Crèvecoeur, Michel-Guillaume-Saint-Jean de

Crèvecoeur, Michel-Guillaume-Saint-Jean de

 or J. Hector St. John or Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur

(born Jan. 31, 1735, Caen, France—died Nov. 12, 1813, Sarcelles) French-U.S. writer and naturalist. He traveled to the New World in 1755 as an officer and mapmaker and became a farmer, then served as French consul for many years. He returned to Europe in 1790. His fame rests on Letters from an American Farmer (1782, 1784, 1790), essays that paint a broad picture of American life. His Travels in Upper Pennsylvania and New York appeared in 1801. Newly discovered essays were published as Sketches of Eighteenth Century America in 1925. In his time he was the most widely read commentator on America.