Nicolas Daneau, sieur de Muy, chevalier de St.Louis:
Nicolas was the son of Jacques Daneau & Catherine
Driot, born at St-Martin de Beauvais, Picardie, France in 1651.
In 1678 he attained the rank of captain in the Regiment de
Normandie and in 1685 he arrived in Canada with reinforcements
under Marquis de Denonville. Shortly after (1687) married
Marguerite Boucher (daughter of Pierre
Boucher & Jeanne Crevier) at Boucherville. In summer of
that same year Nicolas was with Governor Denonville on a punitive
expedition into Iroquois country where a force of regular troops,
militia, voyageurs and Indian allies (a total of about 1500)
destroyed Seneca villages near Rochester, New York. With the
Canadian colony suffering the effects of a smallpox/measle
epidemic (est.loss of nearly 1/10th of pop.) and continued
Iroquois attacks the King William's War begins in 1689. Due to
the French attacks on the English, the New England Colonies unite
and sent a fleet of ships from Boston to lay seige on Quebec and
Daneau contributed to the lack of success of the seige. The next
few years Nicolas was apart of the French forces dedicated to
defend Canada against the English and was with the defenders who
were unsuccessfully attacked by a force of Mohawks & Albany
Militia led by Mj. Peter Schuyler in 1691. Another military
expedition into Iroquois country, led by Gov.Frontinac was
accompied by Daneau and his company than later that year he was
sent against the English in Newfoundland. His wife Marguerite
died in 1698 and in 1702 the widower, married Catherine
d'Aillebout des Musseaux. During these years he received
appointments of, commander at Ft.Chambly (1695-1704), Adjutant at
Quebec (1704), awarded by the King the Cross of the Order of
Saint Louis (1706-07) and given the Governorship (1707) of the
vast lands of Louisiana [La Salle claimed for France the
Mississippi River draninage basin on 9 April 1682 naming the
territory Louisiana]. In Jan. 1708 Nicolas died at Havanna, Cuba,
on his way to assume the post of Governor of Louisiana. [DOCKET]
Jacques Pierre Daneau de Muy: (1695-1758)
Jacques was the son of Nicolas Daneau
& Marguerite Boucher. In 1725 he married Louise Genevieve
d'Auteuil (daughter of Francois d'Auteuil & Marie Juchereau).
The Daneau's were already connected with the western fur trade with Jacques grandfather being Pierre Boucher and with his father's marriage to Catherine d'Ailleboust in 1702. This connection with the west was strengthened in 1725, through his wife's mother, whose brothers were Charles Juchereau, sieur de St.Denis/Denys & Louis Juchereau dit St.Denis/Denys and with Marie's sisters marriages to Francois Viennay-Pachot, Francois Dauphin de LaForest, Francois Pollet, sieur de LaCombe LaPocatiere, Pierre Aubert, sieur de Gaspe. Than in 1726 Jacques sister married Rene Robineau de Portneuf, which no doubt further increased his connection to the western fur trade. Jacques was Ensign in the French army in 1724 and by 1730 he was given the command of the Post River St . Joseph [Lt.Nicolas-Antoine Coulon, chevalier de Villiers, was in command of the R.St.Joseph fort in the fall of 1730 when he led a force of about 350 men into Illinois Country for the purpose of meeting forces from the other western French forts on there way to exterminate the Fox Tribe]. While commandant at St. Joseph he made a close study of the plant life of the region. After leaving his command in 1735 he sailed to France in 1736, carrying with him a large collection of specimens to be analyzed for their medicinal properties. He was promoted to Captain in 1748 and like his father, appointed commander of Fort Chambly from 1752 to 1754. In April of 1754 he was decorated with the Saint-Louis Cross and in May appointed to succeeded Pierre Joseph Celoron de Blainville as commander at Fort Pontchartrain (Detroit) [DOCKET]. After decades of relative calm between the European colonies he was being thrusted into a gathering storm on the frontier which was to erupt into the French-Indian War (known to Europe as the Seven Years War).
In late May of 1754, Lt.Col.Geo.Washington attacks and takes the French fort of Du Quesne in the Ohio Valley. By July Washington is forced to retreat from the Ohio Valley by the French & their tribal allies. A year later a massive force of about 2,000 English led by Gen.Edward Braddock are massacred at the foot of Fort Du Quesne by French & Indian tribal allies before they could attempt to retake the fort. By the end of 1758 the French were losing there grip on the Ohio Valley and their Indian alliances were weakening. In November, Brig.Gen.John Forbes forced the French commander at Fort Du Quesne to burn & abandoned the fort.
Daneau and the other French officers who commanded the western fort were successful during the early years of the war due to allied tribal support but he would not live to see the final defeat and surrender of Quebec and the western forts (including Detroit) to the English King.
Pierre-Charles Daneau de Muy: (b.1736)
Pierre was the son of Jacques Pierre Daneau de Muy &
Louise Genevieve d'Auteuil. He married Marie Charotte Reaume on
Nov. 4, 1760 at Fort Detroit. She was the daughter of Pierre
Reaume (1709-1766) & Suzanne Hubert.