An Unmarried Mother and Nobody’s Son

« An entire week spent rummaging through your notebooks. I’m beginning to know your projects quite well. By the way, my predecessor had a greasy lead and your handwriting was heavy and sticky. Your great-great-great-grandmother Marie Louise BOURGEOIS was born in 1820 in the village of Saint-Inglevert in Pas-de-Calais. I understood that much, but where exactly in Pas-de-Calais? Near Calais, Arras, Boulogne-sur-Mer? »

— Near Boulogne-sur-Mer.

« There you are, that wasn’t so difficult. »

At the age of twenty-one, unmarried, she became pregnant and gave birth to a boy named Louis Félix. She must have known the father’s name, but he wanted neither her nor the child, so perhaps it was better left unsaid.

« Just say she let herself be charmed. »

You know, even in my time girls were told not to get too close to boys. But why? Mothers did not explain to their daughters that there was a point of no return, and that afterwards it could become difficult to say no. So you can imagine that in those days things were even more hidden.

Dishonor fell upon her and her family.

« Country people were not gentle, and I suppose the parish priest would have added his own comments — what a scandal! »

Tired of the suspicious looks from the villagers, she left for Calais where she found work as a flax spinner. Her little boy was raised by his grandparents but died at the age of two.

In Calais, Louise lived in the district near the sea, on the other side of the bridge. Saint-Pierre-lès-Calais kept expanding; people spoke only of lace, looms, and endless hours of work. Her own district was older; sunlight struggled to enter the houses and the streets were so narrow.

« You love your Calais — write an article about it! »

Eleven years later, still unmarried, she was charmed by a smooth talker who disappeared as soon as she gave in to his advances.

« Who says she consented? She may have been assaulted! »

She became pregnant again and gave birth to a boy she named Samuel Félix Louis BOURGEOIS, my great-grandfather, on September 21, 1852. She had taken refuge with her sister and brother-in-law, Noëlle and Jean-Baptiste BARBIER, in order to give birth.