USA > Pennsylvania > Bradford County > Asylum > Short history of Asylum, Pennsylvania founded in 1793 by the French exiles in America > Part 5
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6
"Mr. Boulogne:
"Sir: We have received the news of your arrival here with all the joy which you may heartily presume you could give us; but our joy would have been more felt if the circumstances in which we find ourselves would not force us to quit a place where we have been so cruelly deceived, and so unhappy, and that in the very moment we hear you have fixed your residence at Asylum:
"From the very beginning of this letter you will say: 'It is
64
A SHORT HISTORY OF ASYLUM.
the crying bird that writes to me; but could it be possible to look on our situation with indifference, indebted as we are to you, without foreseeing when we will be able to pay. In such an horrid country as this, where we daily make an extravagant expense by the high price of all kinds of provisions, and all that without any benefit whatsoever, even success to our work; for after having spent much money for the portage of our effects on these lands we shall be obliged to transport them again to the town .on account of the impossibility in which we are to live this winter in the woods for want of land in sufficient quan- tity sowed even to provide for our cattle.
"In my last handed to you by Mr. Keating, I mentioned to you that the clearing was going on very slowly, that Mr. d'Mon- tule had made an undertaking above his strength, and that from the way they were going on, it appeared we should have noth- ing sowed this summer; my fears unluckily have been verified, for on the whole tract there are only 10 acres cleared by Brown's company of workmen, five of which belong to Mr. Montule, and five to Mr.' Brevost, the latter not even ready, the logs being not yet burned. You'll be able to judge, and frightened at the same time, of the obstacles the settlers have to overcome on these new lands when you know that the clearing of an acre cost to the company near 30 dollars. . To give you an idea there- of, you may readily calculate. There is a company of 10 men who are at work since the beginning of May on Mr. de Larone's land who will have nearly done in 15 days, and all that time to clear 11 or 12 acres of ground. From that it appears to me that Mr. de Larone's clearing will come to 36 dollars, thereabouts per acre. Everybody here is disgusted. Everybody talks of quitting; even Mr. de Montule, who says that if he could get one or two shilling profit on his purchase per acre, he would give up all idea of settling in this country.
"Come, sir! come quick, come to re-establish confidence, for it'is very low everywhere. Your arrival will doubtless cheer many people. As for us, except for the pleasure of seeing you, it is almost impossible that your residence here (our only wish last spring) could make us support with patience our misfor- tunes. It is high time not to trouble you any more of individuals that have always weighed very heavily upon you without being able to show you their gratitude. Don't believe that my com- plaints, and the resolution that my family hath taken of quit- ting forever this country, are the result of incoustaney or levity of our minds; but come here very soon, see and judge for your- self of our situation, and Mr. Brevost's is in the same resolution. If I was alone, far from complaining of my situation, I would laugh at it; but I have a mother who begins to be old, whom I cannot leave to herself, therefore I pass my young days in an occupation which will never give me a penny's profit. All that I foresee for me is to be forever ruined, and remain in the im- possibility of doing anything if I continue to stay on land that cost $30 per acre to clear.
L
CHARLES HOMET, JR., Son of Charles Homet, who was one of the French Refugees.
65
A SHORT HISTORY OF ASYLUM.
"Besides my personal sorrows, I must answer for a sum due by the company to one Fuller for some wheat which hath been delivered, and not paid to him. He hath obtained a writ against me as having contracted. with him. All I could obtain was a delay which will be at an end the 18th of August, the sum amounts to four pounds ($20.) Esqr. Gore hath in his hands for 60 to 70 dollars of your notes of hand. He remitted me a let- ter which is here inclosed, which explains the matter. If you. have not sold your farm near Philadelphia, and if you have not. engaged a farmer, and if it could suit you to take my family as farmers, I would accept with pleasure.
"Waiting for the pleasure of seeing you, or hearing from you, I remain,
"D'AUTREMONT." 1
Alexander d'Autremont's spelling is good. He frequently uses "&" for "and," which was a usage quite general at his time. The letter from begin- ning to end is friendly to Mr. Boulogne. If they ever had a falling out it must have been after this letter was written (which was the 20th of July, .. 1795) for Mr. Boulogne was drowned July 20th, 1796, just one year afterwards. This letter throws great doubt on the tradition that Alexander d'Autre -. mont followed Boulogne to the West Indies to re- cover money, and was there attacked with yellow fever after being shipwrecked. The letter shows clearly that the Duke de Rochefoucauld representa- tion of affairs was entirely too rosy and prosperous.
