page_title: Pierre-Paul Pecquet du Bellet
section_title: Post-war Activities and the Franco-Texan Land Company
hierarchical_section_title: Pierre-Paul Pecquet du Bellet / Post-war Activities and the Franco-Texan Land Company
caption_attribution_description: Franco Texan Land Company bond
context_page_description: Pierre-Paul Pecquet du Bellet was an American attorney, author, and unofficial diplomatic agent of the Confederate States of America in France.
context_section_description: Following the war, du Bellet remained in Paris with his wife and children.  In 1869, he and other French citizens invested heavily in the Memphis, El Paso and Pacific Railway by purchasing bonds being sold in France by John C. Frémont.  When Frémont's project eventually collapsed, du Bellet and the other investors found themselves owning 640,000 acres of Texas land which had secured their bonds.
  On 12 June 1873, the Texas and Pacific Railway purchased what remained of the Memphis, El Paso and Pacific Railway while Frémont's creditors in New York attempted to sell the remaining bonds as the "Franco-Texas Land Company".  The French bondholders thus owned thirteen acres of Texas land for each $100 bond they possessed, and this collective land in their possession constituted the entire capital stock of the Franco-Texan Land Company. From Paris, du Bellet followed these proceedings attentively and immediately contacted an old Louisiana acquaintance, P.G.T. Beauregard, hoping that he would take over the role of president of the land company.  Beauregard ultimately declined the offer but the Franco-Texas Land Company would continue to exist in the decades ahead, with du Bellet's own son moving to Weatherford, Texas to supervise the management and sale of the land.  Du Bellet organized for the Board of Directors to meet in Paris, agreeing to sell land in Texas at a rapid rate.  Eventually du Bellet would administer a second land company, the "Société Foncière et Agricole des Etats-Unis", with his son acting as agent of both companies directly in Texas. 
  In the spring of 1881, Pierre-Paul du Bellet was in Weatherford assisting his son with the Société.  He returned to France on July 16, just before his son had purchased 251 lots of land and incorporated a new company by the name of Weatherford Water Supply Company.  The Société back in Paris would eventually declare bankruptcy on November 4, 1882.
  According to the Texas State Historical Association, du Bellet's son "Henry P. du Bellet, vice secretary residing in Paris, staged a coup in which the New York officers were ousted and Sam H. Milliken of Weatherford was elected president. Du Bellet then came to Texas and had a hand in the company's affairs until he too was ousted...With the gradual increase in the value of Texas land, the Franco-Texan Land Company developed into something of a bonanza for the French and American directors, who bought stock certificates for a few cents on the dollar and conspired to riddle the company's coffers. The losers were the French peasants who had invested their life savings in the Memphis, El Paso and Pacific bonds. In 1896, after years of local rivalry and dissension, the charter of the Franco-Texan Land Company expired by limitation. On request, the legislature allowed the company three additional years to liquidate its assets and conclude its business".
caption: Franco-Texan Land Company bond
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