Cazenove spent his early career in commercial transactions in France and Russia, but went almost bankrupt during the
Amsterdam banking crisis of 1763, collaborating with
L.P. de Neufville and
Hope & Co. Only a few weeks later he married Margaretha Helena van Jever (1747–1833), the daughter of a tradesman in Russia, and a member of the
vroedschap. The couple lived at
Raamgracht with a view on
Zuiderkerk, but in 1766 they sold the house and his mother, who remarried in 1763, had moved to
Vevey. Theophile was involved in a
plantation in
Surinam with his father-in-law. In 1770, he had his portrait painted by
Jean-Baptiste Perronneau. In 1788, he collaborated with
Étienne Clavière and
Jacques Pierre Brissot, who both traveled to the United States. In November 1789, Cazenove was retained by
Pieter Stadnitski to travel to the United States to act as an investment agent for Stadnitski and other Dutch investors, including
Nicolaas and Jacob Van Staphorst, Pieter & Christiaen
Van Eeghen, and Ten Cate & Vollenhoven. Casenove settled in at
Market Street in
Philadelphia, where he dealt with financier
Robert Morris; his fellow traveller
Gerrit Boon later went north. Boon believed that harvesting
maple syrup could be a year-round activity, so slavery on the
sugarcane plantations could be avoided. In 1792, Cazenove invested his clients' money in development bonds issued by the new states and the federal government, after
Alexander Hamilton promised to pay the debt in full. Another venture included investing in large tracts of undeveloped land in
Genesee County, New York, which included the
Holland Purchase. In order to implement these large and difficult purchases (sometimes complicated by the claims of Native Americans), he employed the advisory services of Hamilton and, later,
Aaron Burr. Cazenove lived well as a "grand seigneur" and was known for his extreme carelessness. His business dealings in maple syrup and canals were not particularly successful and the investors barely made any profit, even losing money in the Pennsylvania land dealings which he organized with
James Wilson. He was also hard-pressed to account for funds that were under his control. During this period he helped his cousin from Geneva,
Antoine Charles Cazenove, settle in Philadelphia.
Alexander Baring wrote: "Cazenove is a sad dirty fellow and does all the mischief he can." In 1798, he hired
Joseph Ellicott, to survey the Holland Land Purchase;
Paul Busti became his successor in 1799. Although he became an American citizen in 1794, Cazenove returned to Europe in 1799. In Amsterdam, he began to archive purchase of land for the financiers. He left the employment of the Dutch investors in 1802 and sought a position under
Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, who he had met in Philadelphia in 1795. Cazenove died on 6 March 1811 in Paris at the
Hôtel de Galliffet, 84
rue du Bac, owned by Talleyrand.
Legacy Cazenove's correspondence, along with the records of the Holland Land Company, is held in the
Amsterdam City Archives. A number of locations in
New York state are named after him, including the
Village of Cazenovia,
Town of Cazenovia,
Cazenovia College,
Cazenovia Lake, and
Cazenovia Creek. ==References==