Henri de tonti biography for kids
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| Document Number: | AJ-053 |
| Author: | Tonti, Henri de, labour 1704 |
| Title: | Memoir taste La Salle�s Discoveries, 1678-1690 |
| Source: | Kellogg, Louise P. (editor). Entirely Narratives have fun the Point, 1634-1699. (New York: River Scribner's Module, 1917). Pages 283-322. |
| Pages/Illustrations: | 42 / 0 |
| Citable URL: | www.americanjourneys.org/aj-053/ |
Author Note
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Henri de Tonti (1649–1704)
Henri de Tonti helped establish the first permanent European settlement in the lower Mississippi River Valley in 1686. It was called the Poste aux Arkansas, or Arkansas Post. As a result, de Tonti is often called the “father of Arkansas.” Although Italian by birth, de Tonti is associated with French exploration. He received notoriety as an explorer in the Great Lakes Region and Mississippi River Valley with his friend, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, at a time when the French were establishing trade monopolies in parts of North America to compete with the English and Spanish.
Henri de Tonti was born around 1649 near Gaeta, Italy, to Lorenzo de Tonti and Isabelle di Lietto. The family moved to Paris, France, soon after his birth so that his father could escape being persecuted in an unsuccessful revolt against the Spanish viceroy in Naples. In 1668, while still a youth, de Tonti enlisted in the French army and served as a cadet. Later, he served in the French navy and lost his right hand in a grenade explosion during the Sicilian wars. He substituted a metal hook, over which he wore a glove, thus earning him the nickname, the “Iron Hand.”
De Tonti first came to North America with La Salle in 1678 and was placed in charge of several French
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TONTY, HENRI (de), voyageur, trading post commander, officer in the colonial regular troops; b. 1649–50, place unknown, eldest son of Lorenzo de Tonty, the inventor of the “tontine” system of life annuity, and Isabelle di Lietto, Neapolitans who sought asylum in France after being involved in an unsuccessful revolt against the Spanish viceroy, the Duke of Arcos; d. September 1704, at Fort Louis-de-la-Louisiane, about 25 miles upriver from the present Mobile, Ala.
Tonty had two younger brothers, one of whom, Alphonse Tonty, came to Canada in about 1684–85, settled in Montreal, and became associated with the fur trade. The Tontys were cousins of Daniel Greysolon Dulhut and Claude Greysolon de La Tourette, both of whom made names for themselves in the new world.
In 1668–69, Henri served in the French army as a cadet. During the following four years he was a midshipman at Marseilles and Toulon, participating in seven campaigns at sea, four in warships and three in galleys. Sent to Sicily, he was made captain-lieutenant to the maître de camp at Messina. At “Libisso”, during a Spanish attack, his right hand was shot away by a grenade and he was taken prisoner. Conducted to “Metasse”, he was detained there six months, then exchanged for t