Engagement and a long journey eastwards

[Engagement to Alexander Costinescu]

However, my hour would come, in that I got to know your admirable father and I quickly discovered the wonderful traits in him which since then earned him general respect and love. I was so moved by his words that I decided to leave my father, although I certainly could never have so decided, had my admirable husband not promised me that he would invite my beloved father, after some years, to join us.

Indessen sollte auch meine Stunde schlagen, ich lernte Deinen vortrefflichen Vater kennen und bald entdeckte ich die schönen Eigenschäften in ihm die ihm seit dem allgemeine Achtung und Liebe erwarben. Ich war so durchdrungen von seinen Worten, daß ich mich entschloß den Vater zu verlassen, wozu ich mich jedoch sicher nie hätte entschließen können, wenn mir nicht mein vortrefflicher Mann versprochen hätte, den geliebten Vater nach einigen Jahren zu sich zu berufen.

Alexandru Costinescu (1812-1872) was a Romanian architect and engineer. He was born in Iași (German name Jassy). He studied at the prestigious Technische Hochschule in Vienna. He was appointed (commencing 15 September 1837) as a teacher at the Academia Mihăileană, the 'Michaelmas Academy' in Jassy, where he taught mechanics and technical drawing. The Academy was the first modern higher education institute in Moldova and was a forerunner of the University of Iași and the prestigious high school, the Colegiul Național, 'National College'. At the moment we have no idea how Alexander and Heloise met, but we could imagine that the security of his new post allowed Alexander to propose to Heloise and ask her to join him in Jassy. Heloise travelled from Vienna to Jassy to marry him on 8 November 1838, about a year after his appointment. The pair were married on 3 December 1838.

Conrad Höchner died on 12 February 1847. Alexander's 'promise' to Heloise, that her father would leave Vienna and relocate permanently to Jassy to live as a stranger in a strange land with the Costinacus seems like a pious wish. Conrad was settled in Vienna and his other two daughters Éléonore and Susanna were there to look after him until his death. Éléonore married in 1846, leaving Susanna to take care of Conrad.

In this hope I then consented and my distance from the house of my beloved father seemed as though it would be a brief separation. Now that I intend to record the following happenings in the order they occurred, I won't anticipate the time, that will reveal all to us.

Mit dieser Hoffnung wiegte (willigte ?) ich mich dann ein, und meine Entfernung aus dem geliebten Vaterhause kam mir nur als eine kurze Trennung vor. Da ich nun der Reihe nach alle Ereignisse wie sie folgten und folgen werden aufzeichnen will, so will ich der Zeit nicht vorgreifen, die uns alles enthüllen wird.

[Journey from Vienna to Jassy, in Romania]

The eighth of November 1838 I left with a bleeding heart the house of my dear father and tore myself out of the arms of my beloved sisters! My father blessed me, hot tears flowed from my eyes. At this moment I wished I might die.

Den 8. November des Jahres 1838 verließ ich mit blutendem Herzen das Haus meines teueren Vaters und riß mich aus den Armen meiner geliebten Schwestern! Mein Vater segnete mich, heiße Tränen entquollen meinen Augen. In diesem Augenblick hätte ich sterben mögen.

I was so distressed that I was lifted into the carriage and I set off on the journey that would decide the fate of my entire life. I shall not attempt to describe what I suffered; even the most fluent pen would not be able to describe a quarter of that which I suffered. In the first moment I thought of nothing and felt only a terrible pain in my heart. Then I pulled myself together, for I knew that my dear family had taken a shortcut on foot to get ahead of the carriage and that I would see them again. So it was that in the dusk I discerned their dear faces once more and that was the last time that I saw them.

Außer mir hob man mich in den Wagen und ich unternahm die Reise die über mein ganzes leben entschied. Ich will nicht versuchen zu beschreiben was ich litt; selbst die beredste Feder könnte nie ein Viertteil meiner Leiden darstellen. Den ersten Augenblick dachte ich nichts und fühlte nur einen entsetzlichen Schmerz im Herzen, dann aber faßte ich mich, denn ich wußte, daß meine teuere Familie durch einen kürzeren Fußweg dem Wagen vorgeeilt sei und daß ich sie noch einmal sehen würde, wirklich unterschied ich ihre teueren Gestalten noch einmal im Zwielichte und das war das letzte mal.

