Tenth Generation

544. Jean DUFOUR dit BRINDAMOUR appeared in the census in 1749 in Arkansas Post although Jeraldine Dufour Lacour's book entitled "Dufour, Les Creoles des Avoyelles" shows that Dufour dit Brindamour was at Arkansas Post as early as 1740/41. In her book, Lacour stated that Dufour dit Brindamour was a "French leader of the French outlaws who supplied guns to the Indians in exchange for horses, mules and slaves".

There appears to be very little written about Jean Dufour dit Brindamour which gives the impression that he was a good man.

He was murdered about November 1758 while hunting by the River "DesAus" by one of his own men, Francisco Morvan(t) dit Bernard. The body of Dufour dit Brindamour was never found.¹⁸⁰³ According to the book entitled "Athanase De Mézières and The Louisiana-Texas Frontier 1768-1780, Volume 1...“, in a letter from De Mézières to Unzaga Y Amezaga dated 15 May 1770, "... a short time after this new journey inland, it happened that one of his subjects, not only angered at the ill treatment which Brindamùr gave him, but frightened as well of the threats which he made that he would kill him (which he would have done on three different occasions had not the rest prevented it), killed Brindamùr himself, thus being the instrument employed, though tardily, by divine justice for the punishment of the misdeeds chargeable to the said Brindamùr." The trial of Morvan(t) for Brindamour's murder did not take place until May 1770. Morvan(t) testified that he was about 35 years of age and was an armorer by trade. He admitted that he had killed Brindamour about ten years prior. After the murder, he had disappeared into the interior, along the river, constantly changing his location. On the verge of death, he was rescued by the Cadodachos Indians who nursed him back to health. He lived with them for the next seven years.

According to a 1983 UALR Law Journal 1983 article by Morris S. Arnold entitled "The Arkansas Colonial Legal System, 1686-1766", it was apparent that Athanase De Mézières, the Lieutenant Governor at Natchitoches, did not think highly of those living along the Arkansas River above Arkansas Post. De Mézières indicated that it was inhabited largely by outlaws. According to Arnold, Mézières claimed that "most of those who live there have either deserted from the troops and ships of the most Christian King and have committed robberies, rape or homicide, that river being the asylum of the most wicked persons, without doubt, in all the Indies". To quote Arnold: "On another occasion, De Mézières singled out as a particularly heinous offender an Arkansas denizen nicknamed Brindamùr, a man of "gigantic frame and extraordinary strength". Brindamùr, De Mézières complained, "has made himself a petty king over those brigands and highwaymen, who, with contempt for law and subordination with equal insult to Christians, and the same of the very heathen, up to now have maintained themselves on that river." He had been resident on the Arkansas for a long time, as his name appears in the census of 1749. Interestingly, it is placed at the very head of a considerable list of "the voyaguers who have remained up the rivers despite the orders given them." All persons hunting on the rivers were supposed to return every year as passports were not issued for longer periods. But there were large numbers of hunters who lived for twenty years or more in their camps without ever reporting to the Post. They constituted a large proportion, indeed sometimes a majority, of the European population in Arkansas during the French period. ...... Brindamùr, the bandit King, was murdered by one of his men after the end of the French period "though tardily" De Mézières reckoned, and "by divine justice."

545. Marie Philippe DECOUX was born about 1725.^52,1257 She appeared in the census in 1745 in (Pointe Coupée Parish), Louisiana, USA with her first husband, Joseph Hébert, and their 16-month-old daughter, Catherine. The family owned six slaves and they were cultivating 15 arpents of corn, beans and tobacco. They also owned 20 cattle, 4 horses and 2 hogs. Some time after the birth of Marie Philippe Decoux’s second child with Joseph Hébert, it appears that Marie began a relationship with Jean Dufour dit Brindamour and, eventually, deserted her husband. According to the book entitled "Athanase De Mézières And The Louisiana-Texas Frontier 1768-1780, Volume 1...“, in a letter from De Mézières to Unzaga Y Amezaga dated 15 May 1770, it appears that "a person named Brindamùr, whose sole employment was to roam the forests and entertain himself in hunting - an occupation very conducive to laziness and to all the other vices as well - carried off a woman, although with her consent, and married though she was to an honorable person of Puntté Cupé named Albertto (according to the book entitled “Dufour, Les Creole des Avoyelles“, this was referring to Hébert). The later soon died of grief caused him by the unexpected rashness of his wife, thus leaving both of them free. Happy at the news, they came down from the river of the Akensas, famous asylum of evil-doers whither they had fled, to the fort of the same name, and there, as a reward for thie unchase amours, they were united in the most unhappy bonds of matrimony. They then returned at once to their haunts, because the groom, who was of gigantic frame and extraordinary strength, had made himself a petty king over those vagabonds and highwaymen, who with contempt for law and subordination, with equal insult to Christians, and to the shame of the very heathen, up to now have maintained themselves on that river.“. Prior to the death of Joseph Hébert in about 1752, however, there appears to have been obvious turmoil between Hébert and Decoux due to her relationship with Dufour dit Brindamour. On 23 January 1751, Marie’s husband, Joseph Hébert, filed a complaint against her after she apparently beat him bloody. According to the complaint/inquiry, Hébert requested info against Brindamour and his accomplice (Marie - the ’accomplice’?). A witness by the name of Jean Libillote (Sibillot?), called La Lune, stated that Hébert had come to his residence at Pointe Coupée to change some bread for vinegar (for his wounds). At that time, Hébert stated that he wished to go to N.O. to file a complaint against his wife (and, possibly, Brindamour?) who had insulted and assaulted him. He was wounded in several places and was bleeding profusely according to the witness. Another witness testified that he had witnessed the assault by Decoux at which time Hébert told his wife to "go find your galant Brindamour". There is also an article in Volume 14, Number 4 of the Louisiana Historical Quarterly which states that Joseph Hébert had sold his entire estate, including slaves, before his death in order to "buy drink, without his wife's consent" and, as a result, Marie Philippe Decoux was obliged to renounce the community property. As stated above, Decoux married Jean Dufour dit Brindamour shortly after the death of Hébert although the marriage was short-lived due to Dufour's death in 1758. It does appear, however, that both she and Dufour dit Brindamour acquired a sizeable estate.

Jeraldine Dufour Lacour was able to find a document which appeared in the Papeles de Cuba (Legajo 107, correspondence from 1768-1775, page 30-1) which stated the following about Marie Philippe Decoux's life in the years after the death of Dufour dit Brindamour: "Madame Dofre to the Governor - February 24, 1768: Madame Dofre tells that her husband having been killed at Dau, she had been sold as a slave with her daughter. She remarried her master and has given the daughter of her first marriage to her brother. Since he did not put her in a convent as promised, she requests of the Governor that the child be put in a convent." It is known that Marie married married her third husband, Pierre Methode I, in 1760. Based on the 1768 letter, it appears logical to conclude that Pierre Methode was her 'master' and purchased both Marie and her daughter, Catherine, some time after the November 1758 death of Jean Dufour dit Brindamour. The couple appear to have lived the remainder of Marie's life in Pointe Coupée. She was buried on 1 January 1776 in (Pointe Coupée Parish), Louisiana, USA.¹⁸⁰⁴

[Note: Marie Philippe's first marriage was to Joseph Hébert I on 20 June 1740 at Pointe Coupée. Her third marriage was to Pierre Methode I on 30 September 1760 at Pointe Coupée.]

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