Roma's Skeletons Commence Their Fandango

When Roma Guillon Lethière told Helen C. Black (Pen, Pencil Baton and Mask: Biographical Sketches by Helen C. Black, 1896) that she never let her skeletons dance in public she couldn't have predicted that a little over a century later her secrets would begin to be revealed through a global computer network.

In October 1837, only two years after his marriage to Adèle Sophie Bizet d’Egville and around the time of Roma's birth, August Guillon St. Leger was languishing in gaol. The London Gazette (27 October 1837) published notice of his petition to the Court for Relief of Insolvent Debtors which was due to take place on Monday 20 November.

Even then Auguste's names seem to have caused some confusion. Guillaume Guillon Lethière also seems to have been known as Guillon St. Leger. In an article reproduced in several different works (Revue du Monde Catholique: Volume 12 (1865), Bulletin Historique et Monumental de l'Anjou: Volume Volume 8 (1866) Guillaume is described as the son of the Comte Guillon de Saint-Léger.

An index card in the Paris archives records the birth of an Auguste Louis Leger Guillon called Lethière on 11 June 1796. Due to Guillaume's chaotic private life this may or may not be Roma's father.