A tribute to my late mother. The story of her family as she wrote it verbatim in her later years.
The memory of the TRICHOT family
Huguette 1948
Paulo 1948
Huguette AUDOUY born TRICHOT decided one fine morning of January 19, 2004, at the age of 77, to tell us her family memories.
1800
François TRICHOT was born in 1800 in Barjac was a café owner in 1856 in the same town of Barjac in the Gard and lived with his wife Marie VIGNON.
My grandfather Prosper Léopold TRICHOT was born on February 16, 1856 in Barjac while his father was 56 years old and his mother was 40; he was probably the last of the children because my father Henri was still talking about his uncles left in South America.
But let's go back to François Trichot, café owner in Barjac and Mayor of the country and talk politics or rather History of France.
Political deportees
Napoleon III was the first President of the 2nd Republic and after making a coup, became the Emperor Napoleon III in December 1852.
François Trichot was Republican and against the values of Napoleon III. He had stood out as Mayor against the Emperor's regime.
He was therefore deported politically with his wife and children around 1860 when he was sent to Sétif. They were given land to cultivate (2 hectares to repay on their next harvest). Thus an entire village was created by deportees like SILLEGUE 10-15 km from St ARNAUD. François Trichot and his family obtained "his property" to defend and prosper in Sillègue and he opened a café again that later his son, Leopold took over.
An anecdote that always made him laugh at the age of 94 and that he told his grandson, my father: his wife had hidden the priest in an empty barrel while the friends of François and him wanted to beat him up...
François Trichot was assassinated at age 94 by accomplices of his Arab servant he kept him on the farm. My father was then 6 years old and remembered that old white-haired gentleman with whom he used to play.
A story of "Colons"
Prosper Leopold TRICHOT who has always been called Leopold was raised with difficulty at that time in Sillègue. But over time, the friendly relations that have developed, the years of work have transformed the Trichot family into true "settlers". Leopold married at age 30 in 1886 with a young lady CHAMBON Claire who was then 19 years old. They had a son François Léopold who died at 20 months old on October 5, 1888 and a second son, my father, Casimir Henri born on December 13, 1889. His father was 34 years old and his mother 21. She died while my father was 2 years old and she was buried in St Arnaud.
My father's life in a difficult time...
My father, who was called Henri, was raised by his father Leopold and an aunt (I think an older sister of my grandfather since the property belonged to him).
Leopold Trichot died November 4, 1913 in Sillègue at the age of 58, leaving his son Henry and aunt heirs of property and café.
My father Henri TRICHOT married in 1910 in Sillègue with Alice Rosine VASQUEZ and had two daughters Henriette born in 1911 in Sillègue and Isabelle born February 13, 1913 in Sillègue. He left for the war of 1914-1918 leaving his two little daughters to his aunt. He was first mobilized in Monastir in Tunisia and Dardanelle the 3rd regiment of Zouaves where he was wounded in the head (shrapnel - he had a small piece in the lobe of his right ear).
While he was in the East from 1915-1917 then in Algeria and Morocco until March 13, 1919, his aunt had sold the property and café to a Sillègue owner. I suppose she had to, because she had no resources, no one to look after the farm. Henri's wife and two children to feed ...
The aunt died in 1917 and Alice Vasquez the young mother died of the Spanish flu, which in 1918 killed thousands in both France and Algeria.
When he was demobilized in 1919, my father Henri, aged 30, discovered that he had lost everything: he no longer had a wife, a farm, or a café. His two little daughters had been collected by friends in St Arnaud, they were 6 and 8 years old.
He sued to try to recover what he considered his property. He lost the lawsuit in Constantine, he won it in Algiers and finally lost it in Paris as a last resort. All that remained for him was to go and work with others, with the only job available being farmer and
blacksmith which he had learned with one of his workmen.
I think that until 1924 he worked with his father's friends while his daughters were staying with friends.
In 1924, he met my mother Lucie DUFRENE in St Arnaud and married her despite the opposition of the Dufrene family. They did not want a farm hand.
Who was Lucie DUFRENE?
His father Charles Raymond DUFRENE born April 8, 1850 in Vaison la Romaine of Dufrene Joseph 51 years farmer and Marie GELY his wife of 37 years.
At 20, Charles draws a "wrong number" that designates him to do his military service (7 years at the time) to SEDAN and takes part in the war against Germany. He deserted and finds himself in Paris after escaping from Sedan by feet. After judgment, it was sent in 1871 to Algeria to finish his military service where he found himself to monitor and protect the workers who build the railway line "Algiers - Constantine".
Corsica arrives in the Trichot family
In the vicinity of Constantine, there was a farm "St Marie" in Ain M'lila which belonged to Madame Marie POLI Corsican of origin and sister or sister-in-law of the Tomazzoli.
François TOMAZZOLI 28 years old June 3, 1860 was a farmer owner at the VALLEY OF MEZZANA department of Ajaccio with his wife Marie GIANNE.
Both died in 1873 leaving two girls. One my grandmother Marie Françoise TOMAZZOLI born June 3, 1860 in Mezzana and her younger sister Toussainte, 2 or 3 years younger. Which explains why they were in Algeria collected by their aunt Marie POLI and lived with her on the farm "St Marie" in Ain M'lila.
It is while passing there, that Charles DUFRENE met Francoise TOMAZZOLI after the end of his military service. He must have secured a job in the Algerian railways. They were married around 1880 at the "St Marie" farm because all the children were born in Ain M'lila.
- Marie Jeanne Joséphine born 11/12/1884
- Emile born in 1889 died in 1910 during his military service in Constantine
- Jane born on the 21/02/1890 died on 2/02/1951
- Lucie born on 19/12/1895 died on 24/07/1976
- Toussaint born on 7/10/1897 died in 1921
It was after the birth of Toussainte that Charles and Françoise had their farm in BEHAGLE where all spent their youth and got married.
Marie became Madame QUEREUIL, had a son Emile born on 1/11/1913 in Behagle who died on 5/8/1977 in Spain (electrocuted by his television which he tried to fix still wet from a shower!). Emile's father died in 1915 in Guelma.
Marie remarried on 19/11/1929 in Setif with Louis DUTTO and it is under this name that we all knew "Tata Marie" who died on 23/05/1983 (she was 99).
Jane had to marry in 1920 in Setif with William THIBAUDIER engineer and aviator in 1914-1918. A very intelligent man, because he invented many things including agricultural machinery. But not rich enough to protect his patents that were "stolen" by Americans, among others the combine harvester.
In 1951 he was at the Foire de Paris to present another invention but it did not sell.
Jane and William had three children
- Raoul born 31/12/1921 in BOUIRA who died on 28/12/1999
- Christiane born 25/5/1924 at DJIDJELLI
- Paulette born on 5/08/1927 died on 8/02/2000
My mother Lucie ... the tomboy!
The third daughter Lucie, my mother met my father in 1924 in St Arnaud going shopping with his horseback cabriolet. Of the four girls, my mother was the tomboy, no way for her to embroider or play the piano like her sisters. It was she who went on horseback to watch the "kames" (the Arab name of the agricultural laborers in Constantine) in the fields. She had a strong character and it probably was not easy every day for these poor "kames" but she spoke Arabic and had always lived on the farm so she knew them well.
Then aged 29 and despite the opposition of her mother and sisters, she married my father Henri TRICHOT December 6, 1924 in BEHAGLE. I do not know if it was a good deal for both of them !!!!
He was "poor" and jealous like a tiger and she had never learned to count.
The two girls Isabelle, known as "Bébelle", lived with them and Henriette was a boarder at the college. I remember that Bébelle told me that in 15 days, Lucie had spent the "pay" of the month of Henry. This did not prevent them from having 7 children arrive in rapid succession:
- Huguette Claire Françoise born on 26/08/1926 (and yes it's me!)
- Charlette born on 22/12/1927 died 16/08/1928
- Paul Raymond born on 18/03/1929 died on 5/01/1986
- Georges Maurice born on 12/05/1931 died 30/08/1932
- Simone born on 10/03/1933 died on 2/10/1934
- Henri, Lucien, Fernand born on the 16/03/1935
- Guy, Louis, Marcel born on the 9/12/1937
Phew! Some of us survived the heat during their infancy.
For the life of Henri and Lucie, we must go back to 1924 and their marriage.
My father was not well regarded or accepted in the DUFRENE family. Especially Aunt Marie widowed at the time, who wanted Lucie to remain single to solve the problem of my grandmother's inheritance.
He went away to find work away from Behagle and St Arnaud.
The inheritance.
When my grandmother died on 14/10/1928 in Setif and thanks to the inheritance that my parents were able to receive, my father was able to rent a farm where Paul was born "Paulo" near the cliffs Oued Marsa.
Bebel remembered this beautiful farmhouse with lots of orange trees and a big house. There was also an automobile.
The crisis of 1929 ....
But unfortunately, luck was not there, there was the Wall Street crash on 24/10/1929 in the United States and it did not take long for bankruptcies and unemployment to arrive in France and in Algeria. Harvests were not sold in 1929 and 1930.
Henri had to return the farm, sell the car and all the little family left this time to the Department of Algiers.
He resumed his job as blacksmith at the "White Fathers" at Maison Carrée where Georges was born and died.
I can still hear the sound of the hammer on the anvil and I smell the burned horses' hooves. I was 6 years old.
The departure for BOUFARIK
After Georgeot's death, we went to Boufarik in 1932, on a farm where my father was a supervisor of Arab workers.
