Joseph Gabriel Armand Allard Duplantier (1753 - 1827)

Born 1753 in France

Ancestors

Husband of Marie Augustine Gerard — married 1781 in Louisiana

Husband of Constance Catherine Rochon — married 4 Jan 1802 in Natchez, Adams, Mississippi Territory

Descendants

Died 9 Oct 1827 at about age 74 in Baton Rouge, East Baton Rouge, Louisiane, États-Unis d'Amérique

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Biography

Joseph Gabriel Armand Allard Duplantier

Wikipedia Biographical Information

Armand Gabriel Allard du Plantier (1753 - 9 Oct 1827) was a French cavalry officer who served in the American Revolutionary War as an aide-de-camp to General Lafayette.[1][2]

Armand was born in Voiron, France, the son of Joseph Antoine Guy Allard du Plantier (1721–1801)[3] and Gabrielle Trenonay de Chanfrey.[4]

In 1781, he moved to Louisiana (New Spain), settling on the plantation of his uncle, Claude Trénonay, in the area of Pointe Coupee, Louisiana. He married his uncle's stepdaughter, Marie Augustine Gerard; the couple had six children, four of whom survived to adulthood. Marie Augustine died of yellow fever in 1799. In 1802 Duplantier remarried, to widow Constance Rochon Joyce, and the couple resided part of the time in their country house at Mount Magnolia plantation (which property today is within the city of Baton Rouge and owned by that city). Five more children were born of this union.[5][6]

Duplantier was disturbed by the 1794 slave revolt which occurred locally. It was called the Pointe Coupée Conspiracy and reminded him of the Haitian Revolution (1791-1804). He was a slave-owner and regretted that he had bought some Saint-Domingue slaves, but he did not want to sell them until they regained their value.[7]

Armand Duplantier helped to establish a college in Baton Rouge in 1822. A few years later, he was part of the delegation which welcomed the Marquis de Lafayette, during his American tour.[8]

In 1827, Duplantier, Fulwar Skipwith, Antoine Blanc, Thomas B. Robertson, and Sebastien Hiriart received permission from the Louisiana State Legislature to organize a corporation called the Agricultural Society of Baton Rouge.[9] Armand Duplantier died the same year and was given military honors at his funeral, in tribute to his Revolutionary War service. ^[1]

Memorial

Gabriel Armand Allard Duplantier

Birth: 1753 Voiron Departement de l'Isère Rhône-Alpes, France

Death: Oct. 9, 1827 Louisiana, USA

He was one of the early land owners in Baton Rouge, who was a native of Voirion, Isere Department, France that served as aide-de-camp and friend to the Marquis de Lafayette, the famed patriot and Revolutionary War general.

He was owner of the nearby Magnolia Mound plantation.

Advocate staff photo by Mandy Lunn

Family links:

Spouses:

(1) Constance Rochon Duplantier (1766 - 1840)

(2) Marie Augustine Gérard Duplantier (____ - 1799)*

Children:

Fergus Augustin Allard Duplantier (1783 - 1844)*

Guy Allard Duplantier (1791 - 1835)*

Augustine Eulalie Duplantier Favrot (1799 - 1861)*

Euphemie Amelia Allard Duplantier (1804 - 1826)*

Didier Duplantier (1806 - 1834)*

Nicholas Alberic Duplantier (1806 - 1891)* *Calculated relationship

Burial: Highland Cemetery Baton Rouge East Baton Rouge Parish Louisiana, USA

Created by: Helen L. Smith Hoke (Credit) Record added: Apr 17, 2003 Find A Grave Memorial# 7361899 ^[2]

Armand Duplantier Family Letters, Historical Review

Armand Duplantier, Sr., whose letters represent the bulk of the collection, was born in Voiron, France, in 1753. He served as aide-de-camp to the Marquis de Lafayette during the American Revolution and came to Louisiana in 1781 to assist his uncle, Claude Trénonay, in running his plantation in Pointe Coupée Parish. Soon after his arrival, he married Trénonay’s step-daughter, Augustine. He continued to manage his uncle’s interests, purchased and sold additional slaves and land in Pointe Coupée, the Felicianas, and the Baton Rouge area, and raised cotton, indigo, and tobacco. He also developed land holdings in New Orleans, where he lived for a time. Soon after his wife’s death of yellow fever, in 1802 Duplantier married Constance Rochon Joyce, the widow of John Joyce, the original owner of Magnolia Mound Plantation near Baton Rouge. Failed crops and poor investments led him to declare bankruptcy in 1814.

In addition to his planting activities, Duplantier was somewhat involved in public life. His friendship with Lafayette had continued after the Revolution, and when Lafayette was granted lands in Louisiana in 1803 in recognition of his service during the American Revolution, Duplantier was charged with acquiring them. He was also part of the delegation that welcomed Lafayette during his 1825 visit to Louisiana. Always concerned about suitable educational opportunities for his own children, he helped establish Baton Rouge College in 1822. He died five years later and was buried in Highland Cemetery with military honors.

The Armand Duplantier Family Letters were given by the descendants of Guy Antoine Allard Duplantier, elder brother of Armand Duplantier, to their Louisiana cousins, and subsequently donated to the LSU Libraries in 2011.

