John H. (likely Holt or Henry) Boisseau was the third of eleven children of James Boisseau and his wife Anner Fitzpatrick.

One of the first Boisseaus in America, John's great-grandfather, Huguenot Rev. James (Jacques) Boisseau immigrated to Virginia from Saumur, Maine-et-Loire, France (by way of England) around 1691, after agreeing to serve as immigrant minister to the Colonies. The Boisseaus left France when Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes and ordered the destruction of Huguenot churches, as well as the closing of Protestant schools.

Some DNA, Colonial property and land records seem to indicate Boisseau's mother Anner may have been the daughter of Edith Harris, herself the granddaughter of Col. Field Jefferson and cousin to President Thomas Jefferson. However, the relationship remains unconfirmed by primary documents.

John Boisseau served a total of three tours of service in the American Revolution. In 1780 John fought with the Virginia Militia on the left flank at the Battle of Camden, under Col. Ralph Faulkner and Brig. Gen. Edward Stevens. British forces under Lords Cornwallis and Rawdon routed the American forces of Major General Horatio Gates about five miles north of Camden, South Carolina.

Boisseau's second tour of duty, beginning Jan. 1, 1781 under Col. Nathanael Greene, Brig. Gen. Robert Lawson and Maj. Baker Pegram, was an effort to turn back General Benedict Arnold's invasion of Portsmouth, Richmond and Williamsburg, VA. As part of Lawson's Brigade, he likely saw combat as part of the second line of Virginia militia at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse.

In April 1781, now promoted to the rank of Sergeant, John Boisseau entered into his third term of service. Under Maj. Gen. Baron von Steuben, Gen. Lawson and Maj. Pegram, he again faced direct combat at the Battle of Blandford (Petersburg). The Virginia militia lost the fight, but within the year British forces had been defeated at Yorktown.

In 1806, Sgt. Boisseau and his wife Nancy Carter Boisseau removed to what was then Logan County (later Simpson), Kentucky, likely settling on land the Boisseau family had received for military service (although the search for patent records for John or his father James is ongoing.)

The children of Sgt. John Boisseau and his wife Nancy Carter Boisseau were:

* Mildred Boisseau Williams 1787 –
* Lucy Carter Boisseau Dance 1790 – 1853
* Nancy Boisseau Myers 1790 – 1861
* Daniel Thomas Boisseau 1793 – 1873
* Sarah "Sallie" Boisseau Foster Maupin 1797 –
* Robert Boisseau 1799 – 1810
* Benjamin Waddell Boisseau 1802 – 1863
* Patrick Henry Boisseau 1802 – 1866
* Eliza Boisseau Carter Foster 1808 – abt. 1860

Through his son Patrick Henry Boisseau, Sgt. John Boisseau was the grandfather of Volney S. Boisseau, who along with his wife Belle Hay Boisseau operated the Boisseau House Hotel which stood on the city square in Franklin, KY for nearly 100 years. It was torn down in 1910 and replaced with what is now the First United Methodist Church (107 N. College St.)

Due to an 1880s courthouse fire in Simpson County, KY, many early records on the family of Sgt. John Boisseau have been lost. Inexplicably, the destruction of the entire cemetery containing Sgt. Boisseau's grave and those of his wife and son has been permitted by the county and state; a lightweight street sign is the only remaining marker.

Thanks much to C. Siedelmann, B. Bond, A. Boisseau, and many other researchers who've helped put the pieces of this line back together, and to Paula Brown, who originally created this memorial. If you have any information to add or corrections for this memorial to Sgt. Boisseau, please get in touch!