1 00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:04,680 Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim 2 00:00:04,720 --> 00:00:15,520 Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Manky. Listener discretion advised. The year 3 00:00:15,640 --> 00:00:19,279 Speaker 1: is eighteen twenty and smoke is rising through the air 4 00:00:19,320 --> 00:00:23,319 Speaker 1: of the small town of Bordentown, New Jersey. It's a 5 00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:28,240 Speaker 1: cold January night, and the enormous estate of the town's 6 00:00:28,440 --> 00:00:34,240 Speaker 1: newest resident, a charming but strange French nobleman, is going 7 00:00:34,360 --> 00:00:40,080 Speaker 1: up in flames. As the American townsfolk of Bordentown rush 8 00:00:40,200 --> 00:00:45,400 Speaker 1: toward the blaze, rumors swirl like the ashes. They say 9 00:00:45,440 --> 00:00:48,680 Speaker 1: that the frenchmen in their midst known as the Count 10 00:00:48,760 --> 00:00:53,360 Speaker 1: of Cervier, is more than just a minor noble. They 11 00:00:53,400 --> 00:00:57,480 Speaker 1: say that in order to outfit his eighteen hundred acre 12 00:00:57,760 --> 00:01:02,040 Speaker 1: estate in central Jersey, they dug up a buried treasure 13 00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:05,959 Speaker 1: chest in Switzerland. They say that that chest was filled 14 00:01:06,040 --> 00:01:11,160 Speaker 1: with diamonds. They say that this point breeze estate contains 15 00:01:11,360 --> 00:01:14,759 Speaker 1: fine arts the likes of which the United States has 16 00:01:14,840 --> 00:01:20,160 Speaker 1: never seen, including scandalous nudes and busts of the former 17 00:01:20,240 --> 00:01:25,759 Speaker 1: French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. They even say that the man 18 00:01:25,959 --> 00:01:31,280 Speaker 1: surrounded by art and his mistresses in New Jersey is himself, 19 00:01:31,720 --> 00:01:36,759 Speaker 1: a former European ruler, a former king of both Naples 20 00:01:36,880 --> 00:01:41,160 Speaker 1: and Spain. They say, in fact that he is the 21 00:01:41,200 --> 00:01:47,880 Speaker 1: older brother of Napoleon Bonaparte himself. While listener, some rumors 22 00:01:48,120 --> 00:01:52,080 Speaker 1: turn out to be true, and all of those were. 23 00:01:53,200 --> 00:01:58,440 Speaker 1: Joseph Bonaparte lately of New Jersey was the older brother 24 00:01:58,680 --> 00:02:02,760 Speaker 1: of the more famous Napoleon. Back when Napoleon was in 25 00:02:02,840 --> 00:02:08,040 Speaker 1: power in France. Joseph was indeed the reluctant philosopher king 26 00:02:08,160 --> 00:02:12,959 Speaker 1: of both Naples and Spain, and he did indeed flee 27 00:02:13,040 --> 00:02:18,079 Speaker 1: to the United States when his brother lost power. He 28 00:02:18,200 --> 00:02:21,320 Speaker 1: was close with his more famous brother, but at the 29 00:02:21,360 --> 00:02:24,560 Speaker 1: same time Joseph was always a little bit of a 30 00:02:24,639 --> 00:02:29,359 Speaker 1: disappointment to Napoleon, more of an esthete than a political 31 00:02:29,480 --> 00:02:34,919 Speaker 1: or military leader. In America, Joseph owned property in both 32 00:02:35,040 --> 00:02:39,560 Speaker 1: Philadelphia and in Bordentown, New Jersey, where he lived on 33 00:02:39,880 --> 00:02:45,160 Speaker 1: a sprawling eighteen hundred acres, half like an American Republican 34 00:02:45,360 --> 00:02:49,560 Speaker 1: and half like a former king. In the twenty six 35 00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:54,919 Speaker 1: years he spent exiled in America, he never learned passable English. 36 00:02:55,760 --> 00:02:59,359 Speaker 1: He amassed more books at Point Breeze, the name of 37 00:02:59,400 --> 00:03:03,560 Speaker 1: the estate then the Library of Congress had at the time. 38 00:03:04,120 --> 00:03:08,839 Speaker 1: He alternately adored his American neighbors and lamented that they 39 00:03:09,080 --> 00:03:15,800 Speaker 1: couldn't understand European high art. That night, in January eighteen twenty, 40 00:03:16,160 --> 00:03:19,200 Speaker 1: he watched as all he had collected in New Jersey 41 00:03:19,639 --> 00:03:23,560 Speaker 1: went up in flames. It's possible he looked with regret 42 00:03:23,880 --> 00:03:27,080 Speaker 1: at the burning sum total of his life in America. 