Timeline
# La Reunion — Resolved Timeline
One dated spine of colony events. Each entry carries **which witnesses attest it and
where they diverge**. This is the structured backbone of the source-text synthesis
(ROADMAP #1a); the prose synthesis is a readout of this file. Same cross-source
reconciliation, two renderings.
## Conventions
- **Date** — `YYYY.MM.DD`; `??` for unknown month/day (`??` sorts after known values).
- **Attestation** — after the event, `[ … ]` lists the attesting witnesses. Keys are the
per-source folder names in `src/sources/` (= `REGISTER.md` rows): `sceat-statutes`, `savardan`,
`wolski`, `considerant-du-texas`, `burkli`, `colas`, `cordillot`, `sandell`, `santerre`,
`pratt`, `beecher`, `hammond`, `kagay`; structured data = `deeds.py`. Optional locator: page `⟨n⟩`, deed
`vol/p`.
- `‹key›` — the witness this entry's date/wording **follows** (the lead).
- plain `key` — **corroborates**.
- `key✗` — attests a **different** value; see the `↳` divergence line.
- `[cite?]` — entry not yet sourced (step 6 closes these).
- **Divergence** — a `↳` sub-line states the conflict and the current adjudication (which
reading is favoured and why). Open conflicts are tagged `UNRESOLVED`.
- **Other dated layers** (reception/DMN, life-events) live in their own headed sections at
the bottom, never interleaved with the event spine.
> Migration note: this replaces the flat list. Old key `[naufrage]` → `savardan`;
> `[new_light.pdf]` → `wolski`. Spine below is the seed; step 2 pours per-source
> extractions in against this schema. **Poured so far:** wolski, savardan, burkli,
> colas, hammond, santerre, sandell, kagay, considerant-du-texas, cordillot (per-source extraction files, each `src/sources/<key>/timeline.md`).
## Event spine
### Genesis — Considérant's first Texas trip (1852–53)
Added from `hammond` + `santerre`, which independently narrate the site-selection trip
(retellings of Considérant's own *Au Texas*, so not fully independent of each other).
1852.11.28 - Considérant leaves Antwerp/France on his first US trip; sails Liverpool 12.01,
lands New York ~12.14; winters ~6 weeks at the North American Phalanx, NJ [‹santerre VI›;
hammond II]
↳ note: santerre gives the New York landing as 12.14; hammond "about two weeks" after the
1 Dec sailing — agree to within days. [santerre; hammond]
1853.04.30 - Considérant + Brisbane leave the Great Lakes for Texas (via Cincinnati, Little
Rock, Fort Smith) [‹hammond II›; santerre]
↳ corrob: santerre dates Fort Smith 05.19 ("8th day out" → Preston Crossing on the Red
River); the two reach Fort Worth (Maj. Merrill) + Bryan's cabin and Considérant fixes on
the site ~3 mi W of Dallas. [santerre VI; hammond II]
1853.08.05 - Considérant + Brisbane reach New York on the return (via the Colorado, Austin,
Galveston ~07.01, New Orleans, Havana) [‹hammond II›; santerre]
1853.08.29 - Considérant reaches Ostend, Belgium — a ~9-month trip [‹hammond II›; santerre]
### Founding, recruitment, the colony
1854.05.?? - *Au Texas* published [‹hammond III› (Paris, May 1854); santerre VI (Brussels,
1854, with the company articles appended)]
↳ note: place-of-publication diverges (Paris [hammond] vs Brussels [santerre]); both date
it 1854. The book is the recruiting instrument the SCEAT statutes (art. 1) name as the
colony's defining purpose.
1854.09.26 - SCEAT / EACS declared constituted, Brussels [‹sceat-statutes›; hammond; santerre]
↳ diverge: cordillot✗ gives the founding as 1854.09.14. Likely signing-vs-constitution
(closing acts deposited with notary Heetveld ~1854.10.04). Favour 09.26 (the act
itself); 09.14 may be the agreement date. UNRESOLVED. [cordillot; sceat-statutes]
↳ corrob: hammond + santerre both date the Brussels signing to 26 Sept 1854 (signatories
Considérant, Bureau, Guillon, Godin-Lemaire). Hammond App. C reprints the act verbatim
("deposited at the office of Mr. Hedweld, Notary … legalized + certified 20 Jan 1855 by
the US Consul at Antwerp") — independent documentary support; note Hammond spells the
notary "Hedweld" vs Heetveld. Capital figures DIVERGE: hammond 5,250,000 fr; santerre
5,400,000 fr (both = $1M); top share hammond $125 @4% vs santerre $100 / 540 fr @6%.
Defer to the statute text. [hammond App C / III; santerre VI]
1854.10.03 - Cantagrel and Roger leave Brussels for America [‹savardan ⟨377⟩›; hammond; santerre]
↳ corrob: hammond + santerre both date the departure 3 Oct 1854; santerre adds Cantagrel
was met at New York by John Allen + Bourgeois ("Borgouise"). Closes the prior [cite?].
1854.10.27 - Cantagrel and Roger arrive New York [‹hammond V›]
↳ corrob: hammond dates the New York arrival 27 Oct 1854 (plan: overland via Cincinnati to
reach Texas by late November). Closes the prior [cite?].