Then unemployment was so important that my father was looking for work all the time. I remember that he was leaving early in the morning on a bike to look for work in the farms in the area and after miles traveled, he came back with tears in his eyes. We lived in a shabby apartment in Boufarik.
But there was the miracle of his
"Certificat d'Étude" (Secondary School Certificate) and his success at his entrance exam in the Municipal Police of Boufarik. My father had a place to work and the whole family settled in the former graduate school (which later became a gym).
Meanwhile, our sister Henriette had married in Algiers with Mr. EXIGA in 1930. Bébelle went to live with them and kept their little boy Claude born in 1931.
They came to see us in Boufarik (30km from Algiers) and their visits were always a joy for Paulo and me because they spoiled us.
In October 1934, our little sister Simone died at the age of 20 months when I was 8 years old and of course we were all grieved. Our sorrow was partly dissipated by the arrival of Ritou a few months later (a big baby like my nephew Luc).
But in 1936, our 25-year-old sister Henriette died in 3 days of meningitis, leaving her 5-year-old boy.
The Popular Front of 1936
My father was going mad with so many losses. 1936, it was the popular front, strikes everywhere and my father, by his education, was not keen of the "popular front" ideas. He began to get in trouble with the Boufarik Town Hall and I think it was at that moment that he became a little less sober.
This situation caused arguments at home because my mother who had too much work at home was not a diplomat with him.
Bebel had come back to live with us after the death of her sister Henriette. She went to Algiers very often at her aunt Aurélie's (her mother's sister's) house. She met her cousin Louis Vasquez, who was a baker in Belcourt, a neighborhood in Algiers where Albert CAMUS lived. I knew his café owners friends the RIVIECCO whom he quotes in his latest unfinished book "the first man".
The bakery
During the year 1937 to 1938, it was a good time because Louis and Bébelle often came to see us with their van. They were married December 31, 1937 in Algiers, Guy-Guy was born December 9. Louis was his godfather and I was his godmother.
They often arrived in the evening after closing the bakery with a suitcase filled with unsold cakes (mounas), which pleased Paulo and me.
Alas, early in the year 1939, Louis was hospitalized in Algiers. Bebel who was expecting Alain came home in March because she could no longer take care of the bakery and the workers alone and pregnant.
My father was shuttling between Boufarik and the hospital and Louis died on May 14, 1939 and Alain was born on the 21st! For a while, my father did not say anything to Bebel. I took care of Alain at the age of 13, he was like my "first" child. Bébelle was forced to sell the bakery and look for work in Algiers. The war was declared in September 1939 and she found a job at Maison Carrée at A.I.A. - the Air Force - and Alain stayed at home with us. I have never seen a woman work so much at this time. Of course my mother was working, she was washing clothes in the laundry pool with her children at her side: Ritou sitting on a carpet because he was nice. Guy-guy a little bawdy it must be said, sitting on one of his knees, his foot on a stool.
I could not help my mother until I got home from school.
As for my father, he did not make things easier: he had jealousy fits because at the gym came young girls and boys to play basketball.
With the declaration of war, we had to leave this place that was our happiness - especially the summer where we enjoyed the gym apparatus and the showers.
Leaving school for work
We ended up at 21 rue Borely La Sapie in Boufarik - the house that most of you knew.
We changed houses, but the arguments at home were still there.
Paulo and I were struggling to cope with this and we had difficult years. Paulo left school at the age of 13 to be apprenticed to a mechanic. He still had short pants because in the war there were no clothes or shoes. His first long trousers of work, I made him in a sheet my mother's trousseau in rough canvas dyed navy blue.
In 1942, it was my turn to leave school and find a job. I started as a telephone operator in a Military Establishment.
In 1943, Paulo also returned to the ERGM * and did not leave it. He climbed the ladder that led him from apprentice to Team Leader.
* Establishment of General Reserves of the Material (military).
In 1946, my father returned to St Arnaud for the first and last time because he wanted to see his house, his village and his deads at the cemetery. He came back sick and after many scenes - which hurt me and Paulo - he died on February 21, 1947 of amoebic dysentery but mostly eaten up by alcoholism.
I was 20 years old at his funeral. There were five of us: Paulo and me, Raoul and Paulette, and Georges Maslard, a young man and friend of Raoul. Of course there was a lot of people from Boufarik who followed us but Mom and Bébelle stayed at home with the children Ritou 12 years old and Guy-guy 9 years old, Alain 7 years old.
Fortunately, Paulo, 18, and I, 21, were working at the ERGM. So we got organized with mom. She also worked as always but without being shouted at. The boys made their communion, Ritou in 47 and Guy-Guy in 49.
Our Sunday walk was the cemetery. Paulo and I had realized some time later that life had been too hard for our father.
