A comment today by Anthony Lallaizon to Cipher Mysteries seems to have thrown the Bernardin Nageon de l’Estang timeline up in the air (if not completely out of the window). This definitely required a post of its own! What Anthony found yields a definitive birthdate for Jean Marie Justin Nageon de l’Estang.
Jean Marie Justin who?
The reason this is so interesting is that the Last Will and Testament (reportedly of Bernardin Nageon de l’Estang) describes the writer having hidden some treasure (specifically “richesses de l’Indus“) in an underground cave following a shipwreck in a creek (presumably on Mauritius): but the beneficiary – clearly identified as the author’s nephew – is named (depending on which version you trust) as one of:
- Jean Marius Nageon de l’Estang
- Jean Marin Justin Nageon de l’Estang
- Jean-Marius-Justin Najeon de l’Etang
There have long been unverified genealogical reports that this person was the son of André Ambroise Nageon de l’Estang, giving a speculative birth date of 1770 (and a death date of 1798). The problem was that there was always a suspicion that this might have been fabricated by treasure hunters trying to “prove” a specific theory (normally to get investors to put money into some treasure hunting venture).
The other issue was that this kind of dating ran counter to the long-proposed notion that the author of the Last Testament and Will was Andre Bernardin Nageon de l’Estang. Basically, because Andre Bernardin died in 1750, he could not have left anything to a nephew born 20+ years after his death.
Hence, these baptism details would seem to be a Very Big Deal Indeed.
The Baptism Record
The record is entry number 4 on page 2 of this baptism ledger. The margin identifies the baby’s name:
Baptême de Jean Marie Justin NageonThe main body looks like this:
As you can see, the record has some paper over the right hand edge, making it hard to read the end of the lines, but the vast majority of it is fairly easy to transcribe:
Le quatre janvier mil Sept cent Soixante et dix sept [xxxxxxxxx]Marie Justin né le huit aoust de l’année derniere fils de [Mr Andre xxxxxx]De Lestang et de D[emoise]lle Mathurine Louise Pitel son epouse [xxxxxxxxx]Mr Jean Pierre au frais notaire royal eu cette ville [xxxxxxxxx]D[emoise]lle Marie Thomas Genie epouse de Mr Gerard qua [xxxxxxxxx]le père de lenfantI haven’t had much luck enhancing the obscured sections, but perhaps other people will find cleverer ways to do this.
How Does This Affect The Nageon de l’Estang Timeline?
The letter refers (again, depending on which version you rely upon) to Jean Marie Justin being:
- officier de la réserve
- officier de la République
It is also dated (in Paul Fleuriau-Chateau’s version) as “l’an III de la République”, which ran from 22 September 1794 to 22 September 1795. These two data points were always hard to reconcile with Andre Bernardin Nageon de l’Estang’s decease in 1750: which is indeed why Daniel Krieg felt confident to reject the ‘conventional wisdom’ that Andre Bernardin Nageon de l’Estang was the writer.
Now that we have a definite birth date for Jean Marie Justin Nageon de l’Estang (8 August 1776, as opposed to the previously suggested 8 August 1770), these details all seem to gel that much better. For Jean Marie Justin to be an “officier” of anything, he could not feasibly be younger than (I guess) sixteen. This implies that that the earliest feasible date for the letter was likely 1792, and probably a couple of years later. So I have to say that “l’an III de la République” does seem pretty spot on. “20 floréal an III” would be 9th May 1795. Regardless, I’ve seen it claimed that Jean Marie Justin died in 1798, which would seem to be a likely latest date for this letter too.
The Nageon de l’Estang family tree looks (mainly from here) like this:
- Andre Bernardin Nageon de l’Estang (~1716-1750) – married Mathurine Metayer
- Andre Ambroise Nageon de l’Estang (1745-1798) – married Mathurine Louise Pitel
- Marguerite Appoline Pelagie Nageon de l’Estang (1770-1779)
- Jean Marie Justin Nageon de l’Estang (1776-1798?)
