THE FRENCH IN MEXICO
Given the close connections between New Mexico and Mexico throughout history, and the extensive traveling across the American West and Southwest by pioneers, explorers, traders and soldiers, I have included below a preliminary list of the French in Mexico (French residents and French with business and other interests in Mexico). Most of the names of residents became Hispanicized. The French are the second largest European immigrant group after Spaniards.
This list is based on multiple sources.
In response to viewers’ demand, I am progressively adding notes under the names. Contributions to these notes would be greatly appreciated.
Abadie, Juan
Abat, Pedro
Acher, Pedro,
Acosta, Pedro,
Alay, Juan.
Alvimar (Octavien Souchet d’),
Ardouin, Georges
Amat, Manuel
André Martin
Andres, Denis
Anguille, Nicolas
Aniel, Joseph
Antonelli, Pedro
Aquillon, André
Arana, Juan
Argain, Pedro
Arias, Mateo,
Arias, Jean-Baptiste,
Arredondo, Domingo,
Arribaye, Esteban
Aubré, Charles
Audot, Antonio.
Augier, Jacques
Auvray, Pierre
Aylmes, Ricardo
Bado, Augustin
Bailli, Jean-Baptiste
Balentin, André
Balvier, Juan
Bandet, Juan Nepomuceno
Bara, Nicolas
Barbaroux, Jaquin
Barberies, Félicien
Barbie, José
Bardel, Nicolas
Barri, Jean-Baptiste
Barreda, Francisco de la,
Barrera, Antonio
Barrere, Juan Bautista
Bart, Françis
Basserot, José Ignacio
Bassili, Juan
Bassin, Juan
Bastain, Guillermo
Bastal, Jaime
Baume, Juan José
Baumel, José
Baurain, Santiago
Bavarray, Joaquin
Bayot, Jean
Beaufils, Jorge
Beaufils, José Maria
Beaumont, Bertrand
Beauregard, Gabriel
Béé, Guillermo
Beben, Augustin
Béhard, Séastien
Bellac, Guillermo
Begner, Albert
Bellegard, Santiago
Belmonte, Nicolas
Beltran, Pedro
Beltran, Juan
Beltran, Francisco
Bemanis, Francisco
Benoit, Marie Madeleine
Berlandier, Jean-Louis
Jean-Louis Berlandier (ca. 1805–1851) was an early naturalist, born before 1805 between Fort de l’Ecluse, France, and Geneva, Switzerland. He studied botany at the academy in Geneva. He came to Mexico in 1826 to make botanical collections. He then joined, as botanist, the Mexican Boundary Commission, which left Mexico City on November 10, 1827. Berlandier made botanical collections around Laredo, Texas, in February 1828 and around San Antonio, Gonzales, and San Felipe in March, April, and May 1828. He settled at Matamoros, where he married and became a physician. He made further botanical and animal collecting trips in Mexico and Texas. During the Mexican War, he was in charge of the hospitals in Matamoros and served as an interpreter. He drowned in the San Fernando River near Matamoros in 1851.
Berrogaray, Juan Miguel
Betluger, Jacques
Binolas, Pedro Mata
Biourge, Timoteo
Biurra, Juan, Basque
Blanc, Juan Bautista
Blancpain, Joseph (?–1756)
Joseph Blancpain was a French trader of Natchitoches, Louisiana, whose activities in Texas heightened bad feeling between France and Spain in the middle of the eighteenth century. In 1754 Blancpain, Elias George, Antonio de la Fara (Antonio Dessars), and two black men from Louisiana were caught by Lt. Marcos Ruiz trading among the Orcoquiza Indians in Spanish territory. The Frenchmen’s stock of goods was confiscated and divided among their captors; their huts were given to Chief Calzones Colorados; and they were taken to Mexico City and imprisoned. Blancpain testified that he lived on a plantation near New Orleans and that he had been licensed by Jean Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, governor of Louisiana, to trade for horses among the Attacapa Indians. A list of his goods showed him to be furnishing the Indians with firearms, and his diary caused the Spanish to believe him to be an agent for the French government. On February 6, 1756, Blancpain died in prison in Mexico City.
Blasio, Juan
Bochat d’Oritz, Angel
Bocony, Joseph
Bodet, Pedro
Bodro, Réi
Boinet, Juan Bautista
Boise, Vicente
Bolbado, Juan
Bolio, Pedro
Bonet, Juan
Bonet, José
Bonnechèe, Lambert
Bordelet, Pierre
Bos, Francisco,
Bos, Jacques
Bosie, Francisco
Bosquet, Pedro
Bouchard de Bercourt, Luis
Bouchet, Jean
Boulet, Lorenzo
Boulet, Pierre
Bouquet, André.
