Captain Leon Joseph Fremaux
My mother’s ancestry traces back to a middle class family living in Paris, the Fremauxs. Following the French Revolution, the Fremauxs searched for refuge from the political turmoil and for an opportunity to build wealth. Napoleon Joseph Fremaux left France with his parents and immigrated to Louisiana between 1830 and 1840. Napoleon, or Leon for short, arrived in the booming city of New Orleans at the height of his teenage years. He hoped to build a fortune for himself in this new place. Although he never became rich, he was richly blessed with talent.
Leon’s professional talent was engineering. He worked as a clerk for several years in a civil engineering office, until his brother pulled a few strings and landed Leon a job as state engineer. At the height of his career, he had several thousand dollars saved up; however, his luck changed when the Civil War began. Loss caused by war was not new to him, but watching his savings disappear must have been hard all the same. Leon may have been essentially penniless, but he had built quite a reputation. General Beauregard requested that Leon be his captain of engineers as well as the topographical engineer for the Confederates. When the war ended, Leon returned home to Louisiana and his job as state engineer. He began a project to build a new city, Slidell, and drew the original plans for the city, including a street named after himself. Slidell is perhaps his lasting legacy as an engineer, as he is revered as the founding father of the city.
Sitting Bull Sketch and pipe
(photo taken by J.S. Mosby Antiques and Artifacts)
While Leon excelled at engineering, his true passion was in the arts. He was an aspiring artist and often incorporated the trending style of realism that began in post-revolutionary France. He would often sketch the people and life around him. He became one of the first artists to draw and paint ordinary peddlers in the making of his most well-known collection, New Orleans Characters. These paintings highlight the beauty and intrigue of the everyday life in Antebellum New Orleans. Even during the Civil War, his drive to draw would not cease. He made many sketches of fellow soldiers as well as famous and popular people he met, including Sitting Bull. When he was not drawing, he would carve, sculpt, or make up poems. Like many living artists, Leon did not make much money from his art, but since his death, his work has gained value. A collection containing his sketch of Sitting Bull and a pipe he carved with the emblem of the Louisiana Pelican has recently been valued at $10,000. Original copies of New Orleans Characters are rare and well sought after by collectors.
Leon Fremaux is my fourth great grandfather on my mother’s side of the family. My mother’s family is not particularly rich, but they carry on Leon’s attitude towards life – if you can’t be rich, live a rich life. Many of my family members have cultivated deep creative interests that they share with the world or, at the very least, they all seize the day as it comes.
Works Consulted
Céline Frémaux.Garcia, Patrick J. Geary, and Bertram Wyatt-Brown. Céline Remembering
Louisiana: 1850-1871. Athens: U of Georgia, 1987. Print.
J.S. Mosby Antiques & Artifacts: Col. Leon J. Fremaux Group. 2014.
Arriollia Vanney. Slidell. Mount Pleasant: Arcadia, 2014. Print.