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MONS. DUDUIT was born near Paris, in
1770, and came to Gallipolis in 1790, one of the victims of the
Scioto Company fraud, and with him his wife, a lady of a very
wealthy and refined family. He lived seven years in
Gallipolis, and while there was variously employed. He was a
great hunter, and known as the best marksman among the French
settlers. He was also one of the four spies, heretofore
mentioned, who scoured the country around Gallipolis on the watch
for Indians, serving in this capacity about three years, Colonel
Robert Safford, for a time, being his companion. M.
Duduit went to the grant in 1796, being one of the first there,
and assisted in erecting the log houses for the families, who came
March 21st, 1797. He became busily engaged in improving his
land, and soon had a fine place. His wife died July 11th,
1811, and he re-married July 3d,, 1817. He was in the war of
1812, where he rendered efficient service, and died April 5th, 1836.
MONS. FRANCIS LE CLERCQ was a
man of fine education, and born in Annis, France, January 8th, 1773;
came with the first colonists; taught school at Gallipolis, and
married Eulalie C. Marret, about 1808, who died January 12th,
1809. Nine months afterward he married Marie Louise Cadot,
a young lady whom he met at the Grant while engaged in surveying
town lots of what was then Burrsburg, now Haverhill. For more
than twenty-five years he was clerk of the court in Gallia county,
and postmaster at Gallipolis for the same length of time. He
was a Whig in politics and a member of the order of Free Masons.
He was a highly respected citizen during his active life, and died
November 175h, 1837, in his 64th year, and with his first wife, is
buried in the Gallipolis cemetery.
MONS. JOSEPH GUILLAUME DEVACHT
was born in the year 1761, in Ipres, Fanders. With other
French he embarked from Havre de Grace in the ship "La Patrie,"
Feb. 3d, 1790, arriving in due time at Gallipolis, where he worked
at the silversmith business, and being a man of intellect and
ability, he soon attained a position of high standing in the
community, and considerable wealth. In March, 1798,he married
Madame Parmantier, a widow lady of good education,
Robert Safford, esquire, officiating. He was well
skilled in his business, and his reputation was widely extended.
Orders for delicate workmanship were received by him from
Cincinnati, Louisville, New Orleans, St. Louis, Pittsburgh,
Philadelphia and Richmond. M. Devacht died May 12th,
1844, in his eighty-fourth year.
MADAME DEVACHT - was born in Paris, France,
January 15th, ,1775, and died January 17th, 1856, aged 81.
CAPTAIN JOSEPH W. DEVACHT - a son of the
subjects of the above sketch, was born in Gallipolis, July 28th,
1803, where he has always resided, and is still living, in his 80th
year, unmarried, a most social and agreeable gentleman, widely known
and respected. It has long been a custon for Roman
Menager and Franklin Carel to meet at the house
of Joseph Devacht on every Sunday afternoon, and after
a pleasant hour, spent in recalling early scenes and incidents,
start out together for a stroll. To one who is fortunate
enough to be allowed to enter and listen, it is an hour of unalloyed
pleasure, and seems a wonderful chapter of romance.
MONS. JEAN GABRIEL GARVAIS
was born in 1764 in Paris. His first visit was to the island
of Cuba, and returning to France after accumulating considerable
wealth, he came to this country, in 1790, with the French emigrants.
The terrible disappointment which they experienced at the deception
which had been practiced upon them discouraged him, and he soon went
back, but returned again in 1792. From this time until the
autumn of 1796, he was variously engaged, remaining most of the time
at Gallipolis. He was fond of hunting, a man of excellent
culture, and gained some reputation as a poet. He was present
at the wedding of General Newsom, an old resident of
Gallipolis, and the next morning composed and presented to the town
a poem, written in answer to a question which came up the previous
evening, which was long sung and admired by the French, and is yet
extant.
He was one who was most influential in procuring the
25,200 acres from Congress for the French settlers; was the bearer
of the petition, and his valuable and efficient services were
recognized by an award of 4,000 acres in addition to the 217½
acres which were allotted to each. As the grant was awarded
upon the condition that a settlement should be made within a
specified time, M. Gervais settled upon his land for that
purpose, erecting shanties in the fall of 1796, for the reception of
his effects the following March, when he started for his new home,
in company with Mons. Duduit, Bertrand, Lacroix and
Duteil, landing at the grant on the 21st. He was at
Gallipolis when the news of the proclamation of peace arrived, and
celebrated the occasion by a grand display of sky-rockets of his own
manufacture. He was fond of music and dancing, and a fiddle
for which he paid fifty dollars, brought from Paris, and used by him
for many years, is exhibited by the descendants of General Newsom.