1854.late - Cantagrel (with 4 Frenchmen + 8 Belgians already arrived in 1854 + the Belgian
surveyor Cousin) contracts the colony tracts from former Peters Colony owners: 320 ac
Horton + 640 ac McCracken + 640 ac Coombs + 320 ac Griffin + 160 ac Reed ≈ 2,080 acres
[‹santerre VI›]
↳ note: santerre is the SOURCE of the "≈2,080 acres" figure CLAUDE.md warns against
quoting precisely. Cross-check each survey acreage against `deeds.py` / `reunion.py`;
cf. the 1855.01.07 Knight conveyance + the 1855.03.16 Coombs patent below. [santerre;
deeds.py]
1854.12.?? - Cantagrel reaches Dallas, holding funds + authorization from the Brussels
committee [‹wolski ⟨277⟩› ("five months earlier" than the 1855.05.03 arrival); burkli]
↳ corrob + cause: burkli dates Cantagrel's first letter from High Texas to ~Dec 1854 —
a "Hiobspost" reporting that nearly all of North Texas (a tract ~⅓ the size of France)
had been reserved by the last Texas legislature for a prospective Pacific railroad
company, so no state land was buyable "even if we cover it with gold." This forced the
costly private-farm purchases and broke the corporate land plan — the project's
projected-railroad-corridor theme stated at source as the *cause* of the failure.
[burkli ⟨I⟩]
↳ diverge: hammond✗ has Cantagrel "still on his way in February 1855 … presumably did not
reach La Réunion until the latter part of that month" — ~2 months later. Possibly Hammond
tracks the land-acquisition/installation (savardan: "first days of March 1855") rather
than Cantagrel's first arrival at Dallas; or simply ran the NY→Cincinnati→Texas leg slow.
Favour Dec 1854 (wolski + burkli, two contemporaries); record the spread. UNRESOLVED.
[hammond V; savardan ⟨529⟩]
1855.01.07 - James Knight conveys to Considérant a "league and labor" of land (certificate
no. 3169/3270, issued 19 Jan 1854); hammond calls it "probably the first land purchased,"
$100 / 320 acres [‹hammond App D / VI›]
↳ open: cross-check against `deeds.py` (Considérant as grantee; the McLaughlin certificate
chain) — candidate first link in the colony land record. [hammond; deeds.py]
1855.02.04 - Considérant arrives at New York on his second voyage; meets the cascade of
reverses that "literally made him sick" — the costlier northern site Cantagrel was forced
to, the failed American support, abolition-suspicion blocking a land grant, and settlers
already en route [‹cordillot RtF›]
↳ note: cordillot supplies the date the spine lacked for the founder's own arrival (vs.
Cantagrel's Dec-1854 arrival above). [cordillot]
1855.02.21 - the *Uriel* (from Antwerp) clears customs / arrives at **New York** — the
Antwerp→NY leg carrying SCEAT-recruited colonists (~211 aboard) [‹manifest: doc/colonists/ships/uriel›]
↳ note: date is the manifest swearing at New York ("21st[?] Feb 1855"); Antwerp was SCEAT's
embarkation base. A port arrival, not the colony. [uriel roster]
1855.02.24 - the *Lexington* (from Le Havre) arrives at **New Orleans** — a Le Havre colony
group (~267 listed), same route as the Nuremberg [‹manifest: doc/colonists/ships/lexington›]
↳ note: manifest sworn ~24 Feb 1855 at New Orleans. Port arrival. [lexington roster]
1855.02.28 - Savardan group embarks from Le Havre on the *Nuremberg* — "45 émigrants et un
matériel considérable" [‹savardan›; hammond; santerre]
↳ note: savardan's text prints "1853"; corrected to 1855 (ch. II, "En 1855, le 28
février, je m'embarquais au Havre"). [savardan]
↳ corrob: hammond independently dates the *Nuremberg* sailing 28 Feb 1855 (43 people + a
full origin breakdown: 11 Carcassonne, 7 Mons, 5 Jura who stayed at New Orleans, etc.)
and the chain Azores 12 Mar → New Orleans → Galveston 5 May → Houston → Réunion 16 June —
but this is second-hand from Savardan, so it inherits Savardan's 06.16 arrival misdate
(see 1855.07.17). santerre (per dossier, Ch. VIII) corroborates the 1855 Nuremberg chain
(28 Feb → New Orleans Apr 20 → Dallas June). [hammond V; santerre]
1855.03.16 - L.G. Coombs receives the land patent [‹pratt›]
↳ open: the Coombs→Cantagrel transfer is not yet documented in the deeds. UNRESOLVED.
[pratt; deeds.py]
1855.04.01 - Raisant arrives; ~24 persons then present (1 woman, 2 youths, 2 children)
[‹pratt›]
1855.04.12 - Bürkli group (27 Swiss) sail from Bremen [‹beecher›; considerant-du-texas]
↳ diverge: burkli's own account gives NO sail date and NO "27" figure — it dates only
the Swiss *arrival*, to "July 1855 … into the stillborn colony"; wolski instead has
"Bürkli's Swiss" arriving ~Nov 1855 into general disintegration. Three datings now
stand — sail Apr 1855 [beecher] / arrive Jul 1855 [burkli ⟨I⟩] / arrive ~Nov 1855
[wolski ⟨304⟩] — possibly two Swiss waves (an earlier July group incl. Bürkli, a later
Nov group to which Wolski attaches his name), or Bürkli misremembering at 3 years'
remove. UNRESOLVED. [burkli; wolski; beecher]
↳ manifest resolution: the *Franziska* manifest (see 1855.07.04) fixes the actual voyage —
**dep. Bremen 13 May, arr. Galveston 4 July 1855** — so beecher's "12 April sail" is a
month early, and burkli's "arrived July 1855" is confirmed (Galveston landing 4 Jul +
inland leg). The wolski ~Nov dating may be a genuine second Swiss wave. [franziska roster; burkli]
1855.04.21 - the *Nuremberg* (Savardan's group, from Le Havre) arrives at **New Orleans**
[‹manifest: doc/colonists/ships/nuremberg›; savardan; hammond; santerre]
↳ corrob: the manifest swearing (21 Apr 1855, New Orleans) matches santerre's "New Orleans
Apr 20" and the Nuremberg chain in the 1855.02.28 embarkation note (→ Galveston ~5 May →
Houston → Réunion, see 1855.07.17). Port arrival, distinct from the colony arrival. [nuremberg roster; santerre; hammond; savardan]
1855.05.03 - Cousin, Wolski, et al. reach Réunion after a 32-day march from Houston; one
house ready, a second begun, a separate kitchen [‹wolski ⟨276–280⟩›]
1855.05.07 - the *National Intelligencer* reports ~40 French emigrants passed through
Anderson en route to Dallas; Considérant "proposed to introduce about two thousand this
year" [‹hammond V›] — a contemporary press tally of an in-transit group.
