La Réunion, a French Settlement in Texas
William J. Hammond & Margaret F. Hammond · 1958 · English — secondary
Transcription: clean text at doc/text/books/1900/hammond/hammond_la_reunion.md (from Project Gutenberg #58590)
What it is
A short monograph on La Reunion (Royal Publishing Co., Dallas, 1958), by W. J. Hammond (Ph.D.) and Margaret F. Hammond (M.A.). Introduction + 7 chapters (Founders, Au Texas, The Society, Attitude of Texans toward the Colony, The Immigrants, La Réunion the Colony, The Breakup) + appendices + per-chapter references + bibliography + index. By its own preface its method is to reproduce primary documents in full — so it doubles as a container of sources, not only a narrative.
Author's position
Outside academics writing for "students of Texas History." The frame is intellectual history: it opens by placing the colony inside European socialism ("Socialism Crosses the Atlantic") and reads the venture through Fourierist theory. No descendant stake; no French-archive fieldwork.
Stake
The "impractical dreamers defeated by Texas" thesis in full. The back matter states the "chief reason for failure was the contrast of this socialistic dream with an unlimited capitalism," and stresses the colonists were cultured people who "knew nothing of Texas Frontier life." This is precisely the narrative CLAUDE.md sets out to refute — treat the frame as the foil, the data as checkable.
Access
Strong:
- Reproduced documents in the appendices — the Acts incorporating the colony (App. C), letters of introduction (App. D), and (via the text) the 1855 petition to the Texas legislature. Near-unique as a convenient container.
- A partial settler list (App. A) independent of Santerre's.
- The "Attitude of Texans" chapter is built from the Texas press (State Gazette, Dallas Herald, Northern Standard) — a press-reaction record.
Weak: no French-archive depth — leans on Bryan's 1924 SMU thesis and Coignet for Considerant. Superseded by [[sandell]] (Dallas archives) and [[cordillot]] (French origins).
Known distortions / how to weight
- Use for its reproduced documents and its press-sourced account of Texan reaction; mine, don't trust its causal frame.
- Secondary throughout (1958 scholarship); little it alone witnesses except the documents it reprints.
- Its settler list is a second independent secondary roster — cross-check against Santerre: agreements strengthen, divergences are leads.
Cross-references
[[santerre]] (the other popular name list — same "built Dallas" sentiment, compare rosters and the shared romantic frame), [[sandell]] (supersedes on Dallas archives), [[cordillot]] (supersedes on French origins), [[considerant-du-texas]] (Hammond's appendices reproduce incorporation/petition documents that Considerant's advocacy describes). Clean text: doc/text/books/1900/hammond/hammond_la_reunion.md.
Timeline extraction
Hammond timeline — events extracted from the 1958 outside-academic monograph
Source: William J. Hammond & Margaret F. Hammond, La Réunion, a French Settlement in Texas (Dallas, Royal Publishing Co., 1958). Clean text at doc/text/books/1900/hammond/hammond_la_reunion.md (from Project Gutenberg #58590). The transcription carries no page numbers; locators below are chapter ([I]–[VII]) or appendix ([App C], [App D]).
Why this source matters: Hammond is an outside academic writing for "students of Texas History" — no descendant stake, no French-archive fieldwork — so it is the secondary work that most fully carries the "impractical dreamers defeated by Texas" thesis CLAUDE.md sets out to refute (the breakup chapter opens "La Réunion was a failure from the moment it started"). Mine the data, discount the frame. Two things make it valuable to the timeline despite being derivative: (1) it is the convenient container of dated primary documents — App. C reprints both the 1856 Texas incorporation act and the 1858 amendment verbatim; App. D reprints the 1854–55 letters of introduction and the 7 Jan 1855 James Knight conveyance; (2) its "Attitude of Texans" chapter is built from the dated Texas press (State Gazette, State Times, Dallas Herald, Northern Standard), giving a reception chronology the participant sources lack. Hammond leans on Bryan's 1924 SMU thesis, Coignet, and Savardan for the colony narrative; where his colony dates derive from Savardan he inherits Savardan's errors (see Reconciliation).
