Charles Frederick d’Arensbourg

Charles Frederick d'Arensbourg (sometimes written Darensbourg) (1693–1777) was an early leader in the settlement of the German Coast region of Louisiana. He was born in 1693 in Stockholm to ethnically German parents. His father, Johan Leonard von Arensbourg, was master of the Royal Mint, while his mother, Elisabet-Eleonora Formant-Manderstrom, came from a family that had been ennobled in 1703. He served as an officer in the army of Charles XII of Sweden, and fought at the Battle of Poltava. He later took service with John Law's Mississippi Company, landing in the Louisiana territory in 1721 on the Portefaix accompanied by about thirty other Swedish officers. He was assigned to lead a large band of German settlers who were originally going to settle in Arkansas, but as a result of the failure of Law's company they instead settled in Louisiana near New Orleans, on a concession granted by Governor Bienville. D'Arensbourg settled on a plantation within the concession and married a fellow German settler, Margaret Metzer. He remained in Louisiana the rest of his life, leading the German settler community for more than fifty years. During this time, he took part in the failed uprising against the transfer of the colony to Spanish rule. He was made a Chevalier de St. Louis in 1765. He died in 1777, at the age of 84, having been predeceased by his wife the year before.