6. Blandina Van Etten, m. Dec. 26, 1805, Benjamin Cuddeback of the fourth generation.
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CAUDEBEC IN NORMANDY, FRANCE]
The home of our ancestor, from which he fled, a Huguenot refugee in 1685, is a small town on the right bank of the Seine, about midway between Havre and Rouen. At this point the river St. Gertrude, flowing down between the two mountain peaks Mt. Calidee and Mt. Vignette, empties into the Seine.
Caudebec, the capital of Caux, is within a triangle, its base the bank of the Seine on which is a wharf 13.78 ft. above sea level and on which runs the government road toward Havre. The apex of the triangle lies at a point along the St. Gertrude river between the mountain peaks which have an altitude of about 500 ft.
The region has a light, alluvial, productive soil—soft, mild temperature and is most healthful.
The valley of the Seine through Normandy is one of the most beautiful in France, rich in memories, a paradise for the artist and archaeologist.
For centuries Caudebec was a seaport. The incoming tide, a wall of water 5 or 6 ft. high, was forced upstream with great rumbling. This alternating with the natural flowing downstream has caused the river to become shallow. These factors together with the building of larger ships have caused the abandonment of Caudebec as a seaport.