Bourdaiseau (Gabriel de)
Bousquet, Jean
Boutoux, Domingo
Boyer, André
Boyer, Jean-Baptiste
Brachet, Jean Baptiste
Brau, Dominique
Bréon, Eustache
Bréon, Pierre
Bronis, Lorenzo
Broos, Joseph
Brouard (Brother Arsène)
Christian Brother was a prominent botanist. When in the early 1900s the French government banned the church from teaching in schools, he was sent to Mexico where he spent eight years, to continue teaching science, French, and mathematics in the Brothers’ schools. There he assembled a collection of 12,000 lichens, mosses, ferns, and flowering plants. Early in the Mexican revolution, the Christian Brothers were forced to leave the country, and Arsène traveled to the United States via Cuba (where he discovered several new species of lichens) and taught for a few years in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Louisiana. He finally went to New Mexico in 1926, in search better health, and remained there the rest of his life.
Brugada, Juan Bautista
Bruillard, Carlos
Brullard, Didier
Brun, Bartolome
Bruniot, Françis
Buente, Jean Baptiste
Bourcq, Pierre
Buet, Pedro
Bule, Juan
Bullet, Pierre
Burdales, Pedro
Burguet, Pedro
Burquichan, Juan
Busarely, Antonio
Bustamante, Miguel
Calas, Juan José
Cama, Pedro
Lafargue
Caire, Adolphe Arthur
Cambier, Juan
Campos, Juan Isidore
Canel de Charnassé Nicolas Urbain Charles
Canet, Pedro
Canitrout, Jacques
Capuran, José
Caranon, Pedro
Carallon, Juan
Carlon, Pedro
Galvez
Carricaburu, dit Castillo, Pedro
Cartier
Casanova, Pedro
Casanova, Juan Bautista
Casasola, Fernando
Cassagne, Marc
Cassini, Alexandre
Casteran, Pedro
Casteigt, Dominique
Castilla, Joseph
Castillon, Benito
Cavalier, Diego
Cavaly, Francisco
Cayrol, Joseph
Cervantes, Pedro
Chabot, Pierre
Chaconi, Juan
Chaffau, ou Choffard, Luis
Chambon, Ludovic
Champavier, Antonio
Chanin, Mariano
Chassagnite, Antonio
Chausi, Pedro
Chavez, André
Chenard, Joseph
Cherevola, Antonio
Chier de la Miller
Chirriz, Juan
Choquet de Isla, Diego
Chotard, Michel
Cis, Guillaume
Clavel, Pedro
Clouthier
Clovet, Alejandro
Coeur, Francisco
Chappe d’Hauteroche
Charlantier, Diego
Cobos, Féix
Colet, Bautista
Comberg, Juan Francisco
Compère, Joseph
Condrat, Juan
Condrillie, Louis
Constan, Christian
Coquillet, Pierre
Cordero, Pedro
Cordier, Juan
Cordier, Joseph
Correche, Antonio
Corroy
Campêhe
Cortablau
Costa, Joseph
Costa, Francisco
Couessin, Louis
Courbiere, André Benito
Descendants have researched extensively. Contact me for info.
Courcel, Gabriel
Coursier, Esteban (ca. 1776-1843)
Resident of Chihuahua City, Coursier was mining in Southwestern New Mexico in 1825 and subleasing the El Chino Santa Rita copper mine near Silver City.
Courtade, Bartolome
Courtes, Bernard
Crepel, Diego
Croex (Agustin de)
Crouzet, Juan Bautista
Cumbet, Pedro
Dagnier
Dallete, Thomas
Dampierre (Salvador de
Danglade
Danis, Pedro
Darcourt (d’Harcourt), Alexandre
Darrigol, Pedro
Dartiz, Pedro
Dautevil, Ignacio
Debis, Juan
de Croix, Charles-François (Carlos Francisco), 45th Viceroy, 1776.
See H.H. Bancroft, The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, 39 volumes (San Francisco: A.I. Bancroft & Company, Publishers), 1883-1890, vol. XL, History of Mexico, Vol. III, 368-369.
