Frederick Deveau

Frederick Deveau was born on 29 July 1726 in New Rochelle, Westchester County, New York.² He was the son of Abel Devaux and Magdalena Hunt.¹ According to the Thomas De Voe genealogy, early in life Frederick came into possession of a very fine farm in New Rochelle, which was afterwards increased to above 400 acres through the assistance of his father who lived on the property adjoining to the north. His farm house was of unusual length, said to have been about 70 feet long and over 20 feet wide, built of stone.³

Frederick Deveau married Elizabeth Anthony about 1749 at New Rochelle, Westchester County, New York.³ In 1771, at a Presbyterian worship service in Frederick and Elizabeth's house, Methodism was introduced into the county by the English missionary Joseph Pilmore. Elizabeth, lying sick in an adjacent room, became the first convert to Methodism in New Rochelle; she died two days later.^4,5

Frederick, like many of the Huguenots to whom England had been a friend, was a loyalist during the American Revolution. He fled to New York City, but returned to his farm in New Rochelle after British troops occupied that area. In October 1776, when he resisted a demand that he join a British regiment of "Tory Rangers," the troops occupied his house and forced him to join their party. On 21 October he was taken prisoner by a detachment of American troops; he was confined at Exeter, New Hampshire, and then exchanged, when he sought protection from the British Government.⁶ He was indicted for treason on 10 November 1780, and a judgment signed on 5 July 1783.⁷

Frederick Deveau immigrated in 1783 to Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, where he was granted a large landed property.⁸ The Commissioners of Forfeiture confiscated Frederick's large farm of 324 acres in New Rochelle, and in 1784 the New York State Legislature gave it to Thomas Paine for services rendered during the Revolutionary War.⁸ Paine built a house on this farm, at the top of the hill on the south side of what is now Paine Avenue. In 1908 the house was moved down the hill to 20 Sicard Avenue, where it is now (2004) a museum called the Thomas Paine Cottage.⁹ By 1808 Paine had sold the farm.⁸

Frederick Deveau resided in 1785 at Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, Canada.⁸

Frederick Deveau married Catharine Stearns in 1795.¹⁰ The De Voe genealogy states Mr. Davoue made occasional visits to his birth-place, his relatives, and especially to his son Frederick at New York. In these visits he often expressed a regret that he had taken so active a participation against the Colonial Government; but at that time he thought he was doing his duty in the most loyal manner, while many others in the Town who perhaps were a great deal worse by their spyism and condemning acts against the Whigs, yet at the end of the War they managed to save both their necks and their property.¹⁰

Frederick Deveau died about 1808.¹⁰