Sunk in my pain, I forgot everything around me, until the voice of my travelling companion, a venerable priest, woke me out of my stupor. I have this good man to thank that I did not lose my courage entirely: he admonished me with a truly priestlike empathy to consider my bridegroom and, considering the long journey, not to allow my pain to sap my strength. He spoke so well and so much that I, seeing the wisdom of his words, started to pull myself together. After a journey of eight days and nights I arrived, dead tired, at Mihăileni, which is the first border town of Moldavia. I had given my mother-in-law and my husband the name of this town as a rendevous point. Barely half-an-hour after I arrived there they arrived too.

In meinem Weh versunken hatte ich alles um mich herum vergessen, als mich auf einmal die Stimme meines Reisegefährten, eines ehrwürdigen Geistlichen, aus meiner Betäubung weckte; diesem braven Mann habe ich es zu verdanken, daß ich nicht gänzlich den Mut verlor: er ermahnte mich mit wahrhaft priesterlicher Teilnahme, meines Bräutigams eingedenk zu sein, meine weite Reise zu erwägen und nicht durch meinen Schmerz meine Kräfte zu verzehren. Er sprach so gut und so viel, daß ich die Warheit seiner Worte einsehend mich nach besten Kräften zu beruhigen trachtete. Nach achttägiger Tag- und Nachtreise, gelangte ich endlich todmüde und erschöpft in Michanlitsch (recte Mihăileni?) an so heißt die erste Grenzstadt der Moldau, und die hatte ich meiner Schwiegermutter und meinem Mann schriftlich als Rendevous gegeben; wirklich war ich kaum eine halbe Stunde dort als auch sie ankamen.

We are not sure of the exact route of the coach journey, but the journey from Vienna to Jassy would have been over 1,200 km long. Heloise's journey of eight days and nights just to get to the (then) Moldavian border was quite normal for the time. For passengers a long journey by coach was typically extremely unpleasant. Although the main road network was greatly improved during the 19th century, many road surfaces were still unmetalled or worse; the primitive suspension (if any) and the iron wheel rims of the coaches turned long journeys into the torture Heloise describes here.
The identity of the town of 'Michanlitsch' is unknown, the orthography is the transcriber's dicipherment. We can, however, attempt an educated guess. At that time the main road crossed the then Moldavian border at Mihăileni, in the county of Botoșani, right on the border between Bukovina and Moldova. The name of the town translates to 'Saint Michael' in English, 'Sankt Michael' in German. (Mihai = 'Michael' in Romanian). This reading also has the advantage that we only need to correct the transcriber's effort by amending the 'n' to 'e' to change 'Michanl' to 'Michael', which would be an understandable word for Heloise. We are assuming therefore that the rendevous between Heloise and Alexander and his mother took place in Mihăileni. Jassy is roughly another 200 km further on from here, which would correspond to the four days of coach travel required (16-20 November).

What I felt on seeing my beloved Alexander is indescribable, in contrast, my position in relation to his mother was extremely difficult. I knew not a word of Moldavian and could make myself barely understood only through gestures. We set off together on the remainder of our journey and arrived happily in Jassy on the 20th, where I found my husband's entire family waiting together for us. Everyone gave signs of welcome, but we could not speak together.

Was ich beim Anblick meines geliebten Alexanders empfand ist unbeschreiblich, hingegen war meine Stellung seiner Mutter gegenüber höchst drückend, ich wußte nicht ein Wort moldauisch und nur durch Zeichen konnte ich mich schlecht genug verständigen; wir setzten nun in Gemeinschaft unsere Reise fort und kamen den 2o. glücklich in Jasi an wo ich meines Mannes ganze Familie auf uns wartend versammelt fand, alle nahmen mich mit allen Zeichen der Teilnahme auf, doch sprechen konnten wir nicht.

Heloise tells us that she travelled eight days and nights to reach the Moldavian border. She then travelled another four days with Alexander and his mother before the reached Jassy on 20th November, a total journey time of twelve days.