Jean Payen de Boisneuf
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Jean Payen de Boisneuf | |
|---|---|
 Portrait by Olivier Perrin. | |
| Born | 25 February 1738 |
| Died | 1 July 1815 (aged 77) |
| Occupations | Military officer, politician, plantation owner |
Jean Payen de Boisneuf (1738-1815), was a French military officer and plantation owner, who had estates in Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) and in Touraine. He was elected deputy of the bailiwick of Touraine for the Estates General of 1789. As a member of a family of plantation owners, he was a pro-slavery activist and a member of the Feuillants. In 1791 he came to the United States and met with Thomas Jefferson seeking American intervention in the Haitian Revolution, which was refused. He returned to the United States in 1793, settling with distant relatives in Maryland, where they attempted to re-create a plantation similar to that with which they were familiar in Saint-Domingue. L'Hermitage Plantation was notable for its large-scale enslavement and for mistreatment of the slaves.
Birth and family
Jean Payen de Boisneuf was born on February 25, 1738, in Les Verettes (now Verettes), Saint-Domingue.[1] His father, from a family of traders, was a knight of the Order of Saint Louis and commander of the militias of the Verrettes parish.[2] His mother was born Marie-Claudine Lezlee, Lezelé, or Leslay. A brother was named Pierre.[3]
Officer in Saint-Domingue and return to France
On January 31, 1757, Jean Payen de Boisneuf was 19 years old when he entered the service of the king as an ensign in the militia commanded by his father. In 1767, he was appointed commander of troops detached to intervene against English privateers who raided the island. He succeeded in effectively countering this enemy, capturing some, and taking them to the prisons of the city of Saint-Marc.[2] In 1765 he obtained a commission as captain of a company of hussars in the Saint-Marc district and in 1771, after a trip to France on business, he obtained the same position for an infantry company. In 1776, he was appointed assistant captain of the Mont-Louis district, in charge of the district's police. In 1777, exhausted and in poor health, he returned to France while his superiors requested that he be decorated with the cross of St Louis, as a retirement and reward for his services.[2]
The Payen family owned several large plantations in Saint-Domingue, producing coffee and sugar. Payen de Boisneuf's brother Pierre was the proprietor of the plantations.[4]
Deputy of the Estates-General and the Constituent Assembly
Jean Payen de Boisneuf was elected, on March 24, 1789, deputy of the Third Estate at the Estates-General by the bailiwick of Touraine, with 99 votes out of a total of 162 voters. The intendant gave him the description of "Very rich American" in his report.[1]
He was present at the Tennis Court Oath, then became a member of the colonial committee.[5] On April 26, 1790, he was one of the new members of the Committee of General Security.[6]
A member of the Feuillants, he was a close friend of Médéric Louis Élie Moreau de Saint-Méry, like him, he defended slavery, notably on April 28, 1791, he intervened to highlight the negative impact caused by the declaration of the rights of man on the colonists of Saint-Domingue "the members of the colonial assembly were misled by the fear of a rigorous application of this declaration in a country where existence is inconceivable with the first article."[3]
He attended the installation of the constitutional bishop of Paris, Jean-Baptiste Gobel, on March 26, 1791. His last involvement in metropolitan France was to be appointed second high juror of Indre-et-Loire, on September 3, 1791.[1]
Jean's brother Pierre Payen died in 1791, the year of the Haitian Revolution.[4]
Emigration to the United States
After refusing to be elected to the mayoralty of Tours, Payen de Boisneuf sold his property in Touraine to his brother-in-law. Rather than return to Saint-Domingue following the death of his brother, Payen de Boisneuf came to the United States[4] in 1791 with the Baron de Beauvais to solicit help from the United States in putting down the Haitian Revolution. The pair traveled to Philadelphia with the aim of delivering the request to George Washington. They met with Thomas Jefferson, who passed their letter on to Congress, but no action was taken. Payen de Boisneuf returned to France, but returned to the United States in 1793, intending to go on to Saint-Domingue. Deciding neither to go to Saint-Domingue during a civil war or to go back to Paris during the Reign of Terror, Payen de Boisneuf instead went to live with his cousin's wife's family, the Vincendrieres.[7] The Vincendriere family owned substantial plantations at l'Hermitage, near Frederick, Maryland.[8]