The village of Burrsburg, now Haverhill, was laid out
as a town in 1806, by M. Gervais, who employed M. LeClercq,
the subject of a preceding sketch, as surveyor. He sold his
lot of 4,000 acres in two parcels - 200 acres to P. S. Duponceau,
the lawyer employed by him at Philadelphia in obtaining the grant,
for $600, September 23, 1805; the balance, 3,800 acres, May 26th,
1806, to a Yankee named Samuel Hunt, for two dollars per
acre, and also his grant of 217½ acres. the land for which he
received about $8,750, is now worth over a quarter of a million.
After selling his land he spent the remainder of his
sojourn in America at Gallipolis, in the society of his old friends.
He deposited his money with Mr. Menager, a merchant, for
safe-keeping, receiving his board for the sue of it, and agreeing to
give six months' notice when it would be required. His
continued to reside here until June, 18717, when he returned to the
land of his birth. Before leaving he presented his horse,
which he loved and valued very highly to E. S. Menager.
He died, unmarried, at Paris, in 1824, aged 60 years.
MONS. PETER SEROT was a French
sailor until he arrived at Alexandria with the emigrants.
There, in 1790, he married Mary Catherine Avaline, a Parisian
lady of education, after a courtship of five days. Mons,
and Mad. Serot resided at Gallipolis, and by
their industry received the respect of the community and gained
considerable property. September 30th, 1796, M. Serot
died, leaving four children: Mary, Leonard, John and
Peter, and was buried in the public square at Gallipolis, six
years after his arrival. February 12th 1797, Mad.
Serot married Andrew La Croix, a settler of the French
grant.
JOSEPH VANDEN, whose correct name
is Vanden-bemden, was born in Amsterdam, Holland, Apr.
1st, 1787. When four years of age he came to Philadelphia, and
after a two years' residence in that moral city, he landed in the
aggregation of log-cabins known then as Gallipolis. The heavy
primeval forest encircled the clearing, and the new Dutch arrivals
found themselves among French, who had deserted their
trans-continental homes for the same reasons - political
unpleasantness.
The little colony was not quite three years of age when
he came, and he lived to see the iron rail wind down the beautiful
valley of the Chicamauga, and the iron horse puff and blow
where the deer had lived and retired life in its sylvan home, and
the Indian held undisputed sway. Three of his father's
brothers had leaned on the block, and their gory heads had been
carried off in baskets, and he had cast his lot in the country where
the law has never claimed but one neck in its whole history, that of
James Lane in 1817.
In the year of 1812, Joseph Vanden placed
himself at the head of the first company of patriots that
volunteered in defence of liberty and independence. Not until
the last clash of arms had echoed did the active young Dutchman come
home and hang up his rifle and pouch over the broad mantlepiece.
June 15, 1815, he wedded Mary Randall, the lassie of
his choice, and merry flew the feet over the puncheon floor in honor
of the occasion; and it was the day when Blucher and Wellington
became heroes and Napoleon met his defeat at Waterloo.
His life from this time was peaceful in the pursuit of
home comforts. He was an intimate friend of Col. Robert
Safford, the subject of a former sketch. He stood upon the
bank and hailed the first steamboat that appeared upon the Ohio
river, with gaping wonder. He was deputy-sheriff in 1817, at
the time when James Lane, the only man ever executed
in the county, was hung. The first president who obtained his
vote was James Madison, and the last was the lamented
James A. Garfield. He died Monday evening, May 16th,
1881, aged 94 years, and left a large family of children,
grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
MRS. ADELAIDE MAGUET
is, at the present writing, (1882), the only living representative
of the original French settlers of Gallipolis. She was born in
Havre de Grace, France, March 26th, 1787. Her father, Louis Le
Clercq, was one of the first settlers of Gallipolis, arriving here
in 1791, and was followed by his family one year later.
Miss Adelaide was at that time nearly five years of age, and has
continued to reside here ever since, with the exception of a short
time when she was a captive among the Indians.
ON January 27th, 1806, she was married to Anthony Rene
Maguet, who was born in Paris, France, in 1788, by whom she was the
mother of seven children. Mr. Maguet came here in 1792, where
he continued to reside until his death, which occurred in January,
1829.
She is the surviving head of four generations, which
are at present represented among the most respectable residents of
Gallipolis.
Mrs. Maguet is very active, and retains her faculties
in a remarkable degree. In 1882, at the age of 95, she is
engaged in piecing a quilt for a great-grandchild, which is a very
fine sample of needle-work. She has as beautiful a set of
pearly teeth, and as keen eye-sight as any maiden of "sweet sixteen"
would desire; is enjoying excellent health, and her descendants
delight in doing her honor, frequently gathering about her with
earnest congratulations and words of good cheer.
MONS.
FRANCIS VALODIN. The subject of this sketch was one
who, despite an entire want of education, struggled successfully in
the pursuit of wealth, until he was one of the most extensive
land-owners, and by far the wealthiest man in the French grant.
He was born in 1765, and at the age of twenty-six,
secreted himself on
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