behind the Shembe Zulu Nazarites. God’s true prophets are here! I will bring the sword!
Above are my people. I descend from Peter wok von Rosenberg who were good friends of John Dee. I have claimed Krumlov Castle.
If Virginia and I could have had children! Did James Bond sire a child? I am, the real James Bond. The enemy is at the gate. I have been keeping them at bay. Time for me to receive some credit.
“The father of our author was Geoffroy de la Tour, spoken of at the beginning of the fourteenth century as lord of La Tour-Landry, Bourmont, La Galonière Loroux-Bottereau, and Cornouaille, and who, under the banner of the Count of Anjou in 1336, distinguished himself by his courage in the war with the English.”
Below is Albrecht Dürer’s painting of a Knight coming home from the Crusades. Did he find the Holy Grail? Is it only when we find our way home again, do we find what was lost?
Albrecht Dürer did the illustrations for Landry’s work. I am this Knight Le Rouge. I did not forsake my Quest even though most of my friends and all my family, forsake me. I had a vision. I stuck to it. I am the Author of this Red Opera.
When Virginia Hambley de Bourmont got down on her wounded knee, took my hand, and proposed to me, was my long search for the Grail, at an end. Virginia descends from Geoffrey IV de la Tour Landry who compiled Livre pour l’enseignement de ses filles for the instruction of his daughters. This book is also titled ‘The Book of the Knight of the Tower’. Geoffrey may have authored Pontus and Sidonia a medieval prose roman that was put to song, thus, here is alas The Phantom of this Opera!
Geoffroy de la Tour-Landry married Jeanne Le Rouge.
(1320-1391) 1) ép. 1353 Jeanne Le Rougé
“Sophie” Juliette Louise Marie-Joseph de Bourmont married Le Rouge de Guerdavid, Joseph vicomte de Guerdavid.
Above is a painting of the Royal Entry of Virginia’s kindred.
Jon Preso
Copyright 2013
Masquerade balls were a feature of the Carnival season in the 15th century, and involved increasingly celebrate allegorical Royal Entries, pageants and triumphal processions celebrating marriages and other dynastic events of late medieval court life.
Above: Reception of the Grand Condé at Versailles following his victory at Seneffe. The Grand Condé advances towards Louis XIV in a respectful manner with laurel wreaths on his path, while captured enemy flags are displayed on both sides of the stairs. It marked the end of Condé’s exile, following his participation to the Fronde.
Le Rouge de Guerdavid, Joseph vicomte de Guerdavid Sexe: Masculin Naissance : 1886 Décès : 1961 Parents: Père: Le Rouge de Guerdavid, “Gaston”,Georges,Amaury,Marie comte de Guerdavid Mère: Robien (de), Marguerite
Famille: Mariage: 01 mars 1916 à Freigné (49) Conjoint: Ghaisne de Bourmont (de), “Sophie” Juliette Louise Marie-Joseph Sexe: Féminin Naissance : 19 février 1890 à Nantes (44) Décès : 21 décembre 1970 à Carantec (29) Parents: Père: Ghaisne de Bourmont (de), Louis seigneur de Bourmont 20 Mère: Say, Baptistine
Geoffrey IV de la Tour Landry (c. 1320 – 1391) was a nobleman of Anjou who compiled Livre pour l’enseignement de ses filles for the instruction of his daughters, in 1371–1372. A similar book he had previously written for his sons, according to his opening text, has disappeared. The work became the most popular educational treatise of the Late Middle Ages. It was translated into German, as Der Ritter vom Turn, and at least twice into English, once by William Caxton, who printed it as The Book of the Knight of the Tower in 1483.[1]
La Tour Landry stands (a ruin today) between Chollet and Vezins. Geoffroy fought in the Hundred Years War; he was at the siege of Aguillon in 1346 and was in the war as late as 1383. His name again appears in a military muster in 1363. He married Jeanne de Rougé, younger daughter of Bonabes de Rougé, sieur of Erval, vicomte de La Guerche, and chamberlain to the king. In 1378, as a “knight banneret”, he sent a contingent of men to join the siege of Cherbourg, but he did not serve in person. In 1380 Geoffroy was fighting in Brittany, and was last mentioned in 1383. He made a second marriage with Marguerite des Roches, dame de La Mothe de Pendu, the widow of Jean de Clerembault, knight.[2]
Pontus and Sidonia is a medieval prose roman, originally composed in French in ca. 1400, known as Ponthus et la belle Sidonie, possibly by Geoffroy IV de la Tour Landry (d. 1391) or by another member of the La Tour family. It is about Pontus, the son of the king of Galicia, who falls in love with Sidonia, daughter of the king of Brittany. The text is associated with lords of La Tour because it derives the ancestors of that family, whose ancestral possessions were in Brittany, from members of the train of prince Pontus. The story is based on an earlier work, the Anglo-Norman chanson de geste Horn et Rimenhild (ca. 1180).
The chansons de geste, Old French for “songs of heroic deeds” (from gesta: Latin: “deeds, actions accomplished”[1]), are the epic poems that appear at the dawn of French literature. The earliest known examples date from the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries, before the emergence of the lyric poetry of the trouvères (troubadours) and the earliest verse romances. They reached their apogee in the period 1150-1250.[2] Composed in verse, these narrative poems of moderate length (averaging 4000 lines[3]) were originally sung, or (later) recited, by minstrels or jongleurs. More than one hundred chansons de geste have survived in around three hundred manuscripts[4] that date from the 12th to the 15th century.
In the novel The Once and Future King, by T.H. White, a reference is made that states that “before King Arthur had made his chivalry, the Knight of the Tower Landry had been compelled to warn his daughter against entering her own dining hall in the evening unaccompanied – for fear of what might happen in the dark corners.”[3]
The Book of the Knight of the Tower (full French title: Livre pour l’enseignement de ses filles du Chevalier de La Tour Landry) is a book commenced by Geoffroy IV de la Tour Landry in 1371, and which he continued writing at least until 1372.[1] It was translated into English (as The Book of the Knight of the Tower) by William Caxton and completed, according to his colophon, on 1 June 1483, during the reign of Edward V.[2] It was further translated into German as Der Ritter vom Turn in 1495. The Livre pour l’enseignement de ses filles served as a tutorial for De la Tour Landry’s daughters on proper behavior when visiting the royal court, which, the knight warns, is filled with smooth-talking courtiers who could potentially disgrace them and embarrass the family. The author was a widower, and concerned for his daughters’ welfare. He takes a strong moral stance against the behavior of his peers and warns his daughters about the dangers of vanity.
The demon of Vanity and the coquette. From the Ritter vom Turn, 1493
THE feudal castle of La Tour-Landry, from which the author of the following book received his name, stood between Chollet and Vezins, in the part of the old province of Anjou which lay between Poitou and Brittany, where its ruins are still visible, consisting of a great donjon, or keep, said to date from the twelfth century. The family of our Knight appears to have been established there at least as early as that date. In the year 1200, a Landry de la Tour, lord of this place, is found engaged in a lawsuit relating to lands; and the names of different members of the family are met with not unfrequently during the thirteenth century. M. de Montaiglon, the editor of the original text of the Knight’s “Book,” who has investigated this question with laborious care, considers that the father of our author was Geoffroy de la Tour, spoken of at the beginning of the fourteenth century as lord of La Tour-Landry, Bourmont, La Galonière Loroux-Bottereau, and Cornouaille, and who, under the banner of the Count of Anjou in 1336, distinguished himself by his courage in the war with the English.
This Geoffroy de la Tour had two sons, our Geoffroy, who was the eldest, and another named Arquade, who is supposed to have been much younger than his brother. The latter, our Geoffroy de la Tour-Landry, appears from his own account to have been present at the seige of Aguillon in 1346. His name again appears in a military muster in 1363. We know that he married Jeanne de Rougé, younger daughter of Bonabes de Rougé, lord of Erval, vicomte of La Guerche, and chamberlain to the king, but we are unacquainted with the date of this marriage, though in 1371 and 1372, when he composed the following book, he must have been married a sufficient length of time to have sons and daughters of an age to require instruction of this kind.
Le Rouge de Guerdavid, Joseph vicomte de Guerdavid Sexe: Masculin Naissance : 1886 Décès : 1961 Parents: Père: Le Rouge de Guerdavid, “Gaston”,Georges,Amaury,Marie comte de Guerdavid Mère: Robien (de), Marguerite
Famille: Mariage: 01 mars 1916 à Freigné (49) Conjoint: Ghaisne de Bourmont (de), “Sophie” Juliette Louise Marie-Joseph Sexe: Féminin Naissance : 19 février 1890 à Nantes (44) Décès : 21 décembre 1970 à Carantec (29) Parents: Père: Ghaisne de Bourmont (de), Louis seigneur de Bourmont 20 Mère: Say, Baptistine
Enfant(s): Le Rouge de Guerdavid, Marie-Josèphe Sexe: Féminin Naissance : EST 1917 Le Rouge de Guerdavid, Antoinette Sexe: Féminin Naissance : 1918 Le Rouge de Guerdavid, Louis Le Rouge de Guerdavid, Marguerite Sexe: Féminin Naissance : vers 1921 Le Rouge de Guerdavid, Henri Le Rouge de Guerdavid, Pierre comte de Guerdavid Le Rouge de Guerdavid, Jeanne Sexe: Féminin Naissance : 1925 Le Rouge de Guerdavid, Yvonne Sexe: Féminin Naissance : –contemporain– Le Rouge de Guerdavid, Jean Le Rouge de Guerdavid, Paul Le Rouge de Guerdavid, Anne Le Rouge de Guerdavid, “René”-Gabriel Le Rouge de Guerdavid, Thérèse Sexe: Féminin Naissance : –contemporain–
Retour à la page principale Le Rouge de Guerdavid, Louis Sexe: Masculin Naissance : vers 1920 Parents: Père: Le Rouge de Guerdavid, Joseph vicomte de Guerdavid Mère: Ghaisne de Bourmont (de), “Sophie” Juliette Louise Marie-Joseph
Famille: Mariage: 1955 Conjoint: Guillet de La Brosse, Maryvonne Sexe: Féminin Naissance : 10 août 1925
Enfant(s): Le Rouge de Guerdavid, Xavier Sexe: Masculin Naissance : –contemporain– Le Rouge de Guerdavid, Cécile Sexe: Féminin Naissance : –contemporain– Le Rouge de Guerdavid, Isabelle Sexe: Féminin Naissance : –contemporain– Le Rouge de Guerdavid, Catherine Sexe: Féminin Naissance : –contemporain– Le Rouge de Guerdavid, Anne-France Sexe: Féminin Naissance : –contemporain–
Retour à la page principale Le Rouge de Guerdavid, Henri Sexe: Masculin Naissance : 1923 Décès : 06 novembre 2007 Inhumation : 12 novembre 2007 à Tours (37) Parents: Père: Le Rouge de Guerdavid, Joseph vicomte de Guerdavid Mère: Ghaisne de Bourmont (de), “Sophie” Juliette Louise Marie-Joseph
Famille: Conjoint: Frémond de La Merveillère (de), Rosane Sexe: Féminin Naissance : 1922 Parents: Père: Frémond de La Merveillère (de), Antoine Mère: Walsh de Serrant, Mathilde
Enfant(s): Le Rouge de Guerdavid, Hugues-Antoine Sexe: Masculin Naissance : –contemporain– Le Rouge de Guerdavid, “Tugdual”-Yffic Sexe: Masculin Naissance : –contemporain– Le Rouge de Guerdavid, Maud-Sophie Sexe: Féminin Naissance : –contemporain– Le Rouge de Guerdavid, Marie-Assunta Sexe: Féminin Naissance : –contemporain– Le Rouge de Guerdavid, Albéric Sexe: Masculin Naissance : –contemporain–
Retour à la page principale Le Rouge de Guerdavid, Jean Sexe: Masculin Naissance : –contemporain– Parents: Père: Le Rouge de Guerdavid, Joseph vicomte de Guerdavid Mère: Ghaisne de Bourmont (de), “Sophie” Juliette Louise Marie-Joseph
Famille: Conjoint: O’Rorke, Mary Sexe: Féminin
Enfant(s): Le Rouge de Guerdavid, Bruno Sexe: Masculin Naissance : –contemporain– Le Rouge de Guerdavid, Edith Sexe: Féminin Naissance : –contemporain– Le Rouge de Guerdavid, Thierry
Retour à la page principale Le Rouge de Guerdavid, Paul Sexe: Masculin Naissance : –contemporain– Parents: Père: Le Rouge de Guerdavid, Joseph vicomte de Guerdavid Mère: Ghaisne de Bourmont (de), “Sophie” Juliette Louise Marie-Joseph
Famille: Mariage: –contemporain– Conjoint: Léon de Tréverret, Marie Sexe: Féminin Naissance : –contemporain– Parents: Père: Léon de Tréverret, “Charles” Marie Joseph Mère: Penguern (de), “Elvire” Eugénie
Enfant(s): Le Rouge de Guerdavid, Chantal Sexe: Féminin Naissance : –contemporain– Le Rouge de Guerdavid, Béatrice Sexe: Féminin Naissance : –contemporain– Le Rouge de Guerdavid, Nicole Sexe: Féminin Naissance : –contemporain– Le Rouge de Guerdavid, Dominique Sexe: Masculin Naissance : –contemporain– Le Rouge de Guerdavid, Agnès Sexe: Féminin Naissance : –contemporain–
Retour à la page principale Kersauson (de), Tugdual Sexe: Masculin Parents: Père: Kersauson (de), Alain Mère: Denesvre de Domecy (de), Cécile
Famille: Conjoint: Le Rouge de Guerdavid, Anne Sexe: Féminin Naissance : –contemporain– Parents: Père: Le Rouge de Guerdavid, Joseph vicomte de Guerdavid Mère: Ghaisne de Bourmont (de), “Sophie” Juliette Louise Marie-Joseph
Retour à la page principale Le Rouge de Guerdavid, “René”-Gabriel Sexe: Masculin Naissance : –contemporain– Parents: Père: Le Rouge de Guerdavid, Joseph vicomte de Guerdavid Mère: Ghaisne de Bourmont (de), “Sophie” Juliette Louise Marie-Joseph
Enfant(s): Le Rouge de Guerdavid, Guy Le Rouge de Guerdavid, Michel Sexe: Masculin Naissance : –contemporain– Le Rouge de Guerdavid, Lionel Sexe: Masculin Naissance : –contemporain– Le Rouge de Guerdavid, Gaëtan Sexe: Masculin Naissance : –contemporain–
Geoffroy de la Tour-Landry (1320-1391) 1) ép. 1353 Jeanne de Rougé (?-ap. 1383) soeur de Mahaut de Rougé et fille de Bonnabes de Rougé seigneur d’Erval vicomte de la Guerche chambellan du roi et de Jeanne de Maillé fille de Jean de Maillé seigneur de Clervaux et de Thomasse de Doué 2) ép. 1380 Marguerite des Roches veuve de Jean Clérambault Dame de la Motte-de-Pendu
Ponthus de la Tour-Landry (1381-1447) chevalier seigneur de la Tour landry de Bourmont du Loroux-Bottereau baron de Bouloir en Vendomois ép. N, Sidoine (v.1380-?)
