View source for Joseph Frederick Wallet DesBarres

{{Short description|Swiss cartographer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2021}}
[[File:WalletDesBarres2.jpg|right|thumb|300px|DesBarres]]

'''Joseph Frederick Wallet DesBarres''' (22 November 1721 – 27 October 1824)<ref>{{Cite book|title=Tooley's Dictionary of Mapmakers|publisher=Map Collector Publications Limited|year=1999|isbn=0906430143|editor-last=French|editor-first=Josephine|location=Tring, England|pages=360}}</ref> was a Canadian [[cartographer]] who served in the [[Seven Years' War]], as the [[aide-de-camp]] to [[General]] [[James Wolfe]].<ref name=DCB>{{cite DCB |url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/desbarres_joseph_frederick_wallet_6E.html |title= DesBarres, Joseph Frederick Wallet |first=R. J. |last=Morgan |volume=6}}</ref> 

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.<ref>The Atlantic Neptune Lloyd A. Brown The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography Vol. 67, No. 4 (Oct. 1943), pp. 377–381 Published by: The Historical Society of Pennsylvania</ref> He later went on to serve as the Lieutenant-Governor of [[Cape Breton Island#Colony of Cape Breton|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]].<ref name="Lockett">Jerry Lockett. ''Captain James Cook in Atlantic Canada''. The adventurer & Map Maker's Formative Years. Formac Publishing Company Limited, Halifax, NS. 2011.</ref>{{rp|112}} There he enrolled at the [[Royal Military Academy, Woolwich]]. It was there that DesBarres trained to become a [[Officer (armed forces)|military officer]], and studied military surveying. His training would also benefit him later in life for [[surveying]], [[Cartography|map making]], and coastal charting. In 1756 he was commissioned into the Royal Americans (the 62nd Foot later known as the [[60th Foot]]).<ref name=DCB/><ref name="Lockett"/>{{rp|112}}

===Seven Years' War===
{{further|Great Britain in the Seven Years' War}}
[[File:Joseph Frederick Wallet DesBarres Monument, St. George's Church, Halifax, Nova Scotia.jpg|thumb|Joseph Frederick Wallet DesBarres Monument, [[St. George's (Round) Church, Halifax, Nova Scotia]]]]
In 1756 DesBarres sailed to North America and was with [[Edward Boscawen]]'s fleet when it attacked the [[Fortress of Louisbourg]] in 1758. He distinguished himself by capturing a French entrenchment at Kennington Cove.<ref name="Lockett"/>{{rp|54}} Soon he was put to work charting the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the approaches to Quebec, information that would be used the following year in [[James Wolfe]]'s assault on the City of Quebec. In 1760 he was at Halifax to prepare plans for the city's defences and naval yard.{{cn|date=November 2022}}

[[Jonathan Binney]] and DesBarres met the [[Mi'kmaw]] chiefs at [[Arichat, Nova Scotia]], in 1761, and concluded a lasting peace.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://gwydir.demon.co.uk/jo/genealogy/binney/jonathan.htm |title=Obituary |access-date=10 September 2016 |archive-date=24 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130124200804/http://gwydir.demon.co.uk/jo/genealogy/binney/jonathan.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

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.)<ref name="Lockett"/>{{rp|111}}

==Castle Frederick==
DesBarres established an {{convert|8000|acre|adj=on}} estate at [[Falmouth, Nova Scotia]], known as Castle Frederick, which served as his base of operations from 1764 until he returned to England in 1773. The 1770 Nova Scotia census indicates Castle Frederick had a staff of 41 men, 13 women, 5 boys, and 33 girls.<ref>1770 census of Falmouth, Nova Scotia</ref> 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 {{cvt|20000|acre}} in [[Tatamagouche]], {{cvt|40000|acre}} in [[New Brunswick]] and approximately {{cvt|15000|acre}} in [[Maccan]], [[Nappan]], and [[Minudie]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/Acadiensis/article/viewFile/11188/11924 |title=A Man and his Mistress: J.F.W. DesBarres and Mary Cannon |last=Kernaghan |first=Lois |access-date=1 May 2017 }}</ref> His Tatamagouche holdings formed the western coastal boundary of the [[Philadelphia grant]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Patterson |first=George |title=A History of the County of Pictou, Nova Scotia |publisher=Dawson Brothers |date=1877 |location=Montreal |page=53 }}</ref>

