Skeleton in my French closet

My maternal great, great  French grandfather was a scoundrel who was briefly infamous throughout nineteeth century New Zealand. A book on him was published just a few months ago and it's a fascinating read. Here's what the publishers have to say, followed by my own comments.

The book summary from the publisher

A soldier and a bigamist, a family man and a fraudster, Etienne Jean Brocher led an extraordinary life in 19-century France, North Africa and New Zealand. Along the way he collected aliases, prison sentences, and enemies as he slipped from town to town, escaping debts and family duties. Ultimately, though, he faced the gallows in a double-murder trial that rocked New Zealand’s ‘dream society’.

Now his astonishing story – untold in book form – is revealed. Drawing on French military archives, family records, and newspaper reports from across colonial New Zealand, as well as Brocher’s own handwritten account, this absorbing biography untangles the complex trails Brocher left behind him in colonial towns and in the public imagination.

While he explores the complexities of Brocher’s character – including his shortcomings – Brian Stoddart lays bare the class prejudice and xenophobia that Brocher faced as an immigrant of ‘the wrong sort’ and raises serious questions over whether he received a fair trial. Dynamic and often surprising in its humour, this stunning biography makes a vital contribution to our understanding of how colonial New Zealand shaped its ideal society and what could happen when ‘outsiders’ didn’t fit the mould.

Available from Nile Publishing https://www.thenile.co.nz/books/brian-stoddart/outcast

I couldn’t resist buying a copy of this very detailed book on the life and times of my great-great grandparents. Once I got started it was hard to put down. It is extremely detailed about the double-murder investigations and trial in Wellington; going into the lives and careers of all relevant witnesses, suspects and each policeman involved. What particularly interested me though, was chapter two which goes into the life of Etienne Jean Brocher from his birth, dishonest dealings, growing infamy, travels around the world, service in the foreign legion, exploits in Akaroa, Timaru and Petone. There’s even a wee link to George Lucas’s Star Wars (I chuckled). Yes, he was a bad egg but at times I felt sorry for him. It’s possible he did not murder the old couple but simply took the blame in the end. Maybe he had just run out of steam trying to survive in a world that didn’t fit him. He was also his own worst enemy.

I often wonder where I get my 'adventurous spirit' and feeling of not fitting in to NZ culture. Could it be coming , in part, from this great, great grandfather? One of his brothers married a political activist in France.

The book does not paint colonial New Zealand in a good light from a social perspective. Narrow-minded, prejudiced, class-driven. Seeds of Tall Poppy and other unsavoury aspects of New Zealand were already flourishing in the 1880s. This was really interesting to me. Colonists came to NZ to escape the class system but brought it here with them into an enclosed environment where it spread everywhere and still operates today.

There are a couple of small errors in the book but I’ve already made these known to Brian who is a history professor living in Australia.

We knew he was a bad sort but Ancestry.com suggests (very recently, based on my DNA and other info) that Etienne fathered both of my great grandmothers, on my mother's side, via half sisters Julia (from Magdelaine) and Josephine (via Mary Ann). He certainly would have had access to Julia at Rue Grehan, Akaroa when he worked there as, although she was two years older than her half-sister Josephine she was rather ‘simple-minded’ and unable to look after herself. Proof? No, not yet but author Brian Stoddard is not surprised. Nor am I. I seem to have even more French DNA in my family than expected. It’s counter-productive to be bothered by skeletons in the closet, I just want the truth. Emily Libeau may have been Emily [Brocher]. And who fathered short-lived John? Etienne again?

Below are photos of his first wife Josephine with their first daughter Emma as a child in Akaroa. There are no photos of older half-sister Julie/Julia.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is Emma as an adult. She went on to marry Edward McNabb in Akaroa, NZ 

 

 

 

 

 

This final photo is of Louisa Victoire, Etienne and Josephine's second daughter who later went on to marry Mr Kingston (pictured with him) and later Mr Bunny. 

Ah those skeletons. DNA testing can be very useful as can very large genealogy databases such as Ancestry when trying to get to the bottom of things. I'm not currently a paid-up member so Etienne's proposed double involvement appears fuzzy but clear enough to make out.

Etienne abandoned my great, great grandmothers, had unsavoury adventures as detailed in the book and then created a new family in Wellington before being criminally convicted and hanged.