Captain François Dupont Duvivier (; 25 April 1705 – 28 May 1776) was an

Acadia Acadia (; ) was a colony of New France in northeastern North America which included parts of what are now the The Maritimes, Maritime provinces, the Gaspé Peninsula and Maine to the Kennebec River. The population of Acadia included the various ...

n-born merchant and officer of the French colonial troupes de la marine. He was the wealthiest offer on Ile Royale and led the Raid on Canso and

Siege of Annapolis Royal (1744) The siege of Annapolis Royal (also known as the siege of Fort Anne) in 1744 involved two of four attempts by the French, along with their Acadian and native allies, to regain the capital of Nova Scotia/Acadia, Annapolis Royal, during King George ...

during

King George's War King George's War (1744–1748) is the name given to the military operations in North America that formed part of the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748). It was the third of the four French and Indian Wars. It took place primarily in ...

. He received the

Order of Saint Louis The Royal and Military Order of Saint Louis () is a dynastic order of chivalry founded 5 April 1693 by King Louis XIV, named after Saint Louis (King Louis IX of France). It was intended as a reward for exceptional officers, notable as the fi ...

for his military work in Acadia.Bernard, p. 70

Early life

François Dupont Duvivier was born in

Port Royal Port Royal () was a town located at the end of the Palisadoes, at the mouth of Kingston Harbour, in southeastern Jamaica. Founded in 1494 by the Spanish, it was once the largest and most prosperous city in the Caribbean, functioning as the cen ...

, the eldest of the three sons of

François du Pont Duvivier François du Pont Duvivier was born September 5, 1676, at , province of Saintonge, France. He became ensign, and navy captain in Acadia and Île-Royale (present-day Cape Breton Island). He died in Louisbourg on November 1, 1714. Duvivier was sec ...

and Marie Mius d'Entremont de Pobomkou. With the cession in 1713 of Acadia to the British the Duviviers were sent to the new colony of Île Royale (present-day

Cape Breton Island Cape Breton Island (, formerly '; or '; ) is a rugged and irregularly shaped island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island accounts for 18.7% of Nova Scotia's total area. Although ...

) where, through various business endeavours they became one of the wealthiest and most prestigious families. François upheld his family's strong military traditions, enlisting as a cadet in the French troupes de la marine in 1716, and being commissioned an ensign three years later. By 1730, he had earned promotion to lieutenant and in 1737 he was made Captain in the Compagnies Franches garrison of

Louisbourg Louisbourg is an unincorporated community and former town in Cape Breton Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia. History The harbour had been used by European mariners since at least the 1590s, when it was known as English Port and Havre à l'An ...

Business ventures

Duvivier proved himself an astute businessman in Louisbourg, rapidly accruing a vast fortune and becoming one of the wealthiest officers in the colony. Through a series of trading ventures with

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

, the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

, and France, canny manipulation of the law, and the usage of his military rank as leverage he earned a reputation as a businessman of great acumen who was not afraid to use unscrupulous business practices to further his own ambitions. By 1745, his fortune was estimated by a contemporary at the vast sum of 200,000

livres Livre may refer to: Currency * French livre, one of a number of obsolete units of currency of France * Livre tournois, one particular obsolete unit of currency of France * Livre parisis, another particular obsolete unit of currency of France * F ...

King George's War

At the outbreak of the hostilities between France and

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

whose

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

n theatre became known among

Americans Americans are the Citizenship of the United States, citizens and United States nationality law, nationals of the United States, United States of America.; ; Law of the United States, U.S. federal law does not equate nationality with Race (hu ...

(but is known more generally as the

War of the Austrian Succession The War of the Austrian Succession was a European conflict fought between 1740 and 1748, primarily in Central Europe, the Austrian Netherlands, Italian Peninsula, Italy, the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. Related conflicts include King Ge ...

), Duvivier was chosen to command a raiding party of 350 men in an attack on the British settlement at Canso. After the success of this raid, the captain was charged with the task of raising an Acadian and

Mi'kmaq The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Mi'kmaw'' or ''Mi'gmaw''; ; , and formerly Micmac) are an Indigenous group of people of the Northeastern Woodlands, native to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces, primarily Nova Scotia, New Bru ...

army to capture Annapolis Royal (as Port Royal had been renamed), the only significant British stronghold in Nova Scotia. Having achieved less than expected success in gathering these forces, Duvivier arrived at Annapolis Royal with an army that was inadequate to the task of forcing a surrender. After laying siege to the settlement for nearly a month, he received word that reinforcements and naval support from Louisbourg would not arrive, forcing him to break siege and return to Île Royale.

Later life

After the expedition to Annapolis Royal, Duvivier returned to France where he carried the colony's dispatches to

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

and prepared to join a relief expedition to Louisbourg. However, the fall of Louisbourg to British colonists under the command of

William Pepperrell Sir William Pepperrell, 1st Baronet (27 June 1696 – 6 July 1759) was an American merchant and soldier in Province of Massachusetts Bay, colonial Massachusetts. He is widely remembered for organizing, financing, and leading the Siege ...

halted all plans for a relief expedition, compelling Duvivier to stay in France. In 1747, he resigned his captain's commission only to rejoin at half pay in 1749 in order to make a bid for the governorship of Île Royale, newly restored to the French in the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. Failing in this he remained in France, retiring from the military in 1753 with a pension of 1,200 livres. Records of Duvivier disappear for the next twenty years, but it can be presumed that he spent most of this time living on his estate at Le Vivier, near Chalais in the commune of Sérignac before dying on 28 May 1776. The vast fortune he had accumulated in North America had dwindled to 25,000 livres, which was inherited by his sister-in-law.

References

Endnotes Texts * Bernard Pothier. The Siege of Annapolis Royal, 1744. The Nova Scotia Historical Review. 59–71 * Johnson, A.J.B. ''The Summer of 1744: A Portrait of Life in 18th-Century Louisbourg''. Parks Canada, 2002. * Canada-Québec, synthèse historique, éditions du Renouveau Pédagogique, Montréal, 1977, p 154–155. * the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography'' (online ed

{{DEFAULTSORT:Duvivier, Francois Dupont 1705 births 1776 deaths People of New France French military personnel of the War of the Austrian Succession 18th-century Canadian merchants