1855.05.16 - Cantagrel reports 51 persons present @ Réunion [‹pratt p158›]
↳ RESOLVED: not a conflict with the ~24 at 1855.04.01 — the 24→51 jump is the Cousin/Wolski
group's 1855.05.03 arrival. The arrivals ledger (`src/colonists/colonists.py`, `census()`)
reproduces both waypoints (24 → 51) and the ~130 Aug peak; the tallies are one arrival
curve sampled at different dates (see findings.md "The 'conflicting' headcounts…"). [pratt; colonists.py]
1855.05.17 - first colony land "expansion": 51⅛ acres bought near Houston as a way-station
for incoming colonists [‹hammond VI›]
↳ note: same day savardan ⟨796⟩ has Considérant leaving Houston alone ahead of the convoy
— distinct events; the way-station purchase is hammond-unique. [hammond; savardan]
1855.06.15 - Considerant et al. arrive [‹wolski› (via new_light)]
↳ note: Wolski's diary implies ~06.17 ("a few days ago" in the 20 June entry ⟨290⟩);
~2-day internal spread. [wolski ⟨290⟩]
1855.07.04 - the *Franziska* (Bürkli's ~31 Swiss, from Bremen) arrives at **Galveston** — the
Swiss contingent's landing: Bürkli, Baer (+ family), Heinrich Boll, Benjamin Long, Frick,
Jacob Knœpfli, Studer, the two Nägeli, et al. [‹Galveston Immigration DB / manifest:
doc/colonists/ships/franziska›; burkli; cordillot✗]
↳ resolves/corrects: the manifest (dep. Bremen 13 May → arr. Galveston 4 Jul 1855) settles
the sail/arrival debate at 1855.04.12 and corrects cordillot's "embarked 12 April 1855 /
arrived Réunion 5 July." 4 Jul is the *Galveston* landing, not the colony arrival (~250 mi
inland, reached weeks later); Bürkli's own "arrived in July 1855 at the colony" fits. Jacob
Nussbaumer is NOT aboard (separate arrival — open item). Full 97-entry roster +
Swiss cross-reference in `doc/colonists/ships/franziska/roster.md`. [franziska roster;
burkli ⟨I⟩; cordillot]
1855.07.17 - Savardan group (~75, many wives) reach Réunion via Houston [‹wolski ⟨298⟩›;
cordillot]
↳ diverge: savardan✗ self-dates to 1855.06.16; hammond✗ reproduces that 06.16 (second-hand
from Savardan, not an independent witness). Favour 07.17 — Wolski's 20 July entry
("three days ago … Savardan") + Cordillot's explicit correction ("et non le 15 juin").
RESOLVED → 07.17. [wolski ⟨298⟩; cordillot; savardan; hammond✗ V]
1855.08.07 - Société de Réunion constituted in Texas to operate the Dallas domaine
(Cantagrel directeur; Cousin, Savardan, Bürkli on the conseil); Savardan named secretary
+ treasurer of both societies [‹savardan›; cordillot]
↳ savardan supplies the statute text the repo lacked: capital 600,000 $ = 4,800 shares
of 125 $; advance to capital 3⅓%, to labour by convention (Considérant later admits he
fixed the labour rate low "expressly to force them to go away"); arts. 2/4/10/11/18 and
art. 48 (reimbursement-in-kind). The withheld "reserved parts" become the pivot of the
dissolution fight. Full statutes still survive only via savardan/cordillot.
[savardan ⟨182, 1707–1741⟩; cordillot]
1855.08.?? - ~130 persons present at Réunion (never the ~300 of the hostile press) [‹wolski
⟨303⟩›; burkli ⟨I⟩; colas] — three independent contemporaries (participant diarist, Swiss
participant, hostile defector) converge on the scale.
↳ note: cf. pratt's 51-count at 1855.05.16; the ~130 is the late-summer peak before the
exodus. RESOLVED → ~130 by triple attestation. (hammond, secondary, concludes "no more
than three hundred … at any one time," consistent with the ~130 peak.) [hammond V]
1855.08.?? - colony sickness peak vs hostile denial — DIVERGENCE. wolski ⟨300–302⟩: the
spring runs dry, many sick, named deaths (Vezian, Ruppert), "6 dead in 15 days," Dallas
doctors fearing an epidemic. colas✗ (same 1 Sept 1855 letter) insists Réunion's high
ground is healthy — "none of us have had the fever" — and pins malaria on low-lying
Dallas. Both agree on the drought. savardan's medical register: 228 patients, 5 lost
(~2½%) ⟨1104⟩. Likely real overlap (drought-stress + heat illness) read in opposite
valence; Colas was also among the defectors at Mutuelle, away from the worst-hit.
UNRESOLVED — the disagreement is itself the finding. [wolski; colas; savardan]
1855.~10 - share-reimbursement in kind begins; the dissolution dynamic visible on the
ground [‹wolski ⟨304–305⟩›; colas; savardan]. wolski: Belgian shareholder Leguay recovers
10,000 fr in land/livestock per statute art. 48; colas (1 Sept): a 10,000-fr holder would
sell for 6,000 cash, stockholders rushing to be reimbursed; savardan: Goodseels (~30,000
fr) demands reimbursement and founds the rival "Louvain" at Montagne-Creek (Jan 1856).
Same mechanism, three witnesses — hostile + contemporaneous + administrative. The
reimbursement-in-kind clause (art. 48) running 18 months before the formal dissolution.
