Timothy Demonbreun
Encyclopedia
Jacques-Timothée Boucher, Sieur de Montbrun, anglicized as Timothy Demonbreun (icon; 1747, Montreal
, Québec
, Canada
– 1826 Nashville
, Tennessee
, USA) was a French-Canadian fur trade
r, an officer of the American Revolution
, Lieutenant-Governor of the Illinois
Territory and is known as the "first citizen" of Nashville, Tennessee.
skin cap with a tail down the back. Demonbreun's great-grandfather, Pierre Boucher
, was the first Canadian to be raised to the rank of nobility
. Timothe's father Etienne, served in the French
army in Canada during the French and Indian War
. After his country was soundly beaten in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham
in 1759, he migrated south to what is now the United States
and got into the fur trade. Demonbreun preferred the simple life of a hunter and disposed of the noble title, running it together as his new last name. Demonbreun began coming to the Middle Tennessee area in the 1760s while still in his teens.
In 1766, while hunting near the muddy water at the mouth of a small creek entering the Cumberland River
in the region called French Lick, Demonbreun noticed a large number of buffalo
and deer
using a salt lick
. The spring is a natural source of sulfur
ated water, and eventually became known as Sulphur Dell
. He lived in a cave there for several months until he was able to build a cabin on the river to use as his home base for fur trapping. Demonbreun made frequent trips to the early Nashville settlement to engage in fur trading with the Native Americans
. When James Robertson and the Watauga
settlers came to establish Fort Nashborough
in 1778, they were surprised and relieved to find that Demonbreun, a white man, was thriving there.
in the Illinois Territory where he served as lieutenant governor from 1783-1786. In 1786 he resigned from military service and soon thereafter moved permanently to Nashville.
In his will, he mentions his children by name, Agnes Doza, Julia Johnson,and Timothy DeMonbreun. He specifically lists children William, John, and Polly as illegitimate. He does not mention the mother of either family of children nor his son Felix. http://ftp.rootsweb.ancestry.com/pub/usgenweb/tn/davidson/wills/dmnbrn01.txt Felix Demonbreun is well documented through census and other records.
, paper
, cured deer hides, and buffalo
tongues. An 1809 newspaper advertisement announced that he was opening a tavern, also on the Public Square.
The Marquis de Lafayette visited Nashville on May 4, 1825, and Andrew Jackson
presided over a banquet in his honor at the Nashville Inn. Timothy Demonbreun, now very elderly, conversed with the Marquis in their native French
. When he died in 1826, Demonbreun divided his substantial fortune among his children
to honor Demonbreun was erected near Fort Nashborough
overlooking the Cumberland River in downtown Nashville. He was most likely buried at Nashville City Cemetery but early records no longer exist. A monunument has been erected in honor of Timothy Demonbreun at Carney Cemetery in Ashland City, TN. It is not probable that he is buried there. At the time of his death this was the farm of his past mistress Elizabeth Bennett and her husband Joseph Duratt.
was so fluid at the time, and because of widespread variations in English orthography
, Demonbreun's name is of some debate. The preferred use today is Timothy Demonbreun, though the first name is sometimes rendered in the French
as Timothé, Timothée or Timothe. As for the last name, it derives from the French words for from brown mountain, and is also rendered variously as Demontbrun, de Montbrun, Demontbreun, de Montbreun, De Mont-Breun, De Monbrun, and others. Descendants of Demonbreun (it is a very common surname
in Middle Tennessee
) spell the name with and without the middle "T," as one word or two, with a "U" in place of the "O," with and without the "E," and with an "N" or an "M" at the end. In addition, other variations such as Demumbrine and "Demombrum" also exist. Demonbreun Street
in Nashville shows the preferred spelling. The proper local pronunciation is d, and rhymes with "Northumbrian."
Phonetically pronounced, "Duh - MUM - Bree-Un"
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Québec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
– 1826 Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
, USA) was a French-Canadian fur trade
Fur trade
The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of world market for in the early modern period furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the most valued...
r, an officer of the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
, Lieutenant-Governor of the Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
Territory and is known as the "first citizen" of Nashville, Tennessee.
