F.L. Willemette (Willemet)
- Occupation
- caterer
- Origin
- France
- Sources
- Santerre, Foster, DMN 1906, Boyer, Sandell
Positions
- économat and canteen, Société de Réunion — 1855 – 1858 (named) [cordillot; savardan] dismissed by Cantagrel, reinstated by Duthoya; per Savardan 'the real director' during the 1857 interim
- Councilman, City of Dallas — 1870-11-19 – c. 1871 (appointed) [sandell IV] Brown (1892) lists him among the aldermen 'at different times (some resigning)' under Ervay, 1870-72; Sandell ch. II has him on the council continuously 1870-75, ch. IV a gap until 1875. UNRESOLVED.
- Alderman, Ward 1, City of Dallas — 1875-04-10 – 1876 (elected) [sandell IV; cordillot] RESOLVED: the 1892 list of aldermen elected April 1875 has F. L. Willemet and no Capy; the 1875-76 seat is Willemet's. No colonist appears on the lists of 1876-1884.
- founding member; one of the leaders, AIT Section 46, Dallas — 1872 – 1876 (member) [cordillot] countersigned Rémond's membership booklet with Capy
From the register of positions.
Biography
F.L. Willemet
Name
Canonical: F.L. Willemette (registry, from Santerre)
Real name: Thuvignon (Cordillot; Savardan's index) -- "a discovery that
plunged Dr Savardan into perplexity." Sandell: "Thervignon, changed
to escape trouble in France."
Also: Wilemet (Remond's AIT booklet); Mr. Wilmet (DMN 1906); Dr. Wilmet
(Boyer). Not Auguste Guillemet, and not Savardan's "Willemain."
Forenames unknown -- every source has the initials.
Birth: August 25, 1820, Paris region
Death: August 4, 1884, Dallas
Burial: the old city cemetery, with his wife
Origin: Paris region; a cook by trade. Santerre's list: caterer.
Family
Alone in 1860; later married, two daughters
Occupation at colony: for three years ran the economat and the canteen
Occupation in Dallas: restaurateur; Sandell adds farmer
Ship / arrival: a Fourierist already settled in the United States; met
Considerant during the latter's stay at Brook Farm (Cordillot --
Considerant's 1852-53 stay was at the North American Phalanx; the
colony he visited is a question) and was persuaded to go to Texas as a
colonist. Arrived summer 1855.
Colony role
- Dismissed at one point by Cantagrel for insubordination and
mismanagement of the kitchens, reinstated by Duthoya even before
Cantagrel left Reunion
- Savardan: "a violent man who stayed faithful to Considerant," and
during the interim "the real director of the colony"
Post-colony
- Opened a restaurant in Dallas
- Founding member and one of the leaders of Section 46 (1872);
countersigned, with Capy, Emile Remond's membership booklet
- City council: joined November 19, 1870 (Sandell ch. IV); elected
alderman, Ward 1, April 10, 1875 -- "the last colonist on the council
until 1885." Sandell ch. II has him on the council continuously
1870-75, and findings.md gives the 1875-76 seat to Capy; unresolved
(TIMELINE 1875.??)
Sources
Cordillot, "Willemet F.L.," Au Texas (2003)
Cordillot, "Les derniers fourieristes" (Capy and Willemette elected
1875)
Savardan, Un naufrage au Texas (1858), and its index (Willemet =
Thuvignon)
Sandell, colonist directory; ch. II, IV
Santerre, White Cliffs of Dallas (1955), colonist list
TIMELINE.md: 1870.11.19, 1875.??
Notes
The canteen-keeper under an assumed name who ran the colony in its last
interim and then, as a Dallas restaurateur, led its International and
sat on its council. Three sources spell the real name three ways
(Thuvignon, Thervignon, Thuvignon); the initials F.L. are all anyone
has of the given names.
Memorial and Biographical History of Dallas County (1892), pp. 238-239, 280
Brown's lists settle the council question: among the aldermen "at
different times" under Ervay, 1870-72, and elected April 1875 -- with
no Capy on that list. And among the signers of the June 4, 1868
memorial for a Trinity-navigation tax the printed page (checked) reads
"F. L. Churignon" -- the same initials, among the colony's Dallas men,
and the shape a handwritten Thuvignon takes when a typesetter misreads
it: very probably the real name, signed in public. A third spelling
beside Savardan's Thuvignon and Sandell's Thervignon.
doc/text/books/1800/lewis_memorial_dallas_county_1892/excerpts.md