Alexandre Francois Auguste de Grasse

Alexandre Francois Auguste de Grasse, known as Auguste de Grasse and Comte de Grasse-Tilly (February 14, 1765 – June 10, 1845), was a French career army officer. He was assigned to the French colony of Saint-Domingue in 1789, where he married in Cap Français, and acquired a plantation and 200 slaves before the Haitian Revolution. Following the Royal Navy's defeat of the French fleet in Saint-Domingue in 1793, de Grasse was allowed to resign his commission and leave with his family and in-laws for Charleston, South Carolina.

There he and several fellow French colonial refugees joined the Freemasons in Charleston, forming a French chapter. In 1796 de Grasse was made a Director Inspector General of Freemasonry in Charleston; in 1801 he was among the eleven founders there of the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite. He was later chosen as Grand Marshal of the South Carolina Ancient Grand Lodge.

De Grasse later returned to France after Napoleon came to power, and was able to resume his military career. He was also instrumental in founding new Scottish Rite councils in Paris and major European cities. In 1840 he published a biography of his father, Notice biographique sur l'amiral comte de Grasse d'après les documents inédits. It included reflections on his own life and experiences in Saint-Domingue and the United States.

Life Alexandre Francois Auguste de Grasse, known as Auguste de Grasse, was baptized in St. Louis Parish, Versailles, France. He had a younger brother Maxime, who became a knight of Malta and died in 1773. He had four younger sisters: Amélie Rosalie Maxime, Adélaide, Mélanie Veronique Maxime, and Silvie de Grasse. His father, François Joseph Paul de Grasse, also known as Comte de Grasse, was a career naval officer who helped rebuild the navy after France's defeat in the Seven Years' War. Their mother Antoinette Rosalie Accaron died young, after the birth of her last child. After Catherine's death, their father married for a third time, to Marie Delphine Lazare de Cibon, who survived him. No response is documented. After stopping at Washington, D.C., the sisters rejoined de Grasse and his family in Charleston. While living there, de Grasse had two of his daughters baptized, probably at St. Mary's Church.

His youngest sister Silvie married M. Francis de Pau, also a French refugee from Saint-Domingue, and they settled in New York City. (She lived to January 5, 1855, age 83, and had two sons and five daughters.) In the summer of 1799, Adélaide died on August 23 and Mélanie died September 19, both of yellow fever

The eight French emigres organized a Consistory of the 25th Degree, or "Princes of the Royal Secret." By 1798 de Grasse was recorded as the Master of La Candeur Masonic Lodge in Charleston. On August 4, 1799, de Grasse demitted from Loge La Candeur. On August 10, he became a founder of Loge La Réunion Française at Charleston.

A few years later in 1801, de Grasse and de La Hogue were among the eleven founders of the first Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite. It was the Mother Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. All other Supreme Councils of the world derive their authority from it. De Grasse was appointed by the Council as Grand Marshal of the South Carolina Ancient Grand Lodge.

1802 February 21 – Brother de Grasse, Deputy Inspector General was appointed by the Supreme Council as the new Grand Inspector General, and Grand Commander of the French West Indies. Establishes a Supreme Council for the West Indies. Also appointed at this time was Illustrious Brother Jean-Baptiste Marie de La Hogue, Deputy Inspector Grand Commander of the West Indies.

Later years

De Grasse returned to France with his family after Napoleon came to power. He was allowed to re-enter the military. In 1816 he was asked to resign, at the age of 51.

He continued his development work with Masons in France and across Europe. In March 1805 he established a Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite for Italy, based in Milan. In October 1809 he established a Supreme Council for Spain, based in Madrid. He was elected as the Grand Commander of the Supreme Council of France, a position he held until 1821, when he resigned. Disagreements had arisen starting in 1818, especially in relation to the Supreme Council of the Grand Orient. France eventually developed three Supreme Councils.

De Grasse published a biography of his father in 1840, as Notice biographique sur l'amiral comte de Grasse d'après les documents inédits. In the book he also described his own journey to the New World, and his time in Cap Francais, Saint-Domingue; and Charleston, South Carolina, in the United States. He describes himself as being "76 years old, a worthy father, and after a life so full, he has reached old age without his rights to the gratitude of his country having ever been recognized." He wrote that as military men, he and his father were both victims of political upheavals in France.

On June 10, 1845, Count de Grasse, Alexandre Francois Auguste, Major, age 80, was registered at the Infirmary de l’Hotel des Invalides (Military Hospital) in Paris. He died around 12:30 AM of chronic bronchial pneumonia.