Jérôme Bonaparte

Possibly the most interesting of Napoleon's siblings, Jerome left the Consular Guard after dueling with the brother of (the future) Marshal Davout and captained a French frigate (1800 - 1806) that visited the United States. While there he married Elizabeth "Betsy" Patterson of Baltimore. They had a son and, as it turned out, one of Jerome's grandsons from this match served in the French army in the Crimean War and another was Teddy Roosevelt's Navy Secretary. Napoleon annulled that match and married Jerome to a princess before making him King of Westphalia. He was a horrible monarch (he bankrupted Westphalia with his extravagant lifestyle) and a worse general. Many years later, while his nephew, Napoleon III, ruled France, he got a marshal's baton. Incidentally, the original Corsican spelling of the family name was "Buonaparte," which was changed to the French spelling of "Bonaparte" about 1796. XX (Bavarians) 10/06; XXX (IX) 1/8/07 Germany - captured Breslau (1/6/07 - W); King of Westphalia - 7/07; XXX (X Corps) Northern Germany; XXXX (Wing) 12 Russia (hopelessly beyond his depth - left the army in July 1812); run out of Westphalia in 1813, he went abroad until 1815; XX (replaced General Rottembourg) 15 Quatre Bras (wounded), Waterloo (wounded). "Hopeful mediocrity." (1784-1860)