The Terrible illness of Paulo
Two quiet years passed ... but on July 14, 1949 Paulo fell seriously ill. One day with his friends, he goes by bike to the sea in Douaouda Marine (15 km) by a big heat, he has too cold drinks and when he returns at night, he was not well. The next day a pleurisy was declared. At that time, penicillin was barely emerging. It was getting worse with terrible headaches and he had to be hospitalized in Elkettar, Algiers hospital where tuberculous meningitis was being treated. The first French to be saved from this disease thanks to streptomycin was treated in this hospital.
There was only one salary left, mine, since Paulo was in the hospital. So I had to find extra work to feed the family, buy the medicines that Paulo needed for his healing and to go see him. Mom went there on Thursday afternoons and me on Sunday afternoons.
So I worked on the packaging of oranges in the evening from 8 pm to 4 pm, Saturday all day and Sunday morning from 8 am to 12 pm. I took the 1300 train to Algiers to see Paulo.
In November of '49, I took my paid leave from the school and worked all month sorting oranges to double my salary. Paulo returned home after 3 months very weakened by his stay in the hospital and he was on sick leave until September 1950.
So I took my leave in 1950 but as the times were difficult, I went back to the oranges grooves where I worked a lot.
But I received a lot of love from my brothers, my sister and my mother. All my friends were kind to me, and in my working relationship the Colonel of the Establishment too, who allowed me to work, while I did not have the right to be a civil servant.
Some of my friends helped me sew evening dresses with Madame LLINARES sewing machine.
At the movie theatre "l'Empire"
To the delight of my little brothers, I found a place of cashier at the "Cinema Empire" near the house. At the end of my day, I left the office and I went to work from 8pm to 10:30 pm at the movie theatre during the week. also Saturday afternoons and evenings and Sunday mornings and evenings.
One of my brothers accompanied me in turn because I did not want to be alone in the street so late. To their great joy, since he could see the first part of the film. On Wednesday or Saturday night, they could see with me the big movie!
And it was also at the Cinema that I met Guy who was going to become my husband.
When Paulo went back to work after spending a month in a nursing home in Nice, everything became much better. Moreover, Ritou was 15 years old and he had become an apprentice carpenter. Guy-Guy was 12 ½ years old and he was in his Certificate year and I was hoping to get him to high school because he was working well.
1950
A century has passed and the "sons of settlers" that we were were poorer than some Arabs but owed nothing to anyone and worked to support their families.
We got married and had children in Boufarik,
Guy and I in December 1951 and our first children were born:
Jean-Paul, born on 28/12/1952 in Blida
Claude, born on 15/07/1954 in Blida and died on 16/02/2001 in Houx
Pierre-Guy, born 19/10/1957 in Laghouat
Paulo and Ginette were married in December 1953
Gérard, born on 3/02/1955 in Blida
Marie-Claire, born on 3/05/1956 in Blida
Annie Paule, born 3/06/1959 in Blida
Bernard, born 19/04/1963 in Châlons-Sur-Marne
Luc, born on 21/09/1965 Châlons-Sur-Marne
Guy and Josette married in Bobigny
Franck, born on 31/12/1964 in Paris
Ritou never married
1962, the Departure
12 years later, we left forever this beautiful country where there was no more French flag leaving behind our history of settlers.
We tried to make the metropolitan understand that we were twice French, once at birth and a second time because we had chosen to leave everything to return home in France the country of our grandparents.
Maurepas, my home port
Since then, more than 40 years have passed. A few years in Bobigny for our start in the mainland France and for 36 years in Maurepas where we settled in a house in 1968. This town has become my real home port.
The Trichot Map of France
The only difference is that there, the family was gathered on 30 km. Here, we form a spider web all over France:
- Maurepas (IdF) for us, Pierre-Guy and Anne-Marie and the children
- Chalons en Champagne for Ginette and Théo
- Grenoble for Gérard and Véronique and the children
- Reims for Marie-Claire and her children
- Valencia for Annie-Paule and her boys
- Paris for Bernard and Christelle and their daughter
- Gallardon for Luc and Isabelle and the boys
- Cannes for Ritou
- St Mard (IdF) for Guy-Guy and Pauline
- Bordeaux for Alain and Ghislaine
- Venable in Normandy for Franck and Isabelle and their daughters
- Holly for René (Eure & Loir)
- Jouy for Eric and Eléonore (Eure & Loir)
- Remirement in the Vosges for Bruno and Emilie and their twins
- And whoever is the farthest from all, Jean-Paul my eldest son on the island of Reunion more than 15,000 km from us!
- And finally the cousins Thibaudier in the Jura, Perpignan, Toulouse,
St Suzanne and Montpellier.
painted in Maurepas in 1983. Signed CHT (Claire Huguette Trichot)