In Mrs. Mary Mix Spalding's address, printed in the "Reporter-Journal" of Towanda, Pa., some years ago, it is said: "About the time Asylum was founded, another company attempted a settlement on the Chenango river a few miles above Bingham- ton, N. Y., at a place called "The Butternuts." One of their number, M. d'Autremont, a man of consid- erable wealth, contracted for a tract patented to W. Morris containing 30,000 acres, upon which the set-
66
A SHORT HISTORY OF ASYLUM.
tlement was made. Log houses were built, and eight families moved upon the tract. The Indian reservation was in their immediate neighborhood. The Indians were friendly, and furnished them with venison, bear meat and wild turkeys. Their sur- roundings were unpleasant and they suffered many privations. To add to their discouragement, M. d'Autremont, on his way to Philadelphia, was drowned while fording a river on horseback." (I
do not find this account of his death in any other history of Asylum. I have been of the opinion that he died in France; but as Mr. John W. Mix corres- ponded with C. d'Autremont, Jr., a descendant of Hubert, the statement may possibly be correct.
Mrs. Murray, in her history, says of Hubert d'Au- tremont, as follows: "He was a Parisian royalist, evidently belonging to a family of importance, as evinced by his coat of arms and his intimacy with such prominent Frenchmen as Talleyrand, Dupont, and Baron Neville. Ilubert is said to have been guillotined early in the Revolution."
His widow, Marie Jeanne d'Ohet, with her three sons, Louis Paul, aged 22; Alexander Hubert, 16, and Augustus Francois Cecil, left France in 1792, their royalist principles making it unsafe for them to re- main there. In company with them came the fam- ily of her sister, Madame Lefevre, and others. They came to America and settled on land in Chenango previously contracted for in France from William W. Morris through his agent, Charles Felix Bue Boulogne."
Mr. Craft, the historian, in his account is more specific. He says: "Messrs. Malachi Treat and
1
67
A SHORT HISTORY OF ASYLUM.
William W. Morris secured the title to a tract of several thousand acres of land in Otsego county, N. Y., and gave to Mr. Boulogne a power of attorney dated June 16, 1791, to sell, and a commission to re- turn to Paris and dispose of land in such parcels as he could to those who were contemplating to escape the troubles of their own country by migrating to this. Having disposed to several parties a large part of this land, he sold to Madame d'Autremont and Mr. Lefevre cach 300 acres to be surveyed to them in lots of 100 acres each.
In applying for this passport, Mr. Lefevre found that he must divide his family. Half could come, and half must stay. It was arranged that one son and one daughter should accompany the father, and the other son and daughter remain with the mother. While waiting for the vessel to sail, the son who was to accompany the father, siekened and died. Mr .. Lefevre then took the youngest daughter, Augus- tine (afterwards Mrs. Huff), ent her hair close, and dressed her in her brother's clothes, when the like- ness was sufficiently close to the lost boy to answer the description in the passport. Mr. Lefevre thus taking both daughters and leaving the son with his mother. While waiting at Havre he writes to his wife expressing the weariness and loneliness of their lives and adds "we are well. The two children send you a thousand kisses. The little girls speak every day of thee and their brother, and ask each time if I am writing to you. I beg of you to embrace my son. I talk every day of you to our little girls."
There were many disagreeable and vexatious de- lays. One was the vessel drew so much water that
1
L cu bus
68
A SHORT HISTORY OF ASYLUM.
she could not be gotten over the bar at Havre, ex- cept with the favorable condition of a high tide. Mr Lefevre again writes to his wife, June 11, 1792:
"We are in very great anxiety. I apprised you in my last letter that we were to leave at the end of the week. Sunday at noon, coming from Mass with the children we learned through Mr. Boulogne that we could not leave until a week from Tuesday- eight days-on account that the tide did not rise high enough." They sailed June 19th, 1792. On the 12th of September, the parties being in Phila- delphia, Mr. Boulogne, for a consideration of 5400 livres, executed a deed for 300 acres of land to Mrs. d'Autremont, and for a like consideration a similar deed to Mr. Lefevre, both of which were acknowl- edged before the Associate Justices of the United Supreme Court. The party, accompanied by Mr. Boulogne, now set out for their farms in the dense unbroken forests of central New York. It was about the first of October before they reached the end of their journey. Owing to the lateness of the season nothing could be done but build some kind of shelter for themselves until spring.
