Later Life
From his command at Natchitoches St. Denis was a troublesome thorn in the side of Spanish Texas. Controversy surrounds his motives to this day. St. Denis insisted that he desired to become a Spanish citizen, and his Spanish wife was proof. Suspicious Spaniards saw him as a covert agent of France. St. Denis contributed greatly to the geographical knowledge of both France and Spain as well as bringing Spanish and French settlements into closer proximity and contact. His contraband trade became a way of life on the frontier and borders of Spanish Texas and French Louisiana.
On 10 January 1743, he wrote to Jean-Frédéric Phélypeaux, comte de Maurepas, at Versailles indicating that he could no longer perform his duties as commandant of Natchitoches. He also asked permission to retire to New Spain with his wife and children, but he was forbidden to do so. St. Denis died at Natchitoches on 11 June 1744. He was survived by his wife and five children, one of whom was married briefly to Athanase de Mézières.
As his two sons did not bear any children of their own, his daughters carried his posterity. His descendants, among others, include: Jefferson J. DeBlanc and Alcibiades DeBlanc, who founded the Knights of the White Camellia.
Read more about this topic: Louis Juchereau De St. Denis
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