De Boré, Jean Étienne

Jean Étienne de Boré, (born December 27, 1741, Kaskaskia, French North America (now Illinois, U.S.)—died February 2, 1820, near New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.), founder of the sugar industry in Louisiana.

Of noble Norman ancestry, de Boré was educated in France and served for 10 years in the household guard of Louis XV before he established himself as an indigo planter in Louisiana. When pests ruined the indigo crop in the early 1790s, he risked his fortune to perfect a commercially viable sugar-granulating process (1794 or 1795) and devoted his land (now within New Orleans) to raising sugarcane. Unlike many other agrarian experimenters, he profited greatly from his innovation and is said to have revolutionized the economy of Louisiana through his innovative sugar manufacturing. He was mayor of New Orleans during its transition from French to U.S. rule (1803–04).