In a bark covered, almost windowless log cabin, under whose single room was kitchen, dining room, pantry, drawing room and parlor during the day, and for the night divided by hanging up blankets into sleeping apartments, these two families, aggre- gating seven persons, who had been accustomed to the comforts and luxuries of a Parisian home, and unacquainted with the rigors of our northern climate spent the winter of 1792-3. It was an experience that was remembered with a shudder by every one
A
T
69
A SHORT HISTORY OF ASYLUM.
who participated in it. The Indians from a near-by reservation brought them provisions of various kinds, especially game taken in the hunt, otherwise they would have suffered from hunger.
In the spring Mr. Lefevre made himself a shelter of sticks, bark and pine branches, while the d'Autre- mont boys built adjoining sheds to enlarge the ac- commodations of their little log house. But little could be done towards making clearings or getting in crops for the supply of their wants, and so passed the summer of 1793. Four other purchasers from Boulogne came this year. In the spring of 1794, Louis Paul d'Autremont went to Philadelphia to. see if some more suitable place could not be obtained for their settlement. . He stopped enroute at Asylum and made known to Mr. Talon the condition of his mother's and uncle's families. It was said of him that he "was among the first twenty-three refugees who visited Asylum that year looking for homes. Louis Paul d'Autremont at this time was about 20 years old, could speak English, and was among the handsomest and most attractive men of his time .. Mr. Talon, finding they wanted to come, sent a durham boat to The Butternuts. and brought the families down to Asylum, where they arrived carly in the summer of 1794. . About the time of their ar- rival at Asylum, Mrs: Lefevre and the remaining son came over and joined her husband and the other children, and so the family, which had been sep- arated on the banks of the Seine after two years of great anxiety, solicitude and suffering, were re- united on the banks of the Susquehanna.
When the Duke Rochefoucauld visited Asylum in
-
L
m ino s tedbar
70
A SHORT HISTORY OF ASYLUM.
1795, he speaks of Madame d'Autremont as being the widow of a steward at Paris, but does not state the manner of his death. Mr. Lefevre, having sold his lands at The Butternuts, continued to reside at Asylum and near vicinity until the end of his life, and until prevented by the infirmities of age, con- tinued to keep an excellent hotel.
After the abandonment of the colony at Asylum, Mr. Lefevre moved over the river and established his hotel on what is now called Lime Hill. It has generally been spoken of as located at Standing Stone, a mile or two farther up the river. His house became celebrated for its delightful table. Travel- lers up and down the river always tried to make his house their stopping place in order to get something good to eat, properly cooked, and clean beds.
Anthony Lefevre died February 1, 1830, his wife, Marie G. Lefevre, died August 23, 1834. These are the records on their tomb stones in the cemetery at Wyalusing, where they were buried, and are no doubt correct. Some writers have given different dates from these.
In 1795, Talleyrand, after viewing other places of interest, visited Asylum. Two de la Roue brothers, and Louis Paul d'Autremont, now 23 years of age, accompanied him to France. It is said that for a while he was Talleyrand's private secretary. He continued to reside in Paris and Chantilly, married, had one daughter-, but no sons. It is not known in what business, except that it was honest and profita- ble. Such was the unnatural state of affairs in Paris that an espionage was kept on every one whether royalist or Republican. Though he wrote frequently to his mother and brothers, he was care-
1
(
一
71
A SHORT HISTORY OF ASYLUM.
ful not to disclose anything about himself, lest his letter should be purloined and his life endangered. He did not want it to be known that he was a native of France. . In a letter to his mother, he says: "To avoid anything disagreeable, I pass here as a French Canadian and have changed the architecture of my name to Dautrimonth." This was the name to which he had them address their letters. He ex- pressed the deepest love for his mother, and interest in the welfare of his brothers by sending them money to be invested in real estate. Only once did he tell them of reverses and losses, from which he soon re- covered. He invested several thousand dollars in lands at Butternuts, which were lost in the wreck of the land speculation. He also bought lands in other parts of New York and in the state of Louisiana, but his land purchases were unfortunate, as were those of his mother and brothers. He was a man. of fine personal appearance and considerable ability for public affairs. He was sent by the French- gov- ernment on missions to England and to Portugal. He visited his relatives in this country in 1832, and after remaining eighteen months, returned to France, where he died.
