Georgianna Marie Ruel

Georgianna Marie Ruel was born on 15 Sep 1885 in Sainte Germaine du Lac-Etchemin, Dorchester, Québec, Canada. She was baptized there on 16 Sep 1885. Georgianna immigrated with her family to Somersworth, Strafford, New Hampshire about 1893. According to my family copy of the 1942 Généalogie de la Famille Goulet-Ruel, she married Godfrey Digby Napier Haggard, a British diplomat, on 3 May 1910 in Guatemala, Central America. This is confirmed in "The Timeless Quest: Stephen Haggard" by Christopher Hassall. The author indicates that Georgianna met Godfrey when she accompanied her sister Josephine and Josephine's husband Will Jenkins to Guatemala. Georgianna's husband was knighted for his service to Britain. Godfrey was also the nephew of Sir Henry Rider Haggard, famed British novelist.

Georgianna and Godfrey had 4 children, 2 sons and 2 daughters. Their son Stephen Hubert Avenel Haggard was born in 1911 in Guatemala. He went on to become a writer and actor, and was with British Intelligence during World War II. Their second child Paul Amyand Napier Haggard was born in 1912 in Somersworth, New Hampshire. He died as an infant. Their third child Joan Marcia Geraldine Haggard was born in 1914 in Guatemala. She married diplomat Gerard Thomas Corley Smith. Georgianna and Godfrey's fourth child, Virginia Edith Haggard, was born in Paris, France in 1915. She was the author of "My Life With Chagall," which described her 7 year romance with famed artist Marc Chagall. She later married Belgian Photographer Charles Leon Leirens.

Georgianna was widowed in 1969. She died in 1980 in Broomfield, Essex, England and was interred in the churchyard of the Parish Church of Broomfield, St Mary with St Leonard. Please see her husband's memorial for the photograph obtained by John Latham of Godfrey and Georgianna's headstone.