43 00:03:27,600 --> 00:03:31,359 Speaker 1: It's possible that what crossed his mind was actually water 44 00:03:31,600 --> 00:03:35,000 Speaker 1: instead of fire, that he was thinking about the ship 45 00:03:35,480 --> 00:03:39,000 Speaker 1: that he had taken across the Atlantic years ago, away 46 00:03:39,080 --> 00:03:42,960 Speaker 1: from his wife and two young daughters. By the light 47 00:03:43,120 --> 00:03:46,320 Speaker 1: of the flames, he may have remembered the letters he 48 00:03:46,360 --> 00:03:49,560 Speaker 1: had sent to his wife across the sea, speaking of 49 00:03:49,640 --> 00:03:52,560 Speaker 1: the suitability of the home that he was building for 50 00:03:52,720 --> 00:03:57,200 Speaker 1: her and their children. He had been free here in America, 51 00:03:57,360 --> 00:04:01,360 Speaker 1: but he had also been very alone. Now, as the 52 00:04:01,520 --> 00:04:05,160 Speaker 1: night sky lit up with the flames of the Bonaparte 53 00:04:05,320 --> 00:04:10,160 Speaker 1: History collection, Joseph's own future in America was in doubt. 54 00:04:10,840 --> 00:04:14,360 Speaker 1: Without a home for his wife and children. Would he 55 00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:18,320 Speaker 1: ever see them again? Or would the oldest Bonaparte, the 56 00:04:18,520 --> 00:04:22,800 Speaker 1: former King of Naples and Spain, wind up alone in 57 00:04:22,920 --> 00:04:34,159 Speaker 1: exile forever? I'm Danish forts, and this is noble blood. 58 00:04:35,160 --> 00:04:39,440 Speaker 1: Joseph Buonaparte was born on January seventh, my birthday actually 59 00:04:39,920 --> 00:04:44,680 Speaker 1: seventeen sixty eight, on the Mediterranean island of Corsica. He 60 00:04:44,839 --> 00:04:48,680 Speaker 1: was the eldest of the family's eight children, but it 61 00:04:48,760 --> 00:04:52,919 Speaker 1: was his twenty month's younger brother, Napoleon, who would be 62 00:04:53,040 --> 00:04:56,680 Speaker 1: destined to make a name for the family. In fact, 63 00:04:56,880 --> 00:05:00,119 Speaker 1: that name was different from the one they were born with. 64 00:05:00,640 --> 00:05:04,080 Speaker 1: It was Napoleon who changed the spelling of the family 65 00:05:04,160 --> 00:05:09,680 Speaker 1: name from the Italian sounding Buonaparte to the French sounding Bonaparte, 66 00:05:10,279 --> 00:05:14,400 Speaker 1: the better to rule and fit in France. Joseph and 67 00:05:14,600 --> 00:05:18,320 Speaker 1: Napoleon grew up very close with each other, but that 68 00:05:18,440 --> 00:05:22,479 Speaker 1: didn't stop them from clashing over their very different personalities. 69 00:05:23,080 --> 00:05:26,400 Speaker 1: Napoleon was more interested, as you can imagine, in the 70 00:05:26,440 --> 00:05:30,920 Speaker 1: military and in power. Joseph was more interested in arts 71 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:35,919 Speaker 1: and culture. Napoleon called him quote an ornament on society, 72 00:05:36,360 --> 00:05:39,599 Speaker 1: and throughout his life Joseph would kind of prove him right. 73 00:05:40,360 --> 00:05:42,960 Speaker 1: He didn't love the law, though he did practice it. 74 00:05:43,240 --> 00:05:46,800 Speaker 1: He didn't love the military, though he did participate in it. 75 00:05:47,440 --> 00:05:51,480 Speaker 1: He was a lover of republic more than monarchy. What 76 00:05:51,640 --> 00:05:57,240 Speaker 1: Joseph did love was literature, gardening, fine arts, opera, high culture, 77 00:05:57,880 --> 00:06:03,320 Speaker 1: not to mention the art of seduction, at which he excelled. Still, 78 00:06:03,600 --> 00:06:07,839 Speaker 1: Joseph also loved his younger brother. When a young Joseph 79 00:06:07,960 --> 00:06:11,800 Speaker 1: proposed to a woman named desire Clary, it turned out 80 00:06:11,880 --> 00:06:17,520 Speaker 1: that Napoleon wanted her too. Napoleon suggested that Joseph proposed 81 00:06:17,560 --> 00:06:21,839 Speaker 1: to Desiree's older sister instead, and, like the good brother 82 00:06:21,920 --> 00:06:27,200 Speaker 1: he always was, Joseph did. Joseph and Julie Clary got 83 00:06:27,200 --> 00:06:31,200 Speaker 1: married in seventeen ninety four, when Joseph was twenty six 84 00:06:31,400 --> 00:06:35,440 Speaker 1: and Julie was twenty two. The two had a happy 85 00:06:35,560 --> 00:06:40,200 Speaker 1: early marriage. They had two daughters, Zenaide and Charlotte, in 86 00:06:40,240 --> 00:06:44,080 Speaker 1: eighteen oh one and eighteen oh two. Joseph loved all 87 00:06:44,160 --> 00:06:46,520 Speaker 1: of his girls and would have happily stayed in the 88 00:06:46,560 --> 00:06:50,760 Speaker 1: countryside with them alongside his arts and literature. Some painted 89 00:06:50,839 --> 00:06:55,440 Speaker 1: nude maybe some mistresses, I mean, don't be mistaken. Of course, 90 