Frenchtown NJ History: The Malletian Era

French Town NJ is named for a man who came here from Paris France at the time of the French Revolution. This man, Paul Henri Mallet was born in 1756 in Switzerland to an illustrious banking family with old French roots. Paul's French Huguenot ancestor, Jacque Mallet had fled Rouen France to Geneva to escape religious persecution in 1530.

When the French Revolution broke out, Mallet fled the country and came to Alexandria Township where he purchased a 1,000 acre farm. Mallet spoke French, so everyone assumed he was French. For that reason locals started calling this place Frenchtown. His story is examined in more detail below, as we tell the story of this era of French Town New Jersey history.

Frenchtown NJ, and The Case of Mallet's Mistaken Identity

Before we can begin to tell the story of Mallet in Frenchtown it is necessary that we first attempt to clear up some issues of mistaken identity that have surrounded this man for two centuries. Our source for our story of this man comes from

The first issue is of the proper name of Paul Henri Mallet. The story of his name and it's misuse goes back to where Mallet was born in Geneva Switzerland. It was customary in Geneva in the 18th Century to use double or hyphenated names in order to distinguish between different lines of families. In practice, a man with several brothers and cousins in the same city would need some way to differentiate himself from his relatives. When a man would marry he often would be referred to by his surname with his wife's name added as a second or hyphenated name. Such is the case of Mallet-Prevost. It is Mallet which is the surname. Paul Henri Mallet and his father were both referred to in this manner. Henri Mallet had married Jeanne Gabrielle Prevost and he was thereafter referred to in society as Henri Mallet-Prevost. His son was likewise referred to as Paul Henri Mallet-Prevost. This tradition was used during the time that Paul was in Geneva, and when he later moved to France and subsequently to America. In Geneva and Paris, it was understood what his proper name was.

It was in America that this hyphenated name became a problem that he would face his entire life. Upon arriving in America he introduced himself as he always had in Europe, as Paul Henri-Mallet Prevost. His neighbors in New Jersey at the time were not used to double or hyphenated names and they simply assumed his surname to be Prevost and not Mallet. He was never able to right this issue and it was only after his death in 1835, that his lifelong friend Albert Gallatin wrote an affidavit to finally resolve the issue. In legal matters, the matter was finally cleared up, in the everyday life of the town that he founded however, the attempt to prove his true identity and name has never succeeded. To this day in speaking with anyone in Frenchtown about Mallet you will hear him referred to as Prevost, even his famous house in town still goes by the name of Prevost House, not Mallet House. It is in deference to his own wishes that we refer to this important man of Frenchtown New Jersey as Paul Henri Mallet.

The second issue is of the true nationality of Paul Henri Mallet. The man who Frenchtown is named after in the strictest sense of the term was not French at all, he was Swiss, but the controversy does not stop there, and the story is a fascinating but confusing one. In many ways no Frenchman could ever be more French than Mallet himself. In his heritage, his professional life, his social life, and in his politics he was a French man.

In his heritage, Mallet's family was not native to Switzerland even though they had lived there for 6 generations. Mallet's ancestor Jacques Mallet had been born and lived in Rouen in the Normandie (Normandy) region of France. Sometime around 1558 Jacques Mallet has escaped France to avoid religious persecution as a Huguenot. Mallet the misidentified Frenchman, has a family tree who roots come out of French soil not Swiss.

In his professional life, he made his mark in the world, in France. At an early age he worked as a clerk in his Uncle Bontems Bank in Geneva. At the age of 32, in 1788, he and his family moved to Paris to work in his Uncle Bontems new bank: Bontems, Mallet Brothers and Company or in French: Bontems, Mallet Freres et Cie. He was well respected in Paris and was considered for many important government positions, including Comptroller General of the Treasury. As the French Revolution ensued, Paul Henri entered the Republican Army.

In his social life, Mallet was to come to a well respected and well connected position in Paris, having been on friendly terms with many members of the class of French nobility and aristocracy. In Geneva he had met and become friends with the Baron de Castelnac, who was French Resident Minister from 1770 to 1780. He also had friendly contacts with the Duchess of Albany, the Viscomte de Beauharnais, the Mareschal Duc de Chatelet, the Comte d'Estaing, and the Marquis de Blacons.

In his political views, Mallet was somehow destined to have to leave Paris. From his earliest time there, he was stuck in the middle of two opposing political world views. His closest acquaintances were well known and situated members of the aristocracy. His heart however drew him to side with the members of French society that yearned for change: the intellectuals and the common peasant class that were calling for more power to affect change in their own country. He knew several of the members of the National Assembly that were working to implement these changes and was even considered for important positions in the group. The picture we have of this man at this time is one who was at home in the world of the aristocrat that saw the abuses of the status quo of the monarchy in France. He was at home with those members of the revolution that were seeking to make transitional changes in the republican Assembly. This living in two worlds could not last for long.