1855.late - ~30 of the best workers leave for wage work; ~20 wage-lawsuits pending in
Dallas; the dozen expelled "anarchists" found the village "Mutuelle" on the Dallas–Fort
Worth road [‹colas›] — colas-unique; the visible product of the exodus Wolski sees
forming in October (malcontents to Dallas, opening an inn).
1855.10–11 - named Dallas District Court suits against Considérant (9th District): Ross (No.
308, 10.26), Comé (No. 309, 11.01), Priot (No. 310, 11.05), Bowie (No. 311, 11.10), Despard
(No. 312, 11.10) — unpaid contractors/carters, several of them colonists (Jean Priot among
them), over bills topping $1,400; the colony pleads the debt belongs to the Belgian board
(which has no Texas legal existence) [‹kagay n55›]
↳ corrob: these specify colas's "~20 wage-lawsuits pending in Dallas" (1855.late / the 1
Sept letter) — a hostile contemporary's tally + the court minutes converging on the
autumn-1855 litigation. Related land-division suits ran to 1890. Possibly distinct from
hammond's 1857.07.16 audit-inquiry; cross-check the District Court minutes. [kagay; colas;
hammond]
1855.12.?? - Considérant petitions the Texas House + Senate for a land grant (~200 sections),
finding all north-Texas vacant land already taken by settlers / speculators / "reserved to
the Pacific Railroad Company" [‹hammond IV›]
↳ corrob: the railroad-reservation Hammond's petition cites is the same land squeeze
burkli dates to ~Dec 1854 (1854.12.?? above) — an independent secondary echo of the
projected-railroad-corridor cause. [hammond; burkli]
1855.12.31 - end of SCEAT's first financial year [‹sceat-statutes›]
1856.03.24 - Considérant returns to Réunion after the ~5-month SW absence (Austin → San
Antonio); the community is "on the brink of disaster" and already aware of his new plans
[‹cordillot RtF›]
↳ note: anchors the return that hammond gave only as "after an absence of five months"; it
precedes the 8 July flight by ~3½ months. [cordillot; hammond]
1856.04.?? - building inventory (an April 1856 description): soap/candle works, laundry,
offices, kitchen, grocery, forge, Executive Agent's cottage + two 8-apartment dormitories
begun [‹hammond VI›] — the built colony at its peak, before the exodus.
1856.05.early - a late freeze: the rivers froze, prolonged frost destroyed the hay crop +
vegetable gardens; little of the hasty replanting survived the hot summer that followed
[‹cordillot RtF›; santerre X]
↳ resolved: this is a REAL event, NOT a mis-seasoning of the Jan-1857 cold. cordillot dates
it independently ("in early May… the rivers froze"); santerre ("early May 1856… river
frozen solid three days") agrees; considerant-du-texas independently notes spring frosts
of "March and April" 1856 killing the peaches. Three witnesses → keep. (An earlier note
under the 1857.01.17 entry wrongly called santerre's May freeze displaced; corrected.)
[cordillot; santerre; DT II.VII]
1856.05.07 - deliberation seeming to restore the associative centre + administrative unity;
Cantagrel withdraws his resignation [‹savardan ⟨2893⟩›] (modifies the 7 Aug 1855 act)
1856.05.10 - the by-portion restaurant (replacing the communist mess) finally instituted —
Considérant would not surrender his house before then [‹savardan ⟨3066⟩›; hammond VI]
↳ corrob: hammond independently dates the cafeteria reform to 10 May 1856 (second-hand from
Savardan); savardan notes it was originally "to open on the 1st of April." [savardan;
hammond]
1856.07.06 - Cantagrel resigns the directorship (definitive, 2nd time); Savardan resigns as
council member, secretary + cashier; Considérant names Duthoya acting director
[‹savardan ⟨2937–2965⟩›; cordillot]
1856.07.08 - **Considérant's flight** — disappears at dawn with Cousin, the very day fixed
to sign the reserved-parts settlement; not seen again at Réunion [‹savardan ⟨2975⟩›; hammond✗;
considerant-du-texas✗]
↳ diverge: hammond✗ dates the secret departure 7 July 1856 (one day early). Savardan, the
eyewitness with the minutes, dates the *agreement* to pay half the reserved parts to
07.07 and the dawn *flight* to 07.08; Hammond (second-hand from Savardan/Bryan) likely
collapsed the two. Favour 07.08. [hammond VII; savardan ⟨2971, 2975⟩]
↳ founder's framing: considerant-du-texas✗ recasts the same act as a principled,
illness-driven withdrawal — "an irrevocable resolution no longer to meddle… to be buried
at least elsewhere" — giving NO date and no mention of the payment due. Same act, opposite
valence (flight vs. dignified retreat). The divergence is the finding. [DT I.V]
1856.07.19 - the Texas legislature's Committee on Public Lands reports *against* Considérant's
land grant but recommends an incorporation bill [‹hammond IV›]
1856.08.03 - Cantagrel leaves Réunion with his family [‹savardan ⟨3080⟩›]
1856.09.01 - **the Texas legislature incorporates the European and American Colonization
Society in Texas** (Ch. CCCX; duration 20 yrs; capital ≤ $1M; shareholders liable as
general partners) [‹hammond IV / App C›; sandell II; kagay n44]
↳ arc: House passes the bill 08.16 (48–20 per House Journal; 43–20 per the Gazette); the
Senate first fails it 08.25 (15–13, two-thirds needed), then passes 15–7 on Bryan's
08.29 reconsideration; signed 09.01. A DOMESTIC charter, distinct from the 26 Sept 1854
Brussels act — and won only as the colony was already dissolving. This is the "Sept 1
1856" act santerre's Ch. IX plat caption refers to (NOT the founding). [hammond App C]
↳ corrob: sandell frames it as the land grant denied 1855 / incorporation granted 1856;
kagay's note 44 pins the bill (Adjourned Session, 6th Legislature, Bill 767, 29 Jul
1856) — cross-check the bill date against hammond's House/Senate arc. [sandell II; kagay n44]