Caution on stratum: secondary throughout. The legislative and press dates are Hammond's strongest contribution (he worked the Texas record directly); the colony-internal dates are second-hand from Savardan/Bryan and should be treated as corroboration, not independent witness. His first-trip itinerary (1852–53) is the fullest in the corpus but rests on Considérant's own Au Texas / European Colonization narrative.
Dated events (the spine)
Antecedents — the Fourierist movement (background, Hammond Ch. I)
1772.??.?? - Charles Fourier born, Besançon [I]
1808.??.?? - Victor Considérant born, Salins [I]
1832.06.?? - first number of the *Phalanstère* appears, Paris [I]
1837.10.?? - Fourier dies at Mme Vigoureux's home [I]
1843.08.01 - first number of *Démocratie Pacifique* (after the 30 Jul 1843
announcement) [I]
1848.??.?? - Considérant elected to the National Assembly after the revolution [I]
1849.??.?? - after Considérant's protest over the Roman republic he is condemned to
transportation; escapes disguised as a fisherman to Belgium [I]
Considérant's first Texas trip (Hammond Ch. II / IV)
1852.11.28 - Considérant leaves France on his first US trip; sails Liverpool →
New York 1 Dec, arrives ~mid-Dec [II]
1853.04.30 - Considérant + Brisbane leave Lake Erie for Texas (via Cincinnati,
Fort Smith) [II]
1853.05.05 - the two are reported at Cincinnati ("the 5 inst.") en route to
Northern Texas to select 12–15,000 acres [II]
1853.~05–07 - reach the Red River (Preston), Cross Timbers, Fort Worth, Fort
Graham; meet Major Merrill (Fort Worth) and Gouhenans (Icarian
vanguard) near the Trinity forks [II/IV]
1853.08.05 - Considérant + Brisbane reach New York on the return [II]
1853.08.29 - Considérant reaches Ostend, Belgium — a nine-month trip [II]
Founding, recruitment, the great migration (Hammond Ch. III / V)
1854.05.?? - *Au Texas* published, Paris ("May, 1854") [III]
1854.09.26 - articles of the *Société de Colonisation Européo-Américaine au Texas*
signed at Brussels by Considérant, Bureau, Guillon, Godin-Lemaire +
four others; subscription declared to have reached $100,000 (Brisbane
+ Godin-Lemaire $20,000 each) so the society is constituted (art. 31);
capital $1,000,000 = 5,250,000 fr; charter life to 31 Dec 1874 [III]
↳ App. C reprints the act: deposited with Notary "Hedweld" (Heetveld),
Brussels, legalized + certified 20 Jan 1855 by the US Consul at
Antwerp. [App C]
1854.10.03 - Cantagrel + Roger (Belgian medical student) leave Brussels for New
York [V]
1854.10.27 - Cantagrel + Roger reach New York; plan: overland via Cincinnati to
buy supplies, reach Texas "not later than late November" [V]
1854.11.10 - Merrill's letter introducing Cantagrel to Gov. Pease [App D]
1855.01.07 - **James Knight conveys to Considérant a "league and labor" of land**
(certificate no. 3169/3270, issued 19 Jan 1854) — Hammond calls this
"probably the first land purchased," $100 / 320 acres [VI/App D]
1855.01.14 - Seibel's (US Legation, Brussels) letter introducing Considérant to
the Governor of Texas [App D]
1855.02.10 - *Texas State Gazette* notes the Alsace socialists "about to emigrate
en masse" to Considérant's purchased land [V]
1855.02.~28 - Cantagrel "presumably" reaches La Réunion ("still on his way in
February 1855") [V]
↳ DIVERGES from TIMELINE's Dec 1854 Cantagrel-at-Dallas (Wolski/
Bürkli). See Reconciliation.
