FLORIAN - The Most Traveled Man on Earth

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Note on the Life of Jean Baptiste <strong>FLORIAN</strong> Jean Baptiste Florian Jolly de Pontcadeuc had a remarkable if sadly short life. He was born in 1767 to an aristocratic family in Brittany as the cloud of the French Revolution loomed over French society. He was educated in France and England, and retained ties to England almost all his life. His education was interrupted by the Revolution, and he and his wife Marguerite Marie le Det de Segray (or Segrais), also an aristocrat, were almost guillotined. He escaped the mob in June 1793 by climbing out the upper back window of his chateau, clambering down by an almost-too-short ladder. Marguerite escaped by disguising herself as a peasant, carrying her babies to the coast in panniers on a donkey. Arriving penniless in England, they sought assistance from the famous Palmerston family and set up a school for young ladies in Kent. Jean Baptiste taught at the school and wrote some amazing books, including one partially titled A Complete System of Human Knowledge and also the Outline of the History of Britain. He and his entire family including his wife and four daughters were artists and avid art collectors. He was a historian, mathematician, linguist, composer, artist, writer and polymath. But he was not content in Britain, and tried to overthrown the reign of terror in France by participating in the ill-fated Quiberon expedition and invasion of France in 1795. He was granted English citizenship by order of the King in 1806, and a contemporaneous copy of the large naturalization document still survives. Still not content, Florian decided to seek fortune and safety in America, specifically Louisiana, with its many French émigrés. He departed from Falmouth for Halifax and New York in 1808, and his letters from America present a fascinating and charming picture of life in the US in 1808-1809. He floated down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans, meeting up with his brother in law and new business partner, and joining the Masonic Lodge of New Orleans. Finally he was reunited with his beloved Marguerite and their four daughters, only to be torn apart by his sad death from yellow fever only two years later, in 1811. He was only 44 years old, but he had packed so much creativity and adventure into one life that it seems like he had lived almost a dozen. <strong>The</strong> letters of Jean Baptiste describing America were so interesting that they were purchased from a descendant by the Library of Congress, where they remain today. Other family letters still exist in France and in translation and in original form in Mobile, Alabama, where the four daughters of Jean Baptiste and Marguerite moved in the 1830s. <strong>The</strong> art and the art collection (one of the earliest major collections in the South) of the Florian family were dispersed over the years, but remnants still remain in the Mobile Public Library and the Mobile Museum of Art. <strong>The</strong> story of Jean Baptiste Florian and Marguerite de Segray and their family is so powerful that 200 years later, their numerous relatives and descendants in America and 4
France still correspond, keep track of the many Florian descendants, and can still visit the family chateau and point to the window out of which escaped one of the most remarkable men of his time. I am proud to claim Jean Baptiste and Marguerite as my great, great, great, great grandparents. Llewellyn M. Toulmin 5
Page 1 and 2: FLORIAN Th
Page 3: Section 2: Letters from Other Famil
Page 7 and 8: Published Writings of Jean Baptiste
Page 9 and 10: Estelle Sims Collection. This consi
Page 11 and 12: Note on Translation and Holdings Wo
Page 13 and 14: Note on Monetary Exchange Value In
Page 15 and 16: Letter 1. 2 [Letter translated, not
Page 17 and 18: the education, with the compensatio
Page 19 and 20: Letter 2. [Letter translated, not o
Page 21 and 22: In case you receive from Messrs. Fa
Page 23 and 24: Letter 5. Halifax [Nova Scotia], 4
Page 25 and 26: Joseph Marie Le Det de Segrais Pier
Page 27 and 28: sorrow, my tender friend, that I ca
Page 29 and 30: Letter 7. Philadelphia, October 30,
Page 31 and 32: We crossed the state of New Jersey
Page 33 and 34: Letter 8. [Lancaster, PA] November
Page 35 and 36: sobbing of the women _____ _______
Page 37 and 38: Letter 9. Pittsburg[h], Sunday, Nov
Page 39 and 40: years, one finds himself with a ret
Page 41 and 42: Mr. and Mrs. Linton, with all the r
Page 43 and 44: ecause the current was so rapid and
Page 45 and 46: Letter 11. Natchez, 4 January, 1809
Page 47 and 48: of 20 to 22 cents per pound, as it
Page 49 and 50: Letter 12. New Orleans, January 23,
Page 51 and 52: I have sent to Mrs. Kirkland letter
Page 53 and 54: will see all the country from there
Page 55 and 56:
Letter 14. New Orleans, February 11
Page 57 and 58:
Letter 15. New Orleans, February 12
Page 59 and 60:
They think only of
Page 61 and 62:
Letter 17. New Orleans, March 5, 18
Page 63 and 64:
We have had news from England, of t
Page 65 and 66:
[p 2] Madame Sain [Dai?] will entru
Page 67 and 68:
Letter 19. Montesano [West Florida,
Page 69 and 70:
Bring along also a few bushels of S
Page 71 and 72:
Letter 20. Montesano [West Florida,
Page 73 and 74:
ye-grass, clover, sainfoin, [Lucern
Page 75 and 76:
Section 2 Letters From Other Family
Page 77 and 78:
as much for the grandeur as for the
Page 79 and 80:
Your affectionate uncle, Jolly Patr
Page 81 and 82:
ignorant of the renunciation which
Page 83 and 84:
Eliza talks only about her pretty f
Page 85 and 86:
Elizabeth Florian Talcott, later in
Page 87 and 88:
Letter 5. [Letter from Marguerite M
Page 89 and 90:
I have seen the Couissin girls, the
Page 91 and 92:
I took [the girls?] to a grand ball
Page 93 and 94:
They should not al
Page 95 and 96:
Your sisters had promised to reimbu
Page 97 and 98:
Now I must scold you for not termin
Page 99 and 100:
My dear Papa, My sisters have told
Page 101 and 102:
Letter 8. [Letter from Marguerite M
Page 103 and 104:
hair, which is almost all white. Yo
Page 105 and 106:
some years this will be quite a lar
Page 107 and 108:
Letter 10. . [Undated letter from P
Page 109 and 110:
Duault is the most perfect and fine
Page 111 and 112:
sad, as did I, just a passerby on t
Page 113 and 114:
almost all the summer in the countr
Page 115 and 116:
Letter 12. [Letter from Pierre Rene
Page 117 and 118:
Adieu dear Friend! I hope that at l
Page 119 and 120:
Letter 14. [Letter in response from
Page 121 and 122:
attachments which had been planned
Page 123 and 124:
ealize only too well by what I have
Page 125 and 126:
For two months, while I have been a
Page 127 and 128:
I don’t have time on this occasio
Page 129 and 130:
not complain of anything, but his t
Page 131 and 132:
Letter 19. [Letter to Azelie Floria
Page 133 and 134:
Letter 20. Emma’s Narrative Proba
Page 135 and 136:
On Saturday the 21 st [unfortunatel
Page 137 and 138:
I told him I was not afraid, but as
Page 139:
The climate and th
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FLORIAN - The Most Traveled Man on Earth

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