Jean Baptiste d'Estrehan

Jean-Baptiste d'Estrehan de Beaupre (surname often simply written as Destrehan; died 26 February 1765)[1] was a high-ranking French official in colonial Louisiana and the founder of the Destrehan family there. A native of France, he was appointed Treasurer of the Marine and arrived in New Orleans the year it became the capital of Louisiana (New France), 1722. D'Estrehan is credited with the completion of the Harvey Canal on the west bank of the Mississippi River in 1739, which connected the River with Barataria Bay to the south and thus to the Gulf.[2] However, it may have been just a ditch at that point, as the Harvey, Louisiana, article states that the canal work continued for many years. He cultivated indigo on his west bank plantation. In 1746, d'Estrehan was made Comptroller of the colony. He held both this position and the treasurer position until his death in 1765.[3]

D'estrehan married Jeanne Catherine de Gauvret and had six children,[4] the most notable of whom was Jean Noel Destréhan, after whom the town of Destrehan, was named. Another son, Jean Baptiste Honore d'Estrehan, was the first husband of Marie Felice de St. Maxent; who, when widowed, married Bernardo de Galvez, a Spanish colonial governor. One of d'Estrehan's daughters, Marie Marguerite, married Étienne de Boré, the first mayor of New Orleans. Another, Jeanne Marie, married Pierre Philippe de Marigny, the son of Antoine Philippe de Marigny; she was the mother of Bernard de Marigny.[5]

In his role as a colonial official, he clashed with the colonial governor Kerlerec, who described d'Estrehan as being "too rich and dangerous." Kerlerec had him sent back to France, along with the Commissary-Commissioner Vincent de Rochemore and Antoine Philippe de Marigny.[6] In France he was briefly held in the Bastille, but after Kerlerec's exile he returned to New Orleans.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Dictionary of Louisiana Biography, presumably a transcription or scan of the 1988 two-volume book and/or the supplement in 1999; online copyright 2008, Louisiana Historical Association, accessed 22 Sept 2015.
  2. ↑ Ibid.
  3. ↑ Ibid.
  4. ↑ Stanley Clisby Arthur, George Campbell Huchet De Kernion Old Families of Louisiana p. 414 1998
  5. ↑ Louisiana Historical Society Publications of the Louisiana Historical Society Vol. 5, 1911, p. 44
  6. ↑ King, Grace Elizabeth Creole Families of New Orleans, pg. 16

External links

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