M* welcomes the following guest post from Ardis E. Parshall. Ardis runs the popular Mormon History blog, Keepapitchinin. She is a gifted writer and historian. We appreciate her contribution to M*’s International Week.
Almost two and a half years ago, I posted the story of Anaïse Guyot:, a girl left behind in Switzerland, in 1854, at age 11, when Swiss authorities and her father would not allow her to emigrate to Utah with her aunt and other members of the church. This little girl and her younger brother, I wrote,
were more or less abandoned. Their father could not provide a real home for them, and apparently other family members were reluctant, for whatever reason, to take them in. They were placed in the custody of the Swiss state, which boarded them with private families.
Julie wrote to the children from Utah but apparently received little news of the children for many years. Finally, in 1876, Anaïse wrote to Julie and brought her up to date on her life..