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here's more about St. John de Crevecouer.

J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur

Hectorstjohncrevecoeur.jpg

Born December 31, 1735

Normandy, France

Died November 12, 1813 (aged 77)

Sarcelles, France

Other names Michel Guillaume Jean de Crèvecoeur

Occupation Writer

Known for Pro-American writings during the time of the American Revolution

Spouse(s) Mehitable Tippet

Michel Guillaume Jean de Crèvecœur (French pronunciation: ​[miʃɛl ɡijom ʒɑ̃ də kʁɛvkœʁ]; December 31, 1735 – November 12, 1813), naturalized in New York as John Hector St. John, was a French-American writer. He was born in Caen, Normandy, France, to the Comte and Comtesse de Crèvecœur (Count and Countess of Crèvecœur).

Contents

1 Biography

1.1 Author

1.2 Diplomat

1.2.1 St. Peter's, New York

1.3 Later life

2 Primary works

3 Outline of Letters From an American Farmer

4 References

5 Selected criticism

6 Primary sources

7 External links

Biography[edit]

He was born December 31, 1735, to a family of minor nobility in Normandy. In 1755 he migrated to New France in North America. There, he served in the French and Indian War as a cartographer in the French Colonial Militia, rising to the rank of lieutenant. Following the British defeat of the French Army in 1759, he moved to the Province of New York, where he took out citizenship, adopted the English-American name of John Hector St. John, and in 1770 married an American woman, Mehitable Tippet, the daughter of a New York merchant. He bought a sizable farm in Orange County, New York, called "Pine Hill", where he prospered as a farmer. He also traveled about working as a surveyor.[1] He started writing about life in the American colonies and the emergence of an American society.

In 1779, during the American Revolution, St. John tried to leave the country to return to France because of the faltering health of his father. Accompanied by his son, he crossed British-American lines to enter British-occupied New York City, where he was imprisoned as an American spy for three months without a hearing. Eventually, he was able to sail for Britain, and was shipwrecked off the coast of Ireland.[1] From Britain, he sailed to France, where he was briefly reunited with his father. After spending some time recuperating at the family estate, he visited Paris and the salon of Sophie d'Houdetot.[2]

Author[edit]

In 1782, in London, he published a volume of narrative essays entitled the Letters from an American Farmer. The book quickly became the first literary success by an American author in Europe and turned Crèvecœur into a celebrated figure. He was the first writer to describe to Europeans – employing many American English terms – the life on the American frontier and to explore the concept of the American Dream, portraying American society as characterized by the principles of equal opportunity and self-determination.

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Here is more about St. John de Crevecoeur. It is fascinating. He was imprisoned by the English for being a revolutionary and imprisoned by the Revolutionists for being English.

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St. John de Crevecoeur had a farm on Route 84 in Chester NY. There is an sign in front of the farm about this.

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