1857.01.17 - Bureau arrives at Réunion (15° below zero) to take over, already overwhelmed
after 48 h with Considérant at San Antonio [‹savardan ⟨3122⟩›; hammond]
↳ corrob: hammond independently reports Bureau arriving 17 Jan 1857 to "15 degrees below
zero," and frames winter 1856–57 as the coldest in settlers' memory. (Distinct from the
early-May 1856 late freeze now in the spine above — three separate cold events: the
1855–56 winter of Northers, the May-1856 late freeze, and this Jan-1857 cold.) [hammond VI/VII]
1857.01.28 - **a notice signed Bureau announces the Société de Réunion dissolved** — the act
on the ground; statutes arts. 7 + 18 violated [‹savardan ⟨3262⟩›]
↳ diverge: the management's own bulletin frames the dissolution as of 5 May 1857, turning
it to the profit of "private appropriation" — the corporate side's retrospective vs the
28 Jan act Savardan witnessed. Note both. [savardan ⟨63⟩]
1857.02.15 - Cousin arrives and takes control (installs himself by Bureau's bed, controls
his communications); Feb–Apr he liquidates — the "town of Réunion" plan, lands sold at
10–20 $/acre while the bulletin advertised "4 $ at most" [‹savardan ⟨3336, 3559, 3759⟩›;
considerant-du-texas✗]
↳ founder's framing: considerant-du-texas✗ is the exact inversion — Cousin is "the only man
who could conjure away the final disaster," who "in saving your affairs, saved for me much
more than life." Savior (DT) vs. executioner (savardan): the Rashomon node at its sharpest.
[DT II.I]
1857.04.06 - Cousin returns from Dallas holding Considérant's general + special power of
attorney; the corporate liquidation is complete [‹savardan ⟨3649⟩›]
↳ financial layer: burkli (1858) puts the first-years' loss at **Fr. 120,000 of ~2 million
invested** — rebutting the press ("Patrie") claim of Fr. 1,800,000 "squandered"; savardan
frames the ~1,800,000 fr subscribed to the EACS as "swallowed up." The two participants
diverge sharply on the magnitude of loss — itself a finding. [burkli ⟨II⟩; savardan ⟨68⟩]
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 [‹hammond VII›]
↳ open: hammond-specific; checkable against Dallas court records. (savardan also has
Simonin rebuilding 200+ accounts, but dates his departure to 23 May 1856 — a possibly
earlier audit; reconcile.) [hammond; savardan ⟨2677⟩]
1857.08.06 - **Considérant signs *Du Texas*** at San Antonio — his apologia to the
shareholders, declaring the affairs "resurrected" and the plan still sound [‹considerant-du-texas›]
↳ note: the founder's self-defense, written across the summer of 1857 from San Antonio. Its
optimism ("all goes well") is itself a finding against the receivership the spine records at
1858; Savardan's *Naufrage* (1858) is the page-by-page rebuttal (see
`considerant_savardan_correspondence.md`). [DT close]
1857.fall - the French shareholders (no dividends for ~2 years) meet at Brussels and move
against the company, asking that a receiver be appointed [‹santerre XI›]
↳ note: santerre's "waning 1857" dissolution narrative compresses the 1856–57 sequence
above (he gives no 8 July 1856 flight); but he uniquely opens the SECOND, receivership
phase that follows Cousin's liquidation. [santerre]
1857.~autumn - Savardan leaves Réunion (driven toward Fort Smith for 80 $); the "Nuremberg"
building becomes the colony store [‹savardan ⟨924, 3551⟩]
↳ note: the entire 1856–57 dissolution arc above is led by ‹savardan› (the administrative
insider, books + minutes in hand) and awaits corroboration against cordillot; burkli
independently confirms the *outcome* — Considérant bought the West-Texas tract, refused
further funds, and dissolved the East-Texas provisorium [burkli ⟨II⟩].
1858.01.06 - amendatory Texas act (Ch. 32) limits shareholder liability to capital
subscribed/owned [‹hammond App C›]
1858.?? - directors place the colony in RECEIVERSHIP; Michel Thévenet (ex-banker) + Alexandre
Bessard appointed (at a Governor's-Mansion meeting) to liquidate; stockholding colonists
take land @ $4/acre — J.M. Reverchon, Crétien, A.J. Gouffé, A. DeLord, Rémond, J. Loupot,
Santerre, J.P. Henri [‹santerre XI›; sandell II]
↳ corrob: sandell (Dallas archives) independently attests the Thévenet+Bessard receivership
and the same eight buyers — descendant tradition + archive converge. RESOLVED → the
receivership is real. [santerre; sandell II]
↳ diverge: the liquidation MECHANISM differs from savardan's. savardan: Cousin sells at
10–20 $/acre under Considérant's power of attorney (Feb–Apr 1857). sandell: Thévenet sells
at 12½¢/$ through the Gaston & Thomas Bank (J.B. Adoué agent → National Bank of Commerce),
under Cantagrel's direction, c.1860. Read as successive phases (Cousin 1857 → receivership
1858–60); the overlap is a deed-record question. UNRESOLVED. [savardan; sandell III; deeds.py]
↳ diverge (timing/personnel): cordillot omits Thévenet and dates Bessard's mandate later —
Bessard "appointed administrator after **Bureau's death in 1859**," then asked in **1861**
to sell the remaining estate + repatriate the money. So the receivership may start
1858 (sandell) but its sell-off phase runs 1861 (cordillot). NB cordillot also fixes a
fact the spine lacked: **Bureau died in 1859** (of cholera at Houston, per his French
file). [cordillot RtF; sandell; santerre]
1860.07.18 - **the Dallas fire** — burns the south + west sides of the square; the turning
point that pulls the colonists into the city as its building workforce (Crétien + the
Frichots' brick business start now) [‹sandell III›]
↳ note: no colonist business is on the burned list (Guillot's wagon factory + Gouffré's
tailor shop survive); the significance is the DEMAND the rebuild created for colonist
skills — sandell's George-Crétien interview (via W.S. Adair) supplies the causal link.
