Pierre Alphonse de Tonty, or Alphonse de Tonty, Baron de Paludy (c. 1659 – 10 November 1727) was an officer who served under the
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
explorer
Cadillac
The Cadillac Motor Car Division () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM) that designs and builds luxury vehicles. Its major markets are the United States, Canada, and China. Cadillac models are distributed i ...
and helped establish the first
European
European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to:
In general
* ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe
** Ethnic groups in Europe
** Demographics of Europe
** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...
settlement at
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...
,
Michigan
Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
, Fort Pontchartrain du Detroit on the
Detroit River
The Detroit River flows west and south for from Lake St. Clair to Lake Erie as a strait in the Great Lakes system. The river divides the metropolitan areas of Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario, Windsor, Ontario—an area collectively refe ...
in 1701. Several months later, both Cadillac and Tonty brought their wives to the fort, making them the first
European
European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to:
In general
* ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe
** Ethnic groups in Europe
** Demographics of Europe
** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...
women to travel so deep into the new territory.
He was born in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, ca. 1659, to
Lorenzo de Tonti
Lorenzo de Tonti (c. 1602 - c. 1684) was a governor of Gaeta, Italy and a Neapolitan banker. He is sometimes credited with the invention of the tontine, a form of life insurance, although it has also been suggested that he simply modified existing ...
who was a financier and former governor of
Gaeta
Gaeta (; lat, Cāiēta; Southern Laziale: ''Gaieta'') is a city in the province of Latina, in Lazio, Southern Italy. Set on a promontory stretching towards the Gulf of Gaeta, it is from Rome and from Naples.
The town has played a consp ...
who was in France in exile. Lorenzo de Tonti was the inventor of the form of
life insurance
Life insurance (or life assurance, especially in the Commonwealth of Nations) is a contract between an insurance policy holder and an insurer or assurer, where the insurer promises to pay a designated beneficiary a sum of money upon the death ...
known as the
tontine
A tontine () is an investment linked to a living person which provides an income for as long as that person is alive. Such schemes originated as plans for governments to raise capital in the 17th century and became relatively widespread in the 18 ...
.
Henri de Tonti
Henri de Tonti (''né'' Enrico Tonti; – September 1704), also spelled Henri de Tonty, was an Italian-born French military officer, explorer, and ''voyageur'' who assisted René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, with North American explora ...
, involved in
LaSalle's exploration of the
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...
and the establishment of
the first settlement in Arkansas, was his older brother.
Tonty was commanding the fort in Detroit by 1717, but by 1727 numerous complaints, including those by the
Huron
Huron may refer to:
People
* Wyandot people (or Wendat), indigenous to North America
* Wyandot language, spoken by them
* Huron-Wendat Nation, a Huron-Wendat First Nation with a community in Wendake, Quebec
* Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi ...
led to his dismissal.
Tonty was involved in numerous scandals and disreputable activities before he was eventually dismissed from his post as commandant of
Fort Pontchartrain
Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit or Fort Detroit (1701–1796) was a fort established on the north bank of the Detroit River by the French officer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac and the Italian Alphonse de Tonty in 1701. In the 18th century, Frenc ...
. He died before he could obtain another appointment or return to
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
.
Tonty was married twice. His first marriage in 1689 was to Marie Anne
Picoté de Belestre
Picotee describes flowers whose edge is a different colour than the flower's base colour. The word originates from the French ''picoté'', meaning 'marked with points'.The Oxford Dictionary of English, page 1331. Oxford University Press, 2005.
...
with whom he had 13 children. She was the daughter of Pierre Picoté de Belestre.
See also
*
Jacques Baudry de Lamarche Jacques Baudry de Lamarche ( baptized 13 September 1676 – ''ca.'' 1738) was the son of a Canadian craftsman from Trois-Rivières who moved to France at some point in his youth.
There is little information about Jacques Baudry de Lamarche. He ...
References
1650s births
1727 deaths
American city founders
Canadian people of Italian descent
People of New France
{{NewFrance-stub