Re: Jean Simon Chaudron, Demopolis, AL
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In reply to:
Jean Simon Chaudron, Demopolis, AL
Bertrand Macpherson 6/21/02
I have done considerable researech on Jean Simon Chaudron to support the silver I own which he made. Also wrote an article on him for SILVER Magazine several years ago. He did not have any direct connections to Napoleon or his government in France as far as I have deterimned, Chaudron came to the U.S. from Hati, after the slave uprising with his wife and members of her family, the Stollenwercks. They all settled in Philadelphia late in 1793 and later, a couple of her brothers moved to New York where they worked with silver and jewelry there. Chaudron was acquainted with and a friend of Thomas Jefferson and probably George Washington along with other early American statesmen. He made silver in Philadelphia and also published a French language newspaper. In 1819, Chaudron and his wife moved to Demopolis Alabama with other French refugees, to try and establish the "Vine and Olive Colony" on land granted to the group by the U.S.Government. Many of these Frenchmen had been high officials in the Napoleon French government ot military before they were forced from France after Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo. The Vine and Olive Colony was a dismal failure, for numerous reasons in Demopolis and Chaudrom again moved, this time to Mobile Alabama in 1825-1826. He lived there for the rest of his life, dying in 1846. Both he and his wife are buried in the Church Street Cemetery in Mobile.
Hope this helps--contact me for further discussion or if you might have silver made by Chaudron.