The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 48, July 1944 - April, 1945 Page: 238

Lawrie 's (rip to ortheast
exras, 1854-1855
Edited by V. E. GIBBENS
V ICTOR PROSPER CONSIDERANT, French socialist disciple of
Charles Fourier, was so impressed by the possibilities of
Northeast Texas for the location of a socialistic colony when he
traveled from New York City to Texas with his friend Albert
Brisbane in 1853 that on his return to New York he sailed
straightway to France for the purpose of forming a colonization
company." By October, 1854, sufficient funds had been sub-
scribed and enough interest had been aroused in the experiment
to warrant the newly-formed company in dispatching an agent
to America to choose the land and prepare for the first im-
migrants.2
The agent, Francois Cantagrel, and a companion, a Dr. Roger,
arrived in New York on October 27, 1854.3 Their plans are
summarized in the following passage:
Mr. Cantagrel is sent as the agent of the Society in France to direct
preliminary operations; he will leave in a few days for North Texas,
with Dr. Roger, John Allen, and some others. Their first work will be
to explore and examine carefully the country, and decide upon locations;
this accomplished, they will then begin the erection of buildings for the
reception of the first band of emigrants; they will also begin at once
the sowing of crops, the preparation of gardens, and the planting of
nurseries and vineyards. These works will occupy the coming winter, and
will be executed mostly by capable workmen, chosen in the West, who
are accustomed to the life and labors of a new country.4
1For biographical sketches, see Ernest Sutherland Bates, "Victor Prosper
Considbrant," Dictionary of American Biography, IV, 357-358, and W.
Randall Waterman, "Albert Brisbane," ibid., III, 52-53. For Considerant's
visit to America see Au Texas (Brussels, 1854). The colony later established
was that of R6union in Dallas County, for which see Savardan, Un Nau-
frage au Texas; Eusibia Lutz, "Almost Utopia," Southwest Review, XIV
(Spring, 1929); and Ermance V. Rejebian, "La R4union: The French
Colony in Dallas County," Southwestern Historical Quarterly, XLIII
(April, 1940).
2Prefatory pages (unnumbered), probably written by Albert Brisbane,
to Considerant's The Great West, A New Social and Industrial Life in
its Fertile Regions (New York, 1854).
3lbid. The prefatory note is incorrectly dated 1853.
4Ibid.