Son of Elisabeth Belamy and of Louis- Guillaume Le Veillard, Franklin’s friend and neighbor in Passy.

His attempt to settle in America and to become a member of the French diplomatic corps failed when the English captured the ship on which he had set sail, the Marquis de Lafayette (1781).

After his release and return home, he was sent by his father to Bordeaux to earn his living in trade.

Maintained a lengthy and personal correspondence with his close friend, William Temple Franklin.