Jacques Villeré

Early life

He was born in 1761 near present-day Kenner, Jefferson Parish, Louisiana on his maternal grandfather's plantation La Providence.

His father was Joseph Antoine de Villeré, an official in the French Navy under King Louis XV and later a colonial militia captain in the German Coast area of present-day southeast Louisiana. After France's territory was ceded to Spain in 1763, Joseph became one of the victims of Spanish Governor Alejandro O'Reilly, who was sent by King Carlos III to put down a revolt. Villeré's grandfather, Etienne Roy de Villeré, had accompanied Iberville on the voyage from France to the Gulf coast, late in the 17th century, under Louis XIV.

Jacques' mother was Louise Marguerite de la Chaise, daughter of Jacques de la Chaise and granddaughter, on her mother's side, of the Chevalier Charles Frederick d’Arensbourg.

Military service

Villeré joined the French army and was educated for two years in France at the Crown's expense, due to his father's death at the hands of O'Reilly. In 1776, while still in his teens, he was assigned to Saint Domingue as a first lieutenant of the artillery. His mother's death in the 1780s brought him back to settle in Louisiana (New Spain), which became a possession of the United States about twenty years later.

In 1814-1815, he served with distinction in the (War of 1812's) Battle of New Orleans, as a major general commanding the 1st Division of the Louisiana militia. His men stood fast, assigned to the area near Lake Borgne and Bayou Dupre, as British forces approached New Orleans by sea.

The Villeré plantation, Conseil, located downriver from the city, was overrun by the British army. His family's home was destroyed and he lost 52 slaves, whom the British took aboard their ships and freed later.

Family, political career, and later life

In 1784, Villeré married Jeanne Henriette de Fazende, the daughter of Gabriel de Fazende, who owned a plantation seven miles (11 km) below New Orleans in present-day Saint Bernard Parish. The couple raised eight children. Jeanne Villeré died in 1826.

In 1803, Villeré secured a seat on the municipal council (the Cabildo) of New Orleans during the brief return to French colonial administration. The next year, after the Louisiana Purchase took effect, Villeré was appointed a Major General in the territorial militia, a Police Juror in what in a few years would be the "county" of Orleans Parish, and a Justice of the Peace for the area which would soon become St. Bernard Parish.

Villeré was a member of the convention which drafted Louisiana's first state constitution. He ran for Governor in 1812, to serve as the first governor after statehood, but was defeated in the election by William C. C. Claiborne who was elected overwhelmingly with over 70% of the vote.

Jacques Villeré was elected as the second state Governor in 1816, narrowly defeating Joshua Lewis. He took office in December of that year and served through 1820, a period of prosperity and growth for the new state. His gubernatorial administration was noted for efforts to provide bankruptcy protection for debtors, the designation of death-by-dueling as a capital offense, and reduction of the level of state debt.

He retired to the family's sugar plantation in St. Bernard Parish after his term, as the law didn't allow him to succeed himself in office. Villeré was brought out of retirement to run again for Governor in the 1824 election, but he and Bernard de Marigny split the Creole vote and Henry Johnson was elected Governor.

He was preparing to run for Governor again in the 1830 special election; but he died March 7, 1830, before the election, at the plantation Conseil after a long illness. His remains were interred at St. Louis Cemetery No. 2, in New Orleans.