00:06:55,560 --> 00:06:58,040 Speaker 1: just because he loved his wife didn't mean that he 91 00:06:58,160 --> 00:07:02,120 Speaker 1: was faithful to her. But Joseph was a guy whose 92 00:07:02,279 --> 00:07:08,000 Speaker 1: younger brother was Napoleon Bonaparte, and Napoleon was not known 93 00:07:08,080 --> 00:07:11,760 Speaker 1: to take the simple pleasures and preferences of other people 94 00:07:11,760 --> 00:07:17,160 Speaker 1: into account. By seventeen ninety nine, five years into Joseph's 95 00:07:17,240 --> 00:07:22,280 Speaker 1: married life, Napoleon had staged a successful coupdetat and become 96 00:07:22,720 --> 00:07:27,240 Speaker 1: first Consul of the French Republic. From then on, Napoleon 97 00:07:27,320 --> 00:07:32,000 Speaker 1: appointed Joseph to a litany of ever more serious positions 98 00:07:32,640 --> 00:07:36,240 Speaker 1: Army colonel and then Regent of France, Commander in chief 99 00:07:36,320 --> 00:07:40,360 Speaker 1: of the Naples Army, King of Naples, and finally King 100 00:07:40,520 --> 00:07:44,440 Speaker 1: of Spain. It was a lot of titles for a 101 00:07:44,480 --> 00:07:47,560 Speaker 1: guy who basically just wanted to read books with his 102 00:07:47,600 --> 00:07:50,760 Speaker 1: family in a pretty French garden somewhere in the country. 103 00:07:51,680 --> 00:07:55,360 Speaker 1: How can I find happiness, Joseph once wrote, when my 104 00:07:55,480 --> 00:08:00,600 Speaker 1: position is quite incompatible with my character. To be fair, 105 00:08:00,720 --> 00:08:04,920 Speaker 1: Joseph did find some happiness as a monarch. As King 106 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:10,240 Speaker 1: of Spain, he earned the nickname pepe boteas basically Joe Bottles, 107 00:08:10,680 --> 00:08:14,680 Speaker 1: because of how much wine he went through. As King 108 00:08:14,720 --> 00:08:18,000 Speaker 1: of Naples, he had an affair with a duchess who 109 00:08:18,000 --> 00:08:21,400 Speaker 1: wrote him letters twice a day and bore his child, 110 00:08:21,880 --> 00:08:26,640 Speaker 1: though tragically, the boy, Julio, died young. Heads up listeners 111 00:08:27,040 --> 00:08:32,000 Speaker 1: Joseph's story will be littered with illegitimate children, but he 112 00:08:32,040 --> 00:08:34,960 Speaker 1: did always come back to his deep love for his 113 00:08:35,040 --> 00:08:41,040 Speaker 1: two legitimate daughters. And though Napoleon kept pulling Joseph into 114 00:08:41,080 --> 00:08:44,240 Speaker 1: political power games that he never really wanted to be 115 00:08:44,320 --> 00:08:50,760 Speaker 1: a part of, Joseph always loved his little brother. After 116 00:08:50,880 --> 00:08:55,520 Speaker 1: Napoleon's defeat at the famous Battle of Waterloo, it became 117 00:08:55,720 --> 00:09:00,320 Speaker 1: dangerous to be a Bonaparte on the continent. Joseph actually 118 00:09:00,360 --> 00:09:04,280 Speaker 1: offered to pretend to be Napoleon, sick in bed while 119 00:09:04,360 --> 00:09:10,560 Speaker 1: Napoleon escaped to America. Napoleon refused the offer. By July 120 00:09:10,840 --> 00:09:15,560 Speaker 1: eighteen fifteen, Napoleon was a prisoner of the British and 121 00:09:15,640 --> 00:09:21,120 Speaker 1: it was Joseph who took the opportunity to escape Europe. Joseph, 122 00:09:21,360 --> 00:09:25,760 Speaker 1: as historian Patricia Tyson Stroud put it, got to quote 123 00:09:26,120 --> 00:09:30,960 Speaker 1: live out his brother's idea of freedom in America. So, 124 00:09:31,200 --> 00:09:34,920 Speaker 1: at the age of forty seven, Joseph Bonaparte boarded a 125 00:09:34,960 --> 00:09:39,319 Speaker 1: ship headed to New York City. It was a great adventure, 126 00:09:39,720 --> 00:09:42,760 Speaker 1: and it also likely saved his life, but it was 127 00:09:42,800 --> 00:09:47,160 Speaker 1: also a sad and risky move. He was leaving behind 128 00:09:47,200 --> 00:09:50,560 Speaker 1: his beloved wife and country, and his even more beloved 129 00:09:50,600 --> 00:09:53,560 Speaker 1: young daughters. He had been married at this point to 130 00:09:53,720 --> 00:09:57,600 Speaker 1: Julie for twenty one years. As he sailed away to 131 00:09:57,720 --> 00:10:01,440 Speaker 1: safety across the Atlantic, he had had no idea what 132 00:10:01,600 --> 00:10:05,320 Speaker 1: fate had in store for him. He was hopefully sure, 133 00:10:05,640 --> 00:10:09,280 Speaker 1: tragically sure, that his wife and daughters would soon join 134 00:10:09,440 --> 00:10:13,240 Speaker 1: him in America. He sailed away, really believing that he 135 00:10:13,280 --> 00:10:15,559 Speaker 1: would make