BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.
CHAPTER I.
Louis Moreau Gottschalk, the Pianist and Composer, and the only American master of the modern school of music, was a native of New Orleans in the State of Louisiana, in the United States of America. His father was an Englishman, born in London; his mother a Creole, born in New Orleans. It is probable, if not certain, that what rendered Gottschalk so attractive was due to the two natures which he thus inherited, for he possessed the warmth of heart which characterizes the Creole, and the dignity of manner so peculiar to the English. His ancestors on his mother's side, all of noble French origin, were residents of the island of St. Domingo. His great-grandfather, Antoine de Bruslé, Chevalier of the royal and military Order of St. Louis, was commandant or governor of the quarter of the Grande Rivière, parish of St. Rose, in the northern part of the island. His son, Theodat Camille de Bruslé, when the British took possession of St. Domingo, received a commission in the British West India Army of George III. as ensign, and afterwards as captain of the Chasseurs of St. George, in the regiment of Colonel the Baron de Montalembert, raised in St. Domingo for the defence of the island. In the terrible insurrection and massacre which took place after the British abandoned the island, Commandant de Bruslé was killed, and Captain de Bruslé escaped with others to various West India islands, and to Louisiana, then in possession of the French Government. On the 16th of January, 1800, Captain de Bruslé, who had fled to Jamaica, entered into a contract of marriage with Miss Marie Josephine Alix Deynaut, who had
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