==Atlantic Neptune==
{{main|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."<ref name="Lockett"/>{{rp|115}} The survey work was carried out in the summer and in the winter he would retire to Castle Frederick to complete his charts and drawings. His most notable work is the ''Atlantic Neptune''. In 1774 under direction for the British Admiralty, DesBarres compiled and edited his and many others' charts and maps of eastern North America. The completed work was published in 1777, having cost the Admiralty an estimated £100,000.<ref name="Lockett"/>{{rp|187}}

== Governor ==
[[File:Joseph Frederick Wallet DesBarres Statue, Sydney, Nova Scotia.jpg|thumb|Joseph Frederick Wallet DesBarres with [[Atlantic Neptune]] maps, Sydney, Nova Scotia]]
To accommodate the arrival of the [[United Empire Loyalists]], Cape Breton was created as a separate colony from Nova Scotia (as was New Brunswick) and DesBarres served as the [[lieutenant governor]] of [[Cape Breton Island#Colony of Cape Breton|Cape Breton]] from 1784 to 1787. He laid out the original plan of the capital, [[Sydney, Nova Scotia|Sydney]].<ref>Douglas B. Foster, "Des Barres the Town Planner" The ''Nova Scotia Historical Quarterly'', Volume 5, Number 2, 1985</ref> 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.{{citation needed|date=January 2018}}

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.<ref>{{cite DCB |title=Cannon, Mary |first=Lois |last=Kernaghan |volume=6 |url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/cannon_mary_6E.html}}</ref> His funeral took place in St. George's (Round) Church in 1824.{{citation needed|date=January 2018}}

==Publications==
* ''[[Atlantic Neptune]]'' (atlas of Eastern North America)

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

== See also ==
* [[Military history of Nova Scotia]]
* [[List of cartographers]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Stephen J. Horns. ''Surveyors of Empire: Samuel Holland, J.F.W. Des Barres, and the Making of The Atlantic Neptune.'' McGill/ Queen's University Press. 2011.
* LD Kernaghana. A Man and his Mistress: J.F.W. Des Barres and Mary Cannon. Acadiensis. 1981 
* Evans, G.N.D, ''Uncommon Obdurate: The several public careers of J. F. W. Des Barres'', Boston/Toronto: Peabody Museum/University of Toronto Press, 1969
* Bird, Will, ''an Earl Must Have a Wife'', Toronto: [[Clarke, Irwin & Company|Clarke Irwin]], 1969
* The ''Nova Scotia Historical Quarterly'', Volume 5, Number 2, 1985, contains several articles about Des Barres:
:*Robert J, Morgan, "Des Barres the Founder"
:*Stephen B. MacPhee, "Des Barres and His Contemporary Mapmakers"
:*Douglas B. Foster, "Des Barres the Town Planner"
:*Lois K. Kernaghan, "'A Most Excentric Genius': The Private Life of J. F. W. Des Barres"
:*Mary Ellen Wright, "'You come late Monsieur le'Governor. Why you not come before?'"

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100625022550/http://museum.gov.ns.ca/arch/sites/castle/ Archaeological excavations of his home, Castle Frederick]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120627045359/http://www.gracegalleries.com/Atlantic_Neptune.htm The Atlantic Neptune]

{{S-start}}
{{S-office}}
{{s-new |office |reason=Separated from Nova Scotia}}
{{s-ttl |title=[[List of lieutenant governors of Nova Scotia#Lieutenant governors of Cape Breton Island, 1784–1820|Lieutenant Governor of Cape Breton Island]] |years=1787–1815}}
{{s-aft |after=[[William Macarmick]]}}
{{s-end}}

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{{PELG}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Des Barres, Joseph Frederick Wallet}}
[[Category:1824 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Basel-Stadt]]
[[Category:Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich]]
[[Category:Swiss cartographers]]
[[Category:Canadian cartographers]]
[[Category:Canadian men centenarians]]
[[Category:Swiss men centenarians]]
[[Category:Lieutenant governors of Cape Breton Island]]
[[Category:Swiss military engineers]]
[[Category:Canadian military engineers]]
[[Category:Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada)]]
[[Category:Royal American Regiment officers]]
[[Category:Lieutenant governors of the Colony of Prince Edward Island]]
[[Category:18th-century Swiss military personnel]]
[[Category:19th-century Swiss military personnel]]
[[Category:1720s births]]
[[Category:Swiss emigrants to pre-Confederation Canada]]