François Dupont Duvivier

Captain François Dupont Duvivier (French pronunciation: ​[fʁɑ̃swa dypɔ̃ dyvivje]; 25 April 1705 – 28 May 1776) was an Acadian-born merchant and officer of the French colonial troupes de la marine. He was the wealthiest offer on Ile Royale and led the Raid on Canso and Siege of Annapolis Royal (1744) during King George's War. He received the Order of Saint Louis for his military work in Acadia.

François Dupont Duvivier was born in Port Royal, Acadia, the eldest of the three sons of François du Pont Duvivier and Marie Mius d'Entremont de Pobomkou on April 25, 1705. With the cession in 1713 of Acadia to the British the Duviviers were sent to the new colony of Île Royale (present-day Cape Breton Island) where, through various business endeavours they became one of the wealthiest and most prestigious families. François upheld his family's strong military traditions, enlisting as a cadet in the French troupes de la marine in 1716, and being commissioned an ensign three years later. By 1730 he had earned promotion to lieutenant and in 1737 he was made Captain in the Compagnies Franches garrison of Louisbourg.

Duvivier proved himself an astute businessman in Louisbourg, rapidly accruing a vast fortune and becoming one of the wealthiest officers in the colony. Through a series of trading ventures with New England, the West Indies, and France, canny manipulation of the law, and the usage of his military rank as leverage he earned a reputation as a businessman of great acumen who was not afraid to use unscrupulous business practices to further his own ambitions. By 1745 his fortune was roughly estimated by a contemporary at the vast sum of 200,000 livres.

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