Fun Facts Friday: J. Hector St. John de Crèvecœur

Hector St. John de Crèvecœur (31 December, 1735 – 12 November, 1813) was a French-American author, diplomat, and farmer. He is remembered mostly for his book Letters from an American Farmer, a seminal work in American literature.

Books by J. Hector St. John de Crèvecœur*

Fun Facts about J. Hector St. John de Crèvecœur:

1. J. Hector St. John de Crèvecœur was born to a noble France family in Normandy.
2. When he was 25 years Crèvecœur served as a cartographer in the French and Indian War in North America.
3. Once the British beat the French, he moved to New York where he was naturalized and became an American citizen.
4. Crèvecœur changed his name to one easier on the English ear, John Hector St. John. He married Mehitable Tippet, an American woman, daughter of merchant.
5. The couple moved to a farm in Chester, NY named Pine Hill. Still working as a surveyor, the farm prospered.
6. During the American Revolution, Crèvecœur wanted to return to France to see his ailing father, but was arrested as an American spy. After spending three months in a British jail, he made his way to France via Ireland.
7. He stayed in Europe and published his work Letters from an American Farmer; Describing Certain Provincial Situations, Manners, and Customs not Generally Known; and Conveying Some Idea of the Late and Present Interior Circumstances of the British Colonies in North America in London. These letters, which Crèvecœur wrote over seven years during the American Revolution became very popular in Europe, but only somewhat popular in the United States.
8. The letters are written by a fictional American farmer, telling of different aspects of life in British Colonial America to an English gentleman.
9. His book was so successful that he translated it to French, and as a result became an influential voice. Eventually he was appointed to be the French consul for New York in 1783. Unfortunately, upon returning he learned that his farm was destroyed, his wife dead, and the children missing. Luckily, he was reunited with his kids several months later.
10. In 1789, while visiting France he found himself, an aristocrat, hiding from rioters during what we now call the French Revolution. The new American ambassador, James Monroe, helped him gain passage to the United States. At the end of his life, J. Hector St. John de Crèvecœur lived in France on the land he inherited from his father.

Books by J. Hector St. John de Crèvecœur*

Zohar – Man of la Book
*Ama­zon links point to an affil­i­ate account

Sources:

J. Hector St. John de Crèvecœur | Wikipedia

J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur (1735-1813) | Anneberg Learner

Michel-Guillaume-Saint-Jean de Crèvecoeur: French-American author | Britannica

The American Farmer as French Diplomat: J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur in New York after 1783 | The Journal of the Western Society for French History

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Fun Facts Friday: J. Hector St. John de Crèvecœur

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J. Hector St. John de Crèvecœur (31 December, 1735 – 12 November, 1813) was a French-American author, diplomat, and farmer. He is remembered mostly for his book Letters from an American Farmer, a seminal work in American literature.

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