The project's pivotal Key Date, now in the spine. [sandell III]
1861.?? - Jules Lanotte runs the colony store until the war; Nussbaumer buys the communal
stove for his Dallas abattoir; Capy rents the forge [‹santerre›; sandell II]
1861.?? - Civil War begins ("six years after the colony was founded"); the company already
dissolved, the un-naturalized colonists take a neutral stand; Confederate conscription
friction (Girard wounded; Capt. Arch M. Cochran parleys; a general exemption for
un-naturalized foreigners covers them) [‹santerre XI/XII›; sandell IV; kagay]
↳ endgame: the receivers' final sales are taken in Confederate money; Bessard carries the
proceeds to Belgium, where the shareholders refuse the failing currency and hunt
colonists' European property (esp. Thévenet's). [santerre XII]
↳ service: the colonists who did enlist (19th TX Cav Co B — Frichot, Rémond; Co K — Boll,
Wm + Jacob Knapfli; Co F Waller's Battalion — Louckx; Lancaster pistol works — P. Henri)
are in the Life-events layer. [sandell IV; santerre XII; kagay]
1862.05.16 - 25 colonists petition the Governor of Texas for reimbursement of firearms seized
"by threat and assault" by Col. N.H. Darnell's Regiment [‹sandell IV›]
↳ note: around the same time Joseph Charpentier (cobbler) is killed at the old Trinity ford
by renegades — the war's one colonist death by violence. [sandell II/IV]
1863.?? - Cantagrel returns to Europe (after remaining "only a short time" post-flight)
[‹santerre XI›]
1865.?? - Confederate defeat; La Réunion is "little more than a ghost town" of scattered
ex-colonist farms; within a few years ex-colonists hold Dallas property assessed at ~$37,000
[‹kagay›; sandell]
1867.03.02 - First Reconstruction Act → military appointees displace ex-Confederate officials;
ex-colonists (none ever slaveholders) are appointed across Dallas government [‹sandell IV›;
kagay]
↳ 1867.11: A.J. Gouffré* = county Treasurer. 1868.06: Ben Long* appointed (county). 1868.11:
Thévenet* appointed (county). [sandell IV]
1868.09.?? - Gen. Reynolds appoints the Dallas city slate: Mayor **Ben Long***, Marshal John
F. Barbier*, Asst Marshal Alexis Barbier*, Treasurer Gouffré*, Alderman Boll* — the colony
takes over city hall under military government [‹sandell IV›; kagay n76]
↳ Boll* resigns at the first meeting (not a city resident) → eventually John Loupot*. The
1868 military slate is a project Key Date; sandell + kagay (note 76) agree the roster.
1868.12–1869.02 - Nussbaumer* contracts (12.03) and completes (02.12, paid $250) the grading
of Main Street — the colonist council's first public-works act [‹sandell IV›]
1870.04.04 - Mayor Long* leaves to visit Switzerland (Ervay mayor pro-tem); he returns with
~35 Swiss settlers — the "second wave" that builds East Dallas [‹sandell IV›]
↳ diverge: sandell's own dates for this trip conflict — 1869 [ch V] vs the 1870 announcement
[ch IV] vs 1870-trip / 1871-return [ch II bio]. Favour 1870 trip, 1871–72 return.
UNRESOLVED within sandell. [sandell IV/V/II]
1870.11.19 - F.L. Willemet* joins the city council; over 1870–73 the colonist council lays out
east-side streets (Barbier St opened 1871.02.15) and selects the city burial ground
[‹sandell IV›]
1871.03–04 - the council selects 9 acres of Nussbaumer* land (Jefferson Peak Addition) for the
H&TC depot; voters approve the purchase 167–11 ($14,650, 04.03); Boll* appointed City
Treasurer (05.01) [‹sandell IV›]
1872.07.16 - the Houston & Texas Central Railroad reaches Dallas (pop. ~3,000 → ~7,000;
Nussbaumer* donated the station land); 725 buildings rise in 1873 [‹sandell III/IV›;
santerre] — the growth engine the colonists' East-Dallas farmland sat astride.
1872.11.05–08 - first election under Reconstruction: **Ben Long* elected mayor 348–246**;
Charles Capy* (alderman, 1st Ward) + Michel Thévenet* (3rd Ward) elected; Boll* elected
Treasurer (4–4 tie broken by Mayor Long*) [‹sandell IV›; kagay n77]
1873.?? - boom-town governance under the colonist council: city ordinances published (Dallas
Herald 06.15); a Pest House ordered against smallpox (02.13); the hospital-ladies
commendation (02.25) that seeds Parkland; then a charter dispute with Austin drives 7 of 8
councilmen (incl. Capy* + Thévenet*) to resign in protest [‹sandell IV›]
1874.04.08 - W.L. Cabell defeats Long* for mayor — the colony's hold on city hall begins to
pass to the railroad-era newcomers [‹sandell IV›]
1875.?? - Cantagrel authorized to sell the last of the colony assets [‹sandell II›]; F.L.
Willemet* elected alderman, Ward 1 (04.10) — the last colonist on the council until 1885
[sandell IV]
↳ diverge: sandell contradicts itself on Willemet — ch. II has him on council "1870–1875"
(continuous); ch. IV has a gap then a fresh 10 Apr 1875 election to 1876. findings.md
attaches the same 1875→1876 span to *Capy*. UNRESOLVED — check the council minute's name.
