Félix François Jean Cantagrel was a French politician born June 27, 1810, in

Amboise Amboise (; ) is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France. Today a small market town, it was once home to the French royal court. Geography Amboise lies on the banks of the river Loire, east of Tours. It is also about awa ...

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Indre-et-Loire Indre-et-Loire () is a department in west-central France named after the Indre River and Loire River. In 2019, it had a population of 610,079.Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Biography

Cantagrel was born into a family from

Aveyron Aveyron (; ) is a Departments of France, department in the Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Southern France. It was named after the river Aveyron (river), Aveyron. Its inhabitants are known as ''Aveyro ...

. A student in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

in 1827, Cantagrel received a degree in Law from the

University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

. He subsequently graduated from the Corps of Bridges and Roads with a degree in architecture.

Early Career

Between 1834 and 1838, Cantagrel wrote literary criticism articles for the journal L'Artiste. A disciple of

Charles Fourier François Marie Charles Fourier (; ; 7 April 1772 – 10 October 1837) was a French philosopher, an influential early socialist thinker, and one of the founders of utopian socialism. Some of his views, held to be radical in his lifetime, have be ...

, he founded the newspaper La Phalange, which later became La Démocratie pacifique. Cantagrel was a member of Parliament for Loir-et-Cher from 1849 to 1850. He was convicted in absentia and stripped of his seat following his participation in the Paris insurrection on June 13, 1849. Prosecuted even before the 1851 coup d'etat of

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was President of France from 1848 to 1852 and then Emperor of the French from 1852 until his deposition in 1870. He was the first president, second emperor, and last ...

, Cantagrel went into exile in Belgium from 1849 to 1854.

La Reunion

Cantagrel was the first Director of the

La Réunion LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second most populous city in the United States of America. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note *"L.A.", a song by Elliott Smi ...

colony located in

Dallas County, Texas Dallas County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 2,613,539, and was estimated to be 2,656,028 in 2024, making it the List of counties in Texas, second-most populo ...

. Cantagrel departed Belgium for Texas on October 3, 1854 as an advance agent for the European American Colonization Society of Texas, charged with preparing the colony for settlement. Along with a small number of additional colonists, Cantagrel was responsible for purchasing the land for the colony and beginning preparations for the colonists, before their arrival in early 1855. Cantagrel resigned his position in 1856 and returned to France in 1859, after being granted amnesty for his demonstration against

France

Cantagrel was the director of the Nantes newspaper L'Union Démocratique from 1869 to 1871. In 1871 and 1872, he contributed to the newspaper Le Radical. An opposition candidate under the Second Empire, he was a municipal councilor of Paris from 1871 to 1876. He was a member of parliament for the Seine from 1876 to 1887, sitting on the far left. He was one of the 363 who refused to vote in favour of the Broglie government on 16 May 1877.

Legacy

Cantegral Street in Old East Dallas is named (although misspelled) in his honor. Rue Cantagrel in Paris is named after him as well.Jacques Hillairet, Dictionnaire historique des rues de Paris, Paris, Les Éditions de minuit, 1972, 1985, 1991, 1997, etc. (1re éd. 1960), 1 476 p., 2 vol. étail des éditions(ISBN 2-7073-1054-9, OCLC 466966117), p. 263.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cantagrel, Francois 1810 births 1887 deaths 19th-century French politicians