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The (new) Cadillac Database^©

Antoine Laumet
( aka Antoine De Lamothe-Cadillac )

and the Cadillac "Family Crest"


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(le résumé en français se trouve en bas de page)

The [not quite true] Story of
Antoine "de la Mothe Cadillac"
[ as told by the company in its 25th anniversary brochure in 1927 ]

[ my comments in square brackets, not italicized, blue font ]

 

Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac after whom the Cadillac car was named, possessed a pioneering, roving spirit.

He was born at Toulouse in 1657 [in fact, he was born Antoine Laumet on March 5, 1658 at St. Nicolas-de-la-Grave, a small market town just a few miles west of Castelsarrasin, about 40 miles from Toulouse, in France's Tarn & Garonne Department].  At the age of sixteen he entered the army, and saw several years of service in France [guesswork - in fact, little is known about Laumet's childhood, his adolescence or his means of existence up to 1687]. Stories he heard of the New World appealed to his adventurous nature and eventually drew him to these shores.

He came over in 1683 and settled at Port Royal in Nova Scotia. In 1684 the King granted him six square miles of land at what is now Bar Harbor, Maine, and also Mount Desert Island off the Maine coast [Laumet-Cadillac had requested a concession in 1687; it was granted in 1688].   As commandant of Michilimackinac, a post he obtained in 1694, he distinguished himself.

But the event for which he is chiefly noted was the founding of the city of Detroit. This occurred in July, 1701, exactly 225 years ago [remember, this was written in 1927 - also, it was not until 1706 and 1707 that the French crown acknowledged that a colony had indeed developed in Detroit]

Canoeing down the Detroit river  as far as Grosse Isle, he turned upstream and carefully surveying the shore, selected a point near what is now the corner of Jefferson Avenue and Shelby Street, for the erection of Fort Ponchartrain.

Little did the French pioneer think that he was founding a settlement that two and a quarter centuries later would have grown not only to be the fourth largest city in the United States with a million and a half population [again, in 1927], but also the greatest and largest automobile manufacturing city in the whole world.

Still more impossible would it have been to vision that the name of Cadillac, by reason of its adoption by the Cadillac Motor Car Company of Detroit, should have become a name known throughout the world as emblematic of all that is highest in automobile design and construction.

The name of Cadillac, the man, outside the United States and France would probably have been confined alone to students of history, but the motor car bearing his crest has carried the name to all four corners of the Globe.

With a keen eye to business, Cadillac attracted to him during the first winter in Detroit 6000 Indians and established trade with them.  Cadillac was recalled to France in 1710 [in fact, he was asked to report to Louisiana but refused and instead set sail for France in 1711, of his own free will, with his wife and children; he returned to the American continent (Louisiana) only in June 1713] and was subsequently made Governor of Louisiana, the largest amount of land ever ruled by any governor in America.

In 1716 political troubles beset him.  He was deposed, tried, and sentenced to the Bastile [read "the Bastille"] whence he emerged  in 1718 [reading this, you might think that Laumet-Cadillac spent up to to two years in Paris' infamous Bastille prison; in fact, he was there only from October 1717 to early February 1718, i.e. about five months]. His last years were spent as Governor of Castelsarrasin, in Southern France [he was appointed to that office in 1722], and there he died on October 15, 1730, in his home at Place du Chateau.

Just as the history of Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac stands for all that is significant in pioneering, so does the Cadillac car symbolize actual pioneering effort in the motor world.

The Cadillac car was also a pioneer in many respects, for in its inception it was built but a single cylinder car - though even then it was preeminent in its field.  But slowly the craftsman's instinct of Cadillac effected improvement after improvement in engineering design until ultimately the first V-type eight-cylinder engine in America was evolved  [too early (1927) for any reference to the later sixteen and twelve-cylinder engines of 1930].

There follows an explanation of the Cadillac crest which the copy writer affirms was designed four centuries before Columbus discovered America and that Laumet-Cadillac was descended from the old counts of Toulouse, who were affiliated with the Royal French stock. 

Well, it does make for a good story! But history tells another tale. In fact, many sources agree that Laumet-Cadillac probably designed the crest himself, around the time of his marriage in 1687, borrowing heavily on the authentic coat of arms of an old neighbopr of his, Baron Sylvester of Esparbes [or Esparbès] de Lussan, lord of Lamothe-Bardigues, a small township near Toulouse, France.

More on that topic later.