[sandell II/IV; findings.md]
1875.12.31 - SCEAT charter duration concludes [‹sceat-statutes›]
↳ note: hammond's reprinted statutes give the corporate charter life as 31 Dec 1874 (Ch.
III); the Texas act (1856.09.01) sets 20 years (→ 1876). Two charters, two durations —
record both. [hammond III / App C]
1879.?? - Émile Rémond returns to his Dallas property (from Hutchins) and resumes the clay/
soil analysis that will seed the cement industry [‹sandell III›]
1884–1885 - John B. Louckx* on the first Dallas Public School Board (1884) and elected
alderman, Ward 1 (1885, to 1890) — the colony's last sustained civic presence; same years
Louckx builds Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Knopfli & Sons raise "the first skyscraper"
(Poydras & Main, 1884), and Priot* builds a brick post office [‹sandell III/IV›]
1889.05.12 - Mayor W.C. Connor presents Boll* a testimonial signed by 130 Dallas citizens —
the city's formal thanks to a founding colonist [‹sandell II›]
1893.12.27 - Victor Considérant dies in France [‹santerre›; kagay] — a rare hard date the
family source gets right (santerre rounds to "1893").
1901.?? - the Texas Portland Cement Co. is organized (James T. Taylor et al.), drawn by
Rémond's research — the colony land's chalk turns into the cement industry that will consume
the townsite [‹sandell III›]
## Other dated layers
Registers kept distinct from the event spine. Seeded from `hammond` (Texas press), `santerre`
(cemetery, war service, attrition), `sandell` (property/demographic tables, civic firsts), and
`kagay` (the 1891–2010 afterlife/commemoration run + DMN obituary death dates). The GEDCOM
life-events remain to be added.
### Reception / press (contemporary Texas + national)
From `hammond` Ch. IV–V (drawn from the papers themselves). Belongs here, not the spine.
```
1855.02.10 - Texas State Gazette: the Alsace socialists "about to emigrate en masse" to
Considérant's purchased land [hammond V]
1855.02.17 - Texas State Gazette anti-socialist editorial ("as a political sect, our whole
people are against them") [hammond IV]
1855.05.07 - National Intelligencer reports ~40 emigrants through Anderson (also a spine
entry, as an in-transit tally) [hammond V]
1855.06.02 - Texas State Gazette, "The Socialist in Texas" [hammond IV]
1855.10.13 - State Gazette on the colonists' anti-slavery sentiment [hammond IV]
```
Supporting papers Hammond names: *Dallas Herald* + *Northern Standard* (favourable),
*Galveston News* (favourable), *New York Tribune* (Greeley, favourable — a liability in the
South), vs *Texas State Times* / *Austin State Gazette* / *Washington Sentinel* (hostile).
### Life-events (births/deaths, war service)
From `santerre` — cemetery chapter (Ch. XIII) + Civil-War service (Ch. XII). Cross-check
against the GEDCOM (`src/ged/santerre.ged`) and the colonist files before relying.
```
# Cemetery birth–death pairs (Fishtrap Cemetery), santerre XIII
Julien Reverchon 1836–1905 Marie Reverchon 1842–1901
Michel J. Reverchon 1865–1888 Adelaide Henri 1817–1858
Margaret Henri 1823–1857 Emile Rémond 1840–1906
Césarine Rémond 1839–1923 François Santerre 1809–1889
Marie Santerre 1816–1892 Emanuel Santerre 1850–1939
Germaine Santerre 1848–1932
# + unmarked: Josephine Cantagrel (the Director's young daughter), Appollinaire Santerre
# (François's eldest son); Père Lagogue named among the first buried.
# Cross-source life-dates from hammond V: J. Maximilien Reverchon b. Lyon 1810 d. Dallas
# 1879; Jacques Reverchon 1746–1829; Émile Rémond 1840–1906 (agrees santerre).
# Civil-War enlistments, santerre XII (year + unit)
1862.01 - Henri Boll — commissary dept under Col. Buford → Post Waco; returns to Dallas
1862 - Achille Frichot — 19th Texas Cavalry, Co. B (Nat G. Burford); Corporal that year
1863 - Emile Rémond — Co. B 19th Texas Cavalry → Pratt's Battery; POW at Saline KS, escapes
? - J.B. Louckx (Co. F, Waller's Battalion, 2 yrs) · Paul Henri (arms factory) ·
Maxime Guillot (Army wagons) · Jean Priot (wagon supply trains, quartermaster)
# Principals' deaths / departures
1863.?? - Cantagrel returns to Europe [santerre XI] (also in spine)
1893.?? - Victor Considérant dies [santerre XI] — agrees the historical record (d. 27 Dec
1893); a rare hard date where the family source is right.
1906.?? - Émile Rémond dies (per santerre XIII; ties the colony to the cement era — cf.
CLAUDE.md "Key Dates").
```
### Attrition / who-stayed (the build-Dallas dataset)
`santerre` Epilogue lists ~80 colonists with arrival year (mostly 1855/1856, a few 1857) +
fate — settled/died in Dallas vs returned to France vs died (yellow fever) vs moved on (New
Orleans, San Antonio, Houston, Weatherford, Irving). Held in full in
`src/sources/santerre/timeline.md` (§ "Attrition — the Epilogue list"); to be matched
against the colonist files and deeds for the who-built-Dallas analysis, not the event spine.
### Property & demographic tables (structured) — sandell
Finding-aids to primary data; cross-check against `deeds.py` / `census.xlsx`.
