Dominique Cossé dit Chevalier was born ca 1762, supposedly in Paris, France. He was the son of Josef COSSÉ (native of Strasbourg) and Françoise MAYISTOT (or MAGISTOT, native of Rheims, in the Champagne region). This information comes from his statement of Solteria before an ecclesiastical notary in New Orleans, and the marriage registers of St. Louis church, also in New Orleans.
He was in New Orleans possibly as early as 1790, although concrete proof of his presence before 1799 has not been found. In 1799 he attended an estate sale and bought several items of good clothing, some stationery, and several books, some in French, some in English, some on the subject of Heraldry. (Source: New Orleans Notarial Archives)
In 1800, he married Marie Louise BACAS (daughter of Jean Baptiste Manuel BACAS and Marie Louise LANDRONY), and managed to squander his wife's maternal inheritance on land purchases in Baton Rouge, LA from 1805-1809. Marie Louise BACAS died in 1809 and the care of their four children then fell to her father. It is not known where Dominique was at this time.
The last proof I have of Dominique COSSÉ in New Orleans was found in the 1810 Federal census for Louisiana. But he may still have been in the area as late as 1817, because the will of his father-in-law (J. B. M. BACAS) denounces Dominique's conduct (calling him a "Chevalier Paratonnerre"), and explicitly denies him access to his children and their inheritance.
Over 60 years later, we find a clue as to the possible roots of Dominique COSSÉ dit Chevalier. The obituary notice of his granddaughter, Josephine COSSÉ BERTHELOT states that she was :
| "... la petite-fille d'un cadet de l'illustre famille française de Cossé-Brissac, lequel avait sans doute pris part à quelque ancienne expédition militaire des Français en Amérique....Le titre de duc de Brissac n'a jamais été éteint, et les Cossé et les Brissac ne sont qu'une seule et même famille....Le titre a été transmis...par Timoléon de Cossé, duc de Brissac, gouverneur de Paris, massacré à Versailles en 1792;...Ainsi cette bonne et humble femme, qui a passé sa vie à St.-Jean-Baptiste dans la plus modeste condition, appartenait à la famille aristocratique dont le dernier représentant etait chambellan du second Empire. Que de grands et vieux noms on retrouverait encore dans les couches sociales de ce nouveau continent si bien nivelé. Mais les papiers s'égarent, les souvenirs séffacent, les traditions s'évanonissent, et le lien du sang est rompu sans qu'il y ait moyen de le renouer." | "... the granddaughter of the cadet branch of the illustrious French family, the de Cossé-Brissac, which no doubt took part in some military expedition of the French in America....The title of the Duke of Brissac never died out and the Cossés and Brissacs are one and the same family....The title was passed on...by Timoléon de Cossé, duc de Brissac, governor of Paris, who was killed in Versailles in 1792;....Thus this good and humble woman, who lived all her life quietly and modestly in St. John the Baptist parish [LA] belonged to the aristocratic family whose latest representative was the Chamberlain of the Second Empire. What grand and old names we still find in the social circles of this new continent where everyone is equal. But papers fade, souvenirs are lost, and traditions vanish, and thus the tie of the blood is broken without any way of rejoining it." |
A doubt lingers...was this the truth, or was it a "fantasy" family history, invented by Dominique COSSÉ, taken from the book of heraldry that he bought 75 years earlier at an estate sale in New Orleans?
No connections have yet been discovered in France, however I have not yet begun to search the records of Rheims and Strasbourg.
