Jacques Villeré
Jacques Villeré | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 2nd Governor of Louisiana | |
| In office December 16, 1816 – December 18, 1820 | |
| Preceded by | William C. C. Claiborne |
| Succeeded by | Thomas B. Robertson |
| Personal details | |
| Born | April 28, 1761 |
| Died | March 7, 1830 (aged 68) |
| Resting place | Saint Louis Cemetery |
| Party | Democratic-Republican |
| Spouse | Jeanne Henriette de Fazende |
| Children | 8 |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | Kingdom of France United States |
| Branch/service | French Army Louisiana State Militia |
| Rank | Lieutenant (French Army) Major General (Militia) |
| Battles/wars | |
Jacques Philippe Villeré (April 28, 1761 – March 7, 1830) was a Louisiana Creole politician who served as the second Governor of Louisiana after it became a state. He was the first native born Louisianian to govern the state.
Early life
Jacques Philippe Villeré was born on April 26, 1761, to Louise Marguerite de la Chaise and Joseph Antoine de Villeré on his maternal grandfather's plantation La Providence in present day Kenner in French Louisiana. [1]
His father was an officer in the French Navy and later served as a militia captain in the German Coast area the Louisiana Colony. Here he met and later married Louise Marguerite de la Chaise, daughter of Jacques de la Chaise and granddaughter, on her mother's side, of Charles Frederick d’Arensbourg, the founder of the German Coast. A few years after 1763's cession of Louisiana to Spain, Joseph was sentenced to death by Governor Alejandro O'Reilly for participating in the Creole Revolt against the Spanish authority. He mysteriously died prior to the firing squad execution of the rebels, in October 1769.[2]
After his father's death, Villeré was sent to France where he served as a page in the court of King Louis XVI. He spent several years being educated and was commissioned as an artillery officer in the French Army. He was deployed to Saint-Domingue with the rank of lieutenant but resigned his commission and returned to his family home in 1782 after receiving news of his mother's death.[3]
In 1784, Villeré married Jeanne Henriette de Fazende, the daughter of Gabriel de Fazende, who owned a plantation seven miles (11 km) below New Orleans in present-day Saint Bernard Parish. The couple raised eight children. Jeanne Villeré died in 1826.[4]
Military service
In 1814–15, he served with distinction in the (War of 1812's) Battle of New Orleans, as a major general commanding the 1st Division of the Louisiana Militia. His men stood fast, assigned to the area near Lake Borgne and Bayou Dupre, as British forces approached New Orleans by sea.
The Villeré plantation, Conseil, located downriver from the city, was captured by the British. In fact, Villeré's son Gabriel, who had the rank of major and guarded the plantation with thirty soldiers, was surprised and captured when the British Army initially made its presence known. Maj. Villeré managed to escape and report the news to Gen. Andrew Jackson, who ordered the night attack of December 23, 1814.[5]
The Villeré home was used as British headquarters throughout the Louisiana campaign for nearly one month.[6] The family's property was damaged and they lost a number of slaves, who fled to British warships and gained their freedom.
Family, political career, and later life
In 1803, Villeré secured a seat on the municipal council (the Cabildo) of New Orleans during the brief return to French colonial administration. The next year, after the Louisiana Purchase took effect, Villeré was appointed a major general in the territorial militia, a Police Juror in what in a few years would be the "county" of Orleans Parish, and a justice of the peace for the area which would soon become St. Bernard Parish.
Villeré was a member of the convention which drafted Louisiana's first state constitution. He ran for Governor in 1812, to serve as the first governor after statehood, but was defeated in the election by William C. C. Claiborne who was elected overwhelmingly with over 70% of the vote.
Jacques Villeré was elected as the second state governor in 1816, narrowly defeating Joshua Lewis. He took office in December of that year and served through 1820, a period of prosperity and growth for the new state. His gubernatorial administration was noted for efforts to provide bankruptcy protection for debtors, the designation of death-by-dueling as a capital offense, and reduction of the level of state debt.[7]
He retired to the family's sugar plantation in St. Bernard Parish after his term, as the law did not permit him to succeed himself in office.[8] Villeré was brought out of retirement to run again for governor in the 1824 election, but he and Bernard de Marigny split the Creole vote and Henry Johnson was elected governor.
He was preparing to run for Governor again in the 1830 special election; but he died March 7, 1830, before the election, at the plantation Conseil after a long illness. His remains were interred at St. Louis Cemetery No. 2, in New Orleans.
See also
- Charles Jacques Villeré
References
- ^ VILLERE, Jacques Philippe Archived September 16, 2021, at the Wayback Machine in the Louisiana Historical Association's Dictionary of Louisiana Biography, accessed 04 July 2020.
- ^ Ibid.
- ^ "Jacques Philippe Villeré". 64Parishes. July 28, 2011.
{{cite web}}:|first=missing|last=(help) - ^ Jacques P. Villeré at La-Cemeteries.com, retrieved 18 April 2017.
- ^ Reilly, Robin. The British at the Gates. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1974 (Reprinted 2002 by Robin Brass Studio, Toronto), p. 251 ff.
- ^ Wilson, Samuel, Jr. Plantation Houses on the Battlefield of New Orleans. New Orleans: Louisiana Landmarks Society, 1989 (Reprinted 2011 by Pelican Publishing Co.), p. 87.
- ^ Villere, Jacques Philippe Archived September 16, 2021, at the Wayback Machine in the Dictionary of Louisiana Biography, accessed 04 July 2020.
- ^ Jacques Philippe Villeré in the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities' encyclopedia, accessed 18 April 2017.
External links
- Jacques Philippe Villeré Papers at The Historic New Orleans Collection
- Jacques Villeré at Find a Grave
