St. John de Crèvecoeur, J. Hector, 1735-1813
Variant namesBiographical notes:
French author and traveller.
From the description of Souvenirs Consacrés à la Mémoire de Madame la Comtesse de Houdetot : [n.p.] : autograph manuscript, [n.d.]. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 270635346
From the description of Esquisse de ma vie depuis ma sortie de prison à New York : [n.p.] : autograph manuscript, [n.d.]. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 270635028
From the description of Autograph manuscript : [n.p., n.d.]. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 270634753
Author. Given name: Michel Guillaume St. Jean de Crèvecoeur.
From the description of Papers of J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur, 1784-1798. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 71064121
From the description of Papers of J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur, 1780-1782. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 71071893
Born Michel-Guillaume Jean de Crèvecoeur, the writer and government official John Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur (1735-1813) came to North America from Normandy during the French and Indian War to map French land in Canada. He was called into military service during the conflict, rising to lieutenant in 1758. After the war, Crèvecoeur anglicized his name and traveled extensively throughout the colonies as an explorer and trader. He was made a citizen of New York State in 1765, and in 1769 he married Mehitable Tippet of Yonkers; they had three children. Though he remained neutral during the Revolution, in 1779 the British imprisoned him without trial on suspicion of being a spy. After he was released, at the end of 1779, he set off for Europe with his son, but was shipwrecked off Ireland, where he stayed until arriving at Normandy in 1781. He is best remembered for writing Letters from an American Farmer, a well-known work on late colonial America, published in 1782. Crèvecoeur was considered a important thinker of his day and maintained correspondence with such prominent Americans as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Ethan Allen. He returned to America in 1783, after Louis XVI appointed him consul to New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Upon arrival, however, he found that his estate had been burned by Indians, his wife killed, and his children missing. He was reunited with his children weeks later in Boston, where they were under the care of an English merchant named Gustavus Fellows. Crèvecoeur was anxious about his children's French legal status, since he had married outside France and outside the Catholic Church. Through the 1780s, he worked tirelessly to ensure that France recognized their legitimacy, so that they could inherit his father's lands in Normandy. Crèvecoeur returned to France in 1790 and died in Sarcelles in 1813.
From the guide to the John Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur collection, Crèvecoeur, John Hector St. John de, collection, [1769]-1790, (William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan)
J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur was born and educated in Caen, Normandy. In 1755 he became a surveyor in the French Colonial Militia and fought at the battle of Fort George in 1757. Crèvecoeur was wounded at the battle of Quebec, after which he left the army for unknown reasons and sailed to New York in December, 1759. On arrival, he changed his name to J. Hector St. John. For the next decade, Crèvecoeur earned his livelihood as a trader, explorer and surveyor, traveling through all of the British North American colonies. He became a naturalized citizen of New York Colony in 1765.
In 1769 he married Mehitable Tippet, the daughter of a prominent Dutchess County family, and purchased 120 acres of farmland in Orange County. The next several years brought Crèvecoeur three children and increasing prosperity; his farm flourished,and he led a county project to drain arable meadows and reclaim farmland. Crèvecoeur kept a daily journal of observations on his experiences and on his adopted country, which he considered "the most perfect society in the world."
The advent of the American Revolution disrupted this happiness. Crèvecoeur's attempts to remain neutral won him suspicion and hostility from both sides of the conflict. In 1779, he decided to return to France to establish his children's right to inherit the family's lands in Normandy. Arrested by the British in New York City as a suspected enemy collaborator, he was imprisoned for months, but finally sailed for Europe in September of 1780. His ship was wrecked off the coast of Ireland, and he did not reach Normandy until August of 1781.
Crèvecoeur's Letters from an American Farmer was published in London early in 1782. It received international praise, appeared in several English and Irish editions, and was translated into German and Dutch. On the verge of America's independence, Crèvecoeur was the first author to provide an answer to the European question of the day: "What then is this American, this new man?"
Crèvecoeur was considered one of the foremost European authorities on the new country, and France appointed him consul to New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. He sailed for New York on the ship that carried the first copy of the Treaty of Paris to the United States. When he arrived, he discovered that his wife had died and his children had been taken in by their neighbors; his farm and its buildings had been destroyed by Native American allies of the British.
As Consul, Crèvecoeur worked to increase French-American trade and supported cultural and artistic exchanges. He was also a patron of botanical gardens, experiments with steamships, and the first Roman Catholic church in New York City. His greatly enlarged and reorganized French version of Letters was published in Paris in 1784. His many American friends included Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin. St. Johnsbury, Vermont, was named after Crèvecoeur, in 1789 he was made a member of the American Philsophical Society.
Crèvecoeur returned to France in 1790, but the dangers of the French Revolution led him to retire unpensioned in 1792 and to withdraw into his family life. In 1801 he published his Voyage dans la haute Pennsylvanie et dans l'Ètat de New York ; the work was not popular, and was not translated into English until 1961. Crèvecoeur spent his final years at his farm in Lesches, France, and visiting his extended family. He died at Sarcelles, near Paris, in 1813.
From the guide to the J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur papers, 1784-circa 1880, 1784-1810, (Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library)
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