Catargiu family (2)

***Grand Palatine Stefan Catargiu was also a son of High Treasurer Iordache. He married Safta Negri ( Costache Negri's aunt ) and had these children:
******Lascar Catargiu ( 1823 - 1899 ), was undoubtedly one of the most important Romanian statesmen of the 19th century. Of moderate opinions, he was in his youth governor of several counties and Police Sheriff of Jassy, under both Mihail Sturdza and Grigore Ghika V. Interior Minister of Moldavia ( 1859 ), he becomes the de facto leader of the Conservative opposition to Cuza after Barbu Catargiu's death ( see above ) and as such he plots Cuza's demise with the Radicals. He was one of the three members of the Council of Regency accepted at the point of the gun by Cuza during the coup of 11/23 February 1866 and which ruled Romania until Prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen came from Prussia and took the oath as the new Prince Regnant ( 10/22 May 1866 ). The same day he was appointed head of the new government ( of broad coalition ) and Interior Minister, remaining in those offices for two months, until the new constitution was adopted. The occasion for a Conservative administration presented itself in 1871, when Prince Carol I and his Liberal cabinet came head to head. When serious unrest broke out in Bucharest ( in front of the Princely Palace ) in the context of the French defeat in the war with Prussia, Carol I summoned the three former co-Regents and declared that he wanted to relinquish his powers to them and go back to Germany. In response, Catargiu persuaded him to change his mind, but only by promising to take upon himself the responsibility of governing the country with a firm hand. His grand Conservative government ( 1871 - 1876 ) saved Romania from the dire prospects of 'ungovernability' and ushered in an era of political stability which lasted until the outbreak of WWI without any major shake-ups ( except brief moments of unrest such as the anti-Liberal riots of 1888 and the peasant revolt of 1907 ). The Conservative movement organised into the Conservative Party in 1880 and that year he became its second president ( the first president had died after just two months ). He retained this office until his death in 1899. He served again in government during the Conservative period in office of 1888 - 1895, namely as President of the Council of Ministers and Interior Minister ( 1888; 1891 - 1895 ) and just Interior Minister ( 1891 ). He is famous for the words which he would have said ( the authenticity of the story is not clear ) to Queen Elisabeta during the 'Elena Vacarescu crisis' of 1891: 'Your Majesty, now this can't be' ( 'Majestate, aiasta nu se poate' ). When he died his party had just won another parliamentary election and he probably would have been called to head the government a fifth time. He married Eufrosina ( Frosa ) Ventura, no children. In Bucharest he used as residence a small house on Amza's Church Street ( which bore his name for a while ). A big nearby section of the Coltea Avenue has been called Lascar Catargiu Avenue between 1912 and 1948 and again since 1995; consequently, the present Roman Square was called Lascar Catargiu before 1948 and it had his statue in the middle. See his grave.
******- Nicolae Catargiu married Catinca Jurgea and had two daughters and a son Nicolae, married to a Cretianu.
******- Constantin married Smaranda Costache-Negel ( close relative of Veniamin Costachi, famous Metropolitan of Moldavia ) and had a son Nicolae, who married four times. With Eugenia Ghika-Serbanesti ( his cousin, see below ) he had Eugen Catargiu. The second wife was Eliza Gheorghiu, with Margareta he had another Nicolae and with Aneta Scotescu three girls ( one married Zarifopol ). Eugen, nicknamed 'Totita', a socialite of some standing, was married to Elena ( Nelly ) Miclescu, daughter of Emil Miclescu, sometime General Manager of the Romanian Railroads and of Alexandrina ( Sasha ) Grecianu. After 1940 Nelly Catargiu became Queen Mother Elena's chief lady-in-waiting and close advisor, being involved in the political affairs of the '40s ( the August 1944 coup and the subsequent confrontations between the Monarchy and the Communists ). She and her husband left Romania in 1947 in the famous royal train to Switzerland.
******- Ecaterina ( Catinca ) married Constantin Ghika-Serbanesti, anti-Unionist aristocrat, and was Eugenia's mother ( see above ).
******- Iordache Catargiu had two sons:
*********- George Catargiu, Austrian colonel, was married for a while to Adela Rosetti-Roznovanu, daughter of Alecu Rosetti-Roznovanu and of Princess Ruxandra Callimachi, who had married and divorced Prince Alexandru Ghika, a son of Grigore Ghika V, Lord of Moldavia ( 1849 - 1856 ), from his first marriage. They too divorced.
*********- Oscar Catargiu, married to Maria Miclescu, a great-niece of Sofronie Miclescu, Metropolitan of Moldavia ( 1851 - 1860 ), with whom he had Robert Catargiu and Zoe Pillat.

*** Another branch of the Catargius is that founded by High Treasurer Constantin Catargiu. Unfortunately I'm not sure how they were related with the other branches, but I suggest the possibility that they descended from Stefan, younger brother of Patrascu and Ilie ( see second paragraph ). Constantin married Safta ( in other sources Elena ) Rosetti-Roznovanu, aunt of brothers Nicolae and Alecu Rosetti-Roznovanu, and sister-in-law of Ionita Sandu Sturdza, Lord of Moldavia ( 1822 - 1828 ). They had a son, Grand Palatine Stefan Catargiu, very Conservative statesman, several times minister during the Organic Regulation-period. As one of the three chief ministers of Grigore Ghika V at the end of his reign, he automatically became one of Moldavia's co-Regents in 1858 ( as decided in the Paris Convention of that year ). The other two ( Anastasie Panu and Vasile Sturdza ) were much more Liberal and a state of hostility developed between him and them until they managed to force his resignation after only a few months in office. His replacement was Ioan ( 'Zizine' ) Cantacuzino-Pascanu ( see third paragraph ). He owned the Tupilati manor and he is buried in the churchyard there. He was married to Princess Ruxandra Callimachi, sister of Prince Theodor Callimachi and of Smaranda Beldiman. They divorced and she married again Alecu Rosetti-Roznovanu ( see above ), but they had two sons, both of whom sometimes went by the double surname Callimachi-Catargiu:
******- Nicolae (Callimachi)-Catargiu was head of the Diplomatic Mission ( 1875 - 1876; 1877 - 1880 ) in France, Ambassador to Great Britain ( 1880 - 1881 ) and again France ( 1881 ) and Foreign Minister ( 1869 - 1870; 1870 - 1871 ). He married a Frenchwoman.
******- Alexandru (Callimachi)-Catargiu was Minister for Control ( 1862 ) and Minister for Public Works ( 1862 - 1863 ). He was married to Sofia Catargiu ( see third paragraph ), with whom he had:
*********- Princess Alice Sutu, married to a nephew of politician Prince Constantin N. Sutu.
*********- Henri Catargi, diplomat, Ambassador to Belgium ( 1920 - 1929 ), Marshal of the Palace, married to Ecaterina Lamotescu, whose sister Maria had married the eminent physician Thoma Ionescu. Their son was Henri H. Catargiu ( 1894 - 1976 ), a very appreciated painter of the inter-war paeriod, partly living in Paris. They also had two daughters: Elena Villeboeuf and Marcela.
*********- Paul Catargiu, who was believed to have been fathered by the Conservative politician Menelas Ghermani, married Maria Vacarescu, daughter of General Theodor Vacarescu. No children.