Urbain de Maillé-Brézé (French pronunciation: [yʁbɛ̃ də maje bʁeze]) (1597 – February 13, 1650), was a Marshal of France during the Thirty Years’ War and Franco-Spanish War (1635). He was married to Nicole du Plessis-Richelieu, sister of cardinal Richelieu. Urbain de Maillé-Brézé had a brilliant career. He was ambassador in Sweden in 1631, Marshal of France in 1632 and viceroy of Catalonia in 1641. Urbain de Maillé-Brézé fought in many battles. He participated in the Siege of La Rochelle (1627–1628). In 1635 he conquered Heidelberg and Speyer, together with Jacques-Nompar de Caumont, duc de la Force, at the head of the Army of Germany. In 1635 he was put, together with Gaspard III de Coligny, at the head of the French army that invaded Flanders. They victorious at the Battle of Les Avins against the Spanish, but the Siege of Leuven was a complete failure.
In 1641, together with duc de la Meilleraye, he conquered Lens in 3 days, Aire-sur-la-Lys (august) and Bapaume (September). After these successes Maillé-Brézé was made Viceroy of newly conquered Catalonia. He attempted to drive the Spanish from Collioure, Perpignan and Sainte-Marie, but failed. In May 1642 he was replaced and retired from active duty to spend the rest of his life in his castle in Milly-le-Meugon.
Marriage and children[edit source | editbeta] He married on November 25, 1617 Nicole du Plessis-Richelieu (1587–1635), sister of cardinal Richelieu. They had two children : Jean Armand de Maillé-Brézé, (1619-1646), French admiral. Claire-Clémence de Maillé-Brézé, (1628–1694), married Louis II de Bourbon, prince de Condé
Claire Clémence de Maillé-Brézé (25 February 1628 – 16 April 1694) was a French noblewoman from the Brézé family and a niece of Cardinal Richelieu. She married Louis de Bourbon, Prince of Condé, known as Le Grand Condé (The Great Condé), and became the mother of Henri Jules. She was Princess of Condé and Duchess of Fronsac.
8 Marie-Henri, comte de Ghaisne (1er), seigneur du Gesnetay, de Saint Michel du Bois, de Freigné et de La Cornouaille, né le 10 octobre 1662, décédé le 10 décembre 1710, Paris (à l’âge de 48 ans), chevalier, enseigne d’une compagnie d’hommes d’armes des Ordonnances du Roi, lieutenant des maréchaux de France en Bretagne, mousquetaire du roi. … marié le 19 novembre 1697, Vernantes (Maine-et-Loire), avec… 9 Marie-Hélène de Maillé de La Tour-Landry, dame de Bourmont, née en 1666, décédée le 22 février 1752, château de Bourmont, Freigné (Maine-et-Loire) (à l’âge de 86 ans).
Geoffrey IV de la Tour Landry
Jean de Maillé de La Tour-Landry, seigneur de Bourmont, baron de La Tour-Landry, de Guillebourg et de Saint-Chartier, comte de Châteauroux, décédé le 30 novembre 1635. … marié le 9 janvier 1602 avec… 73 François-René, vicomte de Chateaubriand (4 September 1768 – 4 July 1848) was a French writer, politician and diplomat, considered the founder of Romanticism in French literature. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois-Ren%C3%A9_de_Chateaubriand
Last t night I talked to my nephew about coming down to Sunnyvale and having a ceremony for the spreading of Drew Benton’s cremated remains. I told him I’m going to do painting with some of her ashes, because she is made up of Christine Rosamond, and Garth Benton, well known artists. Garth did the Getty Villa mural.
Today is my birthday and I heard on the news a man was arrested for starting the fires. He made computer images of blazing infernos. I talked to the curator of the Villa about doing a show.
UNCANNY!
My paintings will depict the flames that licked at The Getty!
John Presco
Officials arrest man in Florida on suspicion of starting devastating Palisades Fire
Firefighters watch the flames from the Palisades Fire burning a home on January 8, in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Apu Gomes/Getty ImagesLos Angeles —
Nine months after a raging inferno decimated the Los Angeles area, claiming the lives of a dozen people and burning down thousands of homes and businesses, officials have arrested a suspect in Florida on suspicion of arson.
Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, is facing a federal charge of destruction of property by means of fire, according to Bill Essayli, the acting US attorney for Southern California.
The suspect, who used to work as an Uber driver and lived in the Pacific Palisades at the time, is under arrest on suspicion of arson in connection with the Palisades Fire. He did not enter a plea at a federal court appearance on Wednesday in Orlando.
Authorities painted a picture of a man singularly focused on a city going up in flames at a news conference Wednesday, saying the suspect repeatedly watched a rap video that included “objects being lit on fire” in the days before allegedly setting the fire.
The suspect also allegedly prompted ChatGPT to generate a “dystopian painting showing in part a burning forest and a crowd fleeing from it,” in the months before the fire started, Essayli said.
The federal criminal complaint provides additional detail about the prompt the suspect allegedly used, offering insight into Rinderknecht’s state of mind.
Rinderknecht asked the chatbot for a “dystopian painting divided into distinct parts that blend together seamlessly. On the far left, there is a burning forest. Next to it, a crowd of people is running away from the fire, leading to the middle. In the middle, hundreds of thousands of people in poverty are trying to get past a gigantic gate with a big dollar sign on it. On the other side of the gate and the entire wall is a conglomerate of the richest people. They are chilling, watching the world burn down, and watching the people struggle.”
The suspect also told ChatGPT he wanted to highlight “the stark contrast and the direct connection between the different parts of the world” in the image.
This AI-Generated image was released by Acting United States Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli who said the image was found on devices owned by Jonathan Rinderknecht. Acting US Attorney Bill Essayli/X
A federal judge appointed a public defender to represent Rinderknecht and continued his detention hearing to Thursday morning.
Rinderknecht will remain in custody at least until that hearing, according to court records.
His preliminary hearing has been postponed indefinitely to give prosecutors in California time to select witnesses and arrange travel.
e that David Lynch is evacuated from his home – with oxygen tank! This does not look good. Who saw THE FIRE coming? On the new this morning it is revealed concerned folks asked for a million dollars to put in a flashflood warning – and were denied! I know every parent who lost a loved one are saying – they would have raised the money – if asked! The Mayor started a Fund Us button. I dreamed of the Oakland Fire and sounded an alarm – a week before. I am going to set up a Fund Me. I have not got a dime for all the effort I have put in this blog. More people – will die! They don’t want to be – informed!
“I saw the writing on the wall,” Lynch told People, explaining how his long-time practice of transcendental meditation helped him quit and to stay optimistic. Still, he admitted: “It’s tough living with emphysema. I can hardly walk across a room. It’s like you’re walking around with a plastic bag around your head.”
Consider the Trojan Horse. If only the Trojans had left it where it was – to rot!
I spent an hour trying to find out where David Lynch was – when he died! My worst fear (and David’s) is he was put in his car, that got stuck in the traffic jam on Sunset. Drivers ran for their lives. Their cars were bulldozed off the road to make way for the firetrucks.
Of course this would make a great death scene – in any movie! The rich old man can not walk ten feet without having to hit on a tank of oxygen. So as his frail secretary looks helplessly at her boss, she says;
“I’m not strong enough to carry you!”
“I understand Sabrena. Save yourself. Run Sabrina, Run for your life. Dont look back. Don’t cry for me Sabrina! I have lived a full life!
Sobbing, Sabrina runs fifty yards, and has to look back. She screams to see the Rolls Royce engulfed in flames!
“If only we had a wanning! If only there was a way – TO SEE IT COMING!”
JRP
a sign or warning that something, especially something momentous or calamitous, is likely to happen.
“they believed that wild birds in the house were portents of death”
“David Lynch has been evacuated from his home due to the Los Angeles wildfires. Producer Sabrina Sutherland has confirmed he’s safe and doing okay.”
L.A. fire forced David Lynch to leave his home before his death, report says
Last year, the filmmaker talked about his struggles with emphysema, saying he didn’t leave his home due to concerns about COVID-19 and other infections
David Lynch, diagnosed with emphysema, which he said left him homebound, was reportedly forced to evacuate from his home when the Sunset fire, one of the blazes burning in Los Angeles since last week, erupted on Jan. 8 and triggered mandatory evacuations in Hollywood and the Hollywood hills.
“Because of COVID, it would be very bad for me to get sick, even with a cold. So I would probably be directing from my home,” he continued.
As recently as November, Lynch told People magazine that he had to rely on supplemental oxygen for anything more strenuous than a walk across the room. He wanted to warn other smokers that the same could happen to them.
Lynch told People he started smoking at age 8, and it was a “big important part of my life.” After years of trying to give up cigarettes, he finally managed to quit after receiving his emphysema diagnosis.
“I saw the writing on the wall,” Lynch told People, explaining how his long-time practice of transcendental meditation helped him quit and to stay optimistic. Still, he admitted: “It’s tough living with emphysema. I can hardly walk across a room. It’s like you’re walking around with a plastic bag around your head.”
The Sunset fire erupted in the Hollywood Hills on the evening of Jan. 8, the day after the outbreaks of the deadly and destructive Palisades and Eaton fires on either side of the city.
For embattled Los Angeles, the Sunset fire seemed to be especially terrifying, as it threatened to burn down into Hollywood and forced the evacuation of such iconic locations as the TCL Chinese Theatre, the Hollywood Pantages Theatre, the Dolby Theatre and Ovation Hollywood, the shopping center in the heart of the neighborhood, the Los Angeles Times reported. Fortunately, firefighters were able to make significant progress overnight and keep the fire to 50 acres. Evacuation orders were lifted by the following morning.
In the family members’ announcement of Lynch’s passing, they said, “We would appreciate some privacy at this time. There’s a big hole in the world now that he’s no longer with us. But, as he would say, ‘Keep your eye on the donut and not on the hole.’ It’s a beautiful day with golden sunshine and blue skies all the way.”
That “golden sunshine and blue skies” sounds inspired by an idealized vision of Lynch’s adopted hometown of Los Angeles. In her tribute to Lynch, Manohla Dargis, the film critic for the New York Times, wrote it was sadly “fitting” that the news of Lynch’s death came while “my city was burning.”
“Few filmmakers grasped the complexities of Los Angeles better than Lynch did and fewer still seemed so at home with its distinct, otherworldly mix of beauty and disaster, sunshine and noir,” Dargis said.
While born in Montana, the Idaho-, Washington- and Virginia-reared Lynch was really “birthed” in Los Angeles, where he attended film school and began making movies, starting with the cult classic “Eraserhead,” Dargis said. Although he was never accepted as a mainstream Hollywood filmmaker, he still had “his own sense of Hollywood,” said his New York Times obituary. He was revered by critics and other acclaimed filmmakers, and “the great outsider” received an honorary Academy Award in 2019, as Dargis said.
“Mulholland Drive” (2001) was his “poisonous valentine” to L.A., the New York Times said, telling a surrealist tale about the misadventures of two would-be female stars who become embroiled in murder, mobsters and the dark side of the the Hollywood dream factory.
Nonetheless, Lynch’s affection for his adopted hometown was apparent in his beloved local weather reports, which he released on YouTube. In one report from May 2020, during the COVID-19 lockdown, Lynch faced the camera to let his followers know that “here in L.A.” some morning fog “should burn off pretty soon and we’ll have sunshine and 70 degrees. Have a great day.”
a sign or warning that something, especially something momentous or calamitous, is likely to happen.
“they believed that wild birds in the house were portents of death”
Speaking to Deadline, the source claimed David’s health worsened after he had to relocate from his house due to the Sunset Fire. The Mirror US has approached David’s representatives for comment.
David’s family announced his death on Facebook, writing, “It is with deep regret that we, his family, announce the passing of the man and the artist, David Lynch. We would appreciate some privacy at this time.”
They continued, “There’s a big hole in the world now that he’s no longer with us. But, as he would say, ‘Keep your eye on the donut and not on the hole.’ … It’s a beautiful day with golden sunshine and blue skies all the way.”
Speaking to Deadline, the source claimed David’s health worsened after he had to relocate from his house due to the Sunset Fire. The Mirror US has approached David’s representatives for comment.
David’s family announced his death on Facebook, writing, “It is with deep regret that we, his family, announce the passing of the man and the artist, David Lynch. We would appreciate some privacy at this time.”
They continued, “There’s a big hole in the world now that he’s no longer with us. But, as he would say, ‘Keep your eye on the donut and not on the hole.’ … It’s a beautiful day with golden sunshine and blue skies all the way.”
This morning I found out David is a fellow Bohemian and Lamp Freak Also, folks are making lamps from cremation urns. I have made great lamps and was going to sell them at the Saturday Market.
Below is a quote that David would – love to death! He would be happy – that he surprised me! I was….not aware! I can’t even – spell it!
JRP
“David spoke about his Transcendtal Meditation, but, regrets he did not take the last step into the light like I did, when I became a seeker of Weird Lamps in Goodwill and Saint Vincent De Paul stores. I drove down 99 in my quest in my 1972 Ford pickup.. Alas I found, not one – but two Grails. You can see in this video….I am a happy man!”
Yes, David Lynch lived the life of a bohemian painter in Philadelphia before becoming a filmmaker. He envisioned a bohemian lifestyle as a teenager, and his work is said to be a mix of the unworldly and the bohemian.
Explanation
As a teenager, Lynch imagined a bohemian lifestyle of drinking coffee, smoking cigarettes, and dating.
He lived in a crime-ridden area of Philadelphia with his wife and baby daughter.
His first short films featured scenes of blood, vomiting, and crying babies.
Lynch’s work is often associated with “New American Gothic”, which depicts violent menace and sexual and physical aberrancy.
430 miles from the Bohemian Grove
La dernière panique
The Riddle of Lumen: Lynch’s Lamps
In a gallery exhibition of new work, David Lynch’s functional sculptures evoke the uncanny existence of light and darkness in his art.
As the greatest author of oversized art books and blogs, how could I ignore the Titanic Tale.
Yesterday I told the woman at the Getty Villa about the Titanic Urn I got, that I didn’t order. The vase I ordered was blue – with rose!
Here comes – A DISASTER! This is a Art Disaster Story. Consider the beautiful murals – dug out of the volcanic ash of Pompei. I give this Getty Woman permission to copy this entire blog, and put it in the Getty Archives. I am 78. It looks like my Medicaid and Food stamps will be taken from me. I get around $950 dollar a month from Supplementary Social Security. No one has done so much, with so little – FOR FREE! That might change.
Click on ‘Flames Lap At Getty Villa’ to see Facebook videos of the fire – with Drew’s ashes!
Around four this afternnon, I got a box containing the urn for Drew Benton’s ashes. It was not what I ordered. It was black, with an object I could not identify on it. Then I saw it was the Titanic! WTF?
What potence has this brought. On the news I see homes on fire. Three hours later I see the Getty Villa is at the edge of the INFERNO that may burn a large area of residential LA.
Amid the devastating and fast-moving fire in Pacific Palisades, the grounds of the Getty Villa have caught fire, the museum confirmed Tuesday.
Fire officials said that trees and brush were ablaze and that flames were approaching structures, but the museum said the Villa and its art had been spared so far. A video on the social media platform X showed the flames approaching the Villa de Leon, a historic home near the museum’s driveway entrance on Pacific Coast Highway.
“Fortunately, Getty had made extensive efforts to clear brush from the surrounding area as part of its fire mitigation efforts throughout the year,” Katherine E. Fleming, president and chief executive of the J. Paul Getty Trust, said in a statement. “Some trees and vegetation on site have burned, but staff and the collection remain safe.”
ADVERTISING
Fleming noted protection measures such as water stored on site, irrigation to wet the grounds, double-walled construction and air-handling systems to seal the galleries and library archives from smoke.
Built in 1954 by oil tycoon J. Paul Getty and opened as a museum in 1974, the 64-acre Getty Villa houses more than 44,000 objects, including priceless antiquities — Roman, Greek and Etruscan relics dating from 6,500 BC to AD 400. The most prized piece in the collection is “Statue of a Victorious Youth,” circa 300-100 BC, also known as “The Getty Bronze.” Other important works include the Roman “Lansdowne Herakles,” which dates to about AD 175, and the Cycladic “Male Harp Player,” 2700-2300 BC.
The Getty Villa was designed and constructed as a full-scale replica of the Villa dei Papiri at Herculaneum, in what is now southern Italy. From 1974 to 1997, the Villa housed the Getty Museum’s entire art collection. European paintings, drawings, sculptures, manuscripts, decorative arts and some photography were moved in 1997, when the Getty Center opened in Brentwood. The Villa was later closed for renovations and reopened in 2006 after a $275-million project transformed the site into an educational center and museum dedicated to ancient art.
Last night I had a dream about Christine and her friend, Carmen, who had a crush on me. They were around fourteen. They were dancing and having fun. Carmen and I used to dance at San Sebastian. Suddenly, Christine is speaking to me. She loves my genealogical study.
Above is the artwork of Philip Boileau, the son of Susan Benton, the sister of Jessie Benton, who husband was the first Republican candidate for President. Philip and Christine Rosamond Benton are in the same family tree. Here are ‘The Rosamond Women’.
Here are ‘The Fisher Girls’ that I just discovered yesterday. The ‘Rosamond Caretaker’ missed Fisher and Boileau.
This is all that need have been said about the commercial artist, Christine Rosamond Benton. What a perfect name. You don’t need to hire an outsider to do this for you. Christine asked me to help her, saying she does not feel like an artist.
Harrison Fisher 1875–1934
At one time, Harrison Fisher’s ‘Fisher Girl’ was as well known as ‘The Gibson Girl’. Fisher made a name for himself in the history of American illustration due to his uncanny ability to paint beautiful women. His ‘Fisher Girl’ and, more importantly, his ‘American Girl’ were recognized as the epitome of feminine beauty in America during the first quarter of the 20th century. She was lithe, elegant and beautiful, but also athletic, independent, and intelligent. Cosmopolitan Magazine in the 1920’s called Harrison Fisher, “The World’s Greatest Artist” saying that “There is an underlying ideal that dominates his paintings. His ideal type has come to be regarded as the type of American beauty: girls, young with the youth of a new country, strong with the vitality of buoyant good health, fresh with clear-eyed brightness, athletic, cheerful, sympathetic, and beautiful.” They went on to say, “‘The American Girl’ is practical, adventuresome, active, and above all, attractive. No one can portray more of this attractiveness than Harrison Fisher.” Christine Rosamond Benton.
Day before yesterday, I composed (in my head) how Serena Weldon met her second husband, Commodore Sir Alfred Arthur Ainsworth, at Seaford House. He is the Commodore of the Royal College of Defence Studies in London. It was love at first sight when she saw him come down the grand staircase that was used in the movie S.O.S. Titanic. This morning, as I took my place before my computer with my large coffee, I followed a hunch. I googled the passenger list for the Titanic. I had been puzzled why Rena was afraid of the sea, and, why she married Sir Ian Easton, a Admiral in the British Navy who captained several aircraft carriers. He was twenty years her senior. They lived on the Isle of Wight where Ian raced yachts. Did Rena go sailing with Ian, or, did she stay at home watching him from the Widow’s Walk with a spyglass? How Gothic!
My search fell upon Ethel Flora Fortune, and I thought my search was over. What a interesting story! But, I got no psychic hit. I went down the list, and clicked on Dorothy Gibson, the muse of the commercial artist, Harrison Fisher, who is the precursor of the commercial artist, Christine Rosamond Benton! I have titled Rena, Rosamond’s muse.
They made a movie about Dorothy’s Titanic adventure that got burned up. She was the Titanic Poster Girl. She was a world famous actress. One blogger suggests her story would make a great movie! Why has no producer come forth? One possibility is, Dorothy was suspected to be a Nazi Sympathizer. I have all but accused Rena of this. Considering Hollywood was, and still is, controlled by Jews, this movie could not be made. However, I will run it past Peter Czernin, and his London crowd. How can the sins of a past life be carried over to the present?
There is a scene from S.O.S. that was cutout. It depicts a beautiful and grand Lesbian, or, bisexual, seducing her young maid. Rena speaks of a dark past. Did Serena fall in with the kinky crowd, who got a hold of this scene she filmed when she was just sixteen? She had hopped a train for Hollywood, and lied about her age. She wanted to earn money acting in order to pay her grandmother back. She had not yet come into her beauty, like Rena did at seventeen. At seventeen, Serena joins the Waves, and was assigned to Naval Intelligence where she read the book that changed her life ‘The Trojan Mirage’ by Kilgorke Troytski.
My other wonderment, is, why did Rena go to L.A. if not to be discovered by Hollywood? She flirts with her past life, as if there is a desire to duplicate it, and correct what went wrong. Perhaps she should have married Fraser, the Bohemian, and not that famous producer? Dorothy is all but forgotten. I will bring her back to the silver screen!
It appears she was exploited by Brulatour who invented the Newsreel (CNN) and enriched himself from this tragedy that affected many, including Dorothy who had a mental breakdown. Why do so many muses develop mental illness? She looks medicated in the photo of her pointing to the cheap cut-out of the Titanic. Opioids? However, there is a rumor the Titanic never sank. This article does not mention Gibson who says she stayed up late after the crew asked her, and some gentleman she was with, to retire. If the sinking was staged, then you would want a good witness, and a man with a movie camera to show the world her story. Have other’s found holes in her story, and thus, no life story?
But, what about Gwen, the sculptress? More than one muse can occupy a soul in the present, because their are not too many creative people in the world. I might reincarnate the Captain of the Titanic in some form. Surely he would want to come back and right wrong. But more than that, he would have a powerful desire to save people – many people! Was there a Casandra on board, that tried to get Captain Smith – to believe her? Did Rena marry Captain Ian in order to alter the past? Did Smith………….survive? Why was he allowed to captain the Titanic after he severely damaged the Olympic? Would you get on the next ship he captained?
Back to that grand staircase. Such staircases are portals in time. Many professionals believe Czar Von Trumpster is steering the Ship of State on to the rocks. There is talk of a third world war. He just congratulated Emperor Putiniski for winning a rigged election.
Harrison Fisher (July 27, 1875 or 1877 – January 19, 1934) was an American illustrator.
Fisher was born in Brooklyn, New York City and began to draw at an early age. Both his father and his grandfather were artists.[1] Fisher spent much of his youth in San Francisco, and studied at the San Francisco Art Association. In 1898, he moved back to New York and began his career as a newspaper and magazine illustrator.[1] He became known particularly for his drawings of women, which won him acclaim as the successor of Charles Dana Gibson.[1] Together with fellow artists Howard Chandler Christy and Neysa McMein, he constituted the Motion Picture Classic magazine’s, “Fame and Fortune” contest jury of 1921/1922, who discovered the It-girl, Clara Bow.[2] Fisher’s work appeared regularly on the cover of Cosmopolitan magazine from the early 1900s until his death.
