Note: It has taken me a bit to get Part Ten put together, not because of researching the information, but because I am coming to a close in my current class and, of course, they put all the really difficult stuff at the end. Luckily the final is near, so then I can concentrate on my genealogy research more!
Dates ranging from 1796 (Early History of Nashville by Lizzie P Elliott,1911) to May 1797 (A Genealogy and History of Jacques Timothe Boucher, Sieur de Monbreun by Mrs. Kathryn De Monbreun Whitefort, 1939) to 1798 (the Timothy Demonbreun Society) are to be found for the arrival of exiled Louis Philippe I, Duke of Orleans (later to be be Louis Philippe I, King of the French) and his two younger brothers Louis-Charles and Antoine Philippe. During this time Timothy Demonbreun, being proud of his French heritage, hosted the three brothers. I am uncertain as to whether he took the brothers down the river to New Orleans, but I have seen that in several books and websites. By this time Timothy had traded in his hunting clothing for finer clothing, what would be found worn in France by gentlemen. “Not only for royalty but everyday Timothe DeMonbreun wore his white ruffled shirt and black knee breeches with silver buckles. He was adorned with his large gold watch, and any day he could be seen walking along the streets of Nashville, though he owned several carriages. He favored the old time clothes and wore them to the end, showing off his plump well-shaped legs (I suppose they are no longer spindly), and his square shoulders.” (Whitefort)
On May 7, 1825 Nashville hosted Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roche Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, aka General Lafayette. In the Enquirer (Richmond, Virginia) on May 31, 1825: “Between seven and eight o’clock the banks of the Cumberland were thronged with anxious spectators, awaiting the approach of the steamboat with its precious freight.” A parade was held and Lafayette sat in a horse drawn carriage (white horses, of course) and General Andrew Jackson sat by his side. During his visit in Nashville a dinner was hosted at The Nashville Inn (there is a little history on The Nashville Inn here, and I know it’s an online store, but the historic information they offer is pretty neat) and toasts were made. One toast made in honor of Timothy was “The Patriarch of Tennessee – our fellow citizen – who is now present, and the first white man that settled in the country.” By all accounts it was Lafayette that made this toast; however, the newspapers reported that Colonel Andrew Hynes, the founder of Elizabethtown, Kentucky, made the toast. Either way, that was a nice way to be honored.
Something that made me do a double take was a few paragraphs down in the article: “By R.B. Currey. Cuba: A New Star reported to have appeared on our Southern Hemisphere – may it, in union with the Republic of Columbia, harmoniously and perpetually perform its revolution round liberty and equal rights as a common centre.” It isn’t the toast that caught my eye. RB Currey is Robert Brownlee Currey. Readers that have been following my blog (and distant cousins) will recognize Robert Brownlee Currey as the son of Ezekiel Currey and Elizabeth Brownlee, my 7th great-grandparents, and brother to Susan Currey, my 6th great-grandmother. I think it’s pretty neat that he and Timothy ran in the same circles, rubbed elbows, and whatnot.
It is no doubt that Timothy, having been a fairly well-known man at the time, probably partied with many other famous men (and women…ha-ha) in his time. But one of the more interesting things he did was help to found the first Catholic Church in Nashville. According to the Timothy Demonbreun Society, Timothy had donated land for the Catholic Church to use, however it was not. It was either 1812 or 1821 in that Timothy hosted the first ever Catholic mass in Nashville at his home, conducted by Benedict Joseph Flaget, First Bishop of Bardstown (Kentucky). I believe it may have been 1821, because in the October 28, 1820 edition of the Nashville Gazette is found the following request:
THE SUBSCRIBERS
REQUEST a meeting of their Roman Catholic Brethren in the city of Nashville, and its vicinity, at the house of Capt. Timothy Demumbrune, college st., on Monday 6th November, for the purpose of taking into consideration, the propriety of erecting a Church, and appointing trustees.
A. REDMOND.
T. DEMUMBRUNE.
A Catholic Church was soon built, with the help of Father Robert A Abell of Bardstown, on the hill where the Tennessee State Capitol now sits, though from what I read that church was actually begun in 1820 (immediately after the advert above was published?).
It is said that Timothy Demonbreun kept in his home a silver crucifix which he had carried from Quebec to remind him of home. I wonder if perhaps he is buried with it? You know, if it wasn’t a HUGE crucifix. If so, it should be helpful in determining where he is buried. But that will be Part Eleven.
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