a home and he would see them all 136 00:10:15,600 --> 00:10:24,520 Speaker 1: again very soon. In eighteen fifteen. It was not a 137 00:10:24,720 --> 00:10:29,840 Speaker 1: simple thing to be a Buonaparte escaping to America. Americans, 138 00:10:29,880 --> 00:10:33,600 Speaker 1: who had recently shaken off the shackles of British monarchy 139 00:10:34,240 --> 00:10:38,160 Speaker 1: didn't tend to like the remnants of European monarchy or 140 00:10:38,200 --> 00:10:42,800 Speaker 1: empire on their shores. Aboard the ship, Joseph told no 141 00:10:42,840 --> 00:10:45,960 Speaker 1: one who he really was. He took on the name 142 00:10:46,160 --> 00:10:49,880 Speaker 1: the Count de Servilliers, which was the least of his 143 00:10:50,080 --> 00:10:54,400 Speaker 1: many grand titles. But it was not so easy for 144 00:10:54,480 --> 00:10:57,800 Speaker 1: the former King of Naples in Spain to go undetected. 145 00:10:58,320 --> 00:11:02,400 Speaker 1: Even across the Atlantic. In New York City, former Spanish 146 00:11:02,520 --> 00:11:06,960 Speaker 1: subjects kept stopping to kiss him on the hand. His 147 00:11:07,200 --> 00:11:11,200 Speaker 1: pretense was flimsy to the point of completely falling apart. 148 00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:15,600 Speaker 1: Worried that he would be extradited to England, where his 149 00:11:15,679 --> 00:11:20,160 Speaker 1: brother was being held prisoner. Joseph tried to get to Washington, 150 00:11:20,240 --> 00:11:25,040 Speaker 1: d C. But President James Madison didn't want to risk 151 00:11:25,240 --> 00:11:29,960 Speaker 1: disturbing international diplomacy by interacting with the brother of the 152 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:34,880 Speaker 1: former Emperor of France, so he essentially told Joseph to 153 00:11:35,120 --> 00:11:39,800 Speaker 1: go ahead and live the American dream. It's a free country, 154 00:11:39,960 --> 00:11:44,080 Speaker 1: Madison basically said, and you're free to no need for 155 00:11:44,240 --> 00:11:48,240 Speaker 1: my protection. So that was the end of Joseph's attempts 156 00:11:48,320 --> 00:11:51,600 Speaker 1: to get to d C. He rented a house that's 157 00:11:51,840 --> 00:11:56,480 Speaker 1: still standing on Ninth Street in Philadelphia, but a city 158 00:11:56,559 --> 00:11:59,200 Speaker 1: rental was never going to cut it in the long 159 00:11:59,280 --> 00:12:03,560 Speaker 1: run for the lavish former king of Spain. In July 160 00:12:03,840 --> 00:12:08,360 Speaker 1: eighteen sixteen, just about one year after beginning his exile 161 00:12:08,440 --> 00:12:13,120 Speaker 1: in America, Joseph bought the eighteen hundred acre estate of 162 00:12:13,320 --> 00:12:18,840 Speaker 1: Point Breeze now Exit seven on the turnpike for Bordentown, 163 00:12:19,080 --> 00:12:24,520 Speaker 1: New Jersey. Joseph immediately set about fulfilling his brother Napoleon's 164 00:12:24,559 --> 00:12:28,320 Speaker 1: prediction that quote, he will be a bourgeois American and 165 00:12:28,440 --> 00:12:32,400 Speaker 1: spend his fortune in making gardens in order to fund 166 00:12:32,440 --> 00:12:36,839 Speaker 1: his estate. Joseph sent his personal secretary Louis Mayard back 167 00:12:36,880 --> 00:12:40,320 Speaker 1: to Europe. Mayard had only been twenty when he crossed 168 00:12:40,360 --> 00:12:44,840 Speaker 1: the ocean with Joseph before now Joseph dispatched him back 169 00:12:45,160 --> 00:12:49,600 Speaker 1: to Pranjin, Switzerland. It was a little escapade that actually 170 00:12:49,600 --> 00:12:54,280 Speaker 1: could be its own swashbuckling adventure book. Mayard wound up 171 00:12:54,360 --> 00:12:59,200 Speaker 1: being shipwrecked off the coast of Ireland, surviving and finally 172 00:12:59,360 --> 00:13:05,240 Speaker 1: eventually digging up a buried treasure chest at Joseph's old chateau. 173 00:13:06,040 --> 00:13:10,520 Speaker 1: The chest contained a handful of diamonds, letters from Napoleon, 174 00:13:11,000 --> 00:13:15,320 Speaker 1: and rumor has it even the crowns from when Joseph 175 00:13:15,520 --> 00:13:20,840 Speaker 1: was King of Naples and Spain. Joseph used that money 176 00:13:20,880 --> 00:13:25,800 Speaker 1: to turn Point Breeze into the idyllic, expensive center of 177 00:13:25,840 --> 00:13:29,360 Speaker 1: the arts that he had always wanted. He filled the 178 00:13:29,480 --> 00:13:34,160 Speaker 1: estate with paintings, lavish gardens, and a library of eight 179 00:13:34,400 --> 00:13:38,320 Speaker 1: thousand books, as I mentioned, more than the Library of 180 00:13:38,440 --> 