Michel-Guillaume Jean de Crèvecoeur
(1735–1813)

Michel-Guillaume Jean de Crèvecoeur wrote under the pen name J. Hector St. John. His writing reveals information about the colonial farmer, the Indians, and the horrors of the revolution.

After working as an officer for the French army in Canada, Crèvecoeur traveled through Ohio and the Great Lakes region, and in 1765, he bought a farm in Orange County, New York. In 1969, he married Mehitable Tippet, the daughter of an American merchant. They had three children.

In 1780, Crèvecoeur tried to sail from New York City to Europe, but he was suspected of being a spy and was sent to prison. He was released from prison after three months and then set sail for Europe with one of his sons. He reached France in 1782. During his time in Europe, Letters from an American Farmer was published in French. He returned to New York in 1783 with an appointment as a French consul. In America, he tragically found that his house had been burned, his wife had died, and his children were in foster care. He was eventually reunited with his children, and although he was faced with such a shocking and tragic situation in America, he continued as a French consul to the United States until 1790.

He spent the rest of his years in France. In 1922, more of Crèvecoeur's letters were found, and three years later they were published as Sketches of Eighteenth Century America.

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