USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > The city of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922, Vol. I > Part 10
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Tonty was twice married. His first wife. to whom he was married on Feb- ruary 17, 1689, was Marianne, daughter of Picote de Belestre, afterward second in command and acting commandant of Detroit. His second wife was Marianne, a daughter of Francois La Marque. Her first husband was J. B. Nolan, to whom she was married on May 3, 1669, and after his death she became the wife of Antoine de Fresnel (or Fruel) de Pipadiere. Tonty was therefore her third matrimonial venture. Madame de Tonty did not accompany her husband to Detroit in 1701, but came the following spring with Madame Cadillac. Tonty died at Detroit on November 10, 1727.
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A. HOUSE OF COMMANDANT B GUARD HOUSE C POWDER MAGAZINE D PARISH CHURCH E PRIEST'S HOUSE F CEMETERY G KING'S GARDEN
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HURON
Plan of Fort Detroit. Situated at 42ยบ12" 24' of North , Latitude, on the North side of the River Detroit of Lake Erie, As it was. August 20th 1749.
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H.H. PUBLIC GARDENS
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We Lery's PLAN OF Detroit 1749
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SIEUR DE BOURGMONT
The name of Etienne Venyard, Sieur de Bourgmont, first appears in the post records as commandant on January 29, 1706, when he succeeded La Forest as temporary commandant during Cadillac's absence. He had been described as a "big blustering coward," and some of his acts while at Detroit bear out the description. The several Indian bands located near the village were not always on amicable terms with each other, quarrels among them were of fre- quent occurrence and the citizens were in constant fear of an uprising. The post needed a commandant who understood the Indian character better than Bourgmont to preserve the peace, but instead of adopting a policy to keep the savages quiet, he acted in such a manner that they became more restless than before his coming. In June, 1706, a dog belonging to an Indian of one band bit an Indian of another. The enraged Indian kicked the dog, which started trouble inside the fort. Bourgmont rushed out of his quarters, fell upon the Indian who had been bitten, and beat him severely. All the Indians were aroused over the incident, but by the exercise of diplomacy on the part of the citizens in whom the Indians had confidence, serious trouble was averted.
Before the return of Cadillac, Bourgmont deserted the post, taking with him several soldiers of the garrison and a woman named Tichenet, with whom he had maintained relations that caused a scandal in the village. The deserters established a camp on the shores of Lake Erie. As soon as Cadillac returned he sent a detachment of soldiers to arrest them. Bourgmont and all the de- serters except one succeeded in making their escape. The one captured was brought back to Detroit, tried by a court martial and shot. For some time Bourgmont was hunted by French soldiers, but he managed to avoid them and in time his offense was apparently forgotten.
In 1718 a letter from him reached the French court, stating that for several years he had been living among the Indians on the Missouri River, and asking for 2,000 livres to be used in purchasing presents for them. He also stated that he had heard of a people four or five hundred leagues from where he wrote -a people who were small, very numerous, deformed, with large eyes and flat noses, and who wore clothing like that worn by Europeans, their boots being covered with spangles of shining metal. He also stated that these people were always occupied in good work, possessed an abundance of gold and fine jewels, and were believed to be related to the Chinese.
On August 12, 1720, he was commissioned to lead an expedition to make peace with the Indians of New Mexico and to establish a post on the Missouri River. Margry, in Volume VI of his works, gives a detailed account of Bourg- mont's wanderings through the wilds west of the Mississippi River. He suc- ceeded in his mission and established a post on the Missouri, which he called the Fort of Orleans, but two years later it was abandoned.
SIEUR DUBUISSON
The fourth man to occupy the position of commandant at Detroit was Charles Regnault, Sieur Dubuisson. When Cadillac was removed in 1710, Francois de la Forest was appointed as his successor. He had previously served a brief term as temporary commandant, and being old and infirm he requested that Dubuisson be sent to take charge of the post for a time. By La Forest's direction Dubuisson took all of Cadillae's property, real and personal, and
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would not permit him to sell or remove it. This action was not approved by the governor-general, but no reparation was ever made.