Hunter and Entrepreneur
Described as "tall, athletic, and dark-skinned, with a large head and an eagle eye," Demonbreun was a striking figure who wore a foxFox
Fox is a common name for many species of omnivorous mammals belonging to the Canidae family. Foxes are small to medium-sized canids , characterized by possessing a long narrow snout, and a bushy tail .Members of about 37 species are referred to as foxes, of which only 12 species actually belong to...
skin cap with a tail down the back. Demonbreun's great-grandfather, Pierre Boucher
Pierre Boucher
Pierre Boucher and later Pierre Boucher de Boucherville, born and baptized 1 August 1622 in Mortagne-au-Perche, died 19 April 1717 at the age of 95 at Boucherville, came to Canada from France in 1635 with his father...
, was the first Canadian to be raised to the rank of nobility
Nobility
Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...
. Timothe's father Etienne, served in the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
army in Canada during the French and Indian War
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...
. After his country was soundly beaten in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham
Battle of the Plains of Abraham
The Battle of the Plains of Abraham, also known as the Battle of Quebec, was a pivotal battle in the Seven Years' War...
in 1759, he migrated south to what is now the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and got into the fur trade. Demonbreun preferred the simple life of a hunter and disposed of the noble title, running it together as his new last name. Demonbreun began coming to the Middle Tennessee area in the 1760s while still in his teens.
In 1766, while hunting near the muddy water at the mouth of a small creek entering the Cumberland River
Cumberland River
The Cumberland River is a waterway in the Southern United States. It is long. It starts in Harlan County in far southeastern Kentucky between Pine and Cumberland mountains, flows through southern Kentucky, crosses into northern Tennessee, and then curves back up into western Kentucky before...
in the region called French Lick, Demonbreun noticed a large number of buffalo
American Bison
The American bison , also commonly known as the American buffalo, is a North American species of bison that once roamed the grasslands of North America in massive herds...
and deer
Deer
Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...
using a salt lick
Salt lick
A mineral lick is a natural mineral deposit where animals in nutrient-poor ecosystems can obtain essential mineral nutrients...
. The spring is a natural source of sulfur
Sulfur
Sulfur or sulphur is the chemical element with atomic number 16. In the periodic table it is represented by the symbol S. It is an abundant, multivalent non-metal. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with chemical formula S8. Elemental sulfur is a bright yellow...
ated water, and eventually became known as Sulphur Dell
Sulphur Dell
Sulphur Dell is a former minor league baseball park in Nashville, Tennessee. It was used for baseball for nearly 100 years, from to . From to , it was the home of the Nashville Vols minor league team...
. He lived in a cave there for several months until he was able to build a cabin on the river to use as his home base for fur trapping. Demonbreun made frequent trips to the early Nashville settlement to engage in fur trading with the Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
. When James Robertson and the Watauga
Watauga
Watauga can refer to:Places* Watauga County, North Carolina* Watauga, South Dakota* Watauga, Tennessee* Watauga, TexasBodies of Water* Watauga Lake in Tennessee* The Watauga River in North Carolina and TennesseeShips...
settlers came to establish Fort Nashborough
Fort Nashborough
Fort Nashborough was the stockade for the settlement that became the city of Nashville, Tennessee, USA. A reconstruction, maintained by Nashville Parks and Recreation today stands on the banks of the Cumberland River near the site of the original fort....
in 1778, they were surprised and relieved to find that Demonbreun, a white man, was thriving there.
Military service
Demonbreun joined the George Rogers Clark expedition and received an appointment as lieutenant governor in command of the Northwest Territory. He settled at Fort KaskaskiaKaskaskia, Illinois
Kaskaskia is a village in Randolph County, Illinois, United States. In the 2010 census the population was 14, making it the second-smallest incorporated community in the State of Illinois in terms of population. A major French colonial town of the Illinois Country, its peak population was about...
in the Illinois Territory where he served as lieutenant governor from 1783-1786. In 1786 he resigned from military service and soon thereafter moved permanently to Nashville.
Family
Demonbreun traveled extensively, and managed two careers and two families. He fulfilled his duties as lieutenant governor of the Illinois Territory and maintained a family in Kaskaskia. During his time in Nashville, he took a mistress and began to raise a family there. Demonbreun had five children by his wife in Illinois and four [Felix Theodore; Polly (Cagle); William; and John Baptiste] by his mistress in Nashville.In his will, he mentions his children by name, Agnes Doza, Julia Johnson,and Timothy DeMonbreun. He specifically lists children William, John, and Polly as illegitimate. He does not mention the mother of either family of children nor his son Felix. http://ftp.rootsweb.ancestry.com/pub/usgenweb/tn/davidson/wills/dmnbrn01.txt Felix Demonbreun is well documented through census and other records.
