The Small Triumphs of a History Nerd: Timothy Demonbreun Edition

So, there I was, innocently flipping through the Joseph Deraque folder of the

down at the Tennessee State Library and Archives, just trying to figure out why Joseph Deraque and Richard Finnelson would have gone to the trouble of warning Nashville about the pending Indian attack that would be known as the Battle of Buchanan's Station ...

Provine is an interesting dude in his own right. Born in 1867, he was a Presbyterian minister and the editor of the Tennessee Historical Society's journal. His papers are stuffed full of notes and snippets of newspapers and speculation and supposition and facts you know he must have gotten from somewhere, but the original source is long gone. Reading through his papers is like catching up on 100-year-old gossip.

Anyway, so there I am, flipping through the Deraque folder and there's some Timothy Demonbreun stuff mixed in there, because, aside from saving Nashville, the other thing Deraque (Anglicized to Durat then Durard and now some of his descendents are even Girards) is known for is marrying Demonbreun's mistress when Demonbreun's wife decided she was going to move to Nashville from Kaskaskia, if Timothy liked it so much.

And Provine has some notes on Deraque that end

He knew the "Malugins," they came from the up-river country, and were of Portuguese descent & some live near Lavergne on Stones River. Timothy Demonbreun lived with three women as "common-law wives." —his legitimate wife was Agnes Gibeau, the other women were:

1. Elizabeth Himslar

I turn the page to see who the other two are and ...