Name Francois Beauharnois | ||
Francois de Beauharnois de la Chaussaye, Baron de Beauville or Francois de Beauharnais de La Boeche / Boische (bap 19 September 1665 / 1668 – 8 or 9 October 1746, La Chaussee, near Orleans) was a French naval and colonial administrator in France itself and in New France, and a member of the House of Beauharnais.
Contents
Family
Francois de Beauharnais was the son of a lawyer in the Parlement (who was also a lieutenant general at the siege of Orleans and a chevalier de Saint-Louis), a grandson of a premier maitre d’hotel ordinaire du roi (1652) and great-grandson of an Orleans merchant known as "one of the city's richest citizens". Francois's brothers included Charles de Beauharnois de la Boische, Marquis de Beauharnois (who became Governor General of New France in 1726) and Claude de Beauharnois de Beaumont et de Villechauve (a French naval officer who three times commanded the ships that restocked the troops in New France)
By a marriage between a female Beauharnais and a male from the Phelypeaux family, he also found himself a cousin of chancellor and Secretary of State of the Navy Louis Phelypeaux de Pontchartrain. Pontchartrain's son, Jerome Phelypeaux de Pontchartrain, made Francois his protege and between 1706 and 1710 sought a beneficial marriage alliance for him, in the end marrying him Anne, daughter of the sieur Des Gretz, the rich exempt of the Paris police.
Life
Francois's career was considerably accelerated by Jerome's ministerial favour - he became ecrivain principal straightaway on 18 April 1691 at Toulon and on 1 April the following year received his commission as commissaire ordinaire, serving in that role at Toulon then Rochefort, Le Havre and Brest until 1702. The creation of "charges venales" marked the de facto suppression of "commissions ordinaires" and Beauharnais thus left the service.
To avoid Francois having to pay for the purchase of a commission, and to gain experience for his further career progression in France, Jerome Pontchartrain made Francois intendant of New France on the recall of Jean Bochart de Champigny, leaving from Le Havre and arriving in Quebec in 1702. As Jerome's protege, he was fairly free to make decisions that might be counter to the wishes of the governor, Philippe de Rigaud Vaudreuil who arrived in 1703. At this time the only real business of New France was the fur trade. However, the death of Antoine-Francois Phelypeaux d’Herbault on 10 October 1704 after the Battle of Velez-Malaga (August 1704) freed up the position of intendant of the navy (intendant des armees navales), which Jerome (as Secretary of State of the Navy) then assigned to Francois. Thus, after a three-year stay, Francois left Canada in December 1705 and took up the new role on 1 January 1706.
On 1 January 1710, Beauharnais became intendant des classes following the reforms of Pierre Arnoul but he had little time to exercise his new functions - the death of Michel Begon on 13 March 1710 left the intendances of Rochefort and of the generalite of La Rochelle vacant. Beauharnais took up them both on 24 March 1710, but in 1715 had to abandon that of La Rochelle on the Regent's orders, under the pretext that he wasn't the maitre des requetes (Beauharnais was nevertheless offered the chance to buy that generalite, but refused). Following pressure on Maurepas, Beauharnais was also dismissed from the intendance of Rochefort and was made intendant of the navy for a second time on 1 April 1739.
Francois de Beauharnais thus retired to his lands at Boeche, the old name of the seigneurie of La Chaussee (or la Chaussaye), located in the faubourgs of Orleans, and died there on 9 October 1746.
Properties in France and Canada
Besides his lands near Orleans, Beauharnais profited from his brief time in New France to procure the Banville (or Beauville or Bauville) estate there, located in Acadia. The king gave him, by a brevet of 2 April 1707, the land of Port-Maltais (river comprising four places of the bank, two in the depths, with the adjacent islands). On 25 June 1707, by letters patent, this land was formed into the barony of Banville.
At the end of his life, Beauharnais enjoyed several pensions which totalled an annual income of 21,200 livres. His will ruled for his succession by his two nephews, sons of his younger brother Beauharnais de Beaumont. The older of the two, the marquis de Beauharnais, lieutenant general des armees navales, broke the will by dividing the inheritance between all the nephews and nieces, including Michel Begon fils, premier commis du bureau des Fonds.
The family Eslandoost de Beauville is the last one of the heirs of Francois de Beauharnois de la Chaussaye to bear his name.
Heraldry
On the establishment of the Armorial general de France by Pierre d'Hozier, Francois de Beauharnais arms were registered on 23 December 1699, at its Brest office, as : d’argent, a une fasce de sable, accompagnee de trois merlettes de meme, rangees en chef.