Saturday, May 30, 2009

Back to Town Characters

Jean/John Francoise Dupuy, was born in Bordeaux, France, September 30, 1750. He died on October 25, 1836 in Wilkes-Barre.

Jeanne/Jane Elizabeth (Dugue) Dupuy, was born at Nantes, France, August 20, 1760, the daughter of Pierre Hyacinthe Dugue and Jeanne Elizabeth Prud'homme. Her family were Huguenots, members of that religious body that gave to America many of her most distinguished religionists and citizens. She died on December 20, 1843 in Wilkes-Barre.

Daughter Magdelenne Emilie Dupuy was born on Aug 10 1790 in Saint Domingue (Haiti). She was christened on Aug 12 1793 in Roman Chapel in Philadelphia PA. She died in 1844. She was married to Anthony Desire Lacoe (Lacoq) in 1812.

" Having removed from France to the island of St. Domingo he lived there for many years until the negro insurrection of 1791, when he escaped and came to the United States. Most of his valuables, hastily shipped on a vessel that landed at Baltimore, were either lost overboard, as claimed by the ship's officers, or stolen by them ; so that he was left with only those means which he carried upon his person in his retreat. The bulk of his large estate had been necessarily left in St. Domingo, for which he and his family received some compensation through the French government after the independence of Haiti was established.

Leaving Baltimore, Mr. Dupuy went to Philadelphia, and from thence into what is now Nicholson township, Wyoming county, where ' June 29, 1795, John F. Dupuy, of Philadelphia, gentleman, bought land of William Moore Smith, Esq.' There he resided until 1795, when he removed to Wilkes-Barre, and settled at the northeast corner of Franklin and Northampton streets, later occupied by the residence of Dr. Stewart, where he continued to reside until his death in 1836.

He was made a Mason, probably in San Domingo, and became a member of Lodge 61, Wilkes-Barre, June 10, 1796, and from March, 1799, until his death, thirty-seven years, he served as Tyler of the Lodge." (From History of Lodge 61, F. and A. M., by O. J. Harvey, Esq.)

"Jean Francis Dupuy, a French gentleman from St. Domingo, exiled from thence by the success of the blacks, a very estimable and intelligent man, who, from having been a wealthy planter, reduced for a time to rely on personal labor, in the Lodge forgot his misfortunes, and there and nowhere else, that I ever saw, assuming the proper station of an intelligent French gentle- man, instructing and entertaining us by his philosophical views, occasionally peculiar, as well as by the numerous facts the state of the country he had lived in enabled him to bring into conversation." (Diary of Hon. Charles Miner)


When he died the Masonic fraternity, at his own especial request, buried him. The eulogy was delivered by of Hon. John N. Conyngham"
"John F. Dupuy, whose body now lies in the grave before us, was born in France, but early in life became domiciled in the West Indies and there resided, a man in affluent circumstances and of honorable standing in society. Of mild, amiable and unobtrusive habits, he was pursuing the even tenor of his way in the midst of domestic comforts and engagements, when a storm of destruction burst upon his country, and he fled to save himself and family from the bloody scenes of the San Domingo massacre.

" With a mere trifle of his former fortunes, accompanied by his family, he found an asylum in the United States, and soon after removed to this Valley, where he has since lived for a period of upwards of thirty-five years, gaining a support by his own exertions, and enjoying the undivided respect of the whole community.

" When he came to this vicinity he felt that he was a stranger from a foreign land, with blasted hopes and broken fortunes, and though winning the sympathies of the people around him, yet he felt that between him and them there was no common subject of interest.

" It soon, however, became known that he was a Mason, and he discovered that several of his neighbors were Masons, acknowledging the same ties and duties with himself. He then found though a stranger in a strange land, the friends of his youth and early manhood scattered and destroyed by the convulsions of their common country, and scarcely an individual with whom he could converse in his beloved and native language yet that there were many around him, and these, too, among the wealthy and respectable, who were ready to extend to him the right hand of fellowship and hail him by the appellation of 'Brother.'

He recognized with heartfelt satisfaction the means of union with his fellows, joined the lodge at this place, and continued, until his infirmities prevented active exertions, a member and an officer, squaring his conduct and ruling his behavior by the principles of honesty and integrity. All persons, Masons as well as others, have ever awarded to him respect for his blameless life."




Anthony Lacoq married, in Wilkes-Barre, April 19, 1812, Miss Emelie Magdalene Dupuy, daughter of Jean Franchise and Jeanne/Jane Elizabeth (Dugue) Dupuy. She was born in the island of St. Domingo, November 10, 1791. The Susquehanna Democrat, of May 1, 1812, thus records this marriage: " Married in this town Sunday, the 19th, by William Ross, Esq., Mr. Anthony Lacoq to Miss Amelia Dupuy."