Background
Pierre-Jacques Payen de Noyan was born on November 3, 1695 in Montreal, Canada. He was the eldest son of Pierre Payen de Noyan and Catherine Jeanne Le Moyne.
- Photos
- Works
- Photos
- Works
Pierre-Jacques Payen de Noyan
Edit ProfileEducation
Allied through his mother to Bienville and Iberville in Louisiana, and to the Longueuils in Canada, Noyan and his younger brothers were fairly predestined to the colonial service.
Career
Noyan appeared in 1721 as commandant at Fort Frontenac (now Kingston, Ontario), and from that time on, in spite of persistent ill health, was constantly active along the Great Lakes.
A few years later he visited Niagara, reporting on English relations to the Iroquois. He embodied in two memoirs, dated 1730 (post), which were favorably recommended to the attention of the French ministry by the intendant Hocquart. He urged, as a means of keeping the English from the Lakes, the better regulation of trade with the Indians, strict control of the traders, and the establishment of permanent settlements. Not only the fur trade, but the growing of wheat to supply the needs of the posts, the building of boats on the Lakes, and the development of copper and lead mines in the region deserved attention. He advocated in addition to these projects, an attack upon the Fox Indians to put the fear of the French into that tribe and their allies, the Iroquois. In full confidence of his own ability and disinterestedness, he asked for the command at Detroit, a request which was not granted until 1738. In the meantime he was appointed to Michilimackinac, but on the ground of his ill health was sent to Point . .. Chevalure (the later Crown Point), instead.
When finally he went to Detroit, he had some success in establishing "Police, Order, and Love for Agriculture" among its inhabitants, but his greatest service was in keeping the Indians firmly attached to the French. He complained of lack of support from the governor and made himself disliked by a prolonged dispute with other officers over the methods of paying the troops.
He was succeeded by Céloron de Blainville in 1742, and with the reputation of "a man of talent, who has governed well, " returned to Lower Canada.
His influence among the Iroquois, by whom he had been adopted, was of great service as the last struggle with England drew near. He commanded again at Crown Point, at Three Rivers, and in 1758 was sent to Fort Frontenac. Here, with a garrison of fifty men, he was wholly unable to withstand an attack by a force of 3, 000 under Colonel John Bradstreet, to whom he surrendered on August 27. Permitted to go to Montreal on parole, he was soon exchanged for Colonel Peter Schuyler. It was said that Governor Vaudreuil had sacrificed Noyan to cover his own neglect to raise adequate forces.
Noyan's active career was now over. He went to France, and in 1761 was put on trial, with the intendant Bigot and others, for maladministration in Canada, but after a year's imprisonment, he was set free with a judicial admonition and a light fine. Beyond this point nothing has been found concerning his life or death.
Achievements
Personality
Noyan is said to have been a poet, something of a physician, possessed of a sharp wit which made enemies, and a high sense of his own merit.
Connections
Noyan married Louise Catherine d'Aillebout, widow of Jean Baptiste Charly, on November 17, 1731.