In addition to his position with Kodak and his presidency of the Sales Company, Jules Brulatour launched the Animated Weekly newsreel series and co-founded Peerless Pictures.[3] He was also an advisor and producer for the French-based Eclair Film Company, which opened in 1911 an extensive, state-of-the-art studio at Fort Lee, New Jersey, then the center of the burgeoning American movie industry. Eclair was a leader in technical and artistic advancements afoot in filmmaking at the time, and its American branch was hailed as a mecca for top talent, which Brulatour helped cultivate.[4] In fact, its first leading lady, Dorothy Gibson, already well known as a model for leading illustrator Harrison Fisher, not only became a big star in Eclair vehicles but she landed the married Brulatour as a boyfriend.[5]
Dorothy Gibson, the second Mrs. Jules Brulatour
His mistress proved herself a marketable screen personality, especially as a comedian in such popular one-reelers as Miss Masquerader (1911) and Love Finds a Way (1912). But her best-known role was that of herself in the drama Saved From the Titanic (1912), based on her real-life experiences as a survivor of the famous maritime disaster.[6] The movie, produced by Brulatour, was the first of many cinematic and theatrical productions about the sinking. It was released May 16, 1912, just over a month after the Titanic went down. Brulatour also produced the first newsreel about the Titanic disaster (Animated Weekly, issue No. 7, released April 22, 1912).[7]
In 1914 Brulatour funded the construction of larger studios for Peerless Pictures at Fort Lee as well as the rebuilding of Eclair’s processing laboratory, storage vault and offices, which had burned, destroying negatives for almost all the firm’s films made over the last three years.
Throughout 1915–1916, while his girlfriend appeared with moderate success in Metropolitan Opera House productions, Brulatour was promoted to the presidency of the Eastman Kodak Company. He also helped form another studio at Fort Lee, Paragon Films, for which he built a large facility specifically for the on-site production of Eastman stock.
By 1917 Jules Brulatour was a very rich man, reportedly worth several million dollars, and he was increasingly powerful politically.[11] That year he was appointed to the executive committee of the National Association of the Motion Picture Industry. Brulatour chiefly conferred with the group’s War Cooperation Subcommittee, which networked with the US government for the promotion of public welfare and propaganda films.[12]
It is believed that his sudden high profile in Washington, D.C. determined him to legitimize his relationship with Dorothy Gibson, whom he finally married on July 6, 1917, a week before his first conference with President Woodrow Wilson and United States Treasury Department Secretary McAdoo.
The next year Jules Brulatour was invited to join the film division of President Wilson’s Committee of Public Information, but this appointment was less fruitful. Arguments and financial troubles arose almost immediately, and allegations flew of undue influence from media baron William Randolph Hearst and even of bribes from Brulatour; nothing was proven but he resigned under pressure.
The Royal College of Defence Studies (RCDS) is the senior college of the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom.
We provide the capstone to the strategic education of those officers of the Armed Forces and equivalent civil servants who have the potential to reach the highest ranks and who must therefore understand and be comfortable working at the strategic level in a cross-government and international environment. The College was established in 1927, originally as the Imperial Defence College, in accordance with Winston Churchill’s vision of promoting greater understanding between senior military officers, diplomats, civil servants and officials.
College organisation
The Commandant of the College is normally a 3-star military officer or civilian equivalent, currently Sir Tom Phillips KCMG. The Senior Directing Staff (SDS) are senior serving and retired officers and officials drawn from the UK Armed Forces, Civil Service, and Diplomatic Service. They provide mentoring and academic supervision to RCDS Course Members with the assistance of professors from King’s College London. They also develop the content of the RCDS Course and lead specific elements. Supporting the Commandant and SDS, under the Chief of Staff are a team of support staff who manage the daily programme, coordinate visits, oversee the recruitment of new Members and the alumni, provide IT support, information management and library services, and maintenance of the estate.
College Members
An RCDS course usually consists of 90-100 Members from the UK and overseas. The UK Members are drawn from the Royal Navy, Army, and Royal Air Force as well as the Ministry of Defence. Other government departments also attend and Members have been drawn from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Home Office, Department for International Development, Cabinet Office and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratories as well as different police constabularies in recent years.
Overseas Members join RCDS from some 50 countries each year on the basis of invitations sent by the UK Ministry of Defence through diplomatic channels. The majority of Members are from the Armed Forces, with the remaining Members being diplomats, civil servants, or police officers. Private sector and non-governmental organisation participation is also welcomed in the interests of broadening the base of experience and gaining wider perspectives. Nominees will already be in positions of responsibility and they will be selected on the basis of their potential to reach the highest ranks in their parent organisation, either as top decision-makers or as a strategic adviser. Most military Members are of OF5/OF6 rank (Colonel/Brigadier) although a small number of more senior, and occasionally junior, officers are also present. Civilian Members will be of an equivalent grade or status.
All Members should be fluent in the English language. Those who do not speak English as their first language must begin the course with a score of at least 6.5 on the International English Language Testing System scale. An intensive six week refresher package of English language training is available prior to the main course for those who need it. The College also provides English classes once per week for Members from September to December.
Since 2009, the following countries have sent their senior officers and officials to study at Seaford House:
RCDS programme
The Royal College of Defence Studies is a world-renowned institution committed to developing strategic thinkers and leaders.
In an international environment, which provides perspectives and insights from around the world, we seek to inspire study, stimulate thinking and stir debate on contemporary strategic issues. Our aim is to prepare graduates who understand the strategic context, are skilled in analysis and able to work intuitively across national, cultural and ideological boundaries to lead on or contribute to developing strategy at the highest level.
The RCDS course is a post-graduate-level course in international strategic studies, focusing on political, diplomatic, security, social and economic issues at the grand strategic level – the level at which governments take decisions on these issues both nationally and within the international community. Issues are analysed for their implications in terms of strategy and leadership. The focus of study on the main course is practical rather than theoretical.
The RCDS mission is:
To prepare selected senior military officers and government officials as well as appropriate individuals from the private sector, from the United Kingdom and elsewhere, for senior leadership and management roles. We do this by developing strategic understanding and the capacity for strategic thinking through rigorous analysis of:
the international security agenda
the levers that provide for security, stability and prosperity
the key tenets of leadership at the national strategic level
Course outcome: at the conclusion of the course our aspiration is that:
“The RCDS graduate understands the international strategic context, is skilled in analysis and able to work intuitively across national, cultural and ideological boundaries to lead or contribute to developing strategy at the highest level.”
If you require further information about the RCDS course please contact us via the enquiry form.
c
San Sebastian Avenue
by
John Presco
On June 8, 2025, I spent three hours on my IPhone looking for the history of Ralston Hall. I found very little. This blog ‘Royal Rosamond Press’ contains most of that history, because, it is my history. My history was stolen from me, and my right to make more history, was thwarted.
Today, the Governor of California challenged the President of the United States – to arrest him! Gavin Newsom is threatening to sue our President.
I was in the emergency room for seven hours om June 4th. I have an infected liver and bladder. I wonder how long I have to live. I wonder how many people want me to die, including a members of the Belmont Historical Society. I
I found my dream home on June 6th. I want this home as a settlement in the lawsuit against several people and organizations. I will live the rest of my days here. I will make sure it is declared a Historic California Abode. The California Kid…..will live forever! He will haunt this house. Rena is invited to haunt this house….with me!
I found……My Room….down in the basement. All my books and brick brack will have a home on the shelves. I may finish my books here. However, they are better unfinished. There is an old telephone – there! Some people who love history will dial…the number! It will ring. The ghost of the California Kid, may pick-up.
To be continued
In 1851 he brought to Belmont a prefabricated house in 1,200 parts, to be fastened together with 700 hooks and 26,000 screws. He invested in local realestate but lacked the Midas touch. The Count sold his prefab house and sailed back east to organize a wagon train to move overland to the Pacific. In 1853 the Count left Missouri with 11 wagons, 24 hired hands, 500 cattle, 600 cattle, 60 horses, and 40 mules. He wrote an account of this six-month journey that became the book ‘The California and Overland Diaries of Count Leonetto Cipriani’ by Ernest Falbo.
Before one launches the Greatest Historic Justice Case in California History, one is required to establish Good Faith and Honorable Intensions as proof your suit is not pure malice and revenge. You want to prove Historic Justice – is on your side. When I found the floorplan of Ralston Hall showing the original outline of the small house Count Cipriani put together with screws, I wondered if he purchased one of the six homes Janke brought around the Cape. Was it – unpacked? There is talk about whether or not the citizens of Belmont will still have access to Walston Hall after Stanford build there campus. I will write them, again, and insist they respect my dead – and conduct a complete historic research,
I became an Oddfellow a year ago. I am going to get baptized into the LDS Church, and my ancestors will be baptized – with me! The Ralston Family Crypt will contain the DNA of Carl and Dorothea, and her mother. There will be three vacant crypt for my daughter and grandson who were with me inside the Janke-Stuttmeister in Colma that William Stuttmeister paid for to inter his kin before they were dug out of their graves at the Oddfellow Cemetery. My attorneys will paint a beautiful landscape as seen throught the eyes of William, where he is – very well pleased with – the results!
There will be a stain glass window like the one in Colma that reads
At great expense to himself, my great-grandfather, William Suttmeister, moved the bodies of his wife and kindred from the Laurel Hill cemetery in San Francisco to a tomb in Colma where I brought my daughter and grandson so they can own their heritage. These bodies were evicted from their graves. Many tombstones were used to make a sea wall.
William Oltman Stuttmeister went to the University of California and practiced dentistry in San Francisco. He bought two vacation properties in San Geronimo where he retired and died. The Maillard, Count Cipriani, Napoleon, and Prince Victor Napoleon connection is interesting. Is this the continuation of the Belmont Colony? Was this land purchased with a recovered treasure? Many have searched for the lost treasure of Sir Francis Drake near this valley overlooked by the ‘Sleeping Maiden’ mountain.
Below is a video showing Cipriani’s home inside Ralston’s additions. It was a portable house. An expert needs to compare this with the Tanforan cottages. Samples of the wood and screws need to taken and compared to the houses Janke brought around the Cape. William married Augusta Janke.
Jon Presco
Yesterday I found a image of an appartment building William built on McCallister street in 1910 four years after the earthquake. My great, great, grandfather helped rebuild San Francisco. This morning I found an old photo of the Dental College he attended in San Francisco that became a part of the University of California. That these apartments are named ‘Laurel’ goes with my theory that William built around forty homes in the Laurel District – that could have been named by him. William, who helped build Oakland, is a pioneer in the field of Dentistry, and is labeled such by Redwood City. The Stuttmeisters lived in Fruit Vale, and their kin, the Jankes, founded the City of Belmont. They are listed as Pioneers of San Francisco.
06/06/11 at 9:44 PM
Hi Jon,
You are a good researcher! You remarked that someone lived in Pankow? That is new to me. This German family left Mecklenburg in 1732. They became citizens of Berlin. They started out selling pelts, and that grew into furs with a large warehouse in Berlin. One Stuttmeister, who was a builder/architect had his office at the Kaiser’s court. They grew quite wealthy. Kim went to the Records department and received a list of all the residences that the Stuttmeister had in Berlin, and she took pictures of all the churches, where they were baptized and the properties they had owned. . Freddie has always said that the Stuttmeister was not their true name, but the records in Germany indicate that Stuttmeister was their legal name.
Daryl Bulkley
Months after my sister’s death I went to the Sacramento Library and looked at microfish about a legal battle between the heirs of Carl Janke’s estate in Belmont that appeared in the San Francisco Call. I lost the copy I made of that article that I am certain mentioned William O. Stuttmeister, and the sisters of Augusta Stuttmeister-Janke. Carl’s sons did not want Minni and Cornillia, to have anything, and one brother (or cousin) took their side, and was cut out. This has to be William, or W. JANKE. “The bride was attended by Miss Alice Stuttmeister, a sister of the groom, and Miss Minnie Janke, a sister of the bride, as bridesmaids, and Dr. Muldownado and Wm. Janke, a cousin of the bride, were groomsmen.” When Victor Presco turned twenty-one, the the Janke spinsters offered him a moving company in San Francesco. Apparently they saw him as the heir to the Stuttmiester legacy, and the Hope of a return to former glory because they had no children. How about their brother, William? Rosemary said this; “Your father was a made man.”
“W.A. Janke, founded the Belmont Picnic Grounds, and the first Turn Verein on Bush Street.”
Yesterday I received information from Shirley Schwoerer of the Redwood City Library, that said my ancestor, Carl August Janke, was instrumental in establishing a Turnverien in Belmont, and the Bay Area. Was it the first?
“He erected the old amusement hall of the Turnverein, and managed this for several years.”
Janke may be the first real estate developer in the San Francisco bay area.
“In 1849 the family came around the Horn on an old Clipper ship, and Mr. Janke brought with him on the trip the material for six portable houses. He set up these houses, and at once engaged in a successful business, as a building contractor.”
Yesterday I talked to Dick Moyer, a curator of the Crockett Museum. I had talked with his late father back in the 70s about my grandfather, Hugo Presco. He said he was a great man, known as a gambler. I asked Dick about the gambling in Crockett, but he knew very little. There were some raids during Prohibition, but Moyer had not read the article that I found in 1994 that said there were about sixty bordello and gambling houses in Crockett. My father had said the same thing. Rosemary said there were about five thousand people at Hugo’s funeral, including the Mayor of San Francisco. Was the funeral held in Crockett? According to my mother, Vic took the money collected for burial, and went and got drunk. Where Hugo is buried, is unknown.
Vic took us to see his father but one time. Hugo was living on a houseboat in Scowtown located in the shadow of the Carquinis Bridge. We had to walk along a maze of floating dock. A malato answered the door, then went and got The Gambler. In reading about gambling in Portland’s Scowtown, Hugo’s houseboat could have been the sight of a infamous poker game that was impossible to raid. You could see, and feel the cops coming as they rocked the dock.
Mr. Moyer told me he had a drawing of Scowtown on the wall in his office done by a Portuguese resident. I asked him if he would get it scanned and put on the museum webpage. I told him I was writing about my famous artistic sister. Dick didn’t get it. Royal Rosamond’s novel ‘Bound In the Clay’ was compared to ‘Tobacco Road’. consider John Steinbeck’s novel ‘Canary Row’.
Victor William Presco wanted to be a bigger man then his father. Above we see the captain with on e of his Chriscraft boats he had docked in Martinez, located about five miles from Crockett. In 1969 I took my father and his best friend and business partner, Ernie quinones, down to the estuary and showed them any empty plot of land. I told Vic he should get together some investors and build a commercial community here. Jack London Village was built several years later, and is now about to be torn down. How time flies. Mr. Moyer is kin to Jim Strehlow who owned Neptune Beach in Alameda. Bobby Jensen, the brother of the Yankee ball player, Jackie Jensen, did watercolors of the boats in Jack London Square, and was my teacher at McCheznie High.
I was living on my sailboat about a mile from the square when I had my brain-storm. In 1962 I did a watercolor of Oakland’s produce market where Vic operated Acer Produce in an old Victorian Warehouse located on 4th. Street and Webster. This painting was chosen to tour the world in a Red Cross show.
My father was born on December 15, 1922 in San Francisco, California. His parents were Wilfred Jensen and Alice I. Jensen. My father had two brothers; Jack E. Jensen and an older brother Wilfred (Bill) Jensen. Jack became a gifted athlete, All American College football and baseball player. Jackie played for the Yankees and Red Sox (MVP 1958). Bill was a business man. The family moved to Oakland when my father was in elementary school.
The Depression came along, and the family business (butcher shop) went out of business. Wilfred senior left the family and did not return until after WWII. Hard times hit the family hunger and malnutriti … Displaying 750 of 3667 characters.
Subscriber Members, please Sign In for artist biographies and for all services.
For non-paying users, good news! Full text bios for all artists are available every Friday.
If you are not currently a member, please See Details about membership.
Below is the artist Christine Rosamond Benton, the great granddaughter of Alice Stuttmeister, the sister of William Stuttmeister. My sister got married to Rick Partlow who won an Emmy.
John Presco
President: Belmont Soda Works; Royal Rosamond Press; California Barrel Company
Daily Alta California, Volume 42, Number 14175, 24 June 1888
STUTTMEISTER-JANKE. One of the most enjoyable weddings of the past week took place at Belmont, Wednesday morning last, the contracting parties being Miss Augusta Janke, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. August Janke of Belmont, and Dr. Wm. Stuttmeister of San Francisco. The house was handsomely decorated with a rich profusion of ferns and flowers, and at the appointed hour was filled with the relatives and intimate friends of the contracting parties. At 11 o’clock the wedding march was played and the bridal party entered the parlor. The bride was attended by Miss Alice Stuttmeister, a sister of the groom, and Miss Minnie Janke, a sister of the bride, as bridesmaids, and Dr. Muldownado and Wm. Janke, a cousin of the bride, were groomsmen.
The Rev. A. L. Brewer of San Mateo performed the beautiful and impressive ceremony under an arch composed of flowers and greens very prettily arranged, after which the guests pressed forward and offered their congratulations. The bride was attired in a very pretty and becoming costume of the crushed strawberry shade, and wore a corsage bouquet of orange blossoms. She carried a handsome bouquet of white flowers. After the guests had paid their compliments the bride and groom led the way to the dining-room, where the wedding dinner was served and the health of the newly married pair was pledged. The feast over, the guests joined in the dance, and the hours sped right merrily, interspersed with music singing and recitations, until the bride and groom took their departure amid a shower of rice and good wishes. Many beautiful presents were received. Dr. and Mrs. Stuttmeister left Thursday morning for Santa Cruz and Monterey, where they will spend the honeymoon. On their return they will make their home in Belmont. 1911: Dr. Willian O. Stuttmeister was practicing dentistry in Redwood City, CA. (Reference: University of California, Directory of Graduates,
1864-1910, page 133). Records from Tombstones in Laurel Hill Cemetery, 1853-1927 – Janke – Stuttmeister Mina Maria Janke, daughter of William A, & Cornelia Janke, born February 2, 1869, died March 1902. William August Janke, native of Hamburg, Germany, born Dec. 25, 1642, died Nov. 22, 1902, son of Carl August & Dorette Catherine Janke. Frederick William R. Stuttmeister, native of Berlin, Germany, born 1612, died January 29, 1877. Mrs. Matilda Stuttmeister, wife of Frederick W.R. Stuttmeister, born 1829, died March 17, 1875, native of New York. Victor Rudolph Stuttmeister, son of Frederick W.R. & Matilda Stuttmeister, born May 29, 1846, died Jan. 19, 1893, native of New York.
Tiffany window in the Janke-Stuttmeister crypt in Colma
Yesterday, The Belmont Soda Works – rose from the ashes like a Phoenix Bird. That a Senator refers to Jason Bourne and “spy movies and books” is a REAL COUP for me, and a testimonial to my amazing research, and this blog. My Man In The Field, Spooky Noodles, suggested more than once, important people -must be reading Royal Rosamond Press! Four of my characters suffer from a Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Victoria Rosemond Bond, does sculptures to deal with her GAD at BAD. I wanted my spies to be VERY HUMAN, for in looking within for what makes us tick, they have boosted their powers of observation.
WE ARE FLAWED
We own….”sticky thoughts”?
John Presco
President: Royal Rosamond Press; Belmont Soda Works; California Barrel Company
The clip went viral on social media earlier this week, prompting conservatives to mock the ad.
“If you’re a Chinese communist, or an Iranian Mullah, or Kim Jong Un…would this scare you? We’ve come a long way from Jason Bourne,” Cruz tweeted late Monday, mentioning the protagonist of the “Bourne Identity” spy movies and books.
A CIA spokeswoman told Insider: “In 2019, we started our ongoing social media series, “Humans of CIA,” for real officers to share their firsthand experiences.”
Trump also tweeted, “China and Russia love this,” adding in a second tweet that the two countries were “laughing their asses off watching CIA go full woke. ‘Cisgender.’ ‘Intersectional.’”
“I did not sneak into CIA,” she adds. “I earned my way in, and I earned my way up the ranks.”
Senator Ted Cruz made disparaging remarks about a CIA advertisement that featured a woman who labeled herself in a manner that offended Senator Cruz. Because the Central Intelligence Agency is a United States Government institution, paid for by Tax Payers, I believe it is wise to found a Private Company that has the best interests of the U.S. at heart, and owns Bad Intentions for our Enemies who threaten us. My company will be an overt enterprise, verses a covert company that disguises its true intentions. Because I rendered the protagonists of my Spy Novel ‘The Royal Janitor’ a bi-sexual, and other characters, homosexual, I have shown that I am All Inclusive. Cissgender works for me.
True Patriotism does not come with any other labels attached. If you love your country, you are qualified. There is no training for work at the CIA in the private sector. I will teach writers how to author a Spy and Detective novels, and do works of art with a powerful message. I am kin to Ian Fleming via Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor. My grandparents were friends of Black Mask authors. Royal Rosamond went camping with Dashiell Hammett. We are a Think Tank. Analyzing information is key to anticipating the next move of foes.
I am employing the name of a company owned and operated by one of my kin, William Janke, who lived in Belmont, and made a soda. I will use the Belmont Soda Works Ca. bottle as my logo. This will include a horseshoe in the cote of arms I will design.
The CIA released a recruitment ad starring a Latina officer identifying as a “cisgender millennial.”
It’s part of the “Humans of CIA” series meant to attract a more diverse pool of candidates.
Sen. Ted Cruz and Donald Trump Jr. mocked the CIA on Monday; Trump said it’d gone “full woke.”
Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Donald Trump Jr. have derided the CIA for releasing a recruitment ad starring a female staffer who celebrated being a “cisgender millennial” with anxiety.
The video, released on YouTube by the CIA as part of its “Humans of CIA” series on March 25, sees a Latina woman talk candidly about identity and success.
“I am a woman of color. I am a mom. I am a cisgender millennial who has been diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder. I am intersectional, but my existence is not a box-checking exercise,” the woman says.
“I did not sneak into CIA,” she adds. “I earned my way in, and I earned my way up the ranks.”
The daughter of Lenonetto, Lisi Cecilla Cipriani, appears to have been employed as a spy. Her great uncle had many conversations with the Napoleon family who made plans to invade California from Mexico. My kin, John Fremont, with the help of the Jessie Scouts, thwarted this plan. This is as close to much of European History as any territory that comprises the United States, as you can get. It has sat over there in the city of Belmont, in a captured state, that is resisted being shared with the rest of the Bay Area, and California!
Yesterday I purchased my THIRTY-FOUR year sober AA coin on Amazon. I bought an Angel Coin for Cristine, and put it in William Stuttmeister niche on our family tomb, where rest his bones. The 91 earthquake opened a crack. With Lisi’s treatise on The Romance of the Rose and the poetry of Dante, alas we have the touchstone and branding my grandfather, Royal Rosamond, worked hard at. Lisi mentions the play Troylus which was one of Shakespeare’s problem plays. I mentioned Belmont having a Shakespeare theatre. Rena as Helen may now be Rena as Cressida.
In 1851 he brought to Belmont a prefabricated house in 1,200 parts, to be fastened together with 700 hooks and 26,000 screws. He invested in local realestate but lacked the Midas touch. The Count sold his prefab house and sailed back east to organize a wagon train to move overland to the Pacific. In 1853 the Count left Missouri with 11 wagons, 24 hired hands, 500 cattle, 600 cattle, 60 horses, and 40 mules. He wrote an account of this six-month journey that became the book ‘The California and Overland Diaries of Count Leonetto Cipriani’ by Ernest Falbo.
Count Cipriani was born in Centuri Corsica, on October 10, 1812. On his father’s side he is descended from an old Florentine family of Ghibellines, which after a long struggle with the vitorious Guelfs, found refuge in Corsica in the fifteenth century. On his mother’s side he is descended from Saint Francis Caracciolo of Naples, and thus Saint Aquinas. This struggle inspired Shakespear to write ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and thus the question “What is in a name?” came to be.
“Returning to Paris in October, 1855, he was warmly received by his friend Prince Napoleon who overwhelmed him with questions about his travels in America. “I answered them the best I could.” Cipriani wrote, “But , it is a veritable deluge….We keep talking about my journeys, of the Sanora, of conquering it.” Perhaps he thought of seizing it for France and hoped the prince might persuade his cousin the Emperor to finance the undertaking. “It is an idea in the air,” he added, “that I would willingly undertake, if necessary capital and men were available.”
To another member of the imperial household, Jerome Bonaparte, ex-king of Westphalia, Cipriani revealed tha the had considerable investments in California and hinted at receiving interest of twelve to fifteen percent a month on his money. He also boasted of his house in Belmont which “out there is considered magnificent.”
On behalf of the Emperor Napoleon 3, he visited King Victor Emanuel of Sardinia to explore the possibilities of a matrimonial arrangement between the ruling houses as a prelude to a political- military alliance between France and Sardinia. The conversation eventually turned to Cipriani’s overland journey of 1853, which apparently had not escaped the king’s notice. “I have heard tell,” he said, “of a great journey of yours, with you on horseback and camping out.”
“For eight solid months, Your Majesty,” Cipriani replied, making certain to include the time he left San Francisco in February to October, 1853. “But it is true.” the king continued, “that you led covered wagons and crossed the Rocky Mountains where there was roads, and great rivers without any bridges.”
The above is from the ‘California and Overland Diaries of Count Leonetto Cipriani’. a journey that may constitute the first cattle drive. What this diary reveals is France’s plan to conquer Mexico, and perhaps the Western United States.
Not only have I found Sleeping Beauty Rosa, I have found her Kingdom in San Francisco!
“After Victor Emmanuel became King of Sardinia he appointed Cipriani to be his first consul in San Francisco.”
Cipriani’s home was brought around the Cape by my kindred, Carl Janke, whose daughter married William Stuttmeister. I believe my kindred were chosen to help found the Sardinian Colony that would support Victor Emmanuel’s kingdom. This is astonishing! With the history of John Fremont and his wife, Jessie Benton, my kindred are the Acme of California History.
Many historians have wondered why the Italian Mafia was not present in California (with the exception of Big Bone Remmer) It appears the Sardinians own the franchise. Now I understand why, and how, my father, Victor William Presco, was a “made man”. The Stuttmeisters may be Italian-Germans. Here is William Stuttmeister and Cipriani.
I declare myself the Cultural Embasador of the Kingdom of Sardinia. I will establish a cultural exchange between Sardinia and its California Colonly. I will make Sardinia the the Tourist Mecca for San Francisco natives. We will form a Art Exchange program based upon the works of Frederico Biesta, a owner of a SF newspaper. There will be a Festival Sardinia Day held in Belmont.
