sselaer Williams and Richard Williams of New
Jersey, whose collateral descendants are still identified with the
village.

The early shopkeepers of Cooperstown included some who had been engaged
in more distinguished callings. A merchant who excited the most lively
curiosity among the settlers was a Frenchman known as Mr. Le Quoy who
kept a small grocery store in the village, and seemed to be altogether
superior to such an occupation. After much speculation concerning his
past the village was set agog by an incident which accidentally brought
to light the story of his career. Among the early settlers in Otsego
county was a French gentleman named Louis de Villers, who, in 1793,
happened to be in Cooperstown at a time when a fellow countryman named
Renouard, who afterward settled in the county, had recently reached the
place. Renouard, who was a seaman, and an incessant user of tobacco,
found himself out of his favorite weed, and his first concern was to
inquire of de Villers where tobacco might be purchased in the village.
De Villers directed him to the shop kept by Le Quoy, saying that he
would help a compatriot by making his purchase there. In a few minutes
Renouard returned from the shop, pale and agitated.

"What is it? Are you unwell?" inquired de Villers.

"In the name of God," burst out Renouard, "who is the man that sold me
this tobacco?"

"Mr. Le Quoy, a countryman of ours."

"Yes, Mr. Le Quoy de Mersereau."

"I know nothing about the 'de Mersereau'; he calls himself Le Quoy. Do
you know anything of him?"

"When I went to Martinique to be port captain of St. Pierre," answered
Renouard, "this man was the civil governor of the island, and refused to
confirm my appointment."

Subsequent inquiry confirmed this story, Le Quoy explaining that the
influence of a lady stood in the way of Renouard's preferment. Le Quoy
had been driven from Martinique by the French Revolution, and his choice
of Cooperstown as a retreat came about through a friendly office which
he had performed, while governor of the island, in liberating one of the
ships of John Murray & Sons of New York. The act brought about an
exchange of civilities between the head of this firm and Le Quoy, so
that when the latter came to New York, desiring to invest in a country
store until his fortunes should revive, Murray referred him to his
friend Judge Cooper, under whose advice the Frenchman established
himself in Cooperstown. He at length made his pe