The Parks-Bentley Place

General Jean Victor Moreau

General Jean Victor Marie Moreau was born in Morlaix, Brittany on February 14, 1763. He served as a distinguished soldier during the French Revolutionary Wars. He joined the National Guard in 1789, but two years later opted to become a colonel in a volunteer battalion. He fought well at Neerwinden and received recognition for his efforts with rapid promotion to General of the Brigade by 1793. 
 

Having won key battles in the Netherlands, Germany, and Italy his successes began to take his mind off military matters and look instead to politics. He and General Charles Pichegru were involved in Cadoudal’s 1804 plot to kidnap and murder Napoleon. The plot failed and he was jailed, despite his accomplishments on the Rhine and in Germany, he lost favor with Napoleon and became his foe. He was exiled from France by Napoleon in 1804 and subsequently came to America. 
 

Moreau settled in Morrisville, Pennsylvania where he came ‘into possession’ of the Robert Morris Estate, Summerset, originally a 220-acre plantation. Robert Morris is best known as the ‘financier of the Revolution’ and a signer of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. General Moreau apparently lived on the estate in obscurity for almost ten years. On Christmas Eve, in 1811, Moreau’s home burned to the ground. The fire started, according to rumors, as a result of Moreau’s desire to protect his valuable flowers and plants. His servants had been sent to their homes, and because it was so cold, Moreau kept his fire places burning. He retired late at night and soon smelled smoke. He summoned help but it was too late in arriving. The home was destroyed. 
 

According to information from the Historic Morrisville Society, Marion Apgar related how she and her friends played around the foundation ruins of the Moreau home when they were children. Her great-grandmother had told of having visited General Moreau’s home before it burned and having been given an orange that the General had grown in his green house. It was also believed at that time that there was a tunnel from Summerset down to Moreau’s stables. Marion’s father had told her there was an escape “tunnel” from the Moreau’s stables to the river and that he had played around it as a boy. 
 

At the request of Tsar Alexander I of Russia, General Moreau returned to Europe and became a military adviser during the 1813 campaign in Germany. Moreau died in battle serving the foreign enemies of France. He died September 2, 1813 and is buried in St. Petersburg, Russia. 
 

According to Saratoga County history, the Town of Moreau was created out of another township, the Town of Northumberland, at a meeting held on March 28, 1805. Shortly after the establishment of the town, Solomon Parks, the son of Daniel Parks, was appointed as one of the town officers.