Captain Christian Theodor von Pincier, later known as Theodore Pincier, Esquire, or as Theodore de Pencier (1750 – 1824), was a Brunswick Army Officer who served on the British side during the American Revolution. Following the peace treaty, he became a settler and well-known surveyor in colonial British Quebec. He was the illegitimate son of Charles I, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, who was adopted into the Pincier von Königstein family, known as von Pincier in German and Swedish, then to dePencier & Depencier. Theodor was the adopted child of Braunschweig Army General von Pincier.
Throughout his military career in German-speaking regiments, he used the surname von Pincier, but, later, in Canada, he adopted a French version of his surname, altering the spelling to de Pencier.
He left many descendants in Canada. Some became prominent: and include an Anglican archbishop, The Most Rev. Dr Adam de Pencier, and that prelate's grandson, Michael de Pencier, a decorated Canadian publisher, entrepreneur, and environmental conservationist. Family members continue to spell the surname, de Pencier or dePencier.
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Birth
Christian Theodor was born out of wedlock in Braunschweig in 1750. He was the illegitimate child of Charles I, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and a married Frenchwoman. His mother's husband, a French grenadier captain named de Martigny, later killed himself, perhaps out of jealousy. Widowed, she remarried to a Franco-Swedish nobleman belonging to the family of Pincier von Königstein. Christian Theodor was never recognized by his father, and, instead, was adopted by his mother's husband, Georges-Henri de Pincier, a descendant of Baron Pincier (#109), whose family had received their patent of nobility in Stockholm from Charles XII of Sweden in 1698. From this step-father, young Christian Theodor gained the surname which he bore. He was to use it for the rest of his life prefixed by one or other of the German or French noble particles von or de as the situation warranted. This was a common practice of the time among the nobility, who alternated between German and French custom, as they moved about Western Europe during their careers and travels.
Early life
At age 14, de Pencier volunteered as a cadet and learned to ride in his father's ducal stables. His extraordinary horsemanship by age 16 enabled him to become standard bearer for his military unit. He received his first commission the next year, and, in 1771, at age 21, was promoted to lieutenant.
Between 1773 and 1774 he travelled in France and Italy, visiting Florence, Rome and Naples. During the period of his early life, he was celebrated for his numerous love affairs and rumours of liaisons with many noblewomen. In 1775, he wrote a poem dedicated to donna Elisabeth de Baffa Trasci (1750–1795) an Albanian aristocrat whom he met in Naples. She refused his marriage proposals, but gave him an illegitimate daughter, Carlotta Maria Amalia. The poem was published in 1782 under a pseudonym.
Theodore became a superb horseman and studied literature, poetry, astronomy, engineering, and also military artillery strategy and tactics while mastering French, German, Italian, Latin and English.
Army career
As Theodore de Pencier was assigned to Prince Frederick's regiment as part the Hessian cavalry of General Baron Friedrich Adolf Riedesel, the young officer was destined to see action in North America during the American Revolution.
In June 1776, he and 4,000 Hessian 'mercenaries,' many of whom had not left Hesse-Cassel willingly, arrived in Quebec.
In the early summer of 1776, Sir Guy Carleton, the British governor and commander-in-chief in Quebec, tasked General John Burgoyne with driving the invading Americans out of the province and south into New York. Faced with Burgoyne's 6,000 British troops and Riedesel's 4,000 German mercenaries, the weakened Americans retreated to Sorel at the confluence of the St. Lawrence and Richelieu rivers.
The Americans under General Horatio Gates retreated, this time to the safety of formidable Fort Ticonderoga. The Hessians, much to the frustration of Baron Riedesel, were largely unprepared for pursuit. Historian Thomas Randall compared "the south-moving procession of British infantry and German infantry and cavalry, batteries of artillery, ammunition wagons, supply wagons" to a travelling circus.
The Hessians seemed alien to their British counterparts. They often sang psalms on the march and caught and tamed wild animals. Baroness Riedesel and her entourage travelled by elegant caleche, while the Brunswick Dragoons, short on horses, had to march with their enormous cocked hats, thick coats, leather breeches, and jack boots rising above their knees. Captain de Pencier, as an officer, was fortunate to retain his mount. He also avoided the fate of many Hessians: death under American fire by sharpshooters using the deadly accurate Pennsylvania flintlock.
With significant losses and failed manoeuvres on both ends of the Mohawk Valley, Lake Ontario, and the Hudson, Burgoyne surrendered after the Battle of Saratoga in the face of heavy Yankee artillery and more than 14,000 men mustered by Gates. The Hessians had recently suffered a major defeat at Bennington with 200 dead and many more imprisoned. De Pencier likely encountered frontier spies Roger Stevens and Stephen Burritt for the first time here at Bennington. Stevens, imprisoned with Burritt after the battle, became the first to settle the Rideau 15 years later, providing his homestead as a meeting place for de Pencier and his Rideau survey teams.
Descendants
The descendants of Theodore de Pencier are numerous.
By his liaison with Mlle Hélène de Tour, he had an illegitimate daughter, viz.:
Thérèse de Pincier, who died in infancy.
By his liaison with donna Elizabeth de Baffa Trasci, he had an illegitimate daughter, viz.:
Carlotta Maria Amalia, known as Charlotte de Pincier. No known issue.
By his first wife, Marie Demerais, he had issue, one daughter and one son, viz.:
Charles de Pencier, who died in infancy.
Theodorigne Duperron, b. 1778 Sorel. Died ~1830. No issue
By his second wife, Charlotte de Bellefeuille, he had numerous issue, viz.:
Hortense de Pencier born in 1787, who married February 18, 1822 in Sorel, Luis Guyan Dragon. She married secondly, James Sheppard, or Shepherd, of Sorel (and had issue).
Marie Jacqueline de Pencier married Andree Lavalle, April 18, 1823
Sophie (Sophia) de Pencier, born August 27, 1793, married John Haines.
Marie Josephine de Pencier married Pierre Bellefeuille, of Montreal.
A youngest daughter married M. La Fontaine
Luke de Pencier (1785–1877), of Marlborough, Carleton county, Ontario married Gertrude Onderkirk (Williamstown 1794- Burritts Rapids, Ontario 1873) and, by her, he had issue:
Death
Impoverished, hopeless, and indigent, de Pencier committed suicide in a Canadian military asylum on April 18, 1824. On April 19, shortly after Easter 1824, the remains of de Pencier were placed in a modest grave at Fort William Henry by the Richelieu River in Quebec. Moments earlier, a British subaltern reached into de Pencier's coffin and removed his sword, a final act of discourtesy to the dead Hessian officer, and probably a reflection of the fact that suicide was then a crime. From the register of the Anglican parish of Christ Church, William Henry (now Sorel, Quebec) comes Capt. de Pencier's burial entry, viz.:
"Buried on this nineteenth day of April one thousand eight hundred twenty four Theodore Pincier Esquire formerly of the German troops in the British Service and late a sworn surveyor of this province."