Behind a whole part of the United States are the traces left by adventurers, coureurs des bois, artists, entrepreneurs, lumberjacks, Franco-American, Creole or French-Canadian métis travelers whose names have sometimes been altered and whose history has been erased or faded. At the time of the American presidential election, the Destins Américains series invites you to follow the trail of some of the characters of a forgotten Franco-America. In this first of two texts: Damien Marchesseault, Mayor of Los Angeles.
Los Angeles had three French-speaking mayors, including two French Canadians born in Quebec. How could someone who didn’t even speak English end up at the head of a city that is now emblematic of the United States?
Born in Saint-Antoine-sur-Richelieu in 1818, the fifth of a family of 18 children, Damien Marchesseault was at the head of the legendary Los Angeles for three terms, from 1859 to 1867.
A fan of gambling to the point of losing his shirt, he first frequented the gambling dens of New Orleans before moving to California, at the time of the gold rush. There, he settled in LA, without changing his lifestyle, while conducting various businesses with French-Canadian compatriots.
Damien Marchesseault will first run a saloon. A real one.
Living in French in LA
From 1848 onwards, there was talk of California and the gold that had just been discovered there. Among the adventurers who flocked there were a considerable number of French speakers. Many took advantage of this demographic surge to establish various businesses. California, for example, became the adopted country of Jean-Louis Vignes, a Frenchman well-appointed to launch the wine industry that had since made the country famous. It was with a French nephew of this Mr. Vignes, a certain Jean-Louis Sainsevain, that Damien Marchesseault undertook the renovation of the Los Angeles aqueduct system. They replaced the old wooden pipes with metal conduits, not without difficulty.
French, Walloons, Swiss and French Canadians then landed in large numbers in California. The French Canadians often took advantage of the fact that they had some rudimentary English. At the same time, the local Natives, used as slave labor by the colonists, were unceremoniously turned away. In LA, they were even forbidden to sleep in the city.
Can we live in French in California in the middle of the 19th century?e century? In A Gil Blas in CaliforniaAlexandre Dumas père offers the story of a Frenchman who, once landed in California, finds himself living, with little difficulty, in his own language. The novelist had never set foot in California, but he was not wrong: French speakers were flocking there. Everyone was interested in this country full of promise. To the point where the public authorities of French Canada were worried…
At the time, Montreal newspapers ran advertisements aimed at discouraging people from leaving by praising life in Canada. Of course, this was already half conceding that people’s minds were leaning irresistibly towards California.
In The Futurein September 1849, this immigration to California was considered harmful. However, it was specified that: “we will see with pleasure a certain number of our young compatriots rushing towards the golden regions of California to play a role in the competition of fortune which attracts to this country people from all parts of the globe.”
French Canadians have been exploring the territory of California since the end of the 18th century.e century. From 1850 onwards, there were more of them than ever before.
Citizens of all countries: California!
In truth, California is marked by all sorts of cultural and political influences, sometimes disconcerting. Even the Russians have set foot there, laying claim, for a time, albeit half-heartedly, to parcels of the territory.
Born in the Holy Roman Empire, Johann August Suter founded a small Swiss colony in California: New Helvetia! After abandoning his wife and four children in Europe, he tried to make some money by transporting goods on the Santa Fe trail, in the manner of François-Xavier Aubry.
Suter is important for understanding what was going to happen in California. He bought their farms from the Russians. Then, he imported Melanesian slaves from Honolulu. One day, his men discovered, while digging the earth to build a mill, gold flakes… Minds went wild. It was the beginning of the gold rush. This explosion of passions lasted 15 years. The writer Blaise Cendrars, highly prized at the end of the Second World War by Montreal bohemians, wrote a fiery story about Captain Suter entitled Gold.
The gold prospectors
In 1850, California had about 20,000 inhabitants. Of this number, there must be at least 2,000 French speakers, about 10% of the population. Thirty years later, the population had grown to 850,000 inhabitants, including at least 15,000 French speakers.
Where do French speakers like Damien Marchesseault settle in LA? There will be a forgotten “French Town” in the city. French speakers have institutions, services, and stores there. An American historian will write, in the mid-1930s, that Los Angeles was as French as New Orleans.
Of course, the Los Angeles of the early 1860s, the one that Damien Marchesseault knows, does not yet have much in common with this megacity that, in 2028, will host the Olympic Games. From a simple Spanish “mission”, LA had passed into the hands of the United States in 1846, following an armed conflict with Mexico. It had grown very slowly. In 1860, the population of LA was still only 5,000 inhabitants. It was a community of farmers, surrounded by fig trees, apricot trees, pear trees, peach trees… It was not uncommon to come across bears there. The star-spangled flag of California does not display this animal for nothing.
A city of ice
Before becoming mayor, Marchesseault went into business with Prudent and Victor Beaudry. In April 1857, they announced that they were selling ice at Montgomery, their saloon. A luxury product, the ice was sold at 15 cents a pound. In their saloon, it was possible to play billiards and toss back glasses of alcohol behind the tie at a unit cost of 12.5 cents a glass. To keep the numbers round, was it necessary to order the glasses in pairs?
Marchesseault was aware that, on the banks of the St. Lawrence, merchants exported ice. Ships stocked up in northern ports to sell it in Brazil and Chile, sometimes even as far as Australia. So why not in California too? Marchesseault’s solution was much simpler: he simply had to go and get blocks of ice in a canyon in the San Gabriel Mountains, 80 kilometres from his business.
Marchesseault and his associates will be the first to be able to sell ice cream in LA!
The Mayor Who Didn’t Speak English
In municipal elections, only men and property owners voted. In 1865, Marchesseault’s opponent for mayor, José Mascarel, was also a French speaker. Born in Marseille in 1816, Mascarel was married to an Aboriginal woman.
Unlike Marchesseault, Mascarel would never master English. This would not prevent him from becoming mayor himself. When General Irvin McDowell, responsible for the region, had to deal with the mayor, he did so in French, speaking the language perfectly himself.
During the election campaign of 1866, an ironic notice was published in a local newspaper. Wanted “, it read: “a candidate for the position of mayor capable of reading and speaking English is wanted”, which gave a glimpse of the linguistic tensions which reigned.
A sad end
In the May 1867 election, Marchesseault won one last time: 388 votes in his favour against 296 for his opponent. The following year, on January 20, he committed suicide in the city council chamber. He was 49 years old.
In a note left to his wife, he explains that he is consumed by the shame of drinking and by his gambling debts: about $3,000. The equivalent of about $100,000 in 2024. To what extent were the city’s affairs compromised by his personal stories? A street in LA, in the heart of Chinatown, will be named after Marchesseault.
Another French Canadian will be elected to lead Los Angeles: Prudent Beaudry. This powerful man will be discussed in tomorrow’s edition.