Sauvolle

The sieur de Sauvolle (c.1671-1701) aka M. De Sauvolle or Sauvole, known for certainty only by that surname, was the first governor of the French territory of Louisiana. He accompanied the brothers Iberville and Bienville on their first voyage to Louisiana in 1699, and their explorations inland; on May 2, 1699 he was appointed commander of the new Fort Maurepas; in January 1700 he became the territory's governor. His journal is one of the earliest sources for the history of the region. He died suddenly, of fever or of sudden cardiac arrest, on August 21, 1701.

Despite the survival of his journal entries, and the journals of Iberville, almost nothing is known about Sauvolle: neither his ancestry nor the year of his birth, nor even much of his name. Iberville mentions him as "M. De Sauvolle" when also mentioning his own "brother De Bienville". Statements by various historians that his first name was Antoine, or alternately François-Marie, that he was sieur de la Villantry, or that he was a brother of Iberville and Bienville, are mere assertions not supported by multiple sources.