Died New Orleans, Louisiana, United States | ||
Jean-Baptiste d'Estrehan de Beaupré (surname often simply written as Destrehan; died 26 February 1765) was a high-ranking French official in colonial Louisiana and the founder of the Destrehan family there. A native of France, he was appointed Royal Treasurer of Louisiana and arrived in New Orleans the year it became the capital of Louisiana (New France), 1722. D'Estrehan is credited with the completion of the Harvey Canal on the west bank of the Mississippi River in 1739, which connected the River with Barataria Bay to the south and thus to the Gulf. However, it may have been just a ditch at that point, as the Harvey, Louisiana, article states that the canal work continued for many years. He cultivated indigo on his west bank plantation. In 1746, d'Estrehan was made Comptroller of the colony. He held both this position and the treasurer position until his death in 1765.
D'estrehan married Jeanne Catherine de Gauvret (daughter of Jean-Baptiste de Gauvret, an officer of colonial troops, and Jeanne Catherine Pierre) and had six children, the most notable of whom was Jean Noel Destréhan, after whom the town of Destrehan was named. Another son, Jean Baptiste Honoré d'Estrehan, was the first husband of Marie Felicité de St. Maxent; who, when widowed, married Bernardo de Gálvez, a Spanish colonial governor. One of d'Estrehan's daughters, Marie Marguerite, married Étienne de Boré, the first mayor of New Orleans. Another, Jeanne Marie, married Pierre Philippe de Marigny, the son of Antoine Philippe de Marigny; she was the mother of Bernard de Marigny.
In his role as a colonial official, he clashed with the colonial governor Kerlerec, who described d'Estrehan as being "too rich and dangerous." Kerlerec had him sent back to France, along with the Commissary-Commissioner Vincent de Rochemore and Antoine Philippe de Marigny. In France he was briefly held in the Bastille, but after Kerlerec's exile he returned to New Orleans.