Christine came to live with me at the Idle Hands Commune in San Francisco paid for by Betty Williams, who was married to Col. Zorthian, a Armenian who was titled ‘The Last Bohemian’. We knew the manufacturers of LSD that fueled the Kesey Revolution. Nancy Van Brasch lived with us. Jessie Benton was a good friend of Lewis Kossuth who lived with Giuseppe Mazzini in London. She and John had a bodyguard made up of Hungarian Forty-Eighters who also fought the Papal Army in Europe. Wenzel Anton Prescowitz was a Forty-Eighter from Bohemia. We are looking at the most radical people in the world that would form the Abolitionist Republican Party.
This is the Invisible Revolution that made California a Colony of the Kingdom of Sardinia that was surrounded by the Habsburgs who had backed the Papacy for a thousand years. This is why Count Cipriani drove a herd of cattle to California known for its fruit and vegetables. The Rose of the World Revolution would not be starved out. If Opus Dai had a mortal enemy, it was Victor Emanuel, and Belle Marie Rosa.
Click on top photo to enlarge. There is a gun hanging in the tree between my father;s grandfather, William Broderick, and his wife, Alice Stuttmeister, who looks like Christine and Vicki. We lived with Beema and Beepa in Oakland where these folks fled after the San Francisco after the earthquake. The gentleman holding the wine may be the father of William Broderick. There is no lineage for this branch who I suspect were the Illuminati, and sold barrels to bootleggers during Prohibition. Who do you think owns that rifle? How many Catholics fell in the sights of this weapon?
There is a black wreath hung in the tree next to the rifle. What message does that give?
Then there are the Rougemont Knight Templars that owned the Shroud of Turin. They were the Dukes of Athens, and very possible my kindred on my mother Rosemary’s side. The Stuttmeisters were Teutonic Knights. President Obama sent more troops to fight ISIS from Germany.
To my loyal friends, Marilyn Reed, and Amy Sargent, history will honor you as Good Souls, who cared about my mental and physical health. Like I told my sixteen year old daughter after we met for the first time……
After Napoleon’s defeat in 1815, the Italian states were restored to their former rulers. Under the domination of Austria, these states took on a conservative character. Secret societies such as the Carbonari opposed this development in the 1820s and ’30s. The first avowedly republican and national group was Young Italy, founded by Giuseppe Mazzini in 1831. This society, which represented the democratic aspect of the Risorgimento, hoped to educate the Italian people to a sense of their nationhood and to encourage the masses to rise against the existing reactionary regimes. Other groups, such as the Neo-Guelfs, envisioned an Italian confederation headed by the pope; still others favored unification under the house of Savoy, monarchs of the liberal northern Italian state of Piedmont-Sardinia.
Victor Amadeus initially resisted the exchange, and until 1723 continued to style himself King of Sicily rather than King of Sardinia. The state took the official title of Kingdom of Sardinia, Cyprus and Jerusalem, as the house of Savoy still claimed the thrones of Cyprus and Jerusalem, although both had long been under Ottoman rule.
On 17 March 1861, law no. 4671 of the Sardinian Parliament proclaimed the Kingdom of Italy, so ratifying the annexations of all other Apennine states, plus Sicily, to the Kingdom of Sardinia.[17] The institutions and laws of the Kingdom were quickly extended to all of Italy, abolishing the administrations of the other regions. Piedmont became the most dominant and wealthiest region in Italy and the capital of Piedmont, Turin, remained the Italian capital until 1865, when the capital was moved toFlorence. But many revolts exploded throughout the peninsula, especially in southern Italy, and on the island of Sicily, because of the perceived unfair treatment of the south by the Piedmontese ruling class. The House of Savoy ruled Italy until 1946 when Italy was declared a republic by referendum. In this referendum the southern regions, including Sardinia, voted overwhelmingly in favor of the House of Savoy, with the results being 63.8% in favor of maintaining the monarchy.
It appears that Cipriani was successful in uniting the House of Savoy with the Bonapartes, and thus the House of Stuart. Prince Napoleon Joseph Charles Paul of France, Pr Napoléon, married in Turin in 1859, Princess Clothilde of Savoy daughter of Victor Emanuel. From this union would come other Bonapartes with the name Victor. Prince Napoléon Victor Jérôme Frédéric, Prince LOUIS Jérôme Victor Emmanuel Léopold Marie, and, Prince Charles Marie Jérôme Victor Was the Jacobite ‘Order of the White Rose’ somewhat successful in their plan to put the Stuarts on a throne and rule the world? There appears to contention with the Prussians who can claim the same ancestry through the Winter Queen of Bohemia, Elizabeth Stuart, daughter of King James, and thus the Hanovers who are in all regards, the Windsors.
Before introducing the issue of the relationship between theColony and the central government, let us look into this type of political immigration which was characterised by different social implications and cultural backgrounds. In fact, one of these political immigrants was the young Leonetto Cipriani (1812-1888), destined to become the first Sardinian Consul of San Francisco. Assigned the tasks of improving trade between the Sardinian Kingdom and California,
’ in 1852, in quarters which he had physically brought from home. Curiously, the newborn Sardinian Consulate was constructed from 1200 pieces of wood, transported by sea and personally assembled by Cipriani and his entourage. Undoubtedly the official representative of the Sardinian Kingdom was welcomed with “interestand distinction” within a young Italian community which needed political support. Cipriani ’s activity in San Francisco essentially concerned the financial enhancementof the Colony, by improving maritime trade with the homeland. To this end the Consul enlisted the help of Nicola Larco and widely favoured him, funding the most lucrative initiatives of the Ligurian entrepreneur Cipriani was also a romantic: both his venturesome choice of emigrating to California and his early resignation can be traced to this inclination. In any case, more relevant than Cipriani’s impetuous nature is his list of citizens of the Kingdom, which he sent to Turin in 1853: this document is the first original report giving the names and activities of early Italian pioneers in California. Thanks to the list, we are introduced to a number of Italian residents in the West, including Larco and another personage who would later become historically significant: a certain Federico Biesta, vaguely and informally defined as a property owner Possibly even more interesting than the names included on the list is the exclusion of certain others. For instance, though his presence in San Francisco during the same period is well-established, the Sardinian Consul did not mention Felice Argenti, founder of the 1941 North American Chapter of the Giovine Italia. We now know that many others were also excluded from the list as well as Argenti: the new Consul, in fact, deliberately
During the nineteenth century many prominent Italian travelers visited the Far West. One of the earliest visitors was Leonetto Cipriani (1812-1888). Cipriani was born in Corsica but his family roots (like those of Napoleon Bonaparte) were in Tuscany. After the Battle of Waterloo the family returned to Tuscany where it established a successful mercantile business. Cipriani was eventually appointed by Grand Duke Leopold II to be governor of Livorno and in that capacity established relations with King Carlo Alberto (King of Sardinia) and Louis Napoleon (President of France). – See more at: http://sanfranciscoitaly.com/post/123993261859/meet-the-first-italian-consul-in-san-francisco#sthash.e7UAQ3f2.dpuf
After Victor Emmanuel became King of Sardinia he appointed Cipriani to be his first consul in San Francisco. Cipriani’s memoirs, which contain narratives of three separate journeys to California in 1851, 1853 and 1871, were published in1934. He recorded some very interesting encounters. In fact, the accounts of his two earliest journeys are the only central overland narrative written by an Italian. Throughout his travels he encountered local leaders and diplomats as well as other Italians. In Salt Lake City he met Brigham Young and other members of the Mormon hierarchy, with whom he established good relations, as well as an Italian musician named Gennaro Capone. In San Francisco, he was introduced to the French and Austrian Consuls as well as Nicola Lauro who he described as “the richest Italian merchant in the city” and his cousin Ottavio Cipriani. He also describes how he assembled his elegant prefabricated home in Belmont, the first of consequence on the San Francisco peninsula, later to become the Ralston mansion.
His memoirs Avventure della mia vita (pictured above) were published more than forty-five years after his death and were based on a manuscript that is still located in Bastia, Corsica in the original sea chest that he used during his travels. These memoirs were first translated into English by Ernest Falbo and published as California and Overland Diaries of Count Leonetto Cipriani from 1853 through 1871 (Portland, OR: The Champoeg Press, 1962). More recently I had the honor to examine the Cipriani archives in Bastia, Corsica. I included excerpts from Cipriani’s account in my documentary history of European travelers (including other prominent Italians) who visited Utah entitled “On the Way to Somewhere Else” (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2010) which is still in prin
The Papal States were territories in the Italian Peninsula under the sovereign direct rule of the pope, from the 8th century until 1870. They were among the major states of Italy from roughly the 8th century until the Italian Peninsula was unified in 1861 by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia. At their zenith, they covered most of the modern Italian regions of Lazio (which includes Rome), Marche, Umbria and Romagna, and portions of Emilia. These holdings were considered to be a manifestation of the temporal power of the pope, as opposed to his ecclesiastical primacy. After 1861, the Papal States, reduced to Lazio, continued to exist until 1870. Between 1870 and 1929, the pope had no physical territory at all. Eventually Italian leader Benito Mussolini solved the crisis between modern Italy and the Vatican, and, in 1929, the Vatican City State was granted sovereignty.
Count Cipriani was born in Centuri Corsica, on October 10,
1812. On his father’s side he is descended from an old Florentine family of Ghibellines, which after a long struggle with the vitorious Guelfs, found refgue in Corsica in the fifteenth century. On his mother’s side he is descended from Saint Francis Caracciolo of Naples, and thus Saint Aquinas. This struggle inspired Shakespear to write ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and thus the question “What is in a name?” came to be.
Royal Rosamond Press dedicates this closure to my chapter ‘Bohemians and Bankers’ to Cipriani, a man who shaped the West, and knew the ancestor of Rosamond, the ‘Rose of the World.
John Presco
Copyright 2003
“Returning to Paris in October, 1855, he was warmly received by his friend Prince Napoleon who overwhelmed him with questions about his travels in America. “I answered them the best I could.” Cipriani wrote, “But , it is a veritable deluge….We keep talking about my journeys, of the Sanora, of conquering it.” Perhaps he thought of seizing it for France and hoped the prince might persuade his cousin the Emperor to finance the undertaking. “It is an idea in the air,” he added, “that I would willingly undertake, if necessary capital and men were available.” To another member of the imperial household, Jerome Bonaparte, ex-king of Westphalia, Cipriani revealed tha the had considerable investments in California and hinted at receiving interest of twelve to fifteen percent a month on his money. He also boasted of his house in Belmont which “out there is considered magnificent.” On behalf of the Emperor Napoleon 3, he visited King Victor Emanuel of Sardinia to explore the possibilities of a matrimonial arrangement between the ruling houses as a prelude to a political- military alliance between France and Sardinia. The conversation eventually turned to Cipriani’s overland journey of 1853, which apparently had not escaped the king’s notice. “I have heard tell,” he said, “of a great journey of yours, with you on horseback and camping out.” “For eight solid months, Your Majesty,” Cipriani replied, making certain to include the time he left San Francisco in February to October, 1853. “But it is true.” the king continued, “that you led covered wagons and crossed the Rocky Mountains where there was roads, and great rivers without any bridges.”
The above is from the ‘California and Overland Diaries of Count Leonetto Cipriani’. a journey that may constitute the first cattle drive. What this diary reveals is France’s plan to conquer Mexico, and perhaps the Western United States.
“Cipriani must have followed with close interest the activities of Count Raousset-Boulbon and other French filibusters in the Sonora province of Mexico. The French consul in San Francisco, in difficulty with the American government for his alleged support of such filibustering activity, wrote to the Sardinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1854 that he was grateful (moral) support he was receiving from Colonel Cipriani. That Cirpiani had entertained some such expedition in the Sonora is clear from his memoirs though there is no evidence of any actual participation.”
https://books.google.com/books?id=ESusAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA213&lpg=PA213&dq=frederico+biesta+cerruti&source=bl&ots=yMSEfYTxVz&sig=e2EUDGXoyaBRpHftjQRoFAGpUzk&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiqvbWyxq_MAhWHKGMKHdfKBIYQ6AEILDAE#v=onepage&q=frederico%20biesta%20cerruti&f=false With the ‘Gold Rush’ came foreigners who sought to fulfill the manifest destiny of their nations who now feared the growing richness and power of America and the role she might play on the world stage. One could say pre-emptive strikes were made against the “boastful barbarians” as Count Cipriani titled most of the Americans he encountered. Without a doubt he followed with interest the moves of Count Gaston Raousset-Boulbon, who arrived in San Francisco on August 22, 1850, just at moment US laws segregated the foreign people who came to search for California riches. His arrival coincided with the move of thousands of French-people who looked for a way out of the wars in their country, who came to find substance and well-being in California. Not finding any gold, Raousett wondered if California’s gold extended into the Mexican State of Sonora. I am sure Ciprinai wondered this as well, and he may have organized his cattle drive for such an expedition, he selling some California property to the Rothschilds to bank-roll his adventure that the Bonapartes were well aware of.
