The parental home

Cécile Jeanrenaud grew up in the home of her grandparents in Frankfurt am Main, in the bosom of an extremely prosperous, cultivated and art-loving upper-class family. She was descended on both her maternal and paternal sides from Huguenots. Her mother Elisabeth Jeanrenaud was the daughter of Cornelius Souchay de la Duboissière, a businessman with international trading connections, who resided with his family in a large villa with a view of the River Main, which had been built for him in 1809. The salon of his wife Helene was one of the social and cultural hubs of  Frankfurt life. They ensured that their seven children had the best of educations, and permitted their daughter Elisabeth to embark on a year-long grand tour of Italy. 1811 saw the death of Cornelius Souchay’s father – the pastor of the French Reformed Church in Frankfurt. His successor was August Jeanrenaud, who was greatly admired by the Souchays. He was born in Neuchâtel in Switzerland and came from humble origins. Despite his background, Cornelius and Helene Souchay arranged for him to become betrothed to their daughter Elisabeth – who was just 15 years old – the very same year. Elisabeth and August Jeanrenaud married in 1814. Only five years later, Jeanrenaud died from tuberculosis at the age of 31 – a fate his daughter Cécile was to share – leaving behind a 23-year-old pregnant widow with three children. Elisabeth Jeanrenaud moved back into her parents’ house, where she and her children wanted for nothing. She was able to take up her place in Frankfurt’s aristocratic society, with balls and a private box at the theatre; she engaged private tutors and was accompanied by her children on lengthy trips, mainly to French-speaking Switzerland and to Italy. This sheltered childhood in a prosperous, well-respected family which placed considerable value on a good education was something that Cécile Jeanrenaud had in common with her future husband.