Many of the people living at Detroit, especially those who were personal friends of Cadillac and unmarried, packed up their effects and went back to Montreal and Quebec. This so reduced the population that Dubuisson decided to decrease the size of the village inclosure, which in previous years had been enlarged to accommodate the growing population. Originally, the village in- cluded the land measured along the line of the present Jefferson Avenue from Griswold to Wayne streets, with lots on both sides of St. Anne Street, which almost coincided with the present north line of Jefferson Avenue. Dubuisson divided the village into two nearly equal parts and built a new palisade in such a manner as to exclude about half of the old village from the protection of the garrison, This did not please the people, particularly those left outside of the new palisade. A meeting was called, at which a remonstrance was drawn up and signed by many of the leading men of the village. This was sent to Cadillac, but the old commandant could do nothing for them. In May, 1712, the village was attacked by the Fox Indians and those outside the garrison were the greatest sufferers. An account of this attack is given in Chapter XXXIII. Soon after this event La Forest arrived and Dubuisson continued at the post as second in command.
After the death of La Forest, Dubuisson served as commandant until the arrival of Sabrevois. From 1723 to 1727 he was in command at the Miamis, a post on the Maumee River a short distance above the present City of Toledo. In 1729 he was in command at Michilimackinac with the rank of captain, after which he seems to have dropped out of sight.
FRANCOIS DE LA FOREST
Technically speaking, Francois de la Forest (sometimes written La Foret) was the second actual commandant, having been appointed to succeed Cadillac. He was born in the City of Paris in 1648 and soon after attaining to his ma- jority was commissioned a captain in the marine service. In 1679 he accom- panied La Salle to Fort Frontenac and to the Illinois country the following year. In 1682 he was in command at Fort Frontenac and assisted the governor in negotiating a treaty with the Iroquois Indians, accompanying them to Mont- real. Shortly after this Count Frontenac was removed from the office of gov- ernor and his successor seized Fort Frontenac (belonging to La Salle). La Barre, the new governor, who had thus seized the property, would not permit La Forest to return there and he went to France to enter his protest against the confiscation of La Salle's property in this high-handed manner, though he did the same thing to Cadillac a few years later. In the spring of 1684 he returned to Canada, with orders to La Barre to restore Fort Frontenac to him as the agent of La Salle. The orders also directed the governor to assist La Forest in maintaining the establishment which La Salle had made at the Fort. From the summer of 1685 to 1687 he was in command at Fort St. Louis, which had been established by La Salle in the Illinois country.
On September 11, 1691, La Forest left Quebee with 110 men for Michili- mackinac, with Tonty as second in command. After some time at that post, he returned to Quebec, where on November 11, 1702, he married Charlotte Francoise Juchereau, a wealthy widow. The one child born to this union died in infancy: On September 25, 1705, he was appointed commandant at Detroit
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in the absence of Cadillac. The appointment was only temporary and lasted but a few weeks. Upon Cadillac's return a difference of opinion arose between him and La Forest, and the latter went back to Quebec. In 1710 he was ap- pointed as Cadillac's successor, but sent Dubuisson to administer the affairs of the post until the summer of 1712. It was at this time that he appropriated all of Cadillac's property, amounting in value to more than one hundred and twenty-five thousand livres, and never accounted for any of it. La Forest died at Quebec on October 16, 1714.
JACQUES CHARLES SABREVOIS
Succeeding La Forest came Jacques Charles Sabrevois, Sieur de Bleury, a son of Heury and Gabrielle (Martin) Sabrevois, who was born in 1667. He came to America in the latter part of the Seventeenth Century and in 1695-96 held a commission as lieutenant in the war with the Iroquois. Little can be learned regarding his career during the next quarter of a century. A decree of the royal council in 1720, cites the fact that Sabrevois was appointed com- mandant at Detroit in 1712, two years before the death of La Forest. Ramezay used his influence to prevent him from going to Detroit and he was not permit- ted to go there until the latter part of 1714 or the early part of 1715.
Acting upon the belief that he was to be given the exclusive right of trade at Detroit, Sabrevois expended a considerable sum of money. He paid an in- terpreter 800 livres a year, an almoner 600, a surgeon 150, and was liberal in other ways. In 1717 he was removed and was succeeded by Alphonse de Tonty. Just before his departure, Sabrevois called the citizens of Detroit together and pointed out to them the condition of the fort. One curtain of the fort and one line of pickets he pronounced as worthless and asked the people to assist him in rebuilding it for the general welfare of the village. All except three men- Baby, Dusable and Neven-agreed to bear a portion of the expense. These three subsequently persuaded the others to withdraw their support. Sabrevois then undertook the work at his own expense, but did not finish it before he left. He then applied to the court for financial relief, asking to be reimbursed for all his expenses, because he had not been given the trade of the post, but his petition was denied. The rebuilding of the fort was completed by Tonty in 1718.