Madame d'Autremont and her two sons remained . at Asylum until the colony disbanded, then they first stopped for a short time at Tioga Point (Athens), and then moved to their old home at But -. ternuts, thence to Pittsfield, near Cooperstown, and finally to Angelica, N. Y. In 1806, Mrs. d'Autre- mont bought a piece of land on the Genesee at Angelica, N. Y., which she called the "Retreat," to which she removed with her son, Alexander, and.
3
1
72
A SHORT HISTORY OF ASYLUM.
his family, and her son, Augustus, and where she was soon joined by her sister, Marie Claudine, and where a number of distinguished Frenchmen had settled, among whom were some of the Duponts, who afterwards removed to Delaware and became the most extensive powder makers in the United States.
When the d'Autremonts returned to The Butter- nuts they found adverse claimants for the lands they had bought of Treat & Morris, through their agent, Boulogne, to whom they had given a power of attorney. Treat, one of the proprietors, was dead; Boulogne was dead, and Morris declared that they had never given him any authority to sell their lands, and that he had never paid them any money. Boulogne had deposited the power of attorney with a notary in Paris and' it could not be produced in court. After three or four years contention, the d'Autremonts sold their deeds for a small sum, hav- ing lost several thousand dollars. Evidently, Mor- ris was dishonest. Mr. Boulogne could not have been fraudulently selling his lands for two or three years in France and America without Morris find- ing it out, and sending him to prison. It was only after the witnesses to the power of attorney were dead and Boulogne was dead, that he denied the sale.
Madame d'Autremont died at Angelica, N. Y., August 29th, 1809, at the age of 64 years, and is buried in the cemetery at that place. Iler son, Alexander, died at the same place August 4th, 1857. His wife, Abigail (Dodge) d'Autremont, also died there January 12th, 1866. They had 10 children.
1
.
73
A SHORT HISTORY OF ASYLUM.
Her youngest son, Augustus, went to Wilmington, Del., and was employed by the Duponts. In 1816, he married Sarah Ann Stewart of New Castle, Del. He lived at Angelica and Friendship, N. Y. They had 10 children.
CHAPTER XII.
THE LEFEVERE AND PREVOST FAMILIES. THE HOMETS AND LAPORTES.
HIAS. FELIX BUE BOULOGNE had studied law, been admitted to the bar in Paris. When the American Revolution broke out, he was one of the company of young Frenchmen who came over with General Lafayette and volunteered their services in the army of the United States and served to the end of the war. Having become pro- ficient in our language and made acquaintance with our people, he did not return to France with the others. He saw that there were greater opportuni- ties for doing business and making money in America than in Europe and remained here. Hle was an active, prompt, business man. Mr. Craft says of Boulogne: "In the early days of Asylum he conducted the greater part of the correspondence with the Americans, and seemed to be the general manager of the business." In the transaction of the outdoor business he often traveled long distances from home. It was when on one of these missions down in Sullivan county, below the Forks, that he was drowned in Loyal Sock, which was at flood stage, as we have stated elsewhere. That the d'Autremonts never blamed him for the imperfect title of the land he sold to them is proven by the
الـ
74
A SHORT HISTORY OF ASYLUM.
friendly letter written to him by Alexander d'Autre- mont, only a year before his death, of which men- tion has been made.
Boulogne and Adam Hoops were the two men selected by the company to explore northern Penn- sylvania and select the place for settlement, and to the former was given a letter of credit for any sum of money he might need in preparing the business on which they were sent. The place selected was entirely satisfactory to their employers. There is no evidence against his honesty that would be. re- ceived in a court of justice.
. Louis I. Beaulieu was formerly a captain in the French army, he resigned his commission, came to America, joined the legion of Pulaski under Lafay- ette, and after the war was over, remained in the country whose independence he had helped to achieve. During his service he was taken prisoner at Savannah, 9th of October, 1779, and was ex -. changed; was severely wounded at Charleston, S. C., May 12th, 1780, after the close of the war he married an English woman, and kept an inn at Asylum.
Madame d'Autremont had three brothers and three or more sisters by the name of d'Ohet. One of her sisters, Marie Genevieve d'Ohet, was born in 1752; married Anthony. Bartholomew Lefevre, to whom were born two sons and two daughters. As before stated, one son died in France just before they were ready to sail. The other son, Alexander, after coming to America, enlisted in the United States army in the war of 1812, and died of sickness at Carlisle, Pa. Cecelia, one of the daughters of
nill pas
75
A SHORT HISTORY OF ASYLUM.