Raousset-Boulbon made his first trip to Mexico in February 1852. Once in Mexico City, he met Consul André Levasseur who introduced him to investors of a company called La Restauradora whose majority partner was Jecker, Torre and Co. On April 7, 1852, Raousset- Boulbon singed a contract with La Restauradora on which he is appointed jointly with an “agent”, who he met in San Francisco, to explore all places in northern Sonora, and discover gold mines.. The Count returned to San Francisco, and recruited a company of about 270 men, in addition to weapons and food. On May 19, 1852, he left San Francisco, on the Archival Gracie to arrive Guaymas, Sonora, the first day of July, under a spectacular welcome provided by the Guaymas people and Sonora authorities. But in no time it was clear he was a rebel. Raousset-Boulbon granted the company with a flag with the French colors and the words “Indepéndance de Sonora”. On October 1852, General Navarro and Blanco faced Roausset near Hermosillo. The treaty with the French company was dissolved, but Blanco guaranteed the security of the French. Raousset-Boulbon, who had hidden in Guaymas, and did not sign the treaty. The project in ruin, the French nobleman returned to San Francisco where he consolidated his mission in Sonora: Becoming rich with the supposed Sonora gold Putting a stop to the US expansionism. Reestablish the pure Latin-blood on the Americas. Taking revenge on Mariano Arista.
Back in Mexico, Arista was deposed and replaced by Juan Bautista Ceballos as the presidency, then by Manuel María Lombardini, who in turn was succeeded by Santa Anna, and Gandsen, US minister to Mexico. Raousset-Boulbon departed from San Francisco on June 16, 1853, arriving in Mexico City on July 7. He met Santa Anna and discused with him his colonization project in Sonora by bringing 6,000 emigrants from Upper California from Europe in six years. Santa Anna refused the proposals and Raousset-Boulbon’s forces were finally defeated by General José María Yáñez on July 13, 1854. He is shot dead on August 12, 1854. Around 1860 a group of rich Mexican emigrants met in Europe, they had fled the Juarez revolution. Catholic and conservative, they looked for support in Europe for their plan to establish a monarchy in Mexico. They needed money, troops and a genuine European noble. The Bonapartes had tried to bestow nobility upon Cipriani, but he refused fearing to become more of a puppet then he was. Victor Emanuel had made him Governor of Balogna, and he would become the first President of the United Kingdom of Italy. Cipriani would marry an American, Mary Tolly Worhtington of Baltimore County who a descendant of George Washington. Cipriani descends from the famous Caracciolo family of Naples, and appears to be the son of Napoeleon’s major dommo, Franchesci Cipriani. The whole truth is not being told here, and Cipriani may have been playing down the royal hand he was dealt.
Jerome Bonaparte married Elizabeth Patterson, and wealthy heiress. Emperor Napoleon had marred Marie-Louis von Habsburg, and it was a Habsburg that be amply qualified to become the first Emperor of Mexico. Napoleon III. gave the emigrants troops, French financial circles assured their assistance. The French supported the conservatives in the civil war with the radicals and occupied the capital. They planned an expansion of France on the American continent close to the United States of America, torn up by the civil war. Maximilian supported aspect of the Confederacy, it said he financing Quantril. After the Civil War many Confederate officers and politicians found sanctuary in Mexico. The brother of the emperor Franz Josef, archduke Ferdinand Max, seemed to be a suitable candidate. He was married to the Belgian princess Charlotte. As commander of the Austrian navy and governor general of Milan, he could not live all his ideas. Poet, lover of large gestures, an emperor throne was enticing for him. In addition he was honestly convinced to be able to bring law and peace to Mexico. In 1863, pushed by Napoleon III., the ambitious Maximilian and its wife Charlotte, fulfilled by romantic ideas, are proclaimed emperor of Mexico. Charlotte saw herself as co-emperor, perhaps even as the actual emperor, requesting her husband to finally show his qualities – in Mexico. Perhaps she wanted also to flee the bores the Miramar castle and the shades of the more beautiful empress Elisabeth. The Austrian court was suspicious about this adventure, Maximilian had to resign any rights of succession to the Austrian throne. An Austrian volunteer corps followed him. Their uniforms aroused the mockery of the Mexican children. On the trip the couple prepared for their new job: How to behave at the audience, how to place guests at diner, which medals to be given, what uniforms the guards should wear. But the emperor found only few followers and an indebted government. The Mexican empire remained limited to a considerable number of generals, ministers, chamberlains, stable masters, cooks, gardeners and palace guards, plus some land owners and businessmen, who profited from the emperor. Maximilian, a Sombrero on his head, traveled around the country, gave dinners and distributed medals. He adopted a small Mexican boy as his son, his mother reclaimed him back later. This was a gesture my father would imitate as he loved history and admired the Habsburgs. The republicans became stronger and advanced. Vienna stood briefly before the 1866 war against Prussia and Italy, and permitted only a limited recruitment of volunteers. But they sent from the imperial collections the shield of Montezuma and the report by Cortez to Karl V., how he had won victory against the Aztecs. The USA supported the opponents of the emperor, conforming to the Monroe doctrine “America the Americans”. They demanded and obtained that the recruitment of volunteers in Austria was stopped, 2000 men already embarked had to leave their ships. With the victory of the north in the American civil war 1865 the decision fell also in Mexico. In vain, empress Charlotte searched assistance. She arrived in Europe after the battle of Königgrätz. In Paris, which had an assistance contract with Mexico, she got the answer from Napoleon III., “it would be good, if her majesty would not hang on to illusions”. Napoleon did not want to invest money into an affair without future. She did not even bother to go to Vienna. Franz Josef did not want to hear anything of its brother, specially not since the Viennese rallied after the lost war against Prussia “Vivat emperor Maximilian”, who seemed to them as more liberal and the better emperor for Austria. Her last hope was the Pope, who could have talked to Napoleon and Franz Josef, concluded a concordat with Mexico and convinced the Mexican catholic church. But Pius IX. only wanted to pray. Charlotte fell into depression, one night fled from the hotel and required lodging in the Vatican. Her brother brought the mentally ill Empress back to Miramar. The French troops withdrew. Maximilian was on the way back to Austria, however his Belgian and Austrian advisor’s, specifically father Fischer convinced him not to give up the throne. Even his mother now requested from him to endure as long this “can happen with honor “. His wife had written in a memorandum before her departure that “abdication is condemning himself, an certification of inability, acceptable for the old and stupid, but not for a prince of 34 years full of live and future.” But his armed forces were small and little motivated. On May 15th, 1867 Maximilian handed his sword to the partisan leader Escobedo. He was taken prisoner. He could have fled, but he had refused to leave his most devoted officers. He was condemned to death. In the prison he complained briefly before his execution, that he was here because he had followed his wife. Now the diplomacy got into motion to prevent that a member of the ruling European dynasty would be shot like a simple murderer. Franz Joseph restored Maximilian’s rights to the succession of the Austrian throne and asked the American secretary of state to intervene. On June 19th, 1867 Maximilian was executed on the Cerro de las Campanas, a hill near the city Queretaro together with the generals Miguel de Miramon and Thomas Mejia – latter an Indian – scarcely 350 years after the murder of Montezuma by Spanish mercenaries. Maximilian gave a golden piece of twenty pesos to each soldier of the firing squad. He was idealist, a human full of liberal thoughts and had honestly hoped to bring the Mexican people liberty and internal peace, “a figure of beautiful, pure knighthood, which will teach up- striving souls that it there is something higher than the bare life and benefit” wrote Adalbert Stifter. He was idealist, a human full of liberal thoughts and had honestly hoped to bring the Mexican people liberty and internal peace, “a figure of beautiful, pure knighthood, which will teach up- striving souls that it there is something higher than the bare life and benefit” wrote Adalbert Stifter.
It appears that Cipriani was successful in uniting the House of Savoy with the Bonapartes, and thus the House of Stuart. Prince Napoleon Joseph Charles Paul of France, Pr Napoléon, married in Turin in 1859, Princess Clothilde of Savoy daughter of Victor Emanuel. From this union would come other Bonapartes with the name Victor. Prince Napoléon Victor Jérôme Frédéric, Prince LOUIS Jérôme Victor Emmanuel Léopold Marie, and, Prince Charles Marie Jérôme Victor Was the Jacobite ‘Order of the White Rose’ somewhat successful in their plan to put the Stuarts on a throne and rule the world? There appears to contention with the Prussians who can claim the same ancestry through the Winter Queen of Bohemia, Elizabeth Stuart, daughter of King James, and thus the Hanovers who are in all regards, the Windsors.
Did the Jacobite movement come to America? I am authoring a biography of my family, and came upon Count Leonetto Cipriani who became the President of Italy.
Jon
“On behalf of the Emperor Napoleon 3, he visited King Victor Emanuel of Sardinia to explore the possibilities of a matrimonial arrangement between the ruling houses as a prelude to a political- military alliance between France and Sardinia.”
“It appears that Cipriani was successful in uniting the House of Savoy with the Bonapartes, and thus the House of Stuart.”
Anarchists, Jacobites, Masons & Manifest Destiny
The City of Belmont California was founded by Count Cipriani who appears to be related to the Anarchists of Italy, who may have had something to do with Sissi’s assasination. Anarchists Clubs sprang up in Italy in response to the Hapsburg’s and Austria coming to rule Italy. Opposed by the Piedmontese and the Milanese, Count Leonetto Cipriani would champion the cause of a free and democratic Italy.
“A writer hostile to Cipriani accused him of forbidding his son Italian citizenship because he did not want the boy to be a subject of an Italy that, after 1882, was allied with the traditional enemy, Hapsburg Austria. Cipriani seldom forgave and never forgot an enemy.”
Whether Leonetto Cipriani is related to the infamous Italian Anarchist, Amilcare Cipriani, I do not know. But, they surely had the same cause, that would come to shape the culture of San Francisco, if not the whole Pacific Coast, and not just the Italian community. It appears that Cipriani was successful in uniting the House of Savoy with the Bonapartes, and thus the House of Stuart. Prince Napoleon Joseph Charles Paul of France, Pr Napoléon, married in Turin in 1859, Princess Clothilde of Savoy daughter of Victor Emanuel. From this union would come other Bonapartes with the name Victor. Prince Napoléon Victor Jérôme Frédéric, Prince LOUIS Jérôme Victor Emmanuel Léopold Marie, and, Prince Charles Marie Jérôme Victor Was the Jacobite ‘Order of the White Rose’ somewhat successful in their plan to put the Stuarts on a throne and rule the world? There appears to contention with the Prussians who can claim the same ancestry through the Winter Queen of Bohemia, Elizabeth Stuart, daughter of King James, and thus the Hanovers who are in all regards, the Windsors.
Count Cipriani was born in Centuri Corsica, on October 10, 1812. On his father’s side he is descended from an old Florentine family of Ghibellines, which after a long struggle with the vitorious Guelfs, found refuge in Corsica in the fifteenth century. On his mother’s side he is descended from Saint Francis Caracciolo of Naples, and thus Saint Aquinas. This struggle inspired Shakespear to write ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and thus the question “What is in a name?” came to be.
“Returning to Paris in October, 1855, he was warmly received by his friend Prince Napoleon who overwhelmed him with questions about his travels in America. “I answered them the best I could.” Cipriani wrote, “But , it is a veritable deluge….We keep talking about my journeys, of the Sanora, of conquering it.” Perhaps he thought of seizing it for France and hoped the prince might persuade his cousin the Emperor to finance the undertaking. “It is an idea in the air,” he added, “that I would willingly undertake, if necessary capital and men were available.”
To another member of the imperial household, Jerome Bonaparte, ex-king of Westphalia, Cipriani revealed tha the had considerable investments in California and hinted at receiving interest of twelve to fifteen percent a month on his money. He also boasted of his house in Belmont which “out there is considered magnificent.”
On behalf of the Emperor Napoleon 3, he visited King Victor Emanuel of Sardinia to explore the possibilities of a matrimonial arrangement between the ruling houses as a prelude to a political- military alliance between France and Sardinia. The conversation eventually turned to Cipriani’s overland journey of 1853, which apparently had not escaped the king’s notice. “I have heard tell,” he said, “of a great journey of yours, with you on horseback and camping out.”
“For eight solid months, Your Majesty,” Cipriani replied, making certain to include the time he left San Francisco in February to October, 1853. “But it is true.” the king continued, “that you led covered wagons and crossed the Rocky Mountains where there was roads, and great rivers without any bridges.”
The above is from the ‘California and Overland Diaries of Count Leonetto Cipriani’. a journey that may constitute the first cattle drive. What this diary reveals is France’s plan to conquer Mexico, and perhaps the Western United States.
“Cipriani must have followed with close interest the activities of Count Raousset-Boulbon and other French filibusters in the Sonora province of Mexico. The French consul in San Francisco, in difficulty with the American government for his alleged support of such filibustering activity, wrote to the Sardinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1854 that he was grateful (moral) support he was receiving from Colonel Cipriani. That Cirpiani had entertained some such expedition in the Sonora is clear from his memoirs though there is no evidence of any actual participation.”