Defoix, Juan Antonio
De La Baume, Joseph
Delmazo, Carlos
Delmotte, Nicolas
Delorme, Nicolas
Denis, Nicolas
Denoefant, Antonio
DesGeorges (many family members)
Desgranges, Etienne
Despallier, Bernardo Martin (originally Martin, then Des Pallières)
A family history is at http://www.dahlqvist.be/ including link to a recently published book.
Desplanques, Francisco
Dever, Jorge
Didier, Santiago
Digoin, Nicolas
Doleo, Pedro
Domenech, Abbé Emmanuel (1825 – 1903)
Doumerc
Doncel, Antonio
Dortolan, Bernardo
Doudal, Roberto
Dubatout, Juan
Dubier, Pedro
Dubison, Pablo
Dubois, Antonio
Dubois, Juan Leonardo
Duchesne, Jean Vincent
Duchet, Francisco
Dufau, Juan
Duflot de Mofras (1810-1884)
In 1839, Eugène Duflot de Mofras (1810-1884) was dispatched from his French legation post in Mexico City to explore the Pacific Coast of North America from 1840?1842, to access the Mexican Alta California and American Oregon Territory regions for French business interests. His report (Exploration du territoire de l’Ore?gon, des Californies et de la mer Vermeille, exe?cute?e pendant les anne?es 1840, 1841 et 1842, Arthus Bertrand editeur, Paris, 1844) was significant at the time, includes an atlas and plates, and remains a detailed description of aspects of the northern Pacific Coast before American dominance.
Dufoo, Antonio
Duforest, Jean Valentin
Dumont, Joseph
Dumas, Belabre
Dumas, Antonio
Duparquet, Charles
French engineer employed to rebuild a fortress near Vera Cruz in the 1700s. The French engineers were, at different times, Louis Bouchard de Bercourt, Gaspar de Courcel, and Charles Duparquet.
Duponey, Juan
Dupont, Ajenadro
Dupont, Pedro
Durocher, Lorenzo
Durrey, or
Durue, Benoit
Dutrux, Miguel
Duval, Nicolas
Duverne, Claudio
Duvivier, Pedro
Duxen, Salomon
Eglise, Jacques d’
Eismitt, Joseph Clément
Elmi (Pierre d’)
Encelins, Luis Esteban
Engle, Pedro
Erondeque, Juan
Esain, Félix Joaquim d’
Esmiete, Serafina
Espeldoy, Juan
Estopier, Juan
Estrada, Luis (Luis de Cordova)
Etiau, Léon
Eu (Ex), Monsieur d’
Faber, Pedro
Fabot, Médard
Fabuis, Nicolas
Fallet, César
Fare (or Junet), Juan
Fauche, Francisco
Fauquer, Francisco
Faure, Juan
Ferien, André
Fernandez, Domingo
Ferrada, Benito
Ferrand, Salvador
Frère, Joaquin
Fez, Pedro de
Figuet, Juan
Flandin, Pedro
Flogny, Pedro
Flotte, Louis
Louis (Lewis) Flotte owned the Corralitos Mines in Mexico, possibly acquired thanks to a wealthy marriage. He had an interest in the Stephenson mine near Las Cruces in New Mexico. In 1855, his knee was bruised on a freight train near San Marcial, it got infected, leading to amputation and death. He died in Las Cruces.
Fogache
Fontaine, Jacques
Fontan, Juan
Fonten, Louis
Forastier
Forcade, Juan Bautista
Forey, Élie Frédéric (1804 –1872)
Commanding general of the French expeditionary corps to Mexico in 1862. Forey and his troops landed in September 1862 in Veracruz. In May 1863, his forces captured Puebla and then Mexico City.
Fornel, Julien
Fortier, Honorat
In 1786, Texas Governor Domingo Cabello y Robles recruited Pedro Vial to explore a route between San Antonio and Santa Fe. He left San Antonio on October 4, accompanied by Cristóbal de los Santos, a native of San Antonio, and possibly by Honorat Fortier, a Frenchman. Vial’s diary, combined with subsequent research by historians, provides details of his journey. See Loomis and Nasatir, Pedro Vial and the Roads to Santa Fe, 110. Honorat Fortier is mentioned in Jacques Houdaille, “Les Français au Mexique et leur influence politique et sociale (1760-1800),” in Revue française d’histoire d’outre-mer 48, no. 171 (1961): 143-233.
Fouilloux, Juan
Jean (Juan) Fouilloux was a Frenchman from Lyons, and a prominent citizen in San Luis Potosi in the 1890s, co-owner of the brewery the “Gran Cerveceria de San Luis.” There are many Fouilloux descendants in Mexico. Source: El Estandarte(newspaper) – Thurs 10 July 1890.