00:13:42,160 Speaker 1: Congress had at the time. He also set up an 181 00:13:42,240 --> 00:13:47,640 Speaker 1: elaborate tunnel system under the giant property. He entertained fellow 182 00:13:47,679 --> 00:13:51,800 Speaker 1: French exiles, and he barely spoke English. He baffled and 183 00:13:52,000 --> 00:13:56,559 Speaker 1: amused his American neighbors who couldn't really understand the operas 184 00:13:56,679 --> 00:14:01,040 Speaker 1: and painted nudes that they're strange, but welcoming new European 185 00:14:01,080 --> 00:14:05,600 Speaker 1: neighbors seemed to love the whole time. Joseph was writing 186 00:14:05,640 --> 00:14:09,440 Speaker 1: to his wife Julie. He expected and wanted her to 187 00:14:09,559 --> 00:14:13,200 Speaker 1: come join him make the crossing in August. He told her, 188 00:14:13,520 --> 00:14:16,960 Speaker 1: so that you can see the autumns in America. Bring 189 00:14:17,040 --> 00:14:21,280 Speaker 1: our daughters, whom I miss so dearly. It seemed to 190 00:14:21,400 --> 00:14:25,320 Speaker 1: Joseph like Julie was going to come, but she missed 191 00:14:25,440 --> 00:14:29,600 Speaker 1: one ship to America and then another. She was in 192 00:14:29,840 --> 00:14:33,920 Speaker 1: ill health, she told my Art her doctors were advising 193 00:14:33,920 --> 00:14:37,200 Speaker 1: her not to make the crossing. It didn't help that 194 00:14:37,240 --> 00:14:40,440 Speaker 1: she was terrified of a wreck at sea, which my 195 00:14:40,640 --> 00:14:46,080 Speaker 1: art himself had literally just experienced over in America. It 196 00:14:46,320 --> 00:14:49,880 Speaker 1: slowly dawned on Joseph that he would not be seeing 197 00:14:49,920 --> 00:14:54,360 Speaker 1: his wife again anytime soon. Send me one of our daughters. 198 00:14:54,440 --> 00:14:57,160 Speaker 1: In that case, he told his wife, it's only fair 199 00:14:57,680 --> 00:15:00,760 Speaker 1: you keep one and send the other. Zenate the oldest, 200 00:15:00,960 --> 00:15:05,000 Speaker 1: she's the strongest. I am alone in liberty, he wrote 201 00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:09,600 Speaker 1: his wife. I am unhappy because I am isolated the 202 00:15:09,640 --> 00:15:13,120 Speaker 1: hope of your arrival, the establishing of a house, the 203 00:15:13,200 --> 00:15:18,440 Speaker 1: preparations to receive you have supported my existence. But today 204 00:15:18,520 --> 00:15:23,040 Speaker 1: this hope is extinguished. I am disgusted with my establishment, 205 00:15:23,160 --> 00:15:26,120 Speaker 1: even though it is beautiful, because I have not made 206 00:15:26,120 --> 00:15:31,920 Speaker 1: it for myself alone. Joseph was genuinely sorrow struck to 207 00:15:31,920 --> 00:15:35,240 Speaker 1: be away from his family, but then again, he was 208 00:15:35,320 --> 00:15:41,239 Speaker 1: also the ever charming Joseph Bonaparte, European sophisticate and seducer. 209 00:15:42,040 --> 00:15:46,360 Speaker 1: Those tunnels he'd built under Point Breeze, maybe he'd plan 210 00:15:46,520 --> 00:15:48,960 Speaker 1: to use them to escape the British if they ever 211 00:15:49,040 --> 00:15:52,560 Speaker 1: came for him in the case of an emergency, Or 212 00:15:52,720 --> 00:15:56,520 Speaker 1: maybe he just wanted to ferry his mistresses to and 213 00:15:56,720 --> 00:16:01,000 Speaker 1: from his bed. Because by eighteen eighteen he had met 214 00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:05,520 Speaker 1: a woman named Anna Savage in Philadelphia. Rumor had it 215 00:16:05,680 --> 00:16:09,840 Speaker 1: that she was a descendant of Pocahontas. It was not true, 216 00:16:10,200 --> 00:16:14,400 Speaker 1: although her great ancestor, Thomas Savage, had been hostage to 217 00:16:14,520 --> 00:16:20,560 Speaker 1: Poetan in the early sixteen hundreds. So Joseph, the French exile, 218 00:16:20,680 --> 00:16:25,480 Speaker 1: who barely spoke English, began a year's long affair with Anna, 219 00:16:25,960 --> 00:16:29,880 Speaker 1: descendant of one of the oldest English families in America. 