Pierre Étienne (Peter Stephen) Du Ponceau (1760–1844)
Pierre Étienne Du Ponceau, lawyer and author, was born to an aristocratic family on 3 June 1760 in Saint-Martin-de-Ré, France. Young Du Ponceau came to America during the Revolutionary War as the interpreter and secretary for Baron von Steuben (1730–1794). He would obtain the rank of captain in the Continental Army and serve as Steuben's aide-de-camp. Du Ponceau became a citizen and gained admittance to the Philadelphia bar after the war. In addition to his duties as an attorney, he published books on law, the Chinese language, and other topics.
"Pierre Etienne Du Ponceau." Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1936. Gale In Context: U.S. History, link.gale.com/apps/doc/BT2310014435/UHIC?u=viva_uva&sid=bookmark-UHIC&xid=ce628403. Accessed 6 Sept. 2023.
Levy, Leonard W. "Du Ponceau, Peter S. (1760–1844)." Encyclopedia of the American Constitution, edited by Leonard W. Levy and Kenneth L. Karst, 2nd ed., vol. 2, Macmillan Reference USA, 2000, p. 831. Gale In Context: U.S. History, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX3425000788/UHIC?u=viva_uva&sid=bookmark-UHIC&xid=89c059eb. Accessed 6 Sept. 2023.
William A. Tieck, "In Search of Peter Stephen Du Ponceau," The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Volume 89, Number 1 (January 1965), 52–67, 69–78.
John Hill Martin, Martin’s Bench and Bar of Philadelphia; Together with Other Lists of Persons Appointed to Administer the Laws in the City and County of Philadelphia, and the Province and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia: Rees Welsh & Co., 1883), xv, 220, 222, 223, 224, 226, 242, 265.
Peter Stephen Dupontceau at Find a Grave.