caption death_date death_place birth_place image_size birth_date image article_title name occupation
du ponceau , circa 1790 april 1 , 1844 -lrb- aged 83 -rrb- philadelphia , united states saint-martin-de-ré , france 180px june 3 , 1760 duponceau.jpg peter stephen du ponceau
 pierre-Étienne -lrb- peter stephen -rrb- du ponceau philosopher , linguist , jurist
peter stephen du ponceau

peter stephen du ponceau , earlier in his life called pierre-Étienne du ponceau , -lrb- june 3 , 1760 , saint-martin-de-ré , france -- april 1 , 1844 , philadelphia -rrb- was a french linguist , philosopher , and jurist .
after emigrating to the colonies in 1777 , he served in the american revolutionary war .
afterward , he settled in philadelphia , where he lived the remainder of his years .
he contributed significantly to work on the indigenous languages of the americas , as well as advancing the understanding of chinese writing .
