Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac

, the birthplace of Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac Cadillac was born Antoine Laumet on March 5, 1658, in Saint-Nicolas-de-la-Grave in the province of Gascony (today in the Tarn-et-Garonne, Occitanie). His father, Jean Laumet, was born in Caumont-sur-Garonne. He became a lawyer in the Parlement of Toulouse. In 1652 Jean was appointed lieutenant to the judge of Saint-Nicolas-de-la-Grave by Cardinal Mazarin and appointed as a judge in 1664. Antoine's mother, Jeanne Péchagut, was the daughter of a merchant and landowner. His youth included rigorous study at a Jesuit institution where he learned theology, law, agriculture, botany and zoology. In a record of service he filled out in 1675, he said that he had enlisted in the military as a cadet at age 17 in the Dampierre regiment, in Charleroi, nowadays Belgium. Two years later in personal letters, however, he reported that he had been an officer in the Clérambault regiment in Thionville, and in 1682 he had joined the Albret regiment, in Thionville. At age 25, he fled from France for North America. His father lost a lawsuit against a lawyer in Castelsarrasin that caused him financial difficulties. In addition, he had lost financial support following the death of Cardinal Mazarin and suffered intolerance from Protestants. Laumet may have immigrated illegally, as historians have not found his name on any passenger list of ships departing from a French port. ==New France==

In 1683, Antoine Laumet arrived at Port Royal, the capital of Acadia. During the next four years, he wandered from New England to New Holland, and south to the Province of Carolina, while learning some Native American languages and habits. He probably entered into a business relationship with Denis Guyon, a merchant of Quebec. On June 25, 1687, at age 29, he married Guyon's daughter Marie-Thérèse in Quebec. The marriage certificate is the first document that records his new identity. He identified as "Antoine de Lamothe, écuyer, sieur de Cadillac", and signed as "De Lamothe Launay". Like many immigrants, he took advantage of emigrating to the New World to create a new identity, perhaps to conceal the reasons that drove him from France. This new identity "ne sort pas de son sac" ("I did not create this identity out of nowhere"), as he wrote later. Antoine Laumet based his new titles on those Sylvestre d'Esparbes de Lussan de Gout, baron of Lamothe-Bardigues, lord of Cadillac, Launay and Le Moutet; adviser to the Parliament of Toulouse. He knew him for at least two reasons: Bardigues, Cadillac, Launay and Le Moutet are villages and localities close to his birthplace, Saint-Nicolas-de-la-Grave, and Antoine's father Jean Laumet was a lawyer in the Parliament of Toulouse. They had six daughters and seven sons: Judith (1689), Magdeleine (1690), Marie Anne (1701), ? (1702), Marie-Thérèse (1704), Marie-Agathe (December 1707) and Joseph (1690), Antoine (1692), Jacques (1695), Pierre-Denis (1699–1700), Jean-Antoine (January 1707 – 1709), François (1709), René-Louis (1710–1714). Les Douacques Building In 1688, the Governor General of New France Jacques-René de Brisay de Denonville gave him the concession of the seigniory (estate) of Les Douacques (which later became Bar Harbor, Maine). His concession brought him no income, even from agriculture. Cadillac entered into a trading partnership with officers of Port Royal, an activity facilitated by using a ship owned by his brothers-in-law Guyon. In 1689, he was sent on an expedition in the vicinity of Boston. Upon his return, he asked the governor of Acadia, Louis-Alexandre des Friches de Méneval, for a job as notary, to bring in a minimum income; his request was turned down. Then, Cadillac was introduced to Governor Louis de Buade de Frontenac in Quebec, who sent him on an exploratory mission along the coasts of New England, aboard the frigate ''L'Embuscade (The Ambush''). Strong head winds forced the ship to return to France. In 1696, to mitigate the difficulties of fur trading, the king ordered the closing of all trading posts, including Michilimackinac. Cadillac returned to Montreal. In 1697, he was authorized to return to France to present his project of a new fort on the strait to Pontchartrain; Frontenac requested that Cadillac be promoted to lieutenant commander. However, Canadian notables strongly opposed the project, which they believed would lead to the ruin of Quebec and Montreal. In 1700 installation of the fort was approved, and its command was given to Cadillac. Louisiana (1710–1716) , a French financier, was persuaded by Cadillac to invest in Louisiana. However, conflicts arose between them, leading to Cadillac's removal from his colonial office in 1716. In June 1713, the Cadillac family arrived at Fort Louis, Louisiana (now Mobile, Alabama). In 1714 Crozat recommended the construction of forts along the Mississippi River, whereas Cadillac wished to strengthen defenses at the river delta and to develop trade with nearby Spanish colonies. In 1715, Cadillac and his son Joseph prospected in the Illinois Country (Upper Louisiana), where they claimed to have discovered a copper mine, although there is no copper ore in that area. They established a farm and founded the settlement of St. Philippe on the east side of the Mississippi River. Cadillac directed the first mining of lead in present-day Missouri at what is now called Mine La Motte on the west side of the river. The French brought in slaves to work at the mine; they were the first people of African descent in the future state of Missouri. The production of lead was important for ammunition in the colonies. The Southeast Missouri Lead District is still a major source of that metal. After many arguments, Crozat withdrew any authority Cadillac had in the company. The following year, he ordered Cadillac removed from colonial office. ==Castelsarrasin (1717–1730)==

In 1717 Cadillac returned to France and settled in La Rochelle. Cadillac went to Paris with his son Joseph. They were arrested immediately and imprisoned in the Bastille for five months. They were released in 1718, and Cadillac was decorated with the Order of Saint Louis to reward his 30 years of loyal services. He settled in the paternal home, where he dealt with his parents' estate. He made many trips to Paris to have his rights to the concession on the straits recognized. He was finally vindicated in 1722. He sold his estate on the straits to Jacques Baudry de Lamarche, a Canadian. The French government appointed Cadillac as governor and mayor of Castelsarrasin, close to his birthplace. Cadillac died on October 16, 1730, in Castelsarrasin (Occitanie). He was buried in a vault of the Carmelite Fathers' church. ==Legacy==

Some of Cadillac's expansive visions were conceived long after his passing. He had once promised that Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit would be built into what he described as "Paris de la Nouvelle-France." This settlement eventually transformed into Detroit. Additionally, Cadillac imagined a port to be established near the mouth of the Mississippi River, which was later founded by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville in 1718 as New Orleans. A museum in his birthplace opened in 1974, conceived of and funded by historians in Detroit. A street in the Guybourg area in Longue-Pointe (now Mercier) on the island of Montreal was named in honour of Cadillac. In 1976, Cadillac station on the green line of the Montreal Metro was opened at this street. In 1703, Cadillac proposed the establishment of a seminary in the parish of Sainte-Anne-de-Détroit in Detroit, aimed at educating both Indigenous and French children in piety and the French language. He pledged his future support for this seminary, which foreshadowed the founding of the Catholepistemiad, known today as the University of Michigan. In 2016, the public French high school in Windsor, Ontario, was renamed in Cadillac's honour. == See also ==