Washington's Engineer by Norman Desmarais (speed reading book TXT) 📕

behalf of Mr Du Portail’s family and heirs this report by which we certify that at the moment the said Mr Du Portail was found dead in his bed yesterday about 7 o’clock in the morning, the said Capt. Hand took the keys of the bag and trunks of the deceased which trunks and bags remained untouched and today at the above stated time the said Capt. opened the bag in our presence in which was found: clothing, two portfolios containing letters, a certificate of the debt of the United States toward the deceased, two certificates of English public funds, two New York banknotes, one for $20, the other for $5, 96 gold louis, some dollars and small change, a gold watch, a pair of garters with silver buckles, a parasol, three trunks two of which are in the hold.8

Duportail was fifty-eight years old. He undoubtedly never recovered from the illness that weakened him so much at the beginning of his ministry.

The ship captain was detained in England, along with his ship, and could not register the death himself, so he requested the four witnesses, including a notary, an invalid war officer, a merchant, and a Guadalupian without a profession, to do so. They appeared before the mayor of Le Havre on September 8, 1801.

For some unknown reason, Duportail was given an added surname of Joseph. This seemingly insignificant error most directly registered at this date would oblige his sole heir, his sister who was now remarried to an engineer, to request a correction before a civil tribunal on February 27, 1815, in order to claim the American inheritance.

THE ESTATE

After news of Duportail’s death reached America, the court appointed Isaac Huddleston as administrator of the estate on February 3, 1803. His account of revenues and expenditures dated January 1804 mentions under “Disbursements” the sum of “117 pounds 17 shillings and 6 pence” given to several persons in the lifetime of Louis L. Duportail, agreeable to his instructions when he left America, in finishing a new House and Barn and digging a well, which were left unfinished by him—and other improvements on his farm, & harvesting and threshing his grain etc.9

Huddleston charged £37.10 for managing the estate, which, with commissions, fees, and so on, brought disbursements up to £227.17.9. This sum was paid by the sale of the accumulated hay, oats, and rye and by collecting numerous lesser and greater debts scattered among surrounding farmers. There appear to have been no outstanding obligations against the estate.

The list of books taken from the inventory of Duportail’s estate included

Smith’s Wealth of Nations

Our Own Gardiner

Roads and Dictionary

Rural Economy

Hints to Gentlemen of Property

Leslie’s Husbandry

Inquiries on Plaster of Paris

The Famous Kalendar

Practical Farmer

Vindication of Randolph

Speech of Ames in ye House of Rs.

Sketch on Rotation of Crops

Progress and State of the Canal Navigation in Penna.

Description of certain lands in Massachusetts

Disquisition concerning Ancient India

On Fattening of Cattle

Douglas (a tragedy)

His French books included

Dictionnaire du jardinage

Theorie du jardinage

Boyle’s Dictionary in French and English

Les éléments de la langue anglaise

Nouvelle grammaire allemande

Dictionnaire de Bromare—fifteen volumes

Guide du Voyageur en Suisse

Constitution of the French Republic

Testament politique

Map of Connecticut

A French Map

Map of Pennsylvania10

These books were all so worn from constant use that the appraiser found it difficult to set a value on them. The lot was finally sold for ten dollars. Duportail must have spent much of his free time poring over these books, especially whatever pertained to the cultivation of his farm. At the time of his death, his barns were full of hay, rye (threshed and unthreshed), oats, old rye straw, and more. He always kept horses, usually six, but the number and value varied during the five years the tax lists contained his name. He usually had at least four cows, but the number sometimes dropped to two, then rose to six. This shows that he was not averse to a “trade” when the right opportunity arose. His farm and dwelling were assessed at $1,746 in 1796, but the assessment rose to $1,996 in 1799, undoubtedly owing to the improvements made during that time.

The sheriff of Montgomery County sold the rest of Duportail’s real estate at auction in 1805. The property and a few articles netted £63.22.47. Elisha Evans, who kept the Rising Sun Inn at the Norristown end of Schuylkill Ford, purchased the property and laid out the tract in town lots. He called the place Evansville, which was later changed to Bridgeport. The proceeds were sent to Duportail’s elder brother, “A. G. Le Begue de Presle,” the doctor in the Duportail family who died in 1807. It does not seem that he ever received the inheritance.

ESTATE SETTLEMENT

Duportail’s attorney, Peter S. Duponceau, came to America with Beaumarchais in Beaumarchais’s ship, the Flamand, as a young man of seventeen and arrived at Valley Forge in February 1778. He eventually became an American citizen. Beaumarchais introduced him to Baron von Steuben as interpreter, as the boy was a fluent linguist. Von Steuben and Duponceau were lodged at Cressbrook farm, two miles from Washington’s headquarters; Duportail also lived there during his stay at Valley Forge. Duponceau married an American and settled in Philadelphia, where he became a successful lawyer.

Duponceau signed the report of Duportail’s estate and distributed the property among his heirs. He also settled an outstanding account of Robert Porter, “administrator de bonis non,” for “sundry sums received at various times,” amounting to $3,191.91 and dated September 28, 1811.11 After deducting fees, commissions, and other state charges, including “postage on two letters to A. G. Le Begue de Presle,” Duponceau appropriated what remained of the earlier sum ($2,949.15¼) as his own lawyer’s fee.

The list of heirs would only be definitively established on April 14, 1840, and included his sister, still living; a niece; and two great nieces. John C. Calhoun presented a petition to the US Senate on behalf of the heirs