220 00:16:30,480 --> 00:16:33,480 Speaker 1: They would have two daughters together, one of whom would 221 00:16:33,520 --> 00:16:37,720 Speaker 1: live to adulthood. When their first daughter was almost one 222 00:16:37,800 --> 00:16:41,480 Speaker 1: year old, Joseph rented a house in Trenton for Anna 223 00:16:41,800 --> 00:16:46,480 Speaker 1: and his little illegitimate American family. He was in his 224 00:16:46,680 --> 00:16:50,920 Speaker 1: carriage coming back from Trenton on the cold night of 225 00:16:51,040 --> 00:16:56,000 Speaker 1: January fourth, eighteen twenty, when he returned to discover his 226 00:16:56,280 --> 00:17:02,040 Speaker 1: beautiful estate in flames. His heart pounded as he rushed 227 00:17:02,040 --> 00:17:04,600 Speaker 1: toward the fire. His first thought may have been to 228 00:17:04,720 --> 00:17:07,880 Speaker 1: his wife back in France, and to his two daughters, 229 00:17:08,119 --> 00:17:10,840 Speaker 1: who would never see the home that he had built 230 00:17:11,160 --> 00:17:14,880 Speaker 1: in such ardent hopes that they would eventually join him here. 231 00:17:15,640 --> 00:17:19,159 Speaker 1: Or maybe he was thinking about his illegitimate family that 232 00:17:19,200 --> 00:17:22,840 Speaker 1: he had just left in Trenton, who were thankfully safe 233 00:17:23,240 --> 00:17:27,680 Speaker 1: as his estate burned. But if his first thoughts were 234 00:17:27,760 --> 00:17:32,600 Speaker 1: to his women and daughters, then his second was surely 235 00:17:32,760 --> 00:17:38,080 Speaker 1: to his possessions. His American neighbors could easily ransack the 236 00:17:38,160 --> 00:17:40,680 Speaker 1: house in the chaos of the flames and the heath. 237 00:17:41,119 --> 00:17:44,080 Speaker 1: They could have stolen his jewels, his art, his books, 238 00:17:44,320 --> 00:17:50,320 Speaker 1: his gold medals, his letters to and from his brother Napoleon. Instead, 239 00:17:51,000 --> 00:17:56,760 Speaker 1: Joseph's neighbors in Bordentown endeared themselves to him forever. They 240 00:17:56,920 --> 00:18:02,600 Speaker 1: formed an impromptu brigade to put ted his possessions. As 241 00:18:02,640 --> 00:18:07,919 Speaker 1: the fire roared, Joseph's neighbors rescued almost all of his 242 00:18:08,040 --> 00:18:13,320 Speaker 1: valuable possessions and returned them to him. This almost certainly 243 00:18:13,359 --> 00:18:18,320 Speaker 1: included the famous painting of Napoleon crossing the Alps at 244 00:18:18,400 --> 00:18:22,800 Speaker 1: the Great Saint Bernard by Jacques Louis d vide Listeners. 245 00:18:22,920 --> 00:18:26,199 Speaker 1: Look it up, just google it and you'll surely recognize it. 246 00:18:27,200 --> 00:18:31,399 Speaker 1: After the fire, Joseph wrote a letter that was published 247 00:18:31,440 --> 00:18:35,960 Speaker 1: in newspapers across the United States. His letter expressed his 248 00:18:36,160 --> 00:18:41,920 Speaker 1: gratitude toward those upright Americans, the happiest people he'd ever known. 249 00:18:42,640 --> 00:18:46,800 Speaker 1: Of course, people are people. Some of those very Americans 250 00:18:46,840 --> 00:18:49,920 Speaker 1: were offended that he had even thought that they might 251 00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:54,760 Speaker 1: be thieves in the first place. Still, probably encouraged by 252 00:18:54,800 --> 00:18:58,800 Speaker 1: the goodness of his neighbors in New Jersey, Joseph didn't 253 00:18:58,840 --> 00:19:02,920 Speaker 1: give up on Point Breeze after the fire. He started 254 00:19:03,080 --> 00:19:08,159 Speaker 1: rebuilding almost immediately. It was later that same year that 255 00:19:08,320 --> 00:19:13,280 Speaker 1: Joseph finally got his long awaited reward. His daughter was 256 00:19:13,320 --> 00:19:18,200 Speaker 1: coming to America at last, But it wasn't Zenaide. The 257 00:19:18,320 --> 00:19:21,720 Speaker 1: older daughter whom Joseph had sent for It was his 258 00:19:21,880 --> 00:19:26,040 Speaker 1: younger daughter, Charlotte. She had been only twelve years old 259 00:19:26,320 --> 00:19:30,399 Speaker 1: when Joseph left France. Six and a half years later, 260 00:19:30,760 --> 00:19:33,919 Speaker 1: when he finally saw her again in America, she was 261 00:19:34,080 --> 00:19:37,840 Speaker 1: nineteen years old and a firecracker, right in the artistic 262 00:19:37,920 --> 00:19:42,320 Speaker 1: and romantic mold of her father. Princess Charlotte fell in 263 00:19:42,359 --> 00:19:45,560 Speaker 1: love with the captain of her ship to America, and 264 00:19:45,600 --> 00:19:50,119 Speaker 1: then she worked as a painter. Joseph was overjoyed to 265 00:19:50,119 --> 00:19:54,080 Speaker 1: see his younger daughter again. The following year, her older sister, 266 00:19:54,240 --> 00:19:59,600 Speaker 1: Zanade joined her, along with Zanede's husband, Charles Lucienne, and 267 00:20:00,040 --> 00:20:04,520 Speaker 1: Joseph had almost his whole family in America. He even 268 00:20:04,600 --> 00:20:07,639 Speaker 1: had a new mistress at this point, Emil Lacosse, who 269 00:20:07,680 --> 00:20:12,399 Speaker 1: would wind up having