Sabrevois' management of the post was evidently satisfactory to his superiors, as in 1718 he was created a Chevalier of the Military Order of St. Louis. From 1721 to 1724 he was commandant at Fort Chambly. He then returned to Montreal and was made major of that city. where he died while holding that office on June 19, 1727. On November 16, 1695, he married Jean Boucher and to them were born six children.
An incident in the early life of Sabrevois shows that he was acquainted with Cadillac. On the evening of May 2, 1686, when he was only about nineteen years of age, he met Cadillac at the boarding house of Louise Mousseau, in the lower town of Quebec. Sabrevois mentioned that he was going to the upper town to call on a lady and in the conversation Cadillac characterized him as a "sharper." This was resented by the youngster, angry words followed and both started to draw their swords when they were separated by the by- standers. Cadillac then picked up a heavy brass candlestick and hurled it at his opponent, knocking him down. The candle was extinguished, leaving the room in darkness, and Cadillac made a hasty exit, supposing that he had killed Sabrevois, who, in fact, was only slightly injured. Governor Denonville
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learned of the affair and ordered an investigation. The testimony was reduced to writing, but the records do not show that either of the contestants was punished.
SIEUR DE LOUVIGNY
Some authorities give the name of Louis de la Porte, Sieur de Louvigny, as commandant at Detroit, succeeding Tonty in 1728, but the records do not corroborate the statement. If he was ever commandant it must have been only in a temporary capacity at some period subsequent to the appointment of Tonty in 1717 and during the absence of that officer from the post.
Louvigny was a native of France, but was in Canada as early as 1682. From 1690 to 1694 he was commandant at Miehilimackinac, immediately pre- ceding Cadillac, and in 1700 his name appears as commandant at Fort Fron- tenac. The laws of New Franee prohibited the commandant of that post from trading with the Indians. A party of Iroquois visited the fort with a large quantity of furs and told Louvigny that they were on their way to Albany to sell the skins to the English, but would sell to him if he desired to buy. He purchased the peltries, for which he paid 60,000 livres, and sent them to Quebec. The Jesuits learned of the transaction and informed the governor, who removed Louvigny and caused the furs to be confiscated.
Louvigny was appointed major of Three Rivers, Canada, in 1701 and held that office for about two years, when he became major of Quebec. In 1703 he came to Detroit as an officer in the garrison under Cadillac, but did not remain Jong at the post. In 1716 he led an expedition against the Fox Indians. On that occasion he passed through Detroit and reported the post there as one of the best fortified in the country. While on this expedition he was appointed lieutenant-governor of Canada, assuming the duties of the position upon his return to Quebec. He lost his life in a shipwreck near Louisburg on August 27, 1725.
PICOTE DE BELESTRE
The full name of this officer was Francois Marie Picote de Belestre. It is questionable whether he was ever really appointed commandant at Detroit, though he may have served as such at various times between 1718 and 1727, during the absences of Tonty. Belestre was born in 1677 and was twice mar- ried. His first wife was Anne Bouthier, who died in 1710, and his second wife was Marie Catherine Trotier, a widow. By his second marriage he had two children, one of whom afterward became commandant at Detroit. Ile died at Detroit on October 9, 1729.
SIEUR DESCIIAILLONS
Upon the death of Tonty in 1727, Jean Baptist de St. Ours, Sieur Deschail- lons was appointed to fill the vacancy. Ile was about fifty-eight years of age at the time he received the appointment, having been born in 1670. On Novem- ber 25, 1705, he married Marguerite La Guardeur and to this marriage were born nine children. In July, 1708, France and England being at war, he led a force of about one hundred British troops and some Indians against the New England settlements. In the assault on Haverhill, Massachusetts, it is said he en- conraged the savages to massaere the inhabitants. The next year Governor
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Vaudreuil sent him to Lake Champlain, and later he was ordered to march against the Fox Indians about Detroit and Mackinaw.
In 1719 Deschaillons was appointed commandant of the post at Michili- mackinac, but held the position for only about one year. His record during the next few years seems to have been lost, as nothing more can be learned about him until he was appointed commandant at Detroit in the early part of 1728. He remained at Detroit until the spring of 1729. It is said his short stay there was due to his desire not to forfeit his opportunity for promotion in the army by settling down as commandant of a frontier post. He died at Quebec on June 9, 1747.