Fourcade, Julien
Fournier, Juan
Fournoux, Carlos
Franciscon, Bernardo
Franco, Domingo
Franco, Juan
Franco, Damien
Francois, Joseph-Louis
Joseph-Louis Francois was with the French intervention in Mexico (the Maximilian Affair) in the 1860s. He also might have been very close to Queen Marie Antoinette before her execution. He most likely moved to New Mexico and Colorado after the war, as his son Mauricio Francois was born in Starkville, CO, 1875, a few miles from the New Mexico border, and he is buried there along with most of his seven sons.
Francon, Joseph
Franquis, Esteban
Franson, Luis
Frélaut, Augustin-Louis
He was with the French intervention in Mexico (the Maximilian Affair) in the 1860s. See: A correspondência de Augustin-Louis Frélaut durante a intervenção francesa no México (1862-1867). Temporalidades da circulação e olhares sobre o comportamento das populações indígenas em face do conflito. By Gabriela Pellegrino Soares, Departamento de História – Universidade de São Paulo
Frenay, Francisco
Frengan, Juan
Freville, Louis
Fromitte, Juan
Gaban, Pedro Nicolas
Gabiot, Pedro
Galardi, Francis
Gallo, Joseph
Garcia, Francisco
Garnier, Juan
Gascon, Basilio
Gaston, Juan
Gavard, Pedro
Gavino, Francisco
Gelede, José
Geoffroi, Pierre
George ou Georgeon, Elias
Géard, Nicolas
Génin, Auguste
Auguste Génin (1862-1931) was a Franco-Mexican writer, poet, photographer, ethnologist. He was a resident of Mexico and director of the Mexican National Company of Dynamite and Explosives
Gerbaut, Juan
Ghis, Pedro Victor
Gilliet, Mario
Girard, Nicolas
Giribarti, Francisco
Giru, José
Gobez, Juan
Godineau
Godonet, Pierre
Godro, Luis
Gof, Pablo, alias Busel
Goguet, Estevan
Gomez, Francisco
Gomez, Joseph
Gonzalez, Alonso
Goudeau, Francisco
Gourea, Jaime
Gouvert (Goven), Juan, alias Pétillau
Gouyon (Gouyouen), Bartolomé
Merida
Grafuilliere, Juan Bautista
Graner, Juan Bautista
Grillo, Santiago
Grimarest, Enrique
Grius, Pedro
Grofel, Juan Antonio
Gros, José
Gucht, Pedro
Guelet, Guillermo
Guelle, Santiago
Guerain
Guerandain, Juan (Françis
Guillar, Antonio
Guillard (Villar), Juan
Guillembrand, Esteban
Guitart, Geronimo (alias José Moret,)
Hampier
Heroul, Felipe d’
Heroul, Julio d’
Hos, Nicolas
Houdovar, Esteban
Huet, Antonio
Huet, André
Jabalois, Salvador
Jacquet, Joseph-Jacques
Né à Narbonne, cuisinier du Vice-roi Cruillas.
