In Search of Peter and Betsey

Peter Mollet and Betsey LePage had barely celebrated their first anniversary when it became apparent to Betsey that something was dreadfully wrong with Peter. Men like Peter were practical, focused, and, above all, sensible. However, lately Betsey worried that she no longer knew her distracted, and often aloof, bridegroom. Finally, Peter confided in Betsey.

Betsey tried to maintain her calm as the man she loved, and once trusted, confessed.

He said, “Betsey, I want a new start in an interesting and exciting place, one that would offer more opportunity for both of us.”

Betsey heard, “Betsey, I want you to leave the only place you have ever known and move with me to a foreign country where we will both try to learn the language.”

Eventually, after much improvement in Betsey’s hearing, Peter and Betsey left their homeland, family, and friends, never to return. They established a new life in a new country and kept in touch with home through letters. For Betsey, life in America would never be quite as wondrous as life in Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands.

Letters sent to Peter and Betsey tell a one-sided story of the families left behind and eager to stay in touch with their children. The earliest, written in Guernsey French, reveal many details about life in Guernsey in the 1830’s and include news from various family members and neighbors. Fortunately, much more is still to be learned about the Mollet and LePage families.

Pat, my mother-in-law, kept these family letters for years before giving them to my husband, Tim. As the keeper of the family jewels, Tim has carefully and lovingly catalogued the large collection of documents of which the letters are only a portion. Translators have labored over the Guernsey patois to provide understanding. After cataloguing, cross-referencing names and dates, and searching online ancestry sources, we are now ready for “a new start in an interesting and exciting place, one that would offer more opportunity” for research. On May 3rd, we are going to Guernsey.

Although we have never been to Guernsey, we have made many friends in the process of researching the letters and planning the trip. Jean Vidamour and Margaret Edwards, researchers at the Priaulx Library in Guernsey, provided valuable information about the families from their archives.

Ash and Tracey at Little Escapes on Jersey, a neighboring island, made our travel arrangements. Tracey, who sounds exactly like Eliza Doolittle, recommended Hotel Jerbourg which sits on a cliff and overlooks France.

Betty Gordon, writer for the Atlanta-Journal Constitution, recently wrote of her travels to the Channel Islands. I don’t know what possessed me, but I emailed Betty to tell her of our upcoming trip. I now know that Victor Hugo’s home is a 20-minute walk up a steep hill and that the post office will exchange money for no fee.

Betty’s wonderful story of the ginger cake will hopefully lead me to Sue’s Tea Garden on Sark, one of the smaller islands. Upon returning to Georgia, Betty wrote to Sue Guille requesting the recipe for ginger cake. For whatever reason, Sue never responded, so Betty was on her own to replicate the recipe. I am taking a copy of that story with me to give to Sue, believing that she will be delighted that Betty so enjoyed her ginger cake that she wrote a story about it.

Pat English, an old friend of Tim’s grandmother, Tillie, moved to Owego, NY from Guernsey years ago. Pat was the make-up artist who helped Tillie with her minstrel shows that performed throughout the area. More than likely, Pat was the one who made Tim believable as the front part of a horse in one show.

As luck would have it, Pat is also leaving for Guernsey on May 3rd. We have her brother’s phone number and an invitation to meet for drinks at St. Peter’s Port.

We are going to love Guernsey. How can we not? We are going to visit friends that we have yet to meet face to face but who are friends nevertheless.

Thank you Peter and Betsey! One can never have too many friends.