Anthony Lefevre, married John Anthony Prevost of Lime Hill, in 1815. Mr. Prevost was born in Paris, September 23rd, 1777, and at the age of 23 came to this country in August, 1800. Asylum at that time was full of activity, but it is not known that Mr. Prevost visited the place then. He came to Angelica in 1809, and superintended the farm and garden of Judge Church while the Judge was visiting England. Two of Prevost's brothers, were soldiers in Bonaparte's army and in the Russian campaign, and never returned. On a business trip traveling on horseback, he came to Lime Hill, Pa., where he became acquainted with Cecelia Lefevre, whom he afterwards married. Except for a short time in Philadelphia, they lived on Russell Hill, Wyoming county, Pa.
He had been a florist in Paris, and on Russell Hill his greenhouse was filled with beautiful flowers and plants so rare that people came miles to see their brilliant coloring, and scent their sweet fragrance. Hle had a grapery, and always made wine enough to sell to stage passengers and travelers. At the re- quest of the passengers the stage always stopped at his house, and he would come out with bottle and glasses to sell them the pure juice of the vine. Three different times the writer was a passenger in the stage that stopped there. Ilis price for wine was high, but no more than tavern keepers charged.
Hle died April 30th, 1868, at the age of 90 years. His wife died at their home on Russell Hill, May 8th, 1876. Three children were born unto them: Ed- ward, who inherited the homestead and whose de- scendants are among the best families in Wyoming
--
76
A SHORT HISTORY OF ASYLUM.
county. Angelique, who married William Mix, Esq., of Towanda. Theophilus Prevost died at the age of 55 years. Augustine, daughter of Anthony Lefevre, married John Huff, and lived on Lime Hill. They had no children.
The youngest of the d'Ohet sisters, was Marie Claudine, born 1758. In early life she entered a school for nuns in Paris, where she continued until in the madness of the Revolution the religious es- tablishiments were broken up, and the estates of the church sequestered to public use. Miss d'Ohet went to Nantes, and from there in 1806 she sailed for New York, and from there went directly to her sister, Mrs. d'Autremont, in Angelica, N. Y., where her re- maining days were spent, and where she died Jan- uary 28th, 1810, and was buried in the cemetery at Angelica.
Louis Paul d'Autremont, in searching for rela- tives in France, found that his father's three brothers were dead, and could find'no near relatives living. One cousin, Auguste d'Autremont, was a second lieutenant in the army.
The letters of Louis Paul to his mother and brothers were numerous and affectionate. One of them is here given.
"Paris, July 18th, 1798.
"I always begin my letters with a reproach, or at least, a complaint, Why is it that I have not received letters from you for five months. I know that circumstances are anything but favorable for frequent communications. So many vessels do not reach their destination. Even those that escape the danger of being taken rarely escape the fear of the loss of letters. I wrote you about six weeks ago by M. Borneyville, vice consul at Boston. Today I take advantage of the departure of M. Gerry, one of our commissioners, to send you this. I will not speak to you of political affairs. In your solitude they would have little attraction for you. I will abstain then, from speak-
1
-
77
A SHORT HISTORY OF ASYLUM.
ing of them. I have plenty of things to tell you of concerning myself to fill this paper. I have to tell you of a little business I have just finished, and which will require for its entire con- clusion the good will and attention of my dear Alexander. 1 have just bought of Duvernot all of his best lands in Chenango that is to say, all that belonged to him. I have made a bargain with him for a thousand acres of land. I have my choice every- where .. All the clearings, even the mill belongs to me. You will say: 'But why this new purchase- what does this new. project mean? In two words, my dear, I will explain to you. It is not well demonstrated to me yet that America is not the best country in the world. It is the one without dispute where one can be free and tranquil. After all that the late papiere of France must have told you, you must perceive that the great- est that can happen to a man is that neither good nor evil over- take him. According to this manner of thinking, which I share with many others, I must think of my future. I have bought these thousand acres that in every possible case I may have refuge. My intention is to give 200 acres to Alexander for a wedding present if he marries.
"My substance (Capital) is not considerable (not rich), but it will permit me to live by becoming a farmer again and, no matter how small it is, Alexander, Auguste and you shall share it. Write to me at length and more of your country. >
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.