The island of St. Helena was a rest stop on the trade route from Europe to the East Indies and is where Napoleon was exiled in 1815. It is South of the equator and 1200 miles West of the Southwestern African coast in the South Atlantic. It was the second place Napoleon was exiled after his final defeat at Waterloo in 1815. He died there in 1821. Napoleon's body was buried there until 1840 when his body was returned to Paris only to be buried temporarily a second time in St Jerome's Chapel. His tomb was completed in 1861 and his body now lies there within six separate coffins.
Our interest in St. Helena comes from a family story that says he collected acorns from around Napoleons's grave site and subsequently planted them near his home at Wiess' Bluff. The question was "from which grave site -- the temporary one at St. Helena or the permanent one in France?" Further evidence now indicates that it was Simon's son, Mark Wiess, who collected the acorns and planted them in Beaumont rather than at Wiess' Bluff. (Mark often visited Europe and very likely had occasion to visit France and Napoleon's grave site.)
Suggested reading about St. Helena and Napoleon's stay there is at the Napoleonic Guide web site:
