Joseph Frederick Wallet Des Barres

Joseph Frederick Wallet DesBarres (22 November 1721 – 27 October 1824) was a Canadian cartographer who served in the Seven Years' War, as the aide-de-camp to General James Wolfe.

DesBarres is perhaps best known as the creator the monumental four-volume Atlantic Neptune, the most important collection of maps, charts and views of North America published in the eighteenth century. He later went on to serve as the Lieutenant-Governor of Cape Breton Colony and later as Lieutenant-Governor of Prince Edward Island.

Colonel DesBarres is buried with his wife under St. George's (Round) Church, Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Early life

DesBarres, who is seen as having lived through important changes in Nova Scotia's history, is thought to have been born in Basel, Switzerland (although Montbéliard has also been suggested), and was a member of a Huguenot family. His parents were Joseph-Leonard Vallet DesBarres and Anne-Catherine Cuvier and he was the eldest of their three children. DesBarres read mathematics and art at the University of Basel, studying under John and Daniel Bernoulli. Upon the completion of his studies he left for England. There he enrolled at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. It was there that DesBarres trained to become a military officer, and studied military surveying. His training would also benefit him later in life for surveying, map making, and coastal charting. In 1756 he was commissioned into the Royal Americans (the 62nd Foot later known as the 60th Foot).

By 1762 he was sent to Newfoundland to survey Harbour Grace and Carbonear and to draw up plans for new harbour defences to replace those destroyed by the French. James Cook was sent as his assistant. (DesBarres may have met Cook earlier at either Louisbourg or Halifax.) . The 1770 Nova Scotia census indicates Castle Frederick had a staff of 41 men, 13 women, 5 boys, and 33 girls. One of the women, Mary Cannon, served as housekeeper and manager of Castle Frederick from 1764 to 1794. She also administered tenant farmers on DesBarres' land holdings of in Tatamagouche, in New Brunswick and approximately in Maccan, Nappan, and Minudie. His Tatamagouche holdings formed the western coastal boundary of the Philadelphia grant.

Atlantic Neptune

DesBarres made many maps of the Atlantic, mapping the coast of North American from Newfoundland to New York. His survey of the coast of Nova Scotia took approximately ten years due its length and intricacy. DesBarres was exasperated with the work, stating "There is scarcely any known shore so much intersected with Bays, Harbours, and Creeks as this is" "and the Offing of it is so full of Islands, Rocks, and Shoals as are almost innumerable." However, at the time of 1784, the population of the island was under 2000, and primarily scattered through various settlements of Mi’kmaq and Acadian communities. According to DesBarres, the island's primary hurdle to prosperity was a lack of population and governing body, which he resolved to rectify. He laid out the original plan of the capital, Sydney.

He was later governor of Prince Edward Island from 1804 to 1812. Dalhousie University has a number of items of Colonel DesBarres in one of its archive collections.

He died at the age of 102, and his date of death is variously given as 24 and 27 October. Colonel DesBarres is buried St. George's (Round) Church, Halifax, Nova Scotia. While he was buried beside his wife Martha, he was survived by his mistress Mary Cannon and their four children. His funeral took place in St. George's (Round) Church in 1824.

Publications Atlantic Neptune (atlas of Eastern North America)

Legacy The following road is named after DesBarres: Des Barres St., Sydney, Nova Scotia