Alexis Bessard (Alexandre)
- Occupation
- realtor
- Origin
- Paris, France
- Sources
- Santerre, Foster, DMN 1906, Sandell, Cordillot
- Notes
- the 1860 census (family 738, 'Alexis Bessard, 45, farmer') and Cordillot's appendix say Alexis; Santerre, Cordillot's notice and the receivership sources say Alexandre — one man, the primary source's forename kept; receiver of the colony 1858-61
Positions
- receiver; administrator, SCEAT liquidation — 1858 – 1861 (appointed) [santerre XI; sandell II; cordillot] asked in 1861 to sell the remainder and repatriate the money; carried the Confederate-money proceeds to Belgium
- mayor of Tournus, Saône-et-Loire, France — 1896 (elected) [cordillot (dispersal)] re-elected 1888; succeeded by his son 1896-1908
From the register of positions.
Biography
Alexis Bessard
Name
Canonical: Alexis Bessard
Also: Alexandre Bessard (Santerre, Cordillot's Bureau notice, the
receivership narratives); "Alexia Bressard" (DGS 1969); Mr. Bessard
(DMN 1906)
Birth: France; about 1815 (45 in the 1860 census)
Death: France; after 1896
Burial: unknown
Origin: Paris; a realtor (Santerre's list); Sandell: farmer
Family
Wife: Louise, 37 in 1860 (Cordillot's appendix "Bessard Louise")
Children in 1860: Mary, 14, and Urbain, 9, both born France
A son succeeded him as mayor of Tournus, 1896-1908 (Cordillot)
Occupation at colony: unclear
Occupation in Dallas: farmer (1860 census, $1,200 real, $1,200 personal)
Colony role: receiver. Named with Michel Thevenet in 1858 to liquidate the
colony for the foreign shareholders (Santerre XI; Sandell II); per
Cordillot, appointed administrator after Bureau's death in 1859 and asked
in 1861 to sell the remaining estate and repatriate the money; Julien
Reverchon was the supervisory board's delegate to him. The last sales
were taken in Confederate money, which he carried to Belgium, where the
shareholders refused it and went after colonists' European property
(Santerre XII).
Post-colony
- 1859 tax roll: A. Bessard, 78 7/8 acres
- 1860 census: family 738 at Palace Hill, next to Paul Henri and the
Reverchons
- Returned to France. Mayor of Tournus (Saone-et-Loire), re-elected 1888;
his son mayor 1896-1908 (Cordillot, dispersal)
Sources
Santerre, White Cliffs of Dallas (1955), colonist list; ch. XI-XII
Sandell, assimilation thesis (1986), directory; ch. II
Cordillot, Au Texas (2003), Bureau notice, appendix; "Rethinking the
Failure" (the dispersal)
1860 census, frame 120 lines 31-34; deeds.py: 1859 tax roll
Notes
The forename is Alexis in the census and Cordillot's appendix, Alexandre
everywhere the receivership is told; the registry follows the census.
The man who carried the colony's last proceeds to Brussels in Confederate
paper ended as a small-town mayor in Burgundy.