Ok, onward with the life of Timothy Demonbreun. Like I had said in the previous post about him (Part Four, found here), I am not certain when Timothy and Therese, along with their newborn daughter, finally arrived in the French settlement of Kaskaskia, Illinois Territory. Since they still had plenty of time prior to winter weather I would like to assume that, as soon as Therese felt well after childbirth, they set out upon the rivers once more and landed safely soon after in Kaskaskia. Although, looking at a map, I can’t see how they would have gotten to Kaskaskia by boat unless they went southwest on the Wabush River to present day Cairo, Illinois, then northwest on the Mississippi River to Kaskaskia, Illinois (current population as of the 2010 US Census: 14). That’s pretty far even now (from Vincennes to Cairo, then to Kaskasia is nearly 300 miles by car). I may be missing a little river somewhere, though.
According to Mrs. Whiteford (A Genealogy and History of Jacques Timothe Boucher), Timothy was in Kaskaskia by May of 1869 and had been so involved with with his new community that in February of 1770 he was made an “Escuyer”, which she describes as Justice of the Peace. I did find that Escuyer is pretty much another word for Esquire, and in some cases it did mean Justice of the Peace…or lawyer…or squire. I’m just going to assume that the record that she is referring to actually says Justice of the Peace on it. She then goes on to say that she believes that he may have stayed in Kaskaskia for a while, at least until 1777 when he moved to Vincennes, then returned in 1779 to Kaskaskia.
It was in Kaskaskia, Illinois on February 12, 1770 that Timothy and Therese’s second child, first son was born. He was named Timothy (or Timothé) Felix Demonbreun. This son was baptized on April 6, 1770 by Father Gibault. At some point during his life, Timothy Felix dropped the Timothy part of his name and only went by Felix Demonbreun.
And this is where it’s about to get pretty interesting.
According to the Timothy Demonbreun Heritage Society, in 1771 Timothy’s great-uncle or second cousin Captain (Charles) Louis Boucher de GrandPre, who was at the time the governor of New Orleans (he is also listed as one of the founding fathers of Mississippi), granted him a hunting license for Arkansas Territory (which, from what I understand, did not go so well). It is believed that this is when he set up shop trading with the Native Americans all along the Mississippi and Cumberland Rivers. In George R Zepp’s 2009 book Hidden History of Nashville, he states that Timothy first traveled to the Cumberland Valley area now known as Nashville about 1769, and started trading then. If you recall my earlier post Coming to America, then you will recognize the name of Josephus Conn Guild. In his book, after describing the arrival of Timothy and his companions to “French Lick”, he goes on to describe their first night and waking up the next morning:
“…they noticed a movement among the bushes at one point. One of the men lowered his gun, but DeMonbreun ordered him not to shoot, as their object was to trade and not make war. At length they arrived at a level basin, covered with a thick forest. Here they found a bubbling spring running into the stream that they had ascended. They looked around and found many signs of buffalo, deer, and bear. Using every precaution against a surprise, they encamped for the night, cooked their victuals, and slept upon their arms…the next morning they hung out their trinkets, beads, blankets, and other articles calculated to attract the fancy of the Indians…the effort proved successful and a profitable trade was inaugurated…”
Guild goes on to say that Timothy ended up making frequent trips from Illinois to Nashville and back. And the Heritage Society does agree that Timothy was spending his winters in Kaskaskia and his summers in prime hunting grounds around the Cumberland Valley.
It was around 1770 that Therese disappears from all records. There are several family stories behind her disappearance. One I read was that Timothy moved her and the children down to French Lick, which would explain the lack of records. The family lore, however, is that Therese was kidnapped by Indians, either in Tennessee or Illinois, depending on the source. The details of the legend are cloudy. Some say she was riding a horse with a child on her lap. Some say it was during one of the frequent raids on French settlements. Either way, she is unaccounted for at this time.
A couple of years after the disappearance of Therese, Timothy’s mother passed away on November 29, 1772 in Boucherville. Nearly five months after her death Timothy’s father passed away on April 14, 1773 in Boucherville. Mrs. Whiteford writes that more than likely Timothy AND Therese returned to Boucherville at the death of his parents. Apparently they may have made more than one trip. Mrs. Whiteford writes:
“…their son Timothy (Felix) made a statement, March 28th, 1852, which Dr. Felix Robertson wrote down for him, he tells of their return trip from Canada, when attacked by the Indians only a day or two, out from Canada, where in a party of thirty five, only five were spared, that the Indians knew Timothe DeMonbreun from trading with him—and he and his wife and three others were left unharmed, but robbed and left in the wilderness…”
Felix Demonbreun, it seems, did not know the date of this event exactly, but he put it sometime after 1783…which leads me to believe that it is possible that Therese’s disappearance and this story of an Indian attack somehow got mixed up.
I can only assume that it was sometime in the early days of Timothy arriving on the Cumberland River that he set up his first home: the legendary cave.
But more on that later.
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