```
# S.H. Cockrell → colonist town-lot deeds (vol/page), sandell III
1857.10.15 Michell G/2 3–4 ac 1858.02.17 Frichot G/313 2 ac
1859.06.27 Michell F/664 2¾ ac 1861.11.11 Capy L/519 1 ac
1866.07.25 Gouffré J/300 8 ac 1866.12.17 Michell J/428 1–2 ac
1872.10.22 Crétein R/538 7 ac
# 1859 Dallas County tax roll — rural acreage owned, sandell III
Goetseels 86 · Nussbaumer 34 · Boll & father 13 1/10 · Bessard 78⅞ · P.P. Frichot 266 ·
Farine 160 · C.D. Frichot (illegible) · Girard 50 · L. Goetseels 86 · Reverchon J&M 50 ·
Vangrinderbeck 80
# 1867 Town Assessor register — lot/block owners, sandell III
Poitevin · Gouffé (×4) · Bourgeois (×3) · Capy · Moulard · Michell (×8) · S.S. Jones
(m. Louisa Dusseaux, ×6) · Leinhart · Vanderbosch · Charpentier-for-Capy · Boulay (×2)
# Census, sandell III–IV
1860 - Dallas town ~2,000; county 8,665 (incl. 821 slaves); 173 foreign-born (most
ex-Réunion); 63% of foreign-born heads in a trade/skill vs 37% farming — the county
at large 26% trade vs 74% farming (the project's signature inversion; cite census.xlsx)
1880 - Dallas 10,358; county 33,488
Foreign-born by origin (1850 / 1860 / 1870): France 0/85/45 · Belgium 0/6/8 · Switzerland 0/12/4
```
### Civic & economic firsts — sandell
```
1856 - Gouhenant closes his Dallas saloon/art-room and leaves [V]
1857 - TX Supreme Court rules for Gouhenant vs Cockrell; Capy* organizes a singing society
(the first in Dallas) [V]
1859 - first Dallas County fair (~2,000) [V]
1860 - second fair (~10,700) — the seed of the State Fair of Texas [V]
1862 - Goetsell moves Mountain Creek → Dallas with several Belgians [III]
1874 - Dallas Grütli Verein (Swiss Benevolent Society) + Swiss Bell Ringers Maifest [V]
1878 - the Dallas city directory first includes many colony names (1875 directory had none) [III]
1904 - city park board established; Emil Fretz a founding commissioner [V]
```
### Afterlife / commemoration (1891–2010) — kagay
The reception/afterlife run, drawn from the *Dallas Morning News* archive (maps onto
`doc/text/newspaper/frenchtown/`).
```
1891 - DMN "Old French Colony" — the foundational retrospective [n19]
1906 - 50th-anniversary commemoration
1923 - Césarine Santerre Remond dies — the colony's last adult member
1924.05 - colony-site marker placed (DMN 4 May; unveiled 7 May; DAR; "Settled 1854") [n89]
1936 - Texas Centennial lectures; Eloise Santerre's translation of Savardan published
1951 - Eugenie Roessler dies — last of the children born at La Réunion
1956 - 100th-anniversary commemoration
1967 - Benjamin Capps, *The Brothers of Uterica* (La Réunion novel)
1974 - Fish Trap cemetery marker placed
2005 - 150th-anniversary celebration
2008–09 - Reunion Arena closed (2008) and demolished (2009)
# Colony-land site fate: Lone Star Cement kilns → 1943 WWII housing (~1,000 units) →
# 1954 razed/sold → 1962 Loupot builds 175 homes → 1975 school + bulk-mail center;
# one pristine acre left by 1961; cemetery upkeep promised 1973 + 1987, neglect to 2010.
# DMN obituary death dates (kagay n96–97) — for the life-events layer
1904.10.08 John (Jean) Loupot · 1906 É. Remond (critically ill 05.21) · 1923 Césarine Remond ·
1929.01.10 Mrs. (Nativa) Capy · 1931.04.15 Emile Crétien · 1936.07.18 "first person born at La
Reunion" · 1943.10.22 Emile Voirin · 1951.11.24 Roessler · 1952.12.06 Jacob Boll ·
1953.04.20 Minnie Louckx · 1953.12.24 Max Loupot
```
### Dispersal & the First International (1858–1876) — cordillot
The colonists' post-Réunion *political* afterlife (English "Rethinking the Failure" only) —
the AIT/Fourierist trajectories no other poured source carries. A register, not the spine.
```
1858 - Savardan publishes *Un Naufrage au Texas* in France; later mayor of La Chapelle-Gaugain
1859 - 1859 amnesty opens Cantagrel's return to France (from Switzerland)
1861 - Bürkli returns to Switzerland; becomes a founder of the First International there
1868.04.07 - Louis Louis stages Fourier's 96th-anniversary celebration in New Orleans; cofounds
section 15 of the AIT
1869 - Considérant joins the International on his return to France; Icarians/Cabet followers
launch the Union Républicaine de Langue Française (Saint Louis) → first French IWMA
sections in the USA
1871.11 - Louis Louis dies in New Orleans
1872 - **section 46 of the AIT founded at Dallas** by former colonists; Capy charter member +
secretary-correspondent (Long re-elected Dallas mayor 1872–74)
1873 - Cantagrel runs the Vienna-Exhibition trades-delegate election (Paris)
1874 - Santerre writes in an IWMA paper that he is still "in favor of integral association"
1875 - Chrétien sends a Fourierist declaration to the *Bulletin de l'Union républicaine* (NY);
Cantagrel becomes an alderman of Paris (+ National Assembly)
1876 - Communard exiles settle in Iowa among the Icarians
1888/96 - Bessard re-elected mayor of Tournus (1888); succeeded by his son 1896–1908
1893 - Bürkli, at the Zurich congress of the Second International, eulogizes Fourier
```
Sections founded by ex-Réunion colonists: **15 (New Orleans), 46 (Dallas)** — the latter a
CLAUDE.md core theme, dated here for the first time. French-socialist papers they funded:
*Le Socialiste* / *Bulletin de l'Union Républicaine* (NY), *La Commune* (NO), *L'Étoile des
Pauvres* (Neuchatel, Kansas). Godin (≈⅓ of the SCEAT capital lost) later attended a First
International congress while building the Familistère de Guise.