A Priceless Legacy

<p>Franz Hausmann reminisces with justifiable contentment on the life he's carved out for himself in nineteenth-century Bavaria. By the time he is writing to his children he has already served honorably in the infantry-surviving the disastrous 1812 march into Russia as part of Napoleon's Grande Arm��e-obtained a university degree in government and earned universal respect in his current career as an increasingly important royal counselor.</p> <p><i>A Priceless Legacy</i> offers a collection of his poignant letters showing how Franz devoted all his spare energy to educating his eleven children-sending them to the best schools he can afford penning words of advice to be kept as reference and always encouraging them to become self-reliant honorable and devout members of society. Mostly leaving the girls to his wife's care Franz focuses on the boys. They cause him many headaches and heartaches but he calmly-and sternly-tries to steer them in the right direction.</p> <p>Franz's great-granddaughter Cynthia Joy Hausmann has translated these letters and provided useful background comments. After Franz's death in 1856 much of Europe went through a period of political and economic upheaval causing half of Franz's children to seek their fortune in the United States where their descendants still exemplify Franz's wise legacy.</p><p>Portrait of Franz Hausmann as a civilian official ca. 1830. He still proudly displays the red ribbon and white cross of the French Legion of Honor which Napoleon awarded him in 1812</p>