Joseph Chabran (21 June 1763 in Cavaillon – February 1843 in

Avignon Avignon (, ; ; oc, Avinhon, label=Provençal dialect, Provençal or , ; la, Avenio) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region of So ...

), was a French military officer. He served as infantry commander during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Peninsular War. Chebran traveled over the Pacific Ocean through the Spanish routes in the

Mariana Islands The Mariana Islands (; also the Marianas; in Chamorro: ''Manislan Mariånas'') are a crescent-shaped archipelago comprising the summits of fifteen longitudinally oriented, mostly dormant volcanic mountains in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, betw ...

and the Philippines before settling back in France.

Offspring

It was rumored that he had concubines and fathered children on his way back to France. The only documented child he claimed at the time was named Elena Chabran. Elena was one of his favorite children as she looked the most like the Commander. Elena was a teenager when she boarded the ship with Commander Chabran but fell in love and married a shipmate who died in the Marianas. Elena eventually married Don Juan Deleon Guerrero and stayed on the island of

Saipan Saipan ( ch, Sa’ipan, cal, Seipél, formerly in es, Saipán, and in ja, 彩帆島, Saipan-tō) is the largest island of the Northern Mariana Islands, a Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), commonwealth of the United States in the western Pa ...

while her father and other siblings returned to France. Many of his children and their mothers never made it to France and were rumored to have disembarked at other ports.

References

French military personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars French military personnel of the Napoleonic Wars Knights of the Order of Saint Louis Commandeurs of the Légion d'honneur 1763 births 1843 deaths Date of death unknown Names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe {{France-mil-bio-stub