Joly, Francisco
Juan de la Expectacion
Judice, Pedro Nicolas
Junet Duval, Jacinto
Juliac, Jaime
Juntena, Jaime
Labadie, Domingo
Labat, Pedro
Labono, Pedro
Laborda, José
Laborda, Francisco
Laborda y Miramon, Marco
Laborde, Bernardo, alias Luis Roberts
Lacaba, Juan
Lacasa, Juan Bautista
Lachausset, Pedro
Laclotte, Juan Jacinto
Laclove
Lacombe, Claudio
Lacombe, Francisco
LaCoste, Jean-Baptiste
Jean-Baptiste LaCoste was an entrepreneur instrumental in the development of the Santa Rita mine in New Mexico, as well as of other businesses in Texas. Born in Gascony, France, in 1823, he immigrated to the United States in 1848, landing first at New Orleans and then moving to San Antonio, where he founded the first ice plant in Texas. He was part of a group of Texas merchants of El Paso and San Antonio, who supplied the military posts and settlements in West Texas and New Mexico. The firm Sweet & LaCoste worked with many of the prominent businessmen of the times. In the spring of 1862, the Santa Rita mine was shipping copper via Mexico to the mouth of the Rio Grande, where La Coste had become a broker of Confederate cotton and other goods bound for Britain. Being a Confederate sympathizer, he was protected by the Confederates during their retreat in 1862. He moved to Matamoros (a Mexican port city across the Texas border) around 1863 to serve Emperor Ferdinand Maximilian of Mexico, an adventure we recounted in a previous chapter. LaCoste’s activities in Mexico are beyond the scope of our story, but it is likely that he mingled with the French officers who had taken their quarters at the “Hotel de Richelieu” after their landing on October 9th, 1864. During the remainder of the war, LaCoste lived in Matamoros and shipped Confederate cotton via Mexican ports. He ended his days as a revered pioneer San Antonio businessman, dying in 1887. LaCoste, a city in Medina County, Texas, was named in his honor in 1898. [Sources: In “How Cortinas Gave In to the French, How the French Carry Sail in Matamoros,” New Orleans Times, November 21, LaCoste, jeanbatiste-1864. Handbook of Texas Online, S. W. Pease, “Lacoste, Jean Batiste,” (sic) accessed July 06, 2017, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fla10. Spude, Robert L. “The Santa Rita del Cobre, New Mexico, The Early American Period, 1846-1886,” 1999 Mining History Journal. Letter from Adjt. Thomas C. Howard to Capt. W.H. Cleaver, dated May 11, 1862, quoted in John P. Wilson, When the Texans Came, University of New Mexico Press Albuquerque, 2002, 296. Jean Baptiste LaCoste Papers, University of Texas Archives, Austin. Castro Colonies Heritage Association, The History of Medina County, Texas (Dallas: National Share Graphics, 1983). François Lagarde, editor, The French in Texas, Texas State Historical Association, The University of Texas Press, 2003, 167.]
Lacoste, Leandro
Lacroix, Denis
Lacroix, Guillermo
Lacroix, Simon,
LaFarge, Father Pierre
Father Pierre LaFarge is said to have been an excommunicated French priest who had served a prison term for killing a nun in France. According to a tale yet to be substantiated, he was released from jail, then sailed to New Orleans where he met a group of twelve Frenchmen who became his accomplices. They proceeded to Matamoros in Mexico, stole a gold treasure from Mexicans and fled to New Mexico in 1804, ending-up in Taos.
Lafargue, Juan Maria
Lafargue, Domingo
Lafargue, Juan
Lafitas y Miramon, Juan
Laforsada, Juan
Lafragua, Clément
Lafuente, Juan de
Lafuente, Francisco
Lagier (Lachier
Laine, Pedro, alias de la Torre
Laineis, José
Lalande, Juan Bautista
Lamar, Luis
Lamarca, Carlos
Lamasuada, Pedro
Lambert, Juan
Landa, José Maria
Landel, Juan
Lanie, Pedro
Lannuery, Antonio
Laporte, Biaise
L’Archevêque, Jean
Lardo, Luis
Larreategui, José Maria
Larroche, Juan
Lartigue, Pedro
Lasala, Juan
La Tour d’Auvergne
Laurengon, Claudio
Lauset, Jean/Juan
Persecuted in 1795, see Bancroft, vol. XI, p. 488.
Lafonta
Laussel, Jean
Lavigne, Pedro
Layssard, Valentin
Lebet, Juan
Leblanc, Antoine
Leblond, Carlos
Lebrun, Honoré
Leca, Juan Bautista
Lecadieu, Jean-Baptiste
Lecatel, Francisco
Leclerc, Juan
Lecomte, Luis
Lechon, Gaspard
Lecocq, Etienne
Lecurt, Jaime
Lemaitre, Juan
Lemé, Nicolas
Léon, Toussaint
Léon, José
Léonart, Eugène
One of the wealthiest Frenchmen in southern New Mexico, having probably come from Mexico. He was by 1857 one of the trustees of the town of La Mesa and had significant real estate holdings in Dona Ana County (New Mexico).
Leonel, Francisco
Leotar, Honoré
Leroi, Maximilien
Leroy, Pedro
Letondal, Claude
Leymarie, Francisco
Libérat, Juan
Liga, Francisco
Limantour, Joseph Yves (1812, Ploemeur, France – 1885, Mexico City)
was a French merchant who engaged in the California sea trade during the years preceding American occupation of that Mexican province in 1846. He was also known in California as José Limantour. Limantour, was a Breton trader and sea captain who traded all along the Pacific coast. He arrived in Veracruz in 1831, and was based after 1836 in Mexico City. He was married to Adele Marquet, and their son, José Yves Limantour, was Secretary of Finance of Mexico from 1893-1911. Joseph Y. Limatour died in Mexico City in 1885.