SIEUR DE BOISHEBERT
Following Deschaillons came Louis Henry Deschamps, Sieur de Boishebert, a son of Jean Baptiste Deschamps and his wife, Catherine Gertrude Macard. He was born at Quebec on February 8, 1679. When about two years old, his mother died and his father removed to Riviere Quelle, where he founded an establishment and married Jeanne Marguerite Chevalier in 1701. His death occurred about two years after his second marriage.
Louis entered the army almost as soon as he was old enough to be accepted by the military authorities. In 1699 he was engaged in the war with the Iro- quois Indians, under the command of the Marquis de Vaudreuil. In 1701 he was sent by Governor Callieres to hold a conneil with the Indians at Michili- mackinac. While he was absent on his mission, Callieres died and Boishebert received no remuneration for his services. During Queen Anne's war, he was sent to guard the harbors of Newfoundland. Near Boston he assisted in the capture of three English vessels loaded with powder-a prize of great im- portance to the Canadians, whose supply of powder was very low.
Boishebert made his home in Acadia during this period. In 1709 he went overland to Quebec to solicit aid for the Arcadians, who were in great want. On this journey he dislocated his foot, which rendered him a cripple for the remainder of his life. He was employed as assistant engineer on the forti- fications of Quebec in 1711-12, and the next year made a map of the Labrador coast for the naval council. He was then appointed adjutant of Quebec and held that position for about eighteen years. On December 10, 1721, he mar- ried at Quebec Genevieve de Ramezay, daughter of Claude de Ramezay, who was afterward governor of Montreal.
The exact date of his appointment to the command of Detroit is uncertain, but it was probably in the spring of 1730. He started for Detroit in the early summer of that year and held the position of commandant for about three years. During his term of office there was an improvement in the conditions at Detroit. He returned to Montreal in 1733 and died there on June 6, 1736.
SIEUR DE LIVANDIERE
Soon after Boishebert left for Montreal, Ives Jacques Hugues Pean, Sienr de Livandiere, came to Detroit as commandant. He was born in Paris in 1682 and was a son of Jean Pierre Pean and his wife, Anne de Corbarboineau. That he held a commission of some sort in the army is almost certain, though the records do not show his rank. His career after he came to America was of a military nature. On June 25, 1722, he was united in marriage with Marie Francoise Pecody, daughter of Antoine Pecody and his wife, Jeanne de St.
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Ours, of Montreal. Three sons and a daughter were born to this union. In 1724 he was appointed commandant of Fort Frontenac and three years later he occupied a similar position at Fort Chambly.
When he came to Detroit in 1733, the garrison consisted of only seventeen soldiers, though there were in the village eighty men capable of bearing arms. Pean was a man of good judgment and executive ability and the improvement that began under Boishebert continued throughout his term of three years. In 1734 the population and importance of the village had grown to such pro- portions as to justify the appointment of a royal notary. Robert Navarre was chosen for the position. He was a son of that Robert Navarre who came to Detroit in 1728, and a lincal descendant of Antoine Navarre, Duke de Vendome, a half-brother of Henry IV, King of France and Navarre. The notary was born at Detroit in 1739 and married Louise de Marsac, a granddaughter of Jacob de Marsac, who came as a sergeant with Cadillac to Detroit in 1701. Before his appointment the only records kept at the post were those of St. Anne's Church. He began the public records, among which were the marriage contraets, which always preceded the church wedding. He was a man of high character and served as justice, notary, surveyor and collector until the sur- render of the post to the English in 1760. The British commandants continued him in office for many years. His death occurred on November 21, 1791.
Iu his report for 1735 Pean stated that the wheat crop of that year was between thirteen and fourteen hundred minots, that it had been safely har- vested, and that the price had fallen to three livres a minot. As the minot at Detroit was equivalent to a bushel, the price of wheat was therefore sixty cents per bushel. Prior to this time the chief exports were furs and maple sugar, but in this year some wheat was exported.
