Suzanne Du Puis

(Suzanne Third from left back row)

Suzanne Du Puis

Suzanne Du Puis was born in Villers-Cotterêts on March 25, 1882 to Alphonese Emilie Du Puis and Angeline Hortense Blanche Nodot.  She married to Pol Censier and had one child – Jean Censier in 1908.

Pol Censier was born in 1876 in Reims, France and his wife Suzanne was born just 80 km away.  I can imagine my great grandparents visiting Paris since they were not considered poor and lived somewhat close to this historical city.  At age 34, Pol died of unknown causes.  Jean was almost 2 when his father died and doesn’t remember him very well.  Suzanne remarried to Raoul Benison and Jean always remembered him as “Papa” and remembers him as a father.  Both Pol and Raoul were chemists I was told that Suzanne lived in Paris with Jean and Raoul for a little while when Jean was young for Raoul’s job.

When Jean was 17 he wanted to come to America which would mean that Suzanne would be left alone.  Raoul had already died and I am sure it was difficult for Suzanne to part with her only son.  Suzanne only saw her son a couple of times when he came back for army responsibilities until she moved to America.

My mother told a very interesting story about Suzanne’s possessions during the war and what happened to them to me.  Suzanne was living alone during the war and the Germans took over the houses in her village.  She was forced to leave her house as well as her beautiful items and expensive furniture and china. The Germans destroyed all houses in that area as well as the possessions that was in the houses.  Because of the wonderful trinkets and things of values her house was spared.  The main reason for this was because, during the German invasion, they found a tiny pair of German scissors.  The Germans did not destroy any of her personal belongings because of the scissors and she was able to bring them over to America and we still have these pieces today.

Suzanne was brought to America after the war to stay with Jean and his family.  Jean wanted her to come so they could take care of her in her old age.  She came over on the Normandy in November 1946.  She learned to speak English while my mother (her grand daughter) was taught to speak French. 

When my mother came home one day from school one of the china cabinets had fallen over and Suanne and Jean’s wife were putting all of the broken pieces back together. She loved these pieces of China and still to this day, my mother has a lot of these pieces that were glued back together on that day.

Suzanne died of a heart attack on March 3, 1955 and my mother remembers this event still while she was only 8 years old.

Picture at Summer Lake house (Green pond NJ) (Pictured from Left to Right: Edith Durant, Denise Stewart (in arms), Suzanne Du Puis, Suzanne Censier, Roby Censier, Jean Censier (Back)

Jean Censier

Jean was born in Braine, Aisne, France on October 14, 1908.  He was born to Pol Censier Suzanne Du Puis.  He was an only child and moved to a lot of different areas as a child.  His father, Pol, died when Jean was almost 2 years old.  He did not remember much about him unfortunately but his mother remarried a few years later to Raoul and Jean remembers him for much of his childhood.

Jean was considered to be somewhat of a troublemaker when he was young.  He was a brave young man and had to fend for himself for a lot of his life.  A funny story that I was told was that when Jean was only three years old, a dog was nipping at him.  Jean went and bit at the dog and bit the dog’s nose off.  He was a very tall man standing at 6’1 while most French men were about 5’5”.  He stood out and as a boy was kind of rough around the edges.  He got into fights and into trouble in school.  When Jean was 10 or 11 years old, the house that they lived in had no electricity.  Jean was very handy and hooked up a system so that the house had electricity.

Jean was 17 and wanted to come to America and at this point Raoul had died.  Jean had a very difficult decision, since he was an only child and his mother would be left alone. He decided to come to America and he had some names to contact and only a little money that he had saved up.  He called some of his contacts and told them that he had a background as a chemist.  His first job was in a chemical factory.  He actually almost died while working in the factory while working with a huge amount of chemicals and quit his job after this experience.  He then got another job selling lace material in Union City, New Jersey and then went to New York and worked selling high-class silks.  He was a self-taught self-made man. 

His plan was to stay in America only for a little while but ended up staying for his life.  He went back to France only a couple of times.  He was called to serve in the French Army and fulfilled his required time.  He was called back to France to serve in WWII and didn’t because he had a family in America.  He had married his wife Didi and had two children at this time.  He had become an American citizen by this time but never denounced his French citizenship and therefore was obligated to serve in the war.  He thought that he would be punished for not returning to France for the war and chose not to return to his home and mother.