Limantour y Marquet José Yves (26 December 1854, Mexico City – 26 August 1935) was the son of Joseph Yves Limantour, a ship captain from Brittany, France, and Adèle Marquet, who came from Bordeaux. He became a Mexican financier who served as Secretary of the Finance of Mexico from 1893 until the fall of the Porphyrio Díaz regime in 1911. Limantour established the gold standard in Mexico, suspending free coinage of silver and mandating only government coins be used. He secured the national debt in 1899 with a consortium of foreign banks, and at the time of the outbreak of the Revolution, Mexico was on strong financial basis. Before the Mexican Revolution he was widely seen, along General Bernardo Reyes, as one of the stronger candidates to succeed President Díaz.
Linard, Simon
Liti, Miguel
Liver, Jaime
Loando, Luis
Lobillas, Antonio
Lobola, Luis
Lomé, Francisco
Longuemare, Charles
Longueville, Pedro
Margentier, Juan
Magnany, Francisco
Magne, Antonin
Maillet, Manuel
Mallet (Mallet brothers)
Malpilla, Juan
Malvert, Juan
Mancion, Pedro
Mani, Juan Bautista
Manrique, Marie Thérèse
Marie, Louis
Marin, Nicolas
Marint, Juan
Marion, Claude
Marqueza, José
Marron, Juan
Marsellac, Pablo
Martely, Salvador
Martin, André alias Dupan
Martin Diego
Martin, Pedro
Martinez, Salazar y Pacheco (Pedro Lambeyre Permartin)
Masson, Juan
Masy, Nicolas
Mathey, Antonio
Mauleon, Fernando
Mauleon (son of Fernnado)
Maureta de la Barreda, Santiago
Maurice, Luis
Maurras
Maxen, Juan
Maya, Francisco
Mayni, Juan Bautista
Mayno, Santiago
Maza, Juan Bautista
Mazas, Pedro
Mazas, Basilio
Mazure, Dr. Philippe Auguste
Mele, Juan
Menar, Juan
Mengein, Juan Pedro
Menonville, Thierry
Mestre, Andres
Mexana, Armando
Mézières, Athanase de
Michamps, José
Michaud, Julio
Mignon, Pedro
Miquete, José
Miramon, Bernardo
Miramon, Pedro
Molar, José
Molinaus, Rafaël
Montes, Martin
Morasen, Carlos
Morel, Etienne/Esteban, medical doctor, persecuted in 1795, committed suicide, see Bancroft, vol. XI, p. 488.
Morel, José, Canadien
Moreno, Pedro
Moret, Jean- Jacques
Morin, Jean
Morin, Joseph
Morlia, Juan
Moro
Mortemar, Francisco
Morvan, Francisco
Mosset, Juan Jaime
Mota, Pedro de la
Mouras, Juan
Moureille, Ignacio
Mugnie, Henri Joseph
Murgier, Juan Maria
Navet, Augustine
Nayans, Juan Claudio
Nolan, Vincent
O, Guillermo de
Ofer, Juan
Oliver, Francisco
Olivieri, Pedro
Paillette, Juan Santiago
Pallar, Guillermo
Paque
Parille, Esteban
Parra, Juan
Gabriel-René Paul (1813 – 1886)
Gabriel-René Paul (1813 – 1886), a Civil War hero. His father René Paul was a French Colonel under Napoléon, wounded while serving on the French flagship at Trafalgar. René Paul immigrated to Philadelphia, and then moved to St. Louis, where he married Eulalie Chouteau, daughter of Auguste Chouteau and Marie-Thérèse Cerré. Gabriel-René was their first child, out of nine (three died in childhood). A West Point graduate, he was a career officer in the United States Army. He had fought in the Seminole Wars in Florida, in the Mexican War, where he was wounded at Cerro Gordo but still led the party that captured the Mexican flag flying over Chapultepec. He also served on the Texas-Mexico border and in Utah. At age 48, Gabriel-René was posted at Fort Union in New Mexico in 1861 and 1862, during the Confederate invasion. There, he was appointed commander at the request of his men, as they saw in him a man “of considerable influence and energy.” He then became acting inspector general of the volunteers charged with superintending the instruction and discipline of the recruits. At Fort Union in January 1862, he reorganized the militia, drilling the men day and night. He squelched a soldiers’ mutiny (they had not been paid), put the men in the company at hard labor until night, discharged company commanders, demoted non-commissioned officers and assigned all enlisted men to other companies. The next month, still at Fort Union, he was in command of the 4th New Mexico Mounted Infantry and the Eastern District. After the Battle of Glorieta in March, he replaced General Slough (on April 9, 1862) as commander of Federal forces at Fort Union. He moved south, participated in the Battle of Albuquerque (April), was promoted Brigadier General, and replaced Colonel Kit Carson at Fort Craig before returning to Fort Union. He left New Mexico in December, 1862, going east to command New York and New Jersey regiments. On the first day at the Battle of Gettysburg, a rifle bullet entered his right temple and passed through his left eye, totally blinding him and impairing his senses of smell and hearing. Disabled, he held honorary positions and died 23 years later in Washington, D.C. He rests in the Arlington cemetery. He had six children, three daughters and a son from his first marriage (in 1835, with Mary Ann Whistler, daughter of Colonel William Whistler), and two daughters from his second marriage (in 1858, with Louise Rodgers). Sources: Jerry D.Thomson, A Civil-War History of the New Mexico Volunteers and Militia, 4, 17, 43, 47, 63, 73, 82, 89, 93, 98, 127, 139, 142, 151-152, 166-168, 174, 185, 188, 191, 413-414, and 906n132, and various internet resources.
