Jacques Le Tort

Jacques Le Tort (c. 1651 – c. 1702) was a French-Canadian fur trapper, trader, explorer and entrepreneur who spent much of his life in the Province of Pennsylvania engaged in the fur trade. He collaborated with other French-Canadians living there at the time, including Peter Bisaillon and Martin Chartier, as well as the future mayor of Philadelphia, James Logan. By the late 1690s he had become wealthy and somewhat notorious; the Provincial authorities had his wife arrested on suspicion of conspiring with the French to take control of Pennsylvania territory, although no charges were ever proven. He disappeared following a trip to England in 1702 and is presumed to have died at sea. His wife Anne Le Tort and his son James Le Tort took over his business after his death.

Birth and immigration to America

Le Tort was born in Bonnétable (dept. of Sarthe). He became a Huguenot refugee who arrived in New France in 1686. A letter of recommendation dated 1 January 1686 gives his age as 35, so it is inferred that he was born in 1651. The letter also refers to him as "Sieur" ("Lordship"), a title generally used for landowners of elevated social status. Several Pennsylvania documents refer to him as "Captain Le Tort," although the reasons for this are unclear. His wife Anne, his young son James, and two uncles came from France with him, spending a few months in London before embarking for Quebec. A second son, Francis was born soon after their arrival. leasing 400 acres from Coxe and establishing a trading post on the Schuylkill, near the present site of Spring City, Pennsylvania. Coxe founded the New Mediterranean Sea Company in hopes of expanding his business, but could not secure authorization from William Penn, as the British were concerned that competition would reduce fur prices and affect their profits. In 1687 Coxe sent a large quantity of trade goods from England to stock Le Tort's trading post, writing to his agent in Philadelphia:

Sir, I had ordred a Cargoe of Sortable Commodities...which Cargoe Cost here in England att best hand above six hundred pounds...I desire you would lett Monsieur Le Tort and those on my Plantation know that...I have sent all necessaries both for themselves & Indian Trafick and I have ordred my Agent to intrust Mr Le Tort with goods to a considerable vallue...Mr Le Tort hath desired mee to intrust him wth some goods & hath faithfully promised returne of furrs to a good vallue in ye Spring.

Anxious to establish relations with Native American tribes further west, Coxe encouraged Le Tort and his neighbors to make contact with communities in the Ohio Valley and along the upper Mississippi.

Journey west 1722 map of Carolana probably based partly on a map drawn by Jacques Le Tort during his 1687-88 journey up the Meschacebe (Mississippi) River. 350px In 1687 or 1688 Le Tort and two other men, probably Huguenots, made their way by canoe up the Susquehanna River, portaged to the Allegheny River, descended the Ohio River to the Mississippi and ascended the "great yellow river," probably the Missouri River. Le Tort's journal and the map were loaned to William Penn and disappeared. One of Le Tort's two companions on this journey may have been his fellow countryman Peter Bisaillon, who had traveled down the Mississippi in 1686 with Henri de Tonti. In 1688 Le Tort hired Bisaillon to assist him at his trading post in Pennsylvania.

Le Tort evidently did not arrive in England until after 4 March 1692, when Coxe had sold all of his land holdings in North America, and had sold his business interests to the London Company. They were harassed, arrested and imprisoned, often on false or minor charges.

During Le Tort's absence, his wife was summoned to Philadelphia (together with Peter Bisaillon, and another Huguenot named Captain John Dubrois) and accused on 19 December 1693 before the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania of having carried on a secret correspondence in the year before with "the strange Indians called the Shall-Narooners (Shawnees) and the French of Canada." Anne Le Tort was given until February 6 to respond before the council, during which time her husband Jacques returned from England and appeared with her in Philadelphia. The accusation, by Thomas Jenner and Polycarpus Rose, stated that Anne Le Tort had predicted that the French would come "to take away land from the English," that she had frequent visits from "strange Indians whose language they could not understand," and that she had left a mysterious packet wrapped up in a blue linen cloth, which was then picked up by "James the Frenchman." They also stated that on one occasion she had assaulted Polycarpus Rose with a horsewhip. Le Tort countered the accusations, denying that she had uttered any statement about the French, admitting that she had visits from "strange Indians" as she was operating a fur trading business, identifying the packet as her account book showing the debts owed to her by the Indians, and justifying the attack on the grounds that Rose and Jenner were stealing business from her by trading liquor to the Indians for furs. A map titled "A Draught of the Susquehanna River in 1701, made by Isaac Taylor, Surveyor of Chester County" locates "J. Le Tort's store" at the site of the borough of Northumberland, Pennsylvania.

Using their connections with Native American communities, Le Tort, Bisaillon and Chartier posed a threat to other local fur traders, and soon there were complaints.

Second journey to Europe and death On 4 May 1696 Casperus Augustine Herman, son of Augustine Herman and Lord of Bohemia Manor, wrote to the Maryland Provincial Council that "Peter Basilion does now live at St. John's, in Chester County, Pennsylvania, but formerly lived thirty miles backwards from any inhabitants, where he treated with the Indians, and was then reported that...Capt. Le Tort, a Frenchman, does now live back in the woods in the same place where the said Basilion formerly lived, and trades with the Indians." This indicates that Bisaillon decided to move out of the backcountry, closer to a town such as Downingtown, while his colleague Jacques Le Tort took over the direct trade with the Native Americans who supplied most of their furs.

On June 26, 1696 Governor Markham wrote to Governor Francis Nicholson of Maryland that "It is not many days since that [Le Tort] went to Burlington to make up his account with the agent [of the West Jersey Company], intending to soon as conveniently can for England." Le Tort was planning to accompany another shipment of furs to London for sale. One source reports that on this journey Le Tort's ship was captured by pirates and he may have been killed A second letter dated 4 May 1702, is signed by Jacques Le Tort. He addresses a controversy over Penn's commerce with "French Indians" in Pennsylvania, opening his letter with:I thought it my duty to write to you, since no one is better qualified than I, after 16 or 17 years since the persecution in France forced me to your Province, especially as regards the affairs of the Indians, amongst whom I have lived and traded all that time. close to what is now Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and another on the Allegheny River. Logan's letter to Taylor says, in part:

Loving ffriend. Thou wilt receive from Peter Bizaillon himself the warrants on orders for surveying a thousand acres of land...in executing of which I doubt it will be difficult to reconcile his and Anne Le Tort's expectations, but I request thee to use thy endeavours...I am very desirous the old gentlewoman should have some land that she may be fixed, and leave something to her grandchildren. Pray see that it be laid out of a sufficient depth; I think a mile and a half or a quarter, at least, is little enough, but this is left to thee...J. Le Tort is to have 500 acres laid out in the same manner. Thy real friend, J. LOGAN.

Anne Le Tort died before 19 November 1720 when papers of Administration were filed in Chester County.