While at Detroit, Pean was granted "a traet of land called Livandiere, or Riviere Chazy, two leagues or two and half leagnes in width by three leagues in depth along the River Chambly and Lake Champlain, with the River Chazy in the midst, also the Isle LaMothe." This grant was confirmed on February 8, 1735, but in 1744 it was discovered that a portion of it had previously been granted to other parties, so that Pean's concession was eut in two. He was again confirmed in the possession of a tract one and a half leagues wide by three deep, and, as a sort of indemnity, was granted another parcel three- fourths of a league wide on Lake Champlain. In the documents relating to these land grants he is designated as "a Chevalier of the Military Order of St. Louis, late captain and now major of Quebec, and commandant at Detroit."
Through the reports and letters of Pean, the Quebec government was awakened to the importance of Detroit and a change of sentiment became noticeable. A few months after the expiration of Pean's term in 1736, Hoe- quart, the intendant at Quebec, recommended the inerease of the garrison to sixty men, with the proper officers, and other measures were taken to strengthen the post. Pean retained the office of major of Quebee until his death on Jann- ary 26, 1747. Says Mr. Burton :
"An injustice has been done to Pean by the late Judge Campbell and some others who have written about him, in confounding the commandant Pean with his son who bore the same name. It is related that the son, Michael Jean IIngues Pean, became powerful in Canadian affairs and infamous through the relations existing between his wife and the Intendant Bigot; that he counte- naneed the intrigue and reaped a financial benefit from it. He formed one of
OLD "MORAN" HOUSE, BUILT ABOUT 1734 Was located on what was later Woodbridge Street, between St. Antoine and Hastings
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a number of conspirators who ruined French Canada and finally gave it up to the British in 1760. Young Pean was taken to Paris and confined for some years in the Bastile, tried for his misdemeanors, convicted and sentenced to pay a fine of 600,000 livres. It is only necessary to examine the dates at which these transactions are recorded to prove that the commandant Pean is not the notorious Pean who helped to ruin Canada. Commandant Pean died on January 26, 1747, and the imprisonment of the son in the Bastile began on November 13, 1761. His trial commeneed a little later and was protracted three years."
NICOLAS JOSEPH DESNOYELLES
The last name of this commandant is sometimes written "Noyelle" or "Desnoyelle." He was born in Franee in 1694 and was the son of Col. Joseph Desnoyelles, of Crecy. He came to America in his youth, entered the army and in 1736 held a commission as captain in the marine department, having arrived at that distinction by successive promotions. Six years prior to that time he was in command at the Miamis, a post on the Maumee River a few miles above the present City of Toledo. According to Ferland's "Historie du Canada," Desnoyelles left Montreal in August, 1734, with eighty French troops and about one hundred thirty Indians, in a campaign against the Sae and Fox Indians. He passed through Detroit, where he received reinforce- ments of Huron and Pottawatomi Indians, and after a march of seven months found the Sac and Fox warriors to the number of 250 on the Des Moines River. After a skirmish the enemy withdrew to a fort built by the women and children. Part of the Indians who had accompanied Desnoyelles had returned to their villages, leaving him only 240 men. With this force he deemed it imprudent to attack. A parley was held, in which the Sae and Fox promised to separate and the latter tribe was sent north to the bay.
Governor Beauharnois appointed Desnoyelles commandant at Detroit in 1736 to succeed Pean, but the appointment was not approved by the government at Paris. Unaware of the king's veto, he left Montreal on May 6, 1736, and in due time arrived at Detroit. The king appointed Pierre Jacques Payan de Noyan, but he did not go at onee to Detroit, and Governor Beauharnois did not remove Desnoyelles, reporting that he was "universally beloved by all the Freneh and savages and that he was disinterested in his work for the service.". It is said that he served the entire term of three years without being apprised of the king's refusal to confirm his appointment. After retiring from the office of commandant, he joined the explorer Verendrye in one of his expeditions to the westward in an effort to discover a passage by water to the Pacific Ocean. The date of his death could not be ascertained.
PIERRE JACQUES PAYAN DE NOYAN
Under date of October 5, 1738, Pierre Jacques Pavan de Noyan, Sieur de Charvis (or Chavois), wrote to the French colonial minister from Montreal : "My Lord :- I have received with all the respect and gratitude of which I am capable, the new proofs of the kindness with which your highness honors me, in having been pleased to select me to command at Detroit. I know, my Lord, how greatly the honor of that confidence ought to spur me on to seek means of justifying it to your highness, despite my humble capacity. I feel to deserve their marked favor will result in the fulfillment of what is required of me. I do not feel able, my Lord, to make any proposal as to the settlement
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