The Jumonville Family

       

 Family History

 

 

 Coulon de Jumonville de Villiers 

The Coulon family's documentation goes back to 1590 to an area northeast of Paris, France.  Nicolas Coulon was Sieur de Chahagny et de Merheron.  He was provost royal at Mantes (now Mantes la Jolie) and was granted nobility in October 1594 by King Henri IV.

Raoul-Guillaume, son of Guillaume Coulon and Elizabeth LeCouturier and great grandson of Nicolas Coulon, held the title Sieur de Villiers-en-Arthies.  (Villiers-en-Arthies is just north of Mantes la Jolie).

Nicholas-Antoine Coulon de Villiers, son of Raoul-Guillaume Coulon and Louise delaFosse, was baptized in 1683 at the parish church of St. Etienne at Mantes.  He arrived in Quebec, Canada in 1703.  His contract of marriage to Angelique Jarrett de Verchères was signed on 07 December 1705.  Angelique was the sister of Madeleine Jarret de Verchères, a "heroine" of Canada.  The sisters were born on their father's seigniory, Verchères, on the St. Lawrence river, twenty miles below Montreal, the daughters of François Jarret and Marie Perrot. In October, 1692, when her parents were absent, a band of marauding Iroquois appeared at the fort. Madeleine at once took command, and, with the assistance of her two young brothers, two soldiers, and an old man of eighty, defended the fort for a week, when relief came from Montreal.

Joseph Coulon de Jumonville de Villiers, the son of Nicolas and Angelique, is known for his role at what is now Jumonville Glen in Pennsylvania.  The French claim Ensign Coulon de Jumonville was on a diplomatic mission, under a flag of truce, and was assassinated, May 27, 1754.  The English disagree.  This was the first battle in the French and Indian War.  Expecting French retaliation, Washington and his men quickly constructed a small fortification and awaited the French attack that would become known as The Battle of Fort Necessity or the Battle of Great Meadows.  Joseph's death was avenged at Fort Necessity by his brother Louis.  On July 3, 1754, Washington surrendered and signed a document in which he accepted responsibility for Joseph Coulon de Jumonville de Villier's assassination.  Washington later recanted saying the translation was faulty. 

   

Francois Coulon de Villiers, another brother, was subsequently transferred to the Louisiana establishment and promoted lieutenant in 1746.  While serving in the Illinois territory he was married twice.  He was commissioned a captain in 1754.   In 1756 he led a force of 23 colonial regulars and 32 Indians in an assault on Fort Granville (near Lewiston, Pennsylvania), some 60 miles from Philadelphia, captured it, took about 30 prisoners, burned the fort with its six months of supplies, and safely retired.  The following year he was acting adjutant of Fort de Chartres and continued to lead war parties that ravaged the frontiers of Virginia.  When Louisiana was ceded to Spain Coulon de Villiers resigned his commission in the French regulars, entered the Spanish service, and was appointed to the command at Natchitoches.  On 28 June 1762 he married Marie-Geneviève Esnoul de Livaudais at New Orleans and acquired a plantation, most likely from her, at Pointe Coupee (near New Roads, Louisiana).  In 1768, while he was serving at Natchitoches, the prominent Canadians of New Orleans rose in revolt against their Spanish rulers.  The following year the revolt was sternly suppressed by 3,000 Spanish troops sent from Cuba.  Probably in recognition of his not having participated in the uprising, Coulon de Villiers was appointed an alcalde of New Orleans, an important administrative and judicial post in the local government.  He now took up residence in his wife's commodious New Orleans house.  His portrait hangs in the Cabildo in New Orleans.

 

Charles-Phiippe is the son of Francois and Marie-Geneviève and the great-great grandfather of Octave Jumonville de Villiers.

The above is just a bit of the information that I have come across as I do more research into the family.  I'll post updates as I compile them. 
Janet  Vazquez
02 April 2009

 

Sent In By:  Russell Jumonville, Jr.

 

 

Please share your stories.

 Sent In By: Yvette Pettersen Klinkel

Sent In By:  Russell Jumonville, Jr.

Model Plane of the 1938 Delgado Flash, built by Uncle Russell and now part of The Smithsonian Institutes National Air and Space Museum

 

 

Sent in by:  Preston Jumonville, Jr.

I have an anecdote for you from my Father.  As you know, his father returned to the city of his ancestors from the bayous and started what became a successful dry goods business.  By the turn of the 19th into the 20th century, he was doing well enough to take phone orders and to maintain a horse, wagon, and driver to make the resulting deliveries.  One day his man called in sick and Pepere had to do the route himself.  The problem was that the horse would stop at every tavern they encountered and refused to go on until a "decent interval" had passed!  It was soon borne in upon my Grandfather why his driver would take so long to do his rounds!  It is not recorded whether or not the horse was given a nip when the driver would return to the wagon after each such "visitation".  There is a variety of other stories which can be related another time--including how my Grandparents linked up.......

Best wishes, Preston

  

Jumonville Glen

 

 

       We should all know the accounts of this event in history. 

Visit the website:  

                                     http://www.nps.gov/fone/jumglen.htm 

* The following copied from the internet

     "The volley fired by a young Virginian in the backwoods of America set the world on fire."

                                                                                                                                        Horace Walpole

   A few days after the incident, this is how George Washington described his first experience under fire.

         

"I fortunately escaped without any wound, for the right wing, where I stood, was exposed to and received all the enemy's fire, and it was the part where the man was killed, and the rest wounded. I heard the bullets whistle, and, believe me there is something charming in the sound."                                                                                                                        

                                                  

The shots at Jumonville Glen were the first in the Fort Necessity campaign, ultimately leading the world to war. But the story of Jumonville Glen has the intrigue of a mystery thriller and contains controversy and unanswered questions.  

  Jumonville Glen

NPS photo by M.J. McFadden