- Clémentine Françoise Nageon de l’Estang (1778-????) [according to this]
- Andre Francois Nageon de l’Estang (1783-1823)
- Etienne Olivier Nageon de l’Estang (1791-1856)
- Andre Ambroise Nageon de l’Estang (1745-1798) – married Mathurine Louise Pitel
From this, we can say for certain (I think) that neither Andre Bernardin nor Andre Ambroise was the testament writer. In which case the only reasonable conclusion is that it was an unrecorded son of Andre Bernardin, who has somehow remained absent from the historical records.
More to follow as I think this through!
http://anom.archivesnationales.culture.gouv.fr/caomec2/osd.php?territoire=ILE%20DE%20FRANCE&commune=PORT-LOUIS&annee=1746
Here’s a brother of Ambroise, son of Bernardin. Page 16
He appears in “Maurel genealogy”
But as i’ve said i can’t find his “death certificate” (21th march 1756, at Port Louis too, according Maurel)
http://anom.archivesnationales.culture.gouv.fr/caomec2/osd.php?territoire=ILE%20DE%20FRANCE&commune=PORT-LOUIS&annee=1756
Here’s on page21.
Maurel and his friends have made a mistake: it’s not Louis Noel who is dead but Nicolas (houmé?) who was on of his slaves or something like that. That’s clear it’s not Louis Noel!!
So Louis Noel is born in Port Louis in 1746 but there’s no proof of his death in 1756.
So he’s the son Bernardin and he’s the brother of André Ambroise and so…..
So sorry, Nicolas AND louis Noel (and Jeanne Laboue) are dead.
there must be another nageon of this generation somewhere (brother of Louis Noel therefore), ideally having for initials B N
Maurel and his friends are right, and i was wrong on this point.
anthony LALLAIZON: what page is Louis Noel’s actual death record on? I looked through to the end of that ledger but didn’t see it. 🙁
Page 21 , on the left page
“Number” 43 between Nicolas and Jeanne
anthony LALLAIZON: ouch, yes, I read that too hastily, sorry, you are correct. 🙁
Hello Nick, i’ve found in “La Marine sous Louis xvi” written by Commandant Alain Demerliac (in pdf for 10 euros) ceci:
Page 149 “Brick anglais de 130 tonneaux pris dans l’océan indien 7/1782 par La Fine. Mené sur rade de Tranquebar. Vers 4/1783, vendu à la Course à L’Ile de France”.
Page 197 (same boat):Brick corsaire armé à l’ile de France en 5/1783. Commandant Jacques-François Desauty 130 tonneaux , 8 hommes, 10 canons.
May be in 1782 there was no treasure on the Indus but only rice but Nageon never wrote that the Indus was already full of treasure on board when it was taken. There is a significant chance that Desauty was the captain who died in his arms.
Nageon was working on these treasures, thanks to the indus, but he ran aground his boat during his operations, saving the essentials and losing a lot.
I would add that corsair ships, at that time, were smaller than what we think. According to what i’ve read, a brick was good for that purpose.
p.s, brick must be a brig in english
In “Dictionnary of maurician biography” (Toussaint), it seems Desauty died around 1814. He was probably ( i don’t have full access to the book) not the “dying captain”.
https://www.furet.com/media/pdf/feuilletage/9/7/8/2/0/7/2/3/9782072382116.pdf
Here in “Journal du Chercheur d’Or” NRF (from page1 to 6), Le Clézio writes about the fact that Nageon was the second in command of a certain Lemoine…
Dans “Dictionary of Maurician Biography” (Toussaint), il semble que Desauty soit mort aux environs de 1814. Dans ce cas, il n’est pas le capitaine qui donne les infos à Nageon avant de mourir.
https://www.furet.com/media/pdf/feuilletage/9/7/8/2/0/7/2/3/9782072382116.pdf
Ici dans NRF (Journal d’un Chercheur d’Or), page 1 à 6, Le Clézio évoque le “fait” que Nageon était le second d’un certain Lemoine et donne des “informations” inédites sur l’affaire…
I did a mistake, it is not : “130 tonneaux, 8 hommes, 10 canons” but “130 tonneaux, 28 hommes, 10 canons” (in Demerliac ” La Marine sous Louis xvi”)