 

 

The [true] Story of Antoine Laumet
[ alias Antoine de Lamothe-Cadillac ]

Much of the factual information herein comes from translations of historical documents in the Burton Collection, Detroit, others from the archives of the French navy in Paris and of those of Quebec Province. The are consistent with the stories told in a number of historic novels about the man, including Karen Elizabeth Bush's First Lady of Detroit, published by Wayne State University Press in 2001.

 

With only a few gray areas, historians have been able to piece together the saga of le Sieur Antoine de Lamothe-Cadillac, founder, in 1701, of a small trading settlement on the site where now towers mighty Detroit, motor capital of the world and home to the aptly named Cadillac automobile. But history reveals that he was, nonetheless, a bit of a scoundrel who had but his own interests at heart!

Born Antoine Laumet on March 5, 1658 at St. Nicolas-de-la-Grave, a small market town just a few miles west of Castelsarrasin in France's Tarn & Garonne Department, the self-styled Lamothe-Cadillac was in fact the son of one Jean Laumet, an assistant magistrate in the local court.  His mother, a modest home-maker, was born Jeanne Pechagut.  

French nobility were not usually housed in the smallest dwelling in the village. They had large estates and châteaux.  

What Antoine had not counted on was that one day he would sail to the New World, in search of adventure, and found a tiny settlement there that would become Detroit, the automobile capital of the world.  It was natural that the future residents of that huge metropolis would, one day, want to find out the origins of their founder. When you start digging, you never know what you are going to unearth!

 

The Laumet home

 

Little is known about Laumet's childhood, his adolescence or his means of livelihood up to 1687, when he reached the age of 29 and got married.  It has been surmised, nonetheless, that he was well educated - probably at the University of Toulouse, a city not too far from his home near Castelsarrasin. The style of his letters denotes this, as do his written Statements to the Minister, which reveal also his vast knowledge of British New World territories. 

Lamothe-Cadillac was consistent in signing his name this way
[ could this be the origin of the famous Cadillac script? ]

 

In 1682, at the age of 24, while allegedly serving in the military at Thionville in north-eastern France², where he also allegedly earned a commission, he began to call himself Cadillac³.  It was customary in those days, for aspiring young officers to adopt a so-called nom de guerre (name of war); the name "Cadillac" had a good military "ring" to it.
_________________________________________________________
² Jean Cadilhac, who also has researched the family history of Antoine Laumet, alias de Lamothe-Cadillac, suggests that Laumet may even have borrowed for himself the military records of an older brother
³ Cadillac is the name of a hamlet near Montech, not far from Laumet's birthplace, St. Nicolas-de-la-Grave (it is also the name of a large, market town near Bordeaux, Gironde)

 

In 1683, at the age of 25, Laumet set sail for the New World, in search of adventure. On June 25, 1687, in Quebec (which was New France at that time), he married Marie-Thérèse Guyon, niece of French-Canadian privateer, François Guyon.  It is rumored that they met at the Governors ball at Quebec's Château St. Louis. She was just seventeen [...you know what I mean, and the way she looked was way beyond compare... (Beatles)]. 

 

The banns were published on June 22 and 24 [three publications were required at that time but the couple was exempted from a third posting by the Bishop of Quebec]. In the registry of marriages, Laumet gave his name as Antoine de Lamothe, Sieur de Cadillac.  He signed the register: Lamothe Launay.  He claimed noble descent through both his father and mother. He asserted that Laumet Sr. was actually named Jean de La Mothe, sieur de [sire of] Cadillac, Launay et Le Moutet  [the names of a town and a couple of hamlets around his birth place], Counselor to the Parliament in Toulouse. 

In fact, Tony's dad was a modest assistant-magistrate at the local court in St. Nicolas-de-la-Grave.  He named his mother, ironically, Jeanne de Malenfant; the French particle, de, suggests noble birth.  Taken separately, however, the French words de mal enfant, literally mean of (or with) the evil child. Was Tony being wryly humorous by this veiled admission that, in fact, he was just Mommy's bad boy?

This concise history of  the French "bad boy" is from the Virtual Museum of New France :

Born on March 5, 1658 in Laumont [or "Les Laumets"?], a village near Saint-Nicolas-de- la-Grave in Gascony, Antoine Laumet de Lamothe Cadillac was the son of simple middle-class parents. Upon his marriage in Quebec City on June 25, 1687, he glorified his origins [my emphasis], claiming his title was "Antoine de la Mothe, squire, Sieur de Cadillac, aged about 26 years, son of Jean de la Mothe, Seigneur of Cadillac, Launay and Moutet, consultant [counselor] to the parliament of Toulouse and of Jeanne de Malenfant." His parents, however, were commoners. A simple magistrate, his father was called Jean Laumet; he was no Seigneur [squire].

This was far from being the last of the lies told by Antoine Laumet de Lamothe Cadillac, founder of Detroit, whose sojourn in New France began in Acadia around 1683. Without giving any proof, and contradicting himself on many occasions, he claimed to be an experienced soldier. No one knows where he studied, but the briefs he produced for Minister Ponchartrain indicated that he did have a certain level of education and culture.

The following are excerpts from from the Web site of Jean Cadilhac [© 2000], a distant relative of Antoine Laumet-Cadillac (?). The English translations [blue text] of the French originals [dark green text] are my own and are not, therefore, legally binding! Primarily, the French author suggests (and I would agree 100%) that, for the student of history:

Il est plus sérieux de consulter les documents rassemblés au musée Cadillac à St Nicolas de la Grave, ou présentés à la société d'archéologie du Tarn et Garonne ou publiés par la Detroit Historical Society, en particulier pour la commémoration  du cent soixante quinzième anniversaire de la fondation de Detroit (Wayne State University Press, Detroit 1976)

The serious researcher should consult the documents collected at the Cadillac Museum in St. Nicolas-de-la-Grave [which I have visited a number of times], or presented to the Archeological Society of Tarn and Garonne, or those published by the Detroit Historical Society, and particularly those relating to the 175th anniversary of the founding of Detroit (Wayne State University Press, Detroit 1976).

Après la mort de ses parents en 1677, il dit avoir été cadet au régiment de Dampierre-Lorraine puis lieutenant au régiment de Clairambault, mais aucune preuve n'en existe et il est possible qu'il ait emprunté les états de service de son frère aîné.

Following the death of his parents in 1677 (i.e. 10 years before he ever wed Miss Guyon), (Laumet) claims to have been a cadet in the Dampierre-Lorraine regiment then lieutenant in the Clairambault regiment. There is no proof of these assertions; it is even quite possible that he borrowed the service records of his older brother.

Mr. Cadilhac goes on to assert, as I do too, that Laumet decided to change his name and to borrow also the family crest (coat of arms) of a noble neighbor:

A peine débarqué à Port Royal, capitale de l'Acadie, en 1683, il change de nom et se fait appeler "Lamothe", nom d'un seigneur de sa région, de Lamothe-Bardigues, conseiller au parlement de Toulouse. Il lui emprunte aussi ses armes qu'il avait eu l'occasion de voir au portail de sa propriété proche de St Nicolas.

Hardly had he disembarked at Port Royal, Capital of Acadia, in 1683, than he changed his name and began calling himself Lamothe, the name of a nobleman of his home region (de Lamothe-Bardigues), a counselor to the Toulouse parliament. He also borrowed the latter's coat of arms [crest] that he had seen on the gates of the Bardigues property near St. Nicolas [photos of the Lamothe estate gates may be seen on his page]

 

It was relatively common for adventurous Frenchmen emigrating to the New World in those days to usurp the noble title and armorial bearings of true, blue-blooded noblemen back home who - it was assumed - would never find out about it.  Laumet was no exception; he borrowed the name Lamothe,  possibly on account of its consonance with Laumet.  He took over also the noble ancestry associated with the Lamothe name. In fact, he "purloined" the name, title AND coat of arms of Baron Sylvester of Esparbes [or Esparbès] de Lussan, lord of Lamothe [formerly La Motte] Bardigues, a feudal manor located near Toulouse, France⁴. 

The land on which that manor stands was owned in the 14th century by Bernard De La Motte. He sold it in 1315 to  Raymond Arnaud de Goth, Lord of Rouillac; his son, Gaillard de Goth took the title of Lord of La Motte, at Bardigues. The manor was rebuilt in the 18th century for the Esparbès de Lussan family. Declared a historic site, it is not open for public viewing. Nevertheless, in 1989, special arrangements were made to access the grounds of the estate for participants in the First International Cadillac Meet held in the region where Laumet-Cadillac was born. That meeting and subsequent ones were organized by my friend Jacques Delbosc, a Castelsarrasin dentist.

The Esparbès de Lussan family shield is shown below; it comes from this Web site.
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⁴  On p.176 of the novel, First Lady of Detroit, the author asserts, Modern historians recently have found evidence that Antoine may have had every right to both the Lamothe and Cadillac names and actually may have been the son of one of the younger Cadillacs.  I would like to know who these modern historians are and where they found their "evidence".  I'd also like to know who those "younger Cadillacs" might be !

Arms of Esparbès de Lussan Three black merlettes astride a red fess on a silver shield; Look familiar ?

The Family Manor The grounds were open in 1989 to participants and their cars  at the International Cadillac Meet organized there by Jacques Delbosc, President of  the Tarn & Garonne Vintage Car Club)

 

Baron Sylvester was a counselor to the Parliament in Toulouse. As we know, Cadillac claimed that his own father had held that office; was he implying, therefore, that he might have been fathered by the Baron? 

There was indeed a Malenfant family in the region of Toulouse from around the 16th century. First in the lineage was Jacques de Malenfant, a nobleman from Pressac, born circa 1550. He wed one Martha de Poitiers; his occupation was Maître de requêtes [magistrate in charge of claims].  His son, Etienne de Malenfant de Gentien et Pressac was a magistrate for the Parliament in Toulouse. He was followed by Jean de Malenfant et Gentien, who was trésorier du Domaine du Roi en Rouergue [Treasurer of the King's Estate at Rouergue]. The Malenfant lineage ended with Anne, daughter of Jean, who wed Baron Sylvester of Esparbes [or Esparbès] de Lussan in 1659, i.e. one year after the birth of Antoine Laumet⁵.
______________________________________
⁵ A couple of the preceding paragraphs were modified in September 2000, based on information received from Jerôme Malenfant, a descendant of the Malenfant family that has been thoroughly researched by the late Arthur V. Mellefont of Killarney Vale, published in 1983 in Malenfant Families.   Excerpts were previously published, in French, on the Web, but at this writing the site is no longer operational: http://www.cafe.rapidus.net/hmalen/galles.htm.  So Laumet’s choice of the pseudonym Malenfant, for his mother, Jeanne Pechagut, may not have been accidental or ruefully cynical after all.  It is highly plausible that when Laumet was in his early twenties he too thoroughly researched the family history of the noble Baron Sylvester,  before deciding to fabricate his own (alleged) noble ancestry.

It is not enough for a man to claim noble descent. That man must have also the character, the bearing and the noble spirit and deportment that personifies nobility.  Laumet had it all.  When he wrote to the Minister, to register a land claim in the Etroits - that is the straits or narrows between lakes Erie and St. Clair, later to become Detroit - he declared boldly, I am the only nobleman (!) in these parts.

Laumet-Cadillac disembarked in the New World in what was then New France, at Port Royal of Acady. He had served for some time in the French navy, rising quickly to the rank of naval sub-lieutenant ^{(footnote 2, above)}.  It was in that capacity, in 1694, that he was given command of Fort Michillimakinak or Michillimakinac [also spelled MissilimaKina in old records], and of all western outposts.

Cadillac gets a Seigneurie (concession of land) in New France at the hands of King Louis XIV [ Document:  courtesy Common Council, Detroit ]

 

Under Cadillac's command, things appear to have got out of control at the fort. In a long letter by Jesuit father Etienne Carheil to a former pupil, he said: Our missions are reduced to such extremity that we can no longer maintain them against the infinity of disorder, brutality, violence, injustice, impiety, impurity, insolence, scorn, and insult, which the deplorable and infamous traffic in brandy has spread universally among the Indians of these parts.... In the despair in which we are plunged, nothing remains for us but to abandon them to the brandy sellers as a domain of drunkenness and debauchery. He complains bitterly of the officers in command of the fort, who, he says, far from repressing disorders, encourage them by their example, and are even worse than their subordinates, insomuch that all our Indian villages are so many taverns for drunkenness and Sodoms for iniquity, which we shall be forced to leave to the just wrath and vengeance of God. He insists that the garrisons are entirely useless, as they have only four occupations: first, to keep open liquor shops for crowds of drunken Indians; secondly, to roam from place to place, carrying goods and brandy under the orders of the commandant (Cadillac), who shares their profits; thirdly, to gamble day and night; fourthly, to turn the fort into a place which I am ashamed to call by its right name. He goes on to describe in much detail the swarms of Indian girls who are hired to make it their resort, ending thus: Such, monseigneur, are the only employments of the soldiers maintained here so many years.

Nonetheless, Cadillac's many exploratory missions to the Northern territories of New France, combined with his daily contacts with the indigenous population, convinced him of the need to build a trading post.  By concentrating the fur trade at one location, he knew that the British influence in the area would suffer.

It took all of two years and frequent trips back and forth to France to convince the Court of Louis XIV that his plan was a sound one.  Having obtained the royal green light, he set forth from Montreal on June 5, 1701. He left Lachine  with 25 canoes, 100 men (of which 50 soldiers and 50 voyageurs [passengers]) and supplies for three months. He was accompanied by his lieutenants, Alphonse de Tonty, Baron de Palaudy, Pierre Dugué (aka Boisbriand), Chacornac (or Chacornacle), Baron de Joannès, a Catholic priest (Father Constantin Delhalle) and a Jesuit priest (Father Vaillant de Gueslis).

They reached a spot in the straits, between the lakes, that he had selected for his trading post.  He landed there on July 24, 1701.  He immediately took possession of the surrounding lands and built a fort as well as some houses for the future military garrison.  He named the fort Ponchartrain in honor of the then French Minister for Colonies.

Cadillac lands at Detroit Cadillac landing at the place now called Detroit; The upper painting is not identified The lower one is by John S. Coppin [ Image: Burton Historical Collection, Detroit ] This is the cover design of the program of the 6th International Cadillac Meet held at Castelsarrasin, near Cadillac's birthplace, in 1997.   It shows a 1931 Cadillac convertible coupe against a  background painting depicting the landing of Lamothe-Cadillac at Etroits in 1701 [ Document:  courtesy Jacques Delbosc, CAVE 82 ]

 

 

On account of its topographical location, the tiny settlement was called Ville d'Etroits - or town on the straits (narrows).  The spot chosen by Laumet  is quite near the corner of Detroit's Jefferson Avenue and Shelby Street. There was no doubt in Laumet's mind that the future Detroit was strategically located and that it's growth rested on increasing trade and a concurrent growth in the population.  But our man lost favor with the local Jesuit missionaries and fur traders; they accused him of being motivated only by personal greed.  Gradually too, he lost the support of the French Minister and the Royal Court.  On May 13, 1710, by Royal decree, he was appointed Governor of Louisiana ...just to get him out of the Detroit area.

In Louisiana, once again, he did not see eye to eye with the local authorities.  He was on bad terms with his own officers and men, with the Crozat Company, that he had convinced to invest in the new territories ...and even with his friends, the Indians.  The King relieved him of his duties on March 3, 1715.  Cadillac wheeled and "dealed" for a while until he returned to France in October, 1717.

He was immediately arrested there and thrown in jail, in Paris'  ill-famed Bastille prison. He was suspected of some unlawful dealings at La Coruña, in Spain, where his boat had accosted, temporarily, before proceeding to its final port of call in France.  However, in the absence of any tangible evidence of the suspected evil-doings, and with help from his wife, Marie-Thérèse, Laumet-Cadillac was released five months later, in 1718, and busied himself, thereafter, trying to clear his good (?) name and to recover his former rights to the town of Detroit. 

So obstinate was he that he succeeded in obtaining from the French government payment in arrears of his stipend as Governor of Louisiana.  He even was awarded the Cross of Saint Louis (Knight's Military Order)!

No sooner had he been recognized full and rightful ownership of Detroit than he sold those rights to the Canadian, Jacques Baudry de Lamarche, in order to buy for himself the position of Governor and Mayor of Castelsarrasin, in December, 1722.

 

It was in that city that Lamothe-Cadillac died on October 15, 1730, around the midnight hour, at the age of 72.  He is buried in an unmarked grave in one of the chapels of the Church of Carmelite Fathers at Castelsarrasin, the next big town, a  few miles from where he lived.

 

It would be another 172 years and one week, to the day, before the first automobile to bear the Cadillac name rumbled out of the Leland & Falconer  workshops on Trombly avenue, into the glorious fall sunshine, in the booming big city of Detroit...

 

Any Lamothe-Cadillac Left ?

It is of historical significance that Cadillac had a reported thirteen children by his only wife, Marie-Thérèse. Only twelve of the children's names are known:  Judith (1st child, b. 1689 - became a nun),   Madeleine [or Magdalene?] (2nd child, birth date unknown - also became a nun), Antoine (3rd child, b. 4.26.1692 and believed d. 1730, the same year as his father ...or have the historians got him confused with dad?), Jacques (4th child, b. 3.16.1695), Pierre-Denis (5th child, b. 6.13.1699, d. 12 months later)⁵, Marie-Anne [or Marianne] (6th child, b. 1701, was buried 2 days later)⁵, [one "unknown", 7th child, b. 1702, may have died in the fire of 1703]⁵, Marie-Thérèse (8th  child, b. 2.2.1704, d. 2/1753), Jean-Antoine (9th child, b. 1.19.1707, d. 1709)⁵, Marie-Agathe (10th child, b. late 12.28.1707), François (11th child, b. 3.27.1709 - lived beyond the death of his father), René-Louis (12th child, b. 3.17.1710 - died 4 years later)⁵ and Joseph (13th child, birth date not known).

Only four of the preceding births were officially registered.    

Of the two male children who made it to adulthood (Joseph and Jacques), neither of them had any male offspring⁶.  Joseph, the eldest son had a daughter, Marie-Thérèse; in the latter part of the 18th century, she laid claim (unsuccessfully) to part of her grandfather's estate in Massachusetts.

Nota: Part of the Cadillac lineage may be viewed on this Canadian Web site: http://membres.lycos.fr/stephanecardinal1/dat122.htm
(search for Guyon, Marie-Thérèse ( born April 19, 1671).

_{_________________________________________________}
⁵ These children all died very young [at or before the age of four]
^6a  In February 2000 I got an e-Mail from one Christi Miller, a school-age American girl who claimed to be descended from the Lamothe-Cadillac family.  She wrote:  ...Cadillac had at least one male heir [in fact he had two] from whom we are descended. They kept the LaMothe name, not Laumet. Proof was readily available till the family home in Alton, Ill. was destroyed in the 1800's or thereabouts.  Your site was very informative and I will pass it on to the rest of the clan, we did know there was NOT a family name of Cadillac-Lamothe.  As it was told to us, an officer switched his name accidentally while introducing him to a superior officer and the name stuck. We are aware that he was NO Lamothe.  However,  the children kept the [Lamothe] name. I can offer more info when I get home for spring break  [I never heard from Christi again].
^6b I had a further communication in Nov.  2006 from enthusiast Don Teeter.  Don believes that he too is descended from Laumet-Cadillac; his information was compiled decades ago; it seems that Antoine's unnamed son (mentioned above) had a son, Joseph, from whose daughter, Marguerite, Don may be descended.  He adds: I guess this may be incorrect; it may be an erroneous generation was inserted, or that the unnamed son was really a daughter and the surname somehow was maintained. Someday I hope to be able to clear it up.

 

 

Historical Landmarks in the
Life of Antoine de Lamothe-Cadillac
[translated and adapted from French by Yann Saunders]

In the table below are recorded the principal dates, places and events that marked Cadillac's colorful existence. We are grateful to Jean Boutonnet, the noted French historian⁷, and to Ms. Annick Hibert-Carthew, a French writer and historian who has lived in Detroit for more than 30 years, for their invaluable work on this interesting facet of Cadillac history.  I had the pleasure and honor of meeting them both when I attended an International Cadillac Meet in Castelsarrasin, near Toulouse, France, in July 1995;  I had been invited there to give a talk on Cadillac advertising themes. 
__________________________________________________
⁷  In 2001, Mr. Boutonnet published the 340-page book, Lamothe-Cadillac [in French], with a preface by Jean-Micel Baylet, mayor of Castelsarrasin, and an introduction by French-Canadian historienne, Annick Hivert-Carthew (publisher: Guénégaud, 2001)

 

 

The Story of the Cadillac Crest
[ used on the motor cars of the same name ]

Build-up and evolution of the "Cadillac" coat of arms [ my comments in square brackets and blue font ] This is the authentic coat of arms of  Baron Sylvester of Esparbes [or Esparbès] de Lussan, lord of Lamothe, at Bardigues, a hamlet in France's Tarn & Garonne region It would appear that Antoine Laumet, alias Antoine de Lamothe-Cadillac, "borrowed" it for the 1st and 4th quarterings of his own, alleged family crest (below) The first and fourth quarterings of the "Cadillac" family  crest clearly replicate the shield of Baron Sylvester      Left: these merlettes (birds) were used on the crest of Cadillac automobiles until the dawn of the New Millennium Right: the cleaned up Cadillac crest used on Cadillac  cars since 2002 From the authentic coat of arms of  France's noble Lamothe family, of Bardigues [left], originated the first and fourth quarterings of the renowned Cadillac crest [center and right] that was duly registered as the trade-mark of the Cadillac Automobile Company in Detroit, on August 7, 1906 under  #54,981.  Derived from the crest of the genuinely noble Lamothe family, the "made-up" Cadillac family  crest was duly recorded in Quebec province, in 1687,  by the self-styled Antoine de Lamothe-Cadillac,  born Antoine Laumet The authentic Lamothe coat of arms is still displayed over the gates to the Lamothe estate in the hamlet of  Bardigues, near Castelsarrasin in SW France, not far from the village of St. Nicolas-la-Grave where "Cadillac" was  born "Laumet"; the Lamothe family coat of arms belongs still to the descendants of Baron Sylvester of Esparbes [or Esparbès] de Lussan [ Photos: © 1989, Yann Saunders ] Large ceramic crest (circa 48" dia.)  on display at the factory's Historical Collection in Detroit [ Photo: © 2002, J. Scott Harris ]   Evolution          Left: radiator emblem used from 1916-1917 [ with swans in lieu of merlettes ] Center:  radiator emblem from 1918-1919 [ again featuring swans ] Right: radiator emblem from 1942-1946 Cadillacs         Left: 1953, Center: 1970, Right: the New Millennium crest first used on the 100th Anniversary models in 2002; gone are the merlettes of France's reigning Lamothe family

 

But first, here's an amusing explanation of the Cadillac coat of arms, I found on this French Web site while surfing, in November, 2004:

Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, founder of Detroit, and the descendants of the Earl of Toulouse are not only immortalised by their names, but also by their coat of arms that can be found in the Cadillac blazon [shield]. The blazon has been updated about thirty times. The first logo, registered on August, 18th [actually August 7] 1906, consisted of a decorated crown symbolising the French Royalty topped [encircled?] by a bouquet of tulipped leaves. The coat of arms were [were?] completed with a picture of a female blackbird [no doubt the author is referring to the six "merlettes" belonging to the martin family!!!] which is often found on the blazon, and taken from the coat of arms of la Mothe Cadillac.

The "home-made" coat of arms of Sieur Antoine de Lamothe-Cadillac  was registered as the firm's trade-mark on August 7, 1906 under  #54,981.  Heraldic explanations of the composite parts of the shield are given in a small booklet, published by Cadillac in 1918, then again in 1919, 1922, 1927, 1931, 1943 and 1960. I have four of these booklets in my collection.  On pp. 10-11 of the Self-Starter issue dated January, 1994, is reproduced the 1931 edition owned by Ansel Sackett.  In the first part of this section, above, is the text from the 1927 version. The Cadillac crest was described also in an advertising flyer published by Cadillac in 1962.

As explained above, Tony Laumet, alias Antoine de Lamothe-Cadillac, was no French nobleman, nor did he marry into any noble family [his "uncle-in-law" was François Guyon, a French-Canadian privateer]; this is historical fact. The Cadillac coat of arms probably was designed by the man himself. This notwithstanding, the crest was well devised and stands up to heraldic scrutiny and interpretation. In addition it was recorded officially by the heraldic authorities of Quebec (formerly New France, now Canada) in 1687, the year of Laumet-Cadillac's marriage. This fact appears to have been corroborated at one time by Canada's Institut généalogique Drouin (I.G.D.).  A similar (but not identical) description of the crest appears also in the Armorial Universel, by Koller & Schillings and an International Committee [of heraldic experts?]; that book on family crests was published in Belgium in 1951. The latter differs from the actual crest used on Cadillac motor cars in that the merlettes (birds) in the first and fourth quarterings are said to be overlaid on a silver background rather than a gold one.

In the 1918 and 1919 editions of the Cadillac-published booklet, it was remarked that the family records of le Sieur Antoine de la Mothe [Lamothe] Cadillac are burned and that just when or where he was born we shall never know. 

Later, however,  in the 1943 and 1960 editions, the Cadillac Motor Car Co. said  it is fairly certain [i.e. the writer was still not 100% sure] that he [Laumet-Cadillac] was born on March 5, 1658, in a little town in Gascony [St. Nicolas-de-la-Grave].  It appears, therefore, that some additional research was done by the firm between 1919 and 1943!

It was asserted also, blatantly in error, that the armorial bearings [the crest] of the Cadillac family were older by four centuries than the coming of Columbus, suggesting that they go back to around 1092; yet it was not before the 13th century that heraldic rules and terminology started to form. As may be seen above, however, the truth is more prosaic. 

In all these merchandising booklets the Cadillac company asserted also that in all France there are few families more ancient than the Cadillacs. Again a bold statement considering the historical facts. The late Harry Pulfer, who researched the Cadillac coat of arms in America, in the early seventies, was not so emphatic. He said that its origins were less known although he did assert, again in error, that the armorial bearings of the Cadillac family had been set down in French heraldry. We must assume he was referring to the records of Canada's Drouin Institute of genealogy.  In reality, however, thorough research conducted in France has not turned up any ancient, noble Cadillac family to which Antoine Laumet might be connected, nor any crest like the one used on Cadillac motor cars since 1906. The closest such crest is that described above, that belongs to the Lamothe family and estate at Bardigues, a hamlet in France's Tarn and Garonne region.

As has been shown above, there never was a noble Lamothe-Cadillac family in France until Antoine Laumet  himself created it for his own ends around the turn of the 17th century. The Cadillac coat of arms is an assemblage, or montage, of bits and pieces of authentic heraldry that Laumet put together to achieve his own purpose.

It is the confirmed opinion of many writers and historians that the Cadillac family crest is a fake, even though it was duly and officially registered and recorded, circa 1687, by the heraldic authorities of Quebec in New France (now Canada). By "fake" crest, I mean an authentic family coat of arms that has been falsified by appropriate alterations such as to impart to it a false character or appearance.  The only authentic parts of the Cadillac crest are the first and fourth quarterings; these feature legless birds (or hen-blackbirds); in heraldry they are known as martlets ^{7a, 7b, 7c}, 7d [merlettes in French].  They are the heraldic adaptation of the martin⁸. 

Laumet "borrowed" the authentic family crest of Baron Sylvester of Esparbes [or Esparbès] de Lussan (see above), Lord of Lamothe, a baronial estate located at Bardigues, in Tarn & Garonne (that family's coat of arms still graces the imposing wrought-iron gates of the Château de Bardigues, near Castelsarrasin, where international Cadillac meets have been held regularly for many years); he merely changed the colors. The parts and the configuration of the shield remain the same but he added [in the 2nd and 3rd quarters] the additional coat of arms of either Virès, in France's Languedoc region, or Albret in Gascony  [source: Report on Canadian Archives, Ottawa, 1911].   We know that Antoine Laumet was an officer in the Albret regiment while stationed at Thionville in 1682; that is the time he began to use the name "CADILLAC" as his "nom de guerre" or alias.
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^7a  Merlette,  Petit oiseau stylisé, posé de profil, sans bec ni griffe [i.e. small, stylised bird, viewed in profile, with neither beak
      nor claws].  Also, martlet, merlion.  In heraldry, a representation of a bird without feet.
^7b  Martlet  [Cf. F. merlette] (Her.) A bird without beak or feet;  generally assumed to represent a martin. As a mark of
      cadency it denotes the fourth son.
^7c  Martlet  The word martlet is used in English translation of similar birds (footless) that appear in French, Dutch and
     German arms, and the equivalents in those languages are frequently used for the English bird. The French term merlette
     actually indicates a footless duckling, not a martin or swallow, as in the case of the English bird.  Merlettes (in the duckling
     form) appear frequently in Dutch heraldry.
^7d The martlet is another example of an apparent mistake by heraldic artists. Martlets are traditionally drawn without legs
       but tufts of feathers. The real reason for this apparent mistake is unclear, but some say legless birds like these were found
      in the Holy Land at the time of the Crusades, others say that the birds like these followed ships endlessly for scraps of food
      and as they never seemed to land, they had no legs. Whatever, the real reason, it matters not as martlets are always correctly
      drawn without legs, even as the mark of cadency for a fourth son.

 

Shield of the Esparbes (or Esparbès) family

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⁸ White swans replaced the traditional black merlettes  on Type 53, 55 and 57 Cadillacs of 1916 through 1919; the reason for the latter change is given in the magazine Antique Automobile for November-December 1993, as also in the CLC's Self Starter magazine for  February, 2001.  The writer, Mr. Ed Jacobowicz of Connecticut, explains that, to the best of his knowledge, this was a gesture of gratitude towards a Mr. Amos [Albert?] C. Swan, former co-owner of Smith & Swan, a company that had given Cadillac precious help following the disastrous plant fire of April 1904 when it had not been possible for Cadillac to build any cars for some three months. The firm reverted to the black merlettes in 1920. 

 

 

Description of the Cadillac Coat of Arms
[ as published by the motor car company of that name ]

The following descriptions are drawn from the merchandising booklets published a number of times between 1918 and 1960 by the former Cadillac Motor Car Company, subsequently the Cadillac Motor Car Division of General Motors Corporation. There was also a piece entitled The Cadillac Crest on p. 46 of The Cadillac Serviceman for August 1960 to encourage Cadillac employees to take pride in their work; it said, inter alia, Both the crest and the slogan [Craftsmanship a Creed, Accuracy a Law] stand as our constant reminder that leadership in any field is won and held only through deeds well done."

Again, the additional explanations and comments in blue, between square brackets, are my own.

The Couronne or Coronet [above the crest] is that borne by the six ancient counts of France^8a and is emblematic of descent from the old counts of Toulouse, who were affiliated with the royal French stock. The seven pearls in the couronne indicate the nobleman's descent from these royal counts [we know for sure that Antoine de Lamothe-Cadillac  was born Antoine Laumet, the son of an assistant mgistrate at the local court and a modest home-maker].

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