Wednesday, September 16, 2020

Belgium to France - 1845

This is the first of a series of posts that will highlight items from my collection that were sent from Belgium to France.

Below is a folder letter from Brussels (Bruxelles), Belgium to Bordeaux, France - December of 1845.  

At this point in time, it was common to simply fold up a piece of paper or two and address it.  Sometimes items were sealed with wax, sometimes they were not.  Most mail that has survived from this time period comes from either business correspondences or from correspondences between those with more prominence and wealth.


How It Got There
 
The markings on this cover are as follows:
Bruxelles Dec 11, 1845
Belg Valenciennes Dec 13 (in red)
B.3.R. (in green)
Bordeaux Dec 15, 1845 (verso)
Bordeaux Dec 16, 1845 (verso)
"14" decimes due at Bordeaux (the pen marking that looks a bit like "1n"

I am a little surprised by the two day transit from Bruxelles to Valenciennes since the rail line from Bruxelles to Mouscron should have been completed by this time. But, when I consider that the Valenciennes marking was likely the departure marking when it was placed in a coach in France for continued travel, it seems about right.  I suspect some of the rail line to Paris was completed at this time, but I am not certain how much of it would have been used for this item.  Still the transit period is fairly quick despite the absence of rail on much of this route.

How Much Did It Cost to Mail?

This letter was sent unpaid from Bruxelles where 14 decimes (140 centimes) were due on delivery for the privilege of receiving this letter.

The postage was comprised of two parts:

Belgian postage: 4 decimes 

On January 10, 1831, the powers of Europe ratified Belgium’s declaration of independence, but the postal agreement operating between France and Belgium was essentially based on the 1828 agreement with the Netherlands of which Belgium had been a part.  There were three distances (rayons) in Belgium with the third rayon requiring the highest rate of 4 decimes.  

French postage: 10 decimes

French domestic rates were based on distance and weight.  The distance would be from the border with Belgium (roughly Valenciennes) to Bordeaux (nearly 800 km).  

The internal French postage rate for 7.5 grams established in January of 1828 was 1 franc (100 centimes) for internal mail that traveled 750 to 900 km.  

Postal Markings for postage calculation
B.3.R.
      Belgium 3rd Rayon
rate = 40 centimes / 10 grams
           for 60 - 100 km

French Postage
rate = 1 franc / 7.5 grams
           for 750-900 km

The effective period for this agreement governing letter mail from Belgium to France was Jan 10, 1831 to Sep 30, 1849

Carrier Delivery?

Of note is the street address: rue Plantey, No. 11 and the pencil "No. 11" at the top left.  This seems to indicate carrier delivery of the mail to that address as there would be no other reason to include a street address on the letter.  

 Map is portion of a 1905 Brockhaus Konversations city map of Bordeaux.

The streets Boidy, Plantey and St Esprit were all widened and turned into Cours de la Martinique in the late 1890s to early 1900s.  Many of the current buildings on this route were put up in the early 1900s and the route was opened to improve access to the Port of La Lune in 1907.  This information is taken from this document (in French).  

It stands to reason, then, that the location of this delivery was likely destroyed during this period for the new development.

Letter Contents

This appears to be a letter between brother and sister with the family name Vigneau.  The handwriting is remarkably clean. 


Below is an attempt at translating the first portion of the letter.  It appears to be largely an attempt to get news and gossip about people the writer knows in Bordeaux.

"I wrote to Chatelie, and received a letter from him. He is doing well and gives you a thousand compliments. He is preparing to come around the month of January. I think I will do the work for him. Tell me, my dear sister, what the chronicle says about me when I left Bordeaux. Are you still on good terms with dear Marguerite? Finally, do you live together taking the long winter evenings?


Does Basterre always come to ?? talk about his decoration does he always make the little ??? that Aimee is counterfeit? And is Pechru more cheerful? These are things I want to have knowledge of....
"

Who were the Vigneau's?

It is possible that these people are descendants of Gabriel de Vigneau appears to be on record as having established Vigneau de Bommes (Bommes is SSE of Bordeaux) and the estate apparently changed hands in 1834 to Madame de Rayne.  It does make sense that this letter was sent between members of a family with means of some sort and it is possible that some searching could turn up more information.

Open Questions:

  • Perhaps I will complete translation at some point?
  • While I assume carrier delivery in Bordeaux at this time, I do not know for a fact it was provided or how it was provided.
  • It seems likely that I could track down routes and the status of rail travel for this date period if I wanted.  
  • Did the Chronicle actually document the writer leaving Bordeaux?

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