Historical Article

• • Constance Catherine Rochon Married (2) Joseph/Gabriel Armand Allard Duplantier

(1753-France) on 1/4/1802 July 27, 1777, a twenty-four year old french cavalry officer takes his first step onto American soil. He traveled across an ocean to offer his services in the fight for freedom, and 200 years later his descendants live in the most free and powerful country on earth. Son of Joseph Allard Duplantier, delegate from the Dauphine to the National Constitutional Assembly in France, Armand Allard Gabriel Duplantier sailed to America on the Marquis de Lafayette’s ship, La Victoire. The ship anchored in Philadelphia, where the Frenchmen aboard volunteered to fight with the American army. Lafayette volunteered to serve without pay, and was appointed Major General of the Continental army under George Washington. Lafayette was only nineteen when he accepted command, but he proved himself in battle and his troops respected and admired him. Armand was appointed Lafayette’s aide de camp, and the two developed a life-long friendship. Records of Armand’s participation in battles are hard to come by, but he most likely served under Lafayette during the entire war and 15 was present at several major battles including Yorktown. Lafayette spent the winter of 1777 at Valley Forge with George Washington. Conditions were unbearable, and disease was rampant. Lafayette said, “The patient endurance of both soldiers and officers was a miracle which each moment served to renew.” In contrast, Governor Morris said of his visit to the camp, “An Army of skeletons appeared before our eyes, naked, starved, sick, discouraged.” After the hard winter, Washington and Lafayette led their troops to battle. British General Clinton fought them to a stand-still at the battle of Monmouth Court in New Jersey, but American General Charles Lee called a retreat. Washington was infuriated with Lee, as this enabled Clinton to continue to New York. In August of 1778, Lafayette marched to Newport, Rhode Island, to conduct a combined siege with d’Estaing’s French ships. The ships were held up and battered by inclement weather, and Lafayette’s troops were delayed, leading the siege to failure. Meanwhile, in 1780, General Clinton took Charleston and captured 5,500 American prisoners. This was the greatest loss the Americans felt during the war. In June of 1781, Lafayette, General Anthony Wayne, and Baron von Steuben formed a combined force in Virginia to oppose the British forces under the traitor Benedict Arnold and General Cornwallis. Two months later Count de Grasse’s French fleets, which the Americans had been counting on, arrived off of Yorktown and eliminated Cornwallis’ hope for retreat by sea. Lafayette’s forces blocked retreat by land. On October 19, Cornwallis surrendered, and victory was in reach of the Americans. Armand must have trusted in this for he married eighteen year old Augustine Gerard, the step-daughter of his Uncle Trenonay, that same year. Armand served a few months after Yorktown, until he received an injury and was released from duty. In March of 1782 he joined Augustine on his Uncle’s plantation in Point Coupee, Louisiana. Armand and his wife remained with Uncle Trenonay for several years, and helped him keep up his plantation. In 1783, the year the revolution ended, Augustine gave birth to their first son, Fergus Duplantier. Eight years later they were blessed with another son, Guy Allard Duplantier, and soon after Armand Allard, named for his father. Armand’s young family, like the young nation in which they lived, was soon faced with more grief. Abolitionists in the North were stirring the slaves to revolt and, in 1792, Uncle Trenonay was killed by a slave. This was the beginning of the inevitable conflict between North and South, which some of the founding fathers predicted. Armand’s sons would later enter the conflict as confederate soldiers. Armand met another tragedy when, after giving birth to their daughter Augustine Eulalie, his wife died of yellow fever in 1799. It was not uncommon for men in his position to remarry, and three years after his wife’s death Armand wed Constance Rochon. Constance had inherited her dead husband’s plantation, called Magnolia Mound, which produced crops of indigo, sugar cane, cotton, and tobacco. It was a very wealthy plantation, and the Duplantiers entertained frequently. Armand’s family continued to grow, as did our country. In 1802, Constance gave birth to a son, Alberic Nicholas. One year later, the United States purchased Louisiana from Napoleon I. Congress voted to give General Lafayette his choice of land in Louisiana, and Lafayette appointed his old friend Armand to select the lands. Bringing Louisiana into the Union was not easy. In 1804 Armand wrote that the Americans had possession of the colony, but Baton Rouge and the surrounding parishes were still under Spanish rule. Armand later became Captain of the Baton Rouge Militia and thwarted a local uprising. Louisiana was eventually divided into the territory of New Orleans and the district of Louisiana. Armand did much to help the new district, and Thomas Jefferson’s military envoy lived in one of his plantations for several years. General Lafayette also stopped at Armand’s plantation in 1825, it had been 43 years since the two men had met. In the meantime Armand and Constance had had four more children; Euphemie Amelia in 1804, Augustin in 1806, Didier in 1809, and Joseph Alfred Allard in 1813. Armand was a soldier, a leader, and a father to eight children. Each position takes a giving of one’s self, both for country and for family. Buried in Highland cemetery of Baton Rouge, in 1827, Armand was given military honors and called one of the “Fathers of our Independence”. He fought to give this country freedom, a freedom that all his descendants would enjoy. Politicians, Judges, writers, and soldiers have owed their freedom and their family to Armand Duplantier. It is because of the bravery and sacrifices of many men like Armand that has made our country what it is today, the most free and powerful country on earth. We are proud to call ourselves “American.” review resource .. ^[3]

Sources

1. ↑ [( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armand_Duplantier)]
2. ↑ [(http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7361899)]
3. ↑ [(http://www.frenchcreoles.com/Early%20Creole%20Homes/Beginnings%20Files/SimonRochon.pdf)]

• http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7361899

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnolia_Mound_Plantation_House