Жозеф Фредерик Валле Дебарр: Карта жасаушы және саяхатшының өмірі

Swiss cartographer

Joseph Frederick Wallet Des Barres (22 November 1721 – 27 October 1824) was a Canadian cartographer who served in the Seven Years' War, as the aide de camp to General James Wolfe. Des Barres is perhaps best known as the creator the monumental four volume Atlantic Neptune, the most important collection of maps, charts and views of North America published in the eighteenth century. He later went on to serve as the Lieutenant Governor of Cape Breton Colony and later as Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island. Colonel Des Barres is buried with his wife under St. George's (Round) Church, Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Des Barres, who is seen as having lived through important changes in Nova Scotia's history, is thought to have been born in Basel, Switzerland (although Montbéliard has also been suggested), and was a member of a Huguenot family. His parents were Joseph Leonard Vallet DesBarres and Anne Catherine Cuvier and he was the eldest of their three children. Des Barres read mathematics and art at the University of Basel, studying under John and Daniel Bernoulli. Upon the completion of his studies he left for England. There he enrolled at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. It was there that Des Barres trained to become a military officer, and studied military surveying. His training would also benefit him later in life for surveying, map making, and coastal charting. In 1756 he was commissioned into the Royal Americans (the 62nd Foot later known as the 60th Foot). By 1762 he was sent to Newfoundland to survey Harbour Grace and Carbonear and to draw up plans for new harbour defences to replace those destroyed by the French. James Cook was sent as his assistant. (DesBarres may have met Cook earlier at either Louisbourg or Halifax.) One of the women, Mary Cannon,
served as housekeeper and manager of Castle Frederick from 1764 to 1794. She also administered tenant farmers on Des Barres' land holdings of in Tatamagouche, in New Brunswick and approximately in Maccan, Nappan, and Minudie. His Tatamagouche holdings formed the western coastal boundary of the Philadelphia grant.

Des Barres made many maps of the Atlantic, mapping the coast of North American from Newfoundland to New York. His survey of the coast of Nova Scotia took approximately ten years due its length and intricacy. Des Barres was exasperated with the work, stating "There is scarcely any known shore so much intersected with Bays, Harbours, and Creeks as this is" "and the Offing of it is so full of Islands, Rocks, and Shoals as are almost innumerable." He was later governor of Prince Edward Island from 1804 to 1812. Dalhousie University has a number of items of Colonel Des Barres in one of its archive collections. He died at the age of 102, and his date of death is variously given as 24 and 27 October. Colonel Des Barres is buried St. George's (Round) Church, Halifax, Nova Scotia. While he was buried beside his wife Martha, he was