The Renvoyé Family / La famille renvoyé

Family Relations

In card #9, "Bonne Année," Pasquier Renvoyé bids hello and happy new year to his brother (Charles Renvoyé) and sister(-in-law), and their children, or Pasquier's "little niece and little nephew". 

In card #8, "À Pâcques je vends mes oeufs," Marie Louise Raphael writes to Charles Renvoyé expressing sentiments of friendship and asks him to say hello for her to her aunt-- who we assume may live with, or be part of, the Renvoyés, as well as to Jeanne, potentially another member of the Renvoyé family. 

Card #7, "Votre bébé," does not have a clear sender but the recipient is once again Charles Renvoyé, head of the Renvoyé family. The message is short, expressing New Year's greetings, and the handwritting is strangely youthful and clumsy, which is unlike the handwriting of all the other cards. It is likely that this may written by the child of a relative or family friend of the Renvoyés. 

Card #5, "Leur seul et vrai bonheur" from Mme. Tixier to Madame Renvoyé, wife of Charles Renvoyé. Her message reveals more about the relationship between their families as well as some members of the Renvoyé family -- including the aforementioned Jeanne, who we now know is a mother of two little daughtors:

 "« I went to see your / mother in law who told me that Jeanne will not leave tomorrow since two of her little daughters must / leave for paris around this Saturday / so they will bring you to / your place, it would be better as such / They will write to you befor leaving / wishing good health to you and your baby / say hello to your husband Mme. [C/Tixier ?]"

Through this message, we are also made aware that Mme. Renvoyé has recently had, or will soon have, a baby. With this in mind, we could reasonably ask whether the sender of postcard #7, "Votre bébé", was also aware of the new addition to the Renvoyé family. Could that postcard have been written by one of Jeanne's daughtors? 

Potential Death of Charles Renvoyé

The September 2nd, 1927 issue of L'Est républicain (kiosque lorrain), a daily newspaper based on Nancy, announces the tragic suicide of a certain Charles Renvoyé at the age of 50. This may, of course, be a different person, as Nancy is not close to Paris, which was our Charles Renvoyés residence in 1907.However, the newspaper entry states that this Charles Renvoyé died in Troyes, France -- halfway between Paris and Nancy, and therefore not that far from Paris, after all.

In speculating whether this could indeed be the same person, it is interesting to note that if C.R. was 50 in 1927, then he would be 30 years old in 1907 (and 32 in 1909) -- the dates of the postcards -- which is a socially and biologically apte age to father children at the time, and which was when his wife was bearing children, as we read in the postcard messages.

It reads, at the bottom under "Nouvelles Brèves":

"Troyes, 1st of September -- In a crisis of insanity, Charles Renvoyé, aged 50 years, shoemaker, slit his throat with a cutting knife." (Translated to English)