twins, but his wife Julie would 270 00:20:12,440 --> 00:20:16,520 Speaker 1: still not come and the fullness of his family was 271 00:20:16,720 --> 00:20:21,640 Speaker 1: short lived. Charlotte sailed back to Europe in eighteen twenty four, 272 00:20:21,880 --> 00:20:25,520 Speaker 1: never to return to America. Zenaide followed her back to 273 00:20:25,560 --> 00:20:29,479 Speaker 1: Europe a few years later. After that, there was less 274 00:20:29,560 --> 00:20:34,960 Speaker 1: and less for Joseph in America. His former mistresses kept 275 00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:38,000 Speaker 1: asking for money and support if you can imagine that 276 00:20:38,280 --> 00:20:43,240 Speaker 1: for his illegitimate children. He had financial troubles. He'd kept 277 00:20:43,320 --> 00:20:47,480 Speaker 1: writing to his wife all those years, and now alone again, 278 00:20:47,640 --> 00:20:51,960 Speaker 1: without the family he considered truly his own. The years 279 00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:57,359 Speaker 1: passed in ever greater loneliness. Hosting the Marquis de Lafayette, 280 00:20:57,400 --> 00:21:02,040 Speaker 1: the famed Frenchman of the American Revolution, didn't help. Joseph 281 00:21:02,160 --> 00:21:06,959 Speaker 1: longed for home for his family, So at last, in 282 00:21:07,040 --> 00:21:12,160 Speaker 1: eighteen thirty six, he said goodbye to his fabulous, once burned, 283 00:21:12,320 --> 00:21:16,439 Speaker 1: now rebuilt Point Breeze. He gave away much of his 284 00:21:16,640 --> 00:21:20,600 Speaker 1: art and treasures to the American neighbors who had helped 285 00:21:20,680 --> 00:21:24,879 Speaker 1: him so much back during the fire, and finally he 286 00:21:25,040 --> 00:21:33,320 Speaker 1: set sail away from America for good. Joseph hoped that 287 00:21:33,400 --> 00:21:36,720 Speaker 1: he would ultimately be allowed to travel back to France 288 00:21:36,800 --> 00:21:40,800 Speaker 1: to see his wife. After all, by this point, Napoleon 289 00:21:40,920 --> 00:21:45,480 Speaker 1: had been dead for fifteen years. Joseph was an old 290 00:21:45,600 --> 00:21:49,719 Speaker 1: man now, and he hoped France would consider the threat 291 00:21:49,800 --> 00:21:53,320 Speaker 1: of the Bonapartes past. But it was not to be. 292 00:21:54,200 --> 00:21:58,879 Speaker 1: France remained closed to the older brother of Napoleon. So 293 00:21:59,200 --> 00:22:03,080 Speaker 1: Joseph went to England, and it was there in eighteen 294 00:22:03,200 --> 00:22:07,640 Speaker 1: thirty nine that Joseph received the worst news of his life. 295 00:22:07,680 --> 00:22:12,040 Speaker 1: His beloved daughter Charlotte had died in Italy at thirty 296 00:22:12,160 --> 00:22:16,200 Speaker 1: six years old. One year later, perhaps as a result 297 00:22:16,280 --> 00:22:20,400 Speaker 1: of age and perhaps of the immense sorrow of losing 298 00:22:20,640 --> 00:22:24,920 Speaker 1: his brilliant younger daughter, Joseph had a stroke in London 299 00:22:25,320 --> 00:22:29,400 Speaker 1: which left him paralyzed on his right side, and one 300 00:22:29,520 --> 00:22:33,760 Speaker 1: year after that, in eighteen forty one, he left England 301 00:22:33,840 --> 00:22:37,600 Speaker 1: for a journey to Florence. At this point he was 302 00:22:37,640 --> 00:22:41,879 Speaker 1: a seventy three year old man, infirm and hunched, and 303 00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:44,960 Speaker 1: he looked up at a figure he had not seen 304 00:22:45,080 --> 00:22:48,359 Speaker 1: since he was a young, charming forty seven year old. 305 00:22:49,080 --> 00:22:53,399 Speaker 1: There walking toward him in Italy was his wife, Julie. 306 00:22:53,960 --> 00:22:58,879 Speaker 1: After twenty six years, the spouses were reunited at last. 307 00:23:00,040 --> 00:23:03,080 Speaker 1: It's impossible to know what they each felt upon seeing 308 00:23:03,119 --> 00:23:06,440 Speaker 1: each other again after a gap of a quarter century. 