Paul Pecquet du Bellet

Pierre-Paul Pecquet du Bellet (or du Bellay) (April 6, 1816January 21, 1884) was an American attorney, author, and unofficial diplomatic agent of the Confederate States of America in France. Early life, family and career Pierre-Paul Pecquet du Bellet is first mentioned as being born in New Orleans on April 6, 1816. His father, Dr. Joseph du Bellet, had left France in 1793 and moved to Saint-Domingue following the French Revolution. He later moved to New Orleans following the Haitian Revolution. He eliminated the aristocratic "du Bellet" from his name in New Orleans and became known simply as Joseph Pecquet. He married a widow and purchased a plantation in Louisiana where his two sons, Pierre-Paul and Pierre-François, were born. Both brothers later married two sisters. Pierre-Paul Pecquet du Bellet married Sarah Anne Elisabeth Moncure, born in Richmond in September 1826 and died in Paris in December 1914. Pierre-Paul is registered as living in New Orleans at 70 Royal Street in the 1827 and 1842 New Orleans Directory and Registry. The 1842 registry describes him as a "Student-at-Law". Cohen's New Orleans Directory for the years 1851-1855 lists him as an attorney with offices at 45 Camp Street and living at 42 Rampart Street. He later moved to Paris around the year 1856 and stated, in an 1871 article in "Le Salut des Peuples Européens", that he had been living in France for the last 15 years. His brother, Pierre-François, later became a plantation owner in Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana.