when josette was first mentioned in the tv series, her name was established as josette la frenière and she was the great grandmother of elizabeth collins stoddard and roger collins. sad and lonely from being shunned by the townspeople of collinsport for being an outsider, josette committed suicide by jumping to her death from widows' hill in 1834. jeremiah collins, angry at his wife for taking her own life, had josette buried away from the rest of the collins family in a forlorn spot at eagle hill cemetery. this backstory would be radically changed during the 1795 storyline.