Peisame
Perin, Juan Bautista
Perlin, soldier in Tehuantepec, 1762 (Inquisiciô, vol. 1048).
Permartin, Pedro
Perren, Miguel
Perret, Sébastien
Peyran, Simon
Peyttier, Juan
Pezet, Luis
Picquet, Joseph
Pierrelot, Roberto
Pierri, Antonio
Pierron, en mission de Saint Domingue àVeracruz, 1803.
Picchi, André
Pirol, Pedro
Palisent, Marcos
Poitvin de Pons, Julien
Ponet, Antonio
Ponten, Joseph
Portatuy, Geronimo
Pozo,
Preci, Claude Luillier de
Prince
Puy, Bernardo del
Quempis, Enrique
Quilty-Valois, Nicolas
Quintana, Antonio
Rabelo, Pedro
Ramirez, Pedro Guillermo
Ramirez, Juan
Raufat, Juan, cook in Veracruz
Raynaud, Juan
Rebequey, Vincent
Recole, Joseph
Reliquet, Luis
Remontel, pastry chef at the origin of the Pastry War
Renard, Nicolas
Renaud, Francisco
Renaud, Juan
René (Roneig), Juan Bautista
Renot, Santiago’
Reveque, Lorenzo
Revier, Claudio Antonio
Reynaldos, Juan
Reyner, Lorenzo
Reynier, Pedro Ramon
Reynete, Juan de
Reyviere, Lorenzo
Richart, Juan Bautista
Rico, Pedro
Rivera, Juan
Roberts, Nicolas
Roblet
Roc, Bautista
Roche, Isabelle de
Rochel, Juan
Rocher, José
Rochi (Roche, Arroche, Laroche), José Maria
Roda, Andres
Rodriguez,
Rofiniaco,
Rolland, Antonio
Rolland, Juan
Rollin
Rondé, M.
Travel writer, wrote about his trip in Chihuahua in the 1850s. See two chapters “Voyage Dans l’Etat de Chihuahua” (p 129-160) from the book “Le Tour du Monde.”
Roots, José
Roquier, Francisco
Rosales, Juan
Rosch, Juan
Rosi, José
Roupillon, Juan
Rousseau, Pedro, alias Osorio
Rousselot, Juan
Rube, Lorenzo
Rubi, Juan
Rufi, Bernardo
Ruisenor, Juan Bautista
Sabere, Juan
Sagna, Juan
Saint Denis, Louis Juchereau de
Saint Julien
Saint Maxent, Françis Maximilien
Saint Maxent, Célestin
Salaignac, Pedro
Salavert, Pedro
Salazar, Luis
Salducho, Simon Pedro
Salomon, Ambrosio
Saloyard, Pedro Martin
Salvador
Sambon, Alejandro
Sanson, Joseph
Sarnac, Juan
Sarne, Francisco
Sarrio, Pedro
Sartha, José
Secout, Luis José
Selany, Francisco
Semat, Jacobo
Semeria, Juan Bautista
Serrania, Santiago
Serrano, Pedro
Seygneuret, Carlos
Sicar, Manuel
Simansanef, Juan
Sobradiel, Miguel
Sobrecasas, Juan de
Solano, Juan
Solermon-Guitart, Vicente
Solet, Ramon
Soruin, Pedro
Soto, Juan
Soudan, Juan
Sulier, Andres
Sumerot, José
Talbez, Pedro
Tecier, José and Pedro
Tessier, Carlos
Teulet, Juan Pedro
Thomas, Reinaldo
Torrinel, Pedro
Trampillon (Trampier), Santiago
Trecv, Antonio
Ubaque, Agustin
Uget, Francisco, alias Uxe
Vacret, Francisco
Valencia, Antonio
Valle, Francisco (Grégoire Béaud)
Vechan, Rosa Francisca
Velli (Telly), Eduardo
Verat
Verdier, Juan (alias Verdiguiek
Yerdier, Luis
Yerrios, Claudio
Veuillard, Nicolas
Vial, Pierre
Vignaud, Francisco
Villar, Juan
Villot, José capitaine au réiment d’Infanterie, 1766.
