[Archive] The Papers of Benjamin Toquet, a Civil War Musician with the 23rd Connecticut Infantry; and of His Father Louis, French Tutor at a Female Academy in Virginia and Manhattan Jeweler

A family archive of letters and personal papers in English and French, documenting the first two generations of the Toquet family in America. The collection includes two letters from the 1820s written by a young woman to Louis Toquet, in which she gives accounts of dramatic events at a female academy in Petersburgh; and an 1845 affidavit transcribed by Roger S. Baldwin (celebrated today for his defense of the African prisoners in the Amistad case). Also included are several Civil War letters by Benjamin Toquet, all written in French, some of which include accounts of his wartime service at New Orleans in 1863. The family eventually settled at Westport, Connecticut. Toquet Hall, originally built as an opera house by a son of the third generation, still stands in downtown Westport. The first part of the collection documents the life of Louis Toquet, the Paris-born patriarch of the family. He first went to Petersburg, Virginia in the early 1820s to teach French at a private female academy and served as tutor to the daughters of the local family with whom he resided. In 1823 he left for New York City, where he established himself as a jeweler on Pearl Street. In 1829 he married Hannah St. John from New Canaan, Connecticut and the couple eventually settled at Westport. The archive includes three letters written to Louis after his departure from Petersburg by the father (Johnathan Smith) and daughter (E.C. Smith) with whom he had lodged; together with about 12 other associated letters and documents dating from about 1820-49. Here for example is an excerpt from the second of two letters by Smith’s daughter: "… After breakfast I went into the Academy. The girls related several disagreeable accidents that took place yesterday – two ladies rode out in a gig, the horse took fright, they were thrown out, one of them almost killed, the other much hurt. Two gentlemen who were also riding out in a jersey-wagon were thrown out, and the life of one is despaired of … The girls also reported that the influenza [is at the school] … / … In the evening a young Dr. came to take tea with us. No antiquated bean of the 11th Century could have been more stiff, precise, and formal than he was. Sat in the room with his gloves on – tapped his boot gracefully, to show the elegance of his cane … sought every moment that he thought no one perceived him, to adjust his hair – appeared very much afraid that one rogue lock would tumble over the other and not [make] his effeminate face appear to the best advantage … Affectation – vanity – how disgusting in the masculine gender! – leave it for the ladies – His manners were so surfeiting that I would not on any account have been compelled to have spent the evening with him. I left him with the girls …" The second part of the collection documents Louis Toquet’s son Benjamin, who was born in New York in 1834 and raised bilingual in Paris and Westport. He served as a Musician with the 23rd Connecticut Infantry, (Co. I). The regiment was attached to the defenses of New Orleans and saw action in 1863 at Berwick (June 1), La Fourche Crossing, Bayou Boeuf, and Brashear City (June 20-23). Included from the Civil War period is a manuscript copy of the subversive French song: "Les deux Gendarmes," and 19 holograph letters written in French by Benjamin, including one posted from Brashear City in June, 1863. Also notable is an 1845 manuscript copy of an affidavit transcribed and signed by Connecticut Governor Roger S. Baldwin, who is best known today for his defense of the African prisoners in the Amistad case (Matthew McConaughey portrayed Baldwin in the 1997 movie *Amistad*). Both parts of the archive include various estate documents and legal agreements, and there is a third and final part consisting of miscellaneous ledger documents and receipts. Interspersed throughout the archive are several sheets with partial areas of damage to the sheet edges and folds (with loss of an occasional word or two at the fold or edge); else.…