August 10 1792, the critical moment of change for Mallet came, when the radical Commune de Paris replaced the National Assembly, took the royal family prisoner, and the King's Swiss Guards were massacred. As a member of the military, Mallet took the only action he could in love of and loyalty to the place he was born and to the men that were his friends amongst the guards. He fought and succeeded in saving the lives of several of the men. For this action he now knew that his own and his family's lives were in danger. He sent the family to St. Andre near the coast, later to be with him at Strasbourg, and then to Epinal for their safety when Strasbourg was being attacked. It was here that he got the fateful news that an order had been issued for his arrest, and his name was on the list of those headed for the guillotine.

On December 10 1793, Mallet began his escape after sending a messenger to be sent to his family to rendezvous with him. He ordered up a calvary which he headed as the commander under pretense of scouting out the Prussian encampment. They rode out towards a high bluff, and at a short distance from the edge he ordered his troops to stop while he advanced forward with his aide and secretary Nicholas Louis Toulaine Dufresnaye (Defresnoye/Dufresne). At just the right moment, Mallet and Dufresnaye leapt over the precipice and plunged down the bluff narrowly escaping injury. The troops in bewilderment rushed to the edge to follow their commander. In seeing the deep descent of the bluff, they halted in fear, but soon realized their leader was going awol. The troops started to fire after the two men but it was too late. Mallet and his aide were well out of reach.

On January 1 1794, Mallet's family arrived in Geneva, only to have to run again to the Bernese region of Switzerland for safety. Mallet at this point left his family at the home of an old loyal friend Baron Hoghieres, and traveled to Germany, Holland, and England. In this tortuous trek all over Europe, he was detained several times as a French spy. In June of 1794, he left England on his journey to freedom and peace in America. From England he set sail for the port of New York City. Little is known of Mallet's journey or arrival in New York City. Nothing is known of him until he turns up in Alexandria (Frenchtown) New Jersey later in the year to buy a piece of property.

On December 4 1794, Paul Henri Mallet with his secretary and aide, Nicholas Louis Toulaine Dufresnaye purchase 968 acres in and around Frenchtown New Jersey from Thomas Lowrey. The details of the transaction we have recounted on the Quicksilver Era page as Mallet got the best of the sly old land dealer Lowrey.

July 1795, Mallet's family joins him in Alexandria. It was about this time that Mallet had built a house on what is today Trenton Avenue. This rare early brick house was built sometime in 1795 by Captain William Conner and is Frenchtown's oldest surviving building. Mallet built a series of other homes, the most prominent of which was a grand house on the river with an expansive yard that stretched in those days all the way to the bank of the Delaware. This house, in a much altered form still stands on Front Street today. In terms of commercial buildings, Mallet is credited with the construction an inn at the site of the Frenchtown Inn during this same period also (circa 1805).

From 1795 to 1810 we know little of Mallet's life. It is said lived a quiet life here on the Delaware River away from his former aristocratic life. He was well respected in the community as he served as Justice of the Peace and a lay member of the Hunterdon County Court. Mallet had three sons that lived in Frenchtown at one point: Andrew Mallet, Henry Mallet, and Louis Mallet. Andrew and Henry left Frenchtown at an early age and moved to Philadelphia. Louis lived near his father for years. The life of Frenchtown during this period was a quiet one itself. Besides the building done by Mallet, not much else had changed.

In 1810, Mallet's wife, Jeanne Elizabeth Patry died and some 23 years later, in 1833 Paul Henri Mallet died and was buried on a plot of land across the street from where he lived. This plot of land is now the Frenchtown Cemetery on Trenton Avenue. After his death, Mallet's sons began to sell off parts of their father's vast holdings of land in and around Frenchtown. It was this movement which was the catalyst for a new era in Frenchtown's history. The town would now begin to grow as it never had before.

Also in 1833, the Delaware Canal opened on the Pennsylvania side of the river. This was to change the complexion of Frenchtown almost as nothing had previously done. Because products could be shipped downriver so cheaply by means of the canal, local farmers began to come to Frenchtown to trade their goods rather than Flemington or Somerville. The ferry would carry their products easily across the Delaware River to the canal in Bucks County, to be transported downriver to Philadelphia.

In 1836, the Malletian brothers sell a large 182 acre tract of land to Hugh Capner on the north side of Frenchtown. He builds his home here, and lays out streets and building lots to sell to other families in Hunterdon County's new market center, Frenchtown New Jersey. With this sale, the Malletian Era of Frenchtown NJ history comes to a close and the Capner Era of early subdivision begins.

Next ~ Frenchtown NJ History: The Capner Era