Later life
Eventually, Demonbreun developed a thriving mercantile and fur trading business with seventeen employees in the Nashville area. By 1800 his mercantile business on Nashville's Public Square advertised such items as window glassGlass
Glass is an amorphous solid material. Glasses are typically brittle and optically transparent.The most familiar type of glass, used for centuries in windows and drinking vessels, is soda-lime glass, composed of about 75% silica plus Na2O, CaO, and several minor additives...
, paper
Paper
Paper is a thin material mainly used for writing upon, printing upon, drawing or for packaging. It is produced by pressing together moist fibers, typically cellulose pulp derived from wood, rags or grasses, and drying them into flexible sheets....
, cured deer hides, and buffalo
American Bison
The American bison , also commonly known as the American buffalo, is a North American species of bison that once roamed the grasslands of North America in massive herds...
tongues. An 1809 newspaper advertisement announced that he was opening a tavern, also on the Public Square.
The Marquis de Lafayette visited Nashville on May 4, 1825, and Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United States . Based in frontier Tennessee, Jackson was a politician and army general who defeated the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend , and the British at the Battle of New Orleans...
presided over a banquet in his honor at the Nashville Inn. Timothy Demonbreun, now very elderly, conversed with the Marquis in their native French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
. When he died in 1826, Demonbreun divided his substantial fortune among his children
Historical Records and Memorials
No record of the burial site of Nashville's "First Citizen" survived. A historical marker at the northwest corner of Third Avenue North, and Broadway in the city marks the site of his home. In 1996 a monument sculpted by Alan LeQuireAlan LeQuire
Alan LeQuire is an American sculptor from Nashville, Tennessee. Many of his sculptures are installed in the city.LeQuire's father, Virgil, was a physician and researcher on the faculty of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. His mother, Louise, was a painter, art teacher, and writer. The...
to honor Demonbreun was erected near Fort Nashborough
Fort Nashborough
Fort Nashborough was the stockade for the settlement that became the city of Nashville, Tennessee, USA. A reconstruction, maintained by Nashville Parks and Recreation today stands on the banks of the Cumberland River near the site of the original fort....
overlooking the Cumberland River in downtown Nashville. He was most likely buried at Nashville City Cemetery but early records no longer exist. A monunument has been erected in honor of Timothy Demonbreun at Carney Cemetery in Ashland City, TN. It is not probable that he is buried there. At the time of his death this was the farm of his past mistress Elizabeth Bennett and her husband Joseph Duratt.
Name
Because French orthographyFrench orthography
French orthography encompasses the spelling and punctuation of the French language. It is based on a combination of phonemic and historical principles. The spelling of words is largely based on the pronunciation of Old French c. 1100–1200 CE and has stayed more or less the same since then, despite...
was so fluid at the time, and because of widespread variations in English orthography
English orthography
English orthography is the alphabetic spelling system used by the English language. English orthography, like other alphabetic orthographies, uses a set of habits to represent speech sounds in writing. In most other languages, these habits are regular enough so that they may be called rules...
, Demonbreun's name is of some debate. The preferred use today is Timothy Demonbreun, though the first name is sometimes rendered in the French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
as Timothé, Timothée or Timothe. As for the last name, it derives from the French words for from brown mountain, and is also rendered variously as Demontbrun, de Montbrun, Demontbreun, de Montbreun, De Mont-Breun, De Monbrun, and others. Descendants of Demonbreun (it is a very common surname
Surname
A surname is a name added to a given name and is part of a personal name. In many cases, a surname is a family name. Many dictionaries define "surname" as a synonym of "family name"...
in Middle Tennessee
Middle Tennessee
Middle Tennessee is a distinct portion of the state of Tennessee, delineated according to state law as the 41 counties in the Middle Grand Division of Tennessee....
) spell the name with and without the middle "T," as one word or two, with a "U" in place of the "O," with and without the "E," and with an "N" or an "M" at the end. In addition, other variations such as Demumbrine and "Demombrum" also exist. Demonbreun Street
Music Row
Music Row is an area just to the southwest of Downtown Nashville, Tennessee that is home to hundreds of businesses related to the country music, gospel music, and Contemporary Christian music industries...
in Nashville shows the preferred spelling. The proper local pronunciation is d, and rhymes with "Northumbrian."
Phonetically pronounced, "Duh - MUM - Bree-Un"