Visonot, Enrique
Vital, Gabriel
Vivo, Juan
Woll, Adrian
Adrian Woll (1795–1875) was born in Saint Germain en Laye, near Paris, on December 2, 1795. In 1814, at age 19, he served as a private in the French Army’s in the defense of Paris against the enemies of Napoleon, and was promoted to Captain . He emigrated to the United States, enlisted in the U.S. Army, and was appointed as Field Adjutant to General Winfield Scott. In 1829, after Spain had invaded Mexico, he was called into active service by the Mexican government for the duration of the war against Spain. There, he had a prestigious career, serving under General Antonio López de Santa Anna, and was promoted to the rank of General in 1836. In 1865, Woll was sent to France on a special commission by Emperor Maximilian, and retired in France, never returning to Mexico. He stayed in Montauban, France, where he died in 1875, at the age of 80. For more details, see Gen. Miguel A. Sanchez Lamego, The Second Mexican-Texas War 1841-1843, Hill Junior College Monograph 7, Texian Press, Waco, TX, 1972, reprinted in Wallace L.
McKeehan, Sons of Dewitt Colony, Texas, 1997.
Yaussac, Antonio
Yriarte, Pedro
Yucante, Crisostomo
Notable French-Mexicans
Extracted from Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Mexicans
- Luis G. Abbadie, writer
- León Aillaud, governor of Veracruz
- Miirrha Alhambra, French-born Mexican pianist
- Pita Amor, poet, of French descent
- Ramón Arnaud, Mexican Army and the last Mexican governor of Clipperton Island; of French descent
- Aracely Arámbula, Mexican actress, model, and singer; of French and Basque descent
- Alberto Baillères, third-richest man in Mexico
- Angelique Boyer, Mexican, French-born telenovela actress
- Linda Christian, movie actress, of French descent
- Manuel Clouthier, businessman and politician
- Tatiana Clouthier, politician, writer, and entrepreneur
- Edgar de Evia, Mexican-born American photographer
- Eugenio Derbez, actor, comedian, and film director; of French descent on his mother’s side
- Yolanda Vargas Dulché, writer, mother of French origin
- Roberto Heinze Flamand, sprint canoeist, of French descent
- Eugène Goupil, French-born Mexican philanthropist and collector
- Francisco Romano Guillemin, artist, of French descent
- Ralph Heinze, sprint canoeist, of French descent
- Claude Heller, ambassador, of German and French descent
- Saturnino Herrán, painter
- Lourdes Grobet, photographer
- José de la Borda, French-born Mexican philanthropist
- Gustavo Huet, Mexican-born American athlete, of French descent
- Emilio Azcárraga Jean, businessman, of French descent
- Frédéric-Yves Jeannet, French-born Mexican writer and professor
- Elizabeth Katz, actress and former model, of French descent
- Michelito Lagravere, child bullfighter, to French father
- Alberto Ruz Lhuillier, French-born Mexican archaeologist
- Ángel Navarro, French-born leading Spanish settler in New Spain
- Montserrat Olivier, actress, television presenter, and former fashion model
- Roberto Palazuelos, actor, mother of French origin
- Elena Poniatowska, French-born Mexican journalist and author; French and Mexican noble descent
- Antonio Enríquez Savignac, politician
- Laurette Séjourné, Italian-born Mexican archaeologist and ethnologist, of French descent
- Eugenio Toussaint, composer, arranger, and jazz musician
- Eduardo Troconis, race-car driver
- Adrián Woll, 19th-century Mexican general, born and died in France