J. Hector St John de Crèvecoeur

Joseph Chaves (University of Northern Colorado)
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Born to Norman minor nobility in 1735, Michel-Guillaume Saint-Jean de Crèvecoeur emigrated to England at age 19, and then, one year later, to Canada, where he worked as a cartographer and surveyor for the French militia. Arriving in upstate New York in 1759, Crèvecoeur continued to travel, working as a surveyor, trapper, and trader. There he changed his name to J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur, and was eventually naturalized as a British citizen. In the 1760s, Crèvecoeur began writing the pieces that would eventually be included in

Letters from an American Farmer

and

Sketches of Eighteenth-Century America

. Set in rural America on the cusp of the Revolution, these pieces celebrate the independence of the yeoman farmer from the hierarchy and corruption of the Old World. A Loyalist,…

1220 words

Citation: Chaves, Joseph. "J. Hector St John de Crèvecoeur". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 October 2006 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1070, accessed 19 March 2024.]

1070 J. Hector St John de Crèvecoeur 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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