Leon Toussaint de Rostang

​BLAST FROM THE PAST WITH ANGELO BISSESSARSINGH
The following is a riches to rags story written by Angelo Bissessarsingh in 2010
Leon Toussaint de Rostang was once known in Trinidad as a large landed proprietor and a man well to do in the world but died penniless. This is his story .
Leon Toussaint de Rostang was born in Trinidad on December 15 1795. His baptismal record shows that he was the son of Maurice Rostant (sic) and Magarita Lux Desbourdes. His father died in 1800 and his mother remarried and Leon was educated in France. He married Marie Louise D’Angleberne in 1817 and set up developing sugar estates in the Couva area. At one point, he owned almost all the estates in the district, particularly Caracas, Phoenix Park, Savonetta, Exchange, Camden, Edinburgh and Petersfield. On June 1st 1853 Leon was made a member of the Legislative Council which hitherto had been dominated by English expatriates and frowned on the Catholic French Creoles.
In the1850s a series of misfortunes and the low price of sugar spelled disaster for Leon who mortgaged his estates heavily to Hypolite Borde, Andre Blasini and the Colonial Bank. Matters were made even worse as the Colonial Bank employed Attorney General Chas. William Warner, the great enemy of the French Creoles, as its attorney.
Despite attempts by Borde and the wealthy Lucien Ambard to intervene and reestablish credit, Warner pressed for foreclosure. Leon, staring destitution, fled Trinidad in the dead of night with his wife, sons Maurice and Phillippe and their families with $10,000 to live in exile and depression in Venezuela for five years.
The family moved thence to Puerto Rico (where his wife died) and in 1866 landed in Dominica where Maurice was employed as manager of a sugar estate. With the removal of Chas. William Warner as Attorney General in 1870, the family returned to Trinidad where Maurice became manager of Williamsville Estate. Leon Toussaint died in San Fernando on June 17 1877 and was buried in Paradise Cemetery, San fernando.
The following excerpt is from the San Fernando Gazette on his death :
“ Mr. Toussaint Rostant died at the residence of his eldest son, Mr. Maurice Rostant at the advanced age of 83. Once known as a large landed proprietor and a man well to do in the world, he died penniless. French blood and English energy created that mixture of kindheartedness and stern resolve which distinguished most of the planters who opened up our virgin forests and pushed civilization into the heart of the island. The Quarter of Couva where his name is still venerated, may be said was his creation . This wonderful research may be read along with other gems of our French heritage in Fr. Anthony DeVerteuil’s excellent book, Trinidad’s French Legacy."
This photo shows Leon Toussaint’s grave in Paradise Cemetery. The headstone which bore his French epitaph has since disappeared.