Charles Joseph de Douglas, K.S.L., Capt. Royal Scots,
Premier Conseiller du Corps de la Noblesse des Provinces de Bugey et
Valromey [said to have been a descendant in the 12th degree (?century) from
Archibald, Earl of Douglas, and presumably son and h. of the Count of
Douglas, Col. of the Languedoc Regt., K.S.L., who d. at Douai 29 Mar.
1748, aged 44], was LORD COUNT OF MOUNT REAL (SEIGNEUR COMTE DE
MONT-REAL) in Bugey.
Son of
Charles, Comte de Douglas, 1689-1750 and Marie de Lilia,
1692-1731
He had three brothers, Capt. Joseph Marie
de Douglas, Royal Scots, K.S.L. ; Francis
Prosper de Douglas, K.S.L., Capt. Languedoc Regt., who m. 1737
Frances Charlotte de la Corme, granddaughter of the Governor of
Mount-Real in Canada, and had issue
Louis Archibald and Charles Luke;
and the Rev. Peter Valentine de Douglas, Deputy to the General Assembly
of the French Clergy 1762, and afterwards Archdeacon and Vicar-General
of Auch.
He is said to have died without an heir.
Translation:
Charles Joseph and Joseph-Marie Chevalier said Douglas belong to an ancient family of Scottish descent, came from Picardy and installed in the Bugey since the seventeenth century. Son of Charles Douglas, trustee of the nobility of Bugey and Marie Lilia, they were born in Montreal near Nantua, as is their brother François-Prosper Douglas. The three brothers served in the regiment of Languedoc. Joseph-Marie enters in 1739 as a cadet before moving to the bodyguards of Villeroy. The elder Charles Joseph enters as a cadet in 1740, became a second lieutenant in 1742 and lieutenant in 1744. François-Prosper is a second lieutenant in 1743, lieutenant in 1744 and in 1746 became captain of a company in the 2nd battalion. Charles Joseph and Marie Joseph pursue their career in the Royal Scots, one as second captain in 1744 and the other as a lieutenant. Both were captured in 1746 after the Battle of Culloden. Charles-Joseph becomes captain of a company in 1748 when his brother became first mate the previous year. In 1751 Charles Joseph abandons his company to his brother who becomes captain, and was appointed Governor of Saint-Claude in 1751
"The
Mississippi Bubble," the great French colonization scheme, financed
and exploited in Paris (1717-1720), by John Law of Lauriston, an
Edinburgh
jeweller, with its tragical collapse, senl many Scots into French
Canada, exiles
of the Jacobite rebellion of 1715. These Scots settled chiefly in the
St. Law-
rence valley, intermarried with the French settlers and left a lasting
impress
upon the language and people of French Canada. We find a Charles Joseph
Douglas, ('mute et Seigneur de Montreal, a prisoner after Culloden; and
Chevalier Johnstone, also a refugee after Culloden, mentions a French
post
at Sillery in command of another Douglas. .Johnstone was the son of an
Edinburgh merchant, a captain in the army of Prince Charles Edward Stew-
art, who escaped to Holland, entered the service of France, and sailed
from
Roche fort in 174* with other Scottish exiles as [?] troops for Cape
Breton
Island. His diaries of the sieges of Louisbourg and Quebec are most
interest-
ing and valuable. How thoroughly these early Scots were absorbed, and
yet
how native traditions persisted is cited by John .Murray Gibbon, who
remarks
that French Canadian villages, where little or no English is spoken, on
gala
occasions have been known to turn ou1 in kilts led by bagpipes; he also
refers
to the astonishment of the early Highland soldiers and settlers at being
ad-
dressed with Gaelic words by the Canadian French.
Comment:
• Not listed as a brother is
Alexandre-Pierre de Mackensie-Douglas or Mackenzie-Douglas, baron de Kildin,
the French spy/diplomat. But it is possible he was.
Notes:
1. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Auch-Condom-Lectoure-Lombez,
more commonly known as the Archdiocese of Auch, is an archdiocese of the
Latin Rite of the Catholic Church in France. The archdiocese now
comprises the department of Gers in south-west France.
See also:
•
The Douglas family in France |