309 00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:11,280 Speaker 1: They had exchanged letters all these years. Maybe Julie knew 310 00:23:11,480 --> 00:23:15,640 Speaker 1: and simply bore the fact of Joseph's many extramarital affairs 311 00:23:15,680 --> 00:23:20,600 Speaker 1: and illegitimate children. Maybe Joseph felt embarrassed at the immensity 312 00:23:20,640 --> 00:23:25,160 Speaker 1: of his physical decline, or maybe against all odds, they 313 00:23:25,200 --> 00:23:30,159 Speaker 1: simply felt an immense continued love based in the remembrance 314 00:23:30,160 --> 00:23:34,040 Speaker 1: of their time together as a young married couple, way 315 00:23:34,119 --> 00:23:38,280 Speaker 1: back before Napoleon was ever Emperor of France, before it 316 00:23:38,400 --> 00:23:41,920 Speaker 1: was a scourge to hold the last name Bonaparte on 317 00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:46,639 Speaker 1: the continent. Joseph's health had been in decline for a 318 00:23:46,720 --> 00:23:50,800 Speaker 1: long time by the time of the couple's reunion. It 319 00:23:50,880 --> 00:23:55,000 Speaker 1: wasn't long before he had a second stroke. Julie stuck 320 00:23:55,040 --> 00:23:59,600 Speaker 1: by him the whole time. As Joseph sickened. They stayed together, 321 00:24:00,680 --> 00:24:05,120 Speaker 1: and on July twenty eighth, eighteen forty four, Joseph Bonaparte 322 00:24:05,160 --> 00:24:09,040 Speaker 1: lay in his wife's arms and breathed his last. At 323 00:24:09,040 --> 00:24:12,480 Speaker 1: the tail end of their fifty year marriage, they were 324 00:24:12,520 --> 00:24:18,200 Speaker 1: reunited again. For only three Joseph Bonaparte had seen his wife, 325 00:24:18,240 --> 00:24:22,320 Speaker 1: but he would never see his beloved France again. But 326 00:24:22,440 --> 00:24:26,720 Speaker 1: his remains did come to their final resting place in Paris. 327 00:24:27,320 --> 00:24:36,080 Speaker 1: He was interred eventually near his brother Napoleon. That's the 328 00:24:36,119 --> 00:24:39,679 Speaker 1: story of Napoleon's brother Joseph Bonaparte, who wound up living 329 00:24:39,760 --> 00:24:43,440 Speaker 1: in New Jersey, but stick around after a brief sponsor 330 00:24:43,520 --> 00:24:46,880 Speaker 1: break to hear more about what happened to his massive 331 00:24:47,119 --> 00:24:58,520 Speaker 1: estate Point Breeze. As for Joseph's magnificent estate Point Breeze, 332 00:24:58,840 --> 00:25:02,880 Speaker 1: a Catholic mission called the Society of the Divine World 333 00:25:03,359 --> 00:25:07,080 Speaker 1: bought the property in nineteen forty one and held it 334 00:25:07,119 --> 00:25:10,879 Speaker 1: for seventy years. In twenty twenty one, at last, a 335 00:25:11,040 --> 00:25:15,399 Speaker 1: land preservation trust worked with both the state and the 336 00:25:15,440 --> 00:25:18,840 Speaker 1: town of Bordentown to buy the property and make it 337 00:25:18,920 --> 00:25:24,399 Speaker 1: open to the public. The Bordentown Historical Society website says 338 00:25:24,440 --> 00:25:28,280 Speaker 1: that the Joseph Bonaparte exhibit is open at least two 339 00:25:28,400 --> 00:25:31,760 Speaker 1: saturdays per month, and that in it you can see 340 00:25:31,800 --> 00:25:35,399 Speaker 1: a lock of Joseph's hair. If you find yourself on 341 00:25:35,520 --> 00:25:39,040 Speaker 1: exit seven of the New Jersey Turnpike, try and go, 342 00:25:39,200 --> 00:25:43,280 Speaker 1: and please report back. And if you feel some sorrow 343 00:25:43,480 --> 00:25:47,119 Speaker 1: for the exiled King of Naples in Spain, waiting in 344 00:25:47,200 --> 00:25:50,480 Speaker 1: vain for his wife and never to return to France, 345 00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:54,399 Speaker 1: well you might be in good company. Joseph's daughters in 346 00:25:54,480 --> 00:25:57,679 Speaker 1: Aid was married to a man named Charles Lucien, who 347 00:25:57,760 --> 00:26:03,359 Speaker 1: became a famous early ornithologists. Charles Lucien named one bird 348 00:26:03,400 --> 00:26:08,639 Speaker 1: species after his wife. That species is called the Zeneida Macrura. 349 00:26:09,240 --> 00:26:20,439 Speaker 1: We know it better as the Mourning Dove. Noble Blood 350 00:26:20,560 --> 00:26:24,360 Speaker 1: is a production of iHeart Radio and Grimm and Mild 351 00:26:24,400 --> 00:26:28,840 Speaker 1: from Aaron Mankey. Noble Blood is hosted by me Danish Forts, 352 00:26:29,240 --> 00:26:34,119 Speaker 1: with additional writing and researching by Hannah Johnston, Hannah Zewick, 353 00:26:34,520 --> 00:26:39,399 Speaker 1: Courtney Sender, Julia Milani, and Armand Cassam. The show is 354 00:26:39,560 --> 00:26:44,119 Speaker 1: edited and produced by Noemy Griffin and rema Ill Kaali, 355 00:26:44,440 --> 00:26:49,560 Speaker 1: with supervising producer Josh Thain and executive producers Aaron Mankey, 356 00:26:49,720 --> 00:26:54,600 Speaker 1: Alex Williams and Matt Frederick. Four more podcasts from iHeartRadio. 357 00:26:55,000 --> 00:26:59,480 Speaker 1: Visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 358 00:26:59,520 --> 00:27:00,560 Speaker 1: to your favorite ches.