Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac

Antoine Laumet (* March 5, 1658 in Saint -Nicolas -de- la-Grave, † October 15, 1730 in Castelsarrasin ), called Laumet de La Mothe, Sieur de Cadillac was a French army officer and adventurer who founded Detroit and governor was from Louisiana.

Antoine Laumet was born on March 5, 1658 on an estate which is " Les Laumets " called, near the village of Saint -Nicolas -de- la-Grave in Tarn -et -Garonne. Little is known about his youth. Although he tried to give a semblance of noble lineage later, his father Jean Laumet and his mother Jeanne Pechagut were simple farmers. So much we know and can estimate he received a good education, for his " extensive American Correspondence [ was ] well-written and full of spirit ."

In fact, he is better than a French adventurer known, as was shown in the French intervention in the U.S. and Acadien ( Canada). From the French king sent to America, he embarked for the Canadian provinces from 1683. Four years later, in 1687, at his wedding with Marie -Thérèse Guyon, a 17 -year-old niece of the Corsairs Denis Guyon, he signed a law (civil act ) with the name " Antoine de Lamothe, Sieur de Cadillac ." He described himself as " son of Jean, councilor in the Parliament of Toulouse, and Jeanne de Malenfant ". One read of him little else, except that he came from the town of Cadillac in the Gironde.

1692 Cadillac Laumet wrote his memoirs, which was translated into English by Dr. Ganong, and # 13 in the collections of the National History Society (?) Of 1930 again found ("... et que l' on peut retrouver dans les collections de la NB Hist. Soc, no 13, 1930. " )

On July 24, 1701, he founded Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit, from which the city of Detroit developed, the capital of the automotive industry in the USA. The Cadillac brand of General Motors also carries the name of the founder of Detroit, as a sign of remembrance ( reconnaissance ).

This adventurer was appointed in 1710 to the Governor of Louisiana. He also gave his name to the place at Cadillac Michigan.

Back in France, and after a tumultuous life that brought him for five months in the dungeon of the Bastille, he was born on February 11, 1723 Mayor of Castelsarrasin in the Tarn -et -Garonne. He died a few years later on 15 October 1730.

You can visit his birthplace in St. Nicolas -de- la-Grave, where he spent his last years. In Castelsarrasin celebrations take place every two years with the title " Rencontres Cadillac " ( Cadillac Meeting) that attract lovers of expensive American automobile brand from all over Europe.

His former residential building in Montreal now bears a plaque that commemorates his name. It was converted into a restaurant of McDonald's.

Lamothe- Cadillac led befitting a coat of arms whose blazon is: " em, in 1 and 4 in blue, a black bar, accompanied top two and bottom of a silver gestümmelten Blackbird, quartered in two and three, one and four red, two and three blue silver three bars. "