In 1851 he brought to Belmont a prefabricated house in 1,200 parts, to be fastened together with 700 hooks and 26,000 screws. He invested in local realestate but lacked the Midas touch. The Count sold his prefab house and sailed back east to organize a wagon train to move overland to the Pacific. In 1853 the Count left Missouri with 11 wagons, 24 hired hands, 500 cattle, 600 cattle, 60 horses, and 40 mules. He wrote an account of this six-month journey that became the book ‘The California and Overland Diaries of Count Leonetto Cipriani’ by Ernest Falbo.
But, I have just touched the surface, for it appears Count Cipriani was a relative of Napoleon’s’s major donmo, Franchisci Cipriani who was a fellow Tuscan, whose family knew the Bonapartes well, and were with him in the end, in the emperor’s exile on St. Helena. What is truly extraordinary, is, there have recently appeared several books, and a couple of television documentary in Europe suggesting it is the body of Franchesci Cipriani who was found in the coffin of Napoleon when it was exhumed and moved from England to France. You will hear more about this as this genealogical tale, and mystery, unfolds.
Count Cipriani would make seven more voyages to the United States, dabbling in mining, ranching, and the stock market. When Cipriani was called home to serve in the Italian Senate in 1853, he turned over his consular duties to a most unlikely Italian, Patrice Guillaume Dillon, the French consul with the Irish last name. Dillon was responsible for all matters concerning all the Italians in the Far West. Since he could not read or write Italian, Dillon employed a friend of Cipriani’s, Frederico Biesta. Biesta would eventually serve as acting consul for Sardinia within the French Consulate. What is going on here?
Biesta was born in Turin, the home of the Holy Shroud, and served in the Army of King Charles Albert of Sardinia with considerable distinction. He was made a cavalier. After six months he had to turn to his friend Cipriani for financial help, and because of his many talents, Cipriani became his backer. When the French government reassigned Dillon to Port au Prince in 1857, Biesta became acting consul of Sardinia. Everyone expected him to be named permanently, but to everyone’s dismay he was passed over, and a native of London, Benjamin Davidson got the post.
Davidson owed his selection to the fact he was the local agent of the Rothschild banking house of London. Count Cavour’s of Sardinia policies were commonly said to be financed by loans from the Rothschilds. European Bankers were eager to have their agents in consulates where thy could be on the lookout for financial opportunities. Napoleon had his agents all over thw world and was forever at war with Jacob Rothschild
Members of the emporers family were said to be Freemasons. I suspect Dillon was a Mason, as was Bret Harte, the Californian writer and poet who was the discovery of Jesse Benton Fremont, the wife of the founder of the Republican Party, and its first Presidential candidate, John Fremont who was titled ‘The Trail Blazer’, he a Pioneer of the West. Jesse Benton is an ancestor of my niece Drew Benton, whose father, Garth Benton, married my late siser, the world renowned artist who signed he art by her middle name, Rosamond, which is my mother Rosemary’s maiden This name hails from Rougemont Switzerland.
Ralston’s’ death by drowning in San Francisco Bay while taking his usual swim, has been titled a murder by some, it said his demise coming at the hands of the agents for Rothschild Banking. William Sharon would come to own the chateau of Cipriani, and beget a powerful family of politicians and bankers, including the founder of Welles Fargo. These bankers are related to the famous Preston family who are kin to the Benton family, and thus my niece.
When Ralston needed silver and gold bullion to back up his bank notes and stop a run on his, and other Sand Francisco banks, he had a un- named person let him into the San Fransisco Mint, and in the middle of the night they carried a couple of tons of bullion through the streets. In the morning, Ralston showed the people the large pile of gold and silver stacked-up in his bank. I believe this person who worked in the Mint was Bret Harte, as it was Jesse Benton who got him the job at the mint, where was minted the first U.S. coin where on is printed these words “In God We Trust”. Some believe this motto is of Masonic origin.
A Veteran Italian Editor Passes Away. He Died With His Pen in His Hand While at Work Translating Telegrams. The veteran Italian editor, soldier and diplomat. Fedeilco Kle>ta, died in his apartments on Mdtitgouieiy street at 7 o’clock yesterday morning. He passeci away quiellyiwith lits pen in his hand, and seemed as If he was going to sleep, so peaceful was the end.
i-‘ederico Uiesta was one of the best- known Kalians in California, tie was looked upon by bis own people as a man of high Intellectual attainments, and was respected by them. Somewhat irritable in disposition, but most reserved Iv manner, he counted his intimate friends only by hundreds, but ihose that he had loved him and appieciaied his intellectual aitainnients. At the tune of his death he was trausl.tlne telegrams lor the Ittliau paper L’Elvezia, and woiKed up to the lait moment, and ouiv stopped wiiting to die. lie had been sick for some time w itn a torm of anaemia, hut his deaib was unexpected by any
atiacue of the Italian consulate, m which he tilled me position of secretary naUl 1857, when lie went to British Columbia ana engaged iv tne business of assayer. He only remained at It for a few yeais and returnrd to California, agaiu taking a position In i he Italian consulate. From that time on lie rilled various offices of bis Government until 1881, when he went Into journalism eniliely. Ha started the tii>t Italian paper in California, called LEctio della l’atn.i, and was also editoi of the illustrated l ■au i r, La Patria, ISefote coming to this country Federico Biesia was in the Italian army under Klnc diaries Albert, aud In the revolution of 1849 gained
considerable distinction in the service. At the battle of Novarra he was ihe l’«;irer of the mi I’oitani dispatches from the King to bis son. Yicioi Emanuel. For his .ictiou ou that occasion he was made a chevalier. The life of lederico Diesta was filled with work, and he passed away knowing, he had done every duty sei him.
Victor William Presco made several expiditions across the border and was good friends and partners with Americans who have been titled the “Mexican Mafia”. He smuggled Connie, his Mexican bride to be, over the border in a marijuana shipment, and it was his desire to make Connie’s eleven children his heirs, which he did, much to the consternation of Vicki who saw this a more grandstanding from a man who commanded attention everytime he walked into a room, and got it; for Victor was a Leo, a Lion-King in his own mind, and was forever conducting loyalty checks. I know he heard things from his mother. His cousin Bill was hoisted atop a great wall in Belmont at ten, and told to go get his stolen legacy. But, when one has lost a fortune, or a title, one quickly learns to not talk about it, as one can be titled “delusional” – especially when one has nothing to show for their royal adventures and contacts with the high and mighty. Vic was present when his daughter presented her portrait of Jimmy Stuart to the actor my father was mistaken for when he and Rosemary came out of a theater in Westwood, Vic just out of the Merchant Marines. This was the only male she rendered because of the striking resemblance. I do not know if Jimmy is a Stuart royal. But, Vic wore the same white suit Jimmy wore in the painting, and upon it was a large blazon. I asked Rosemary about it, and she said my father had paid a genealogist to research his background, and apparently he had found he was of a noble birth. He was very secretive about this. Christine may have known, for in our last conversation she spat this question at me; “You don’t know who I am!” I wondered at this, and answered; “Yes I do. You are my sister.
Like myself, Rosemary and Vic loved world history, and they were at peace when they conducted their long discussions about world events. This no doubt had a influence on their children, and the art of Rosamond, who revived realism in the 70s in regards to her portraits. And what is history without its portraits and busts of famous people? Rosamond was the model for many of the ‘Rosamond Women’. I consider my sister to be a new Pre-Raphaelite artist – and model – who had conversations with Joaquin Miller’s daughter on the phone, she known as the ‘White Witch’ of Oakland, and is not unlike the White Dame de Rougemont. Here is an account of Miller’s dinner with the Pre-Raphaelites.
William Ralston
Historical Essay
by Ben Ratliff
William Ralston, after his Bank of California closed its doors on “Black Friday” in 1875, took his daily swim off the end of Larkin Street in the shadow of the Selby Lead Smelting Works and unexpectedly drowned. Image: Harper’s Weekly
William Chapman Ralston is held to be the most influential catalyst of San Francisco’s growth after the Gold Rush of 1849. As a successful banker and investor in San Francisco, Ralston established a monopoly of the gold mine industry from 1864 to his death in 1875. Using his incredible clout, Ralston was able to generate millions of dollars for San Francisco during its heady boom years.
Like fellow San Francisco citizen Mark Twain, William Ralston worked on Mississippi riverboats as a youth. In the late 1850s, he captained a ship that brought “Argonauts” from Central America to work in the newly created gold mines. He stayed in San Francisco and soon became a successful banker.
William Ralston Memorial on the Marin Green, 2022.
Photo: Chris Carlsson
In 1864, Ralston joined with Darius Ogden Mills to open the Bank of California at the corner of Battery and Washington. Through this entity, Ralston became involved in a number of dicey schemes, some of which proved to be complete shams (e.g. The Great Diamond Hoax of 1871). However, it was the silver-producing Comstock Lode that would eventually become the Bank of California’s cash cow. Ralston was convinced that there was still plenty of silver ore to be extracted from Sun Mountain, even though many thought it had already played out after the initial Silver Rush of 1859. The same year Ralston opened the Bank of California, he commissioned William Sharon, a failed real-estate broker, to oversee the bank’s interests in Nevada. The Bank of California offered loans to the failing mining companies at a competitive 2% interest rate. Since the average interest rate then was in the range 3% to 5%, the companies flocked to Ralston, seeking loans to continue their operations. Then, when most of the mines were unable to repay the debt, Ralston took control of the mines, either by foreclosing on them or accepting majority stock as payment. In addition, Ralston bought the silver mills of Virginia City, where all of the mining companies sent their silver ore to be refined. Thereby Ralston insured that even those mines that had not sold their interests to him were subject to his influence. Ralston had effectively established a monopoly on the Comstock Lode.
Once he had control, Ralston poured money into new machinery to extract silver ore from Sun Mountain. Whereas earlier mining companies had run into problems trying to prick the buried veins of silver, Ralston hired new engineers to deal with typical mining problems like drainage, ventilation and removal of the precious ore. Soon some of the mines had gone bonanza again and mining stocks were again being bought and sold like crazy at Ralston’s own Mining Exchange across the street.
Thus began the rapid development of San Francisco’s financial district. William Ralston was now in a position to generate incredible amounts of revenue from investors on the east coast, while continuously strengthening his stranglehold on the Comstock Lode by purchasing mines, mills, lumber companies and stage lines. The money garnered from speculation was far more crucial to the growth of San Francisco than from the actual mining of precious metals. The excitement over the potential output from Sun Mountain led to a speculation frenzy that put San Francisco on the map in a short amount of time. From 1865-1875, more money was wrapped up in Comstock speculation than existed on the entire Pacific Coast in real dollars.
Needless to say, Ralston was living large. He invested in opera houses and theaters in San Francisco, in addition to building a gargantuan eighty-room mansion in Belmont, which lies south of San Francisco. Ralston bought up fur companies, furniture factories, sugar refineries, railways and watch companies. He gained controlling interest of the Spring Valley Water Company — San Francisco’s major water supplier at that time. Ralston also poured money into the formation of the nascent Golden Gate Park, which, at that time, was merely a bunch of sand dunes.
In 1870, Ralston commissioned the construction of the most ostentatious monument to his wealth, the Palace Hotel, which was $7 million in the making and sat on two-and-a-half acres. When it opened, the Palace Hotel was the largest hotel in the country and it boasted a bar tended by 30 men. For its construction, Ralston had linen, marble, wood and china from all over the world. It was equipped with state-of-the-art water and safety systems, and had a seven-story atrium for guests to drive their carriages into. The Palace would eventually host such prestigious visitors as Ulysses Grant, Rudyard Kipling and Emperor Dom Pedro III of Brazil. But one person who did not get to enjoy the opulence of the Palace hotel was Ralston himself, who fell victim to a stroke while swimming off North Beach and drowned, only two months before its opening in October of 1875. The refurbished post-earthquake Palace that was built after 1906 is now the property of Sheraton and stands today at the corner of New Montgomery and Market Street.
In spite of his apparent taste for grandeur, Ralston was reputedly a modest man. It was once proposed during a banquet that an agricultural community to the south of San Francisco be named after Ralston. Ralston respectfully declined the honor, not wishing to be lionized in this manner. The next speaker quipped that the town be named after Ralston’s modesty. Thus, the town of Modesto was born and a good laugh was had by all.
Although Ralston moved a lot of cash in his lifetime, he actually died severely in debt, observing a fine tradition of rags-to-riches-to-rags entreprenuers in the history of San Francisco. At the time of his death, it was rumored that Ralston had actually committed suicide to escape from his accruing debt. However, his successors managed to keep the largest monument to his wealth — the Palace Hotel — up and running until it burned down in the fire of 1906.
Bronze figure representing John C. Frémont by Mahonri M. Young, part of This Is the Place Monument, situated on the east bench of Salt Lake City, July 2012. Photograph by Alexander L. Baugh.
Rosamond Press 
Leave a comment