1855.02.28 - Savardan's group sails from Le Havre on the *Nuremberg* (1,800 tons),
43 people + considerable material [V]
1855.03.12 - the *Nuremberg* passes the Azores [V]
1855.04.25 - Dr. Nicolas + 10 leave New Orleans ahead for Galveston (heat) [V]
1855.05.03 - Savardan's party embarks from New Orleans (5 women + Christopher
added); ~$1,000 of provisions (7,000 lb) bought [V]
1855.05.05 - reaches Galveston; Considérant's family + César Daly, Maguet, Willemet
(ex-North American Phalanx) join here [V]
1855.05.07 - *National Intelligencer* reports ~40 French emigrants passed through
Anderson en route to Dallas; Considérant "proposed to introduce about
two thousand this year" [V]
1855.05.17 - first colony land "expansion" purchase: 51⅛ acres near Houston, as a
way-station for incoming colonists [VI]
1855.05.18 - the French wagon train leaves Houston for Dallas [V]
1855.06.16 - Savardan's party arrives at La Réunion [V]
↳ Hammond FOLLOWS Savardan's self-date 06.16; TIMELINE resolves the
arrival to 1855.07.17. See Reconciliation.
1855.??.?? - Goetsel (Philip), Belgian, ranch of 17 sections on Mountain Creek 12
mi W of Dallas; ~30,000 fr in La Réunion; plans rival "Louvain";
directors refuse his reimbursement [V]
1856.04.?? - building inventory: soap/candle works, laundry, offices, kitchen,
grocery, forge, Executive Agent's cottage + two 8-apartment dormitories
begun (quoted from an April 1856 description) [VI]
1856.05.10 - the by-portion restaurant (replacing the communist mess) finally
instituted — Considérant would not surrender his house before then [VI]
1856.05.?? - the veterinarian M. Louis takes over cattle-branding (~70/day vs the
prior ~25) [VI]
1856.07.07 - **Considérant departs La Réunion in secret**, after ~5 months' absence
in SW Texas, having appointed a successor [VII]
↳ DIVERGES from TIMELINE/Savardan's 1856.07.08 "flight." See
Reconciliation.
1856.12.?? - Julien Reverchon + his father J. Maximilien arrive with a colony group
("December, 1856"); the father a trained agriculturist [V]
1857.01.17 - Bureau arrives at La Réunion, finds 15° below zero [VI]
1857.07.16 - the Dallas court inquires into the colony's administration (after a
colonist sought redress over withheld deposits); the company sends
Simonin from New York to audit 200+ accounts [VII]
1857.09.?? - the last of the (few) American colonists have left "by September,
1857" [VII]
1859.??.?? - a visitor describes the La Réunion store, blacksmith, hotel,
bootmaker, tailor; Coombs' steam mill one mile off (quoted) [VI]
1919.??.?? - a visitor surveys the ruins (store/commissary walls several feet
high) [VI]
Texas reception / legislative chronology (Hammond Ch. IV — press + journals)
1854.??.?? - Know-Nothing Party peaks (its high-water votes 1854–55) [IV]
1855.02.17 - *Texas State Gazette* anti-socialist editorial (warns the colony off:
"as a political sect, our whole people are against them") [IV]
1855.06.02 - *Texas State Gazette*, "The Socialist in Texas" [IV]
1855.10.13 - *State Gazette* on the colonists' anti-slavery sentiment [IV]
1855.12.?? - Considérant presents his petition to the House + Senate asking a grant
of ~200 sections of land [IV]
1856.07.07 - the Sixth Legislature's adjourned session convenes (Austin) [App C]
1856.07.19 - Committee on Public Lands reports *against* the land grant but
recommends an incorporation bill [IV]
1856.08.16 - bill to incorporate the European and American Colonization Society in
Texas introduced; passes the House (48–20 per House Journal; 43–20 per
the Gazette) [IV]
1856.08.25 - Senate amendments (naturalization-evidence; Texas-resident directors;
no land/RR benefit + no power to prohibit slavery); bill as amended
first fails 15–13 (two-thirds needed) [IV]
1856.08.29 - Bryan moves reconsideration; Senate passes 15–7 [IV]
1856.09.01 - **the act incorporating the colony is signed into law** (Ch. CCCX;
duration 20 yrs; capital ≤ $1M; shareholders liable as general
partners) [IV/App C]
1858.01.06 - amendatory act (Ch. 32) approved — limits shareholder liability to
capital subscribed/owned [App C]
Specific items (figures, names, mechanisms)
- Two incorporations, not one (the key clarification this source supplies). Hammond keeps distinct the Brussels company act of 26 Sept 1854 (the SCEAT itself, before any colonist sailed) and the Texas legislature act of 1 Sept 1856 (a domestic charter the colony fought 8 months for, after the colony was already dissolving). App. C reprints the Texas act verbatim. This directly disambiguates Santerre's "incorporated … September 1st 1856" plat caption — it is the Texas act, not the founding.
- Capital / subscription figures. Company capitalized at $1,000,000 = 5,250,000 fr; subscriptions in units of $5 / $25 / $125. Constituted when subscriptions hit $100,000 (26 Sept 1854). Before leaving Europe in early 1855 Considérant knew >$300,000 subscribed, with prospects beyond $2,000,000; by the close of the first year (1855) >$80,000 had been spent on the project [III].
- The two earlier Considérant societies: Considérant, Paget & Co. (1840) and Considérant & Co. (1843) — failed chiefly on newspaper/propaganda debt; the SCEAT was to indemnify their workers, which (Hammond suggests) is why Considérant took a minor place in the new company [III].
- Charter life. Hammond gives two different durations: the statutes "to extend to December 31, 1874" [III] vs the Texas act's "not exceed twenty years from the passage of this act" (i.e. to 1876) [App C]. Note both — they belong to the two different incorporations.
- The Savardan/Nuremberg cohort (Hammond's fullest origin breakdown): 43 people — 5 from Jura (stayed at New Orleans), 11 Carcassonne, 3 Hautes-Alpes, 3 Ardennes, 4 Château-Renault, 7 Mons, 1 Orléans, 1 Rouen, 4 Paris, 4 Chapelle-Gaugain [V]. Other named arriving groups: Cantagrel + Roger; Cousin (12 — 8 Belgian, 4 French, incl. young de Guelles); Raizant (9, via New Orleans/Galveston, perhaps before Savardan) [V].
- Population. Hammond's conclusion: despite survivor claims of up to 550, "no more than three hundred in the colony at any one time" — and that 300 may be the total who ever lived there; "no roll of the colony in existence" (a lost roll of 300+ names is referenced) [V].
- Why Dallas, not Cooke County. Original plan was Cooke County; the agents arrived months after the first visit to find the land already taken by speculators / railroad companies / American colonists, forcing the Dallas choice (Considérant favourable to it from his 1853 visit; Allen/Cantagrel wanted Fort Worth or further west) [VI]. The Texas-press chapter independently notes that by Considérant's Dec 1855 petition all north-Texas vacant land had been "reserved to the Pacific Railroad Company" — the same projected-railroad land squeeze Bürkli dates to Dec 1854 (a corroboration of the project's railroad-corridor theme) [IV].
- The four reasons for failure (Hammond's frame, = the foil). (1) Considérant unfit to lead / no administrative continuity; (2) financial mismanagement (Considérant's own "during two years the greater part of the disposable funds were wasted under my own eyes," vs Savardan's itemized list); (3) the Americans never joined (never more than ~20, "perhaps less than a dozen"); (4) the climate (1855–57 unusual; cold winter 1856–57, then drought) [VII]. This is the thesis to rebut with the post-1857 build-Dallas data, not a finding.
- Biographical dates Hammond reprints (for the life-events layer): J. Maximilien Reverchon b. Lyon 1810, d. Dallas 1879; Jacques Reverchon 1746–1829 (Jacobin, National Convention); Émile Rémond 1840–1906; Germain Santerre + M. Guilbot named as the two surviving immigrants in 1930 [V]. Bureau died of yellow fever near Houston "toward the close of the Civil War" returning to France [V].
Reconciliation with TIMELINE.md
Witness key for this source: hammond (already in the Conventions key-list). Stratum: secondary (outside academic, 1958); strongest as a container of dated documents + the Texas reception record.
- Considérant's flight — ONE-DAY DIVERGENCE to log. Hammond dates the secret departure 7 July 1856 [VII]; TIMELINE's spine has 1856.07.08 led by
‹savardan›(disappears at dawn the day fixed to sign the reserved-parts settlement). Savardan, the eyewitness with the minutes, dates the agreement to 07.07 and the flight to dawn 07.08 — Hammond (working second-hand from Savardan/Bryan) likely collapsed the two into "July 7." Favour 07.08; recordhammond✗at the 07.08 entry with this↳. - Cantagrel's arrival — DIVERGES by ~2 months. Hammond has Cantagrel "still on his way in February 1855 … presumably did not reach La Réunion until the latter part of that month" [V], i.e. late Feb 1855. TIMELINE's spine (
‹wolski›"five months earlier,"burkli) puts Cantagrel at Dallas Dec 1854 with funds + authorization, and dates his "Hiobspost" railroad-reservation letter to ~Dec 1854. Two readings: Hammond may be tracking the land-acquisition/installation (early March per Savardan) rather than Cantagrel's first arrival; or he simply ran the New York→Cincinnati→Texas leg slow. Flag as a candidate UNRESOLVED: Cantagrel-at-Dallas Dec 1854 [wolski/burkli] vs Cantagrel-reaches-Réunion late Feb 1855 [hammond]. (Hammond's own 7 Jan 1855 Knight conveyance to Considérant, not Cantagrel, doesn't settle it.) - Savardan arrival — Hammond corroborates the MISDATE, not the resolution. Hammond gives 16 June 1855 [V], i.e. he reproduces Savardan's self-date — the same
savardan✗value TIMELINE flags at1855.07.17(resolved via Wolski + Cordillot). Hammond adds no independent weight here; he inherits Savardan. Likewise the Nuremberg chain (Le Havre 28 Feb → Azores 12 Mar → New Orleans → Galveston 5 May → Houston → Réunion) matches Savardan exactly — second-hand, not a second witness. - The 26 Sept 1854 founding — AGREES + supplies the document. Hammond's date and signatories match
sceat-statutes; App. C's reprinted act ("deposited at the office of Mr. Hedweld, Notary … 26th day of September A.D. 1854 … legalized and certified on the 20th day of January 1855") is independent documentary support for the spine's1854.09.26entry and its↳note about the notary deposit. Note Hammond spells the notary Hedweld (TIMELINE: Heetveld) and Godin as Goden/Godin Lemaire. - NEW spine candidates (not currently in TIMELINE), led by
‹hammond›where it worked the record directly: - 1855.01.07 James Knight conveyance to Considérant (App. D reprints the deed) — cross-check against
deeds.py; Hammond calls it "probably the first land purchased." - 1856.05.10 restaurant/cafeteria reform — corroborates Savardan's
1856.05.10restaurant opening (independent of the pour? no — also Savardan-derived; treat as corroboration). - 1857.07.16 Dallas court inquiry into the administration + Simonin's audit of 200+ accounts — Savardan also has Simonin (left 23 May 1856 in his telling); the court date is Hammond-specific and checkable against Dallas court records.
- The entire 1856 Texas-legislature sequence (07.19 committee → 08.16 House → 08.25/08.29 Senate → 09.01 signed; 1858.01.06 amendment) — wholly absent from TIMELINE's spine and uniquely Hammond's (drawn from the House/Senate Journals + Gammel's Laws of Texas). High-value: these are the colony's Texas legal spine, distinct from the Brussels corporate spine.
- The reception layer (State Gazette 1855.02.17 / 06.02 / 10.13; National Intelligencer 1855.05.07; Texas State Gazette 1855.02.10) — belongs in TIMELINE's "Other dated layers → reception" section alongside the DMN run, not the event spine.
- The first-trip itinerary (1852–53) is not in TIMELINE and predates the spine's current opening (
1854.09.26); add as antecedent context if the spine is extended backward. Note Hammond dates the first Texas visit to 1852 (departs France 28 Nov 1852), with the overland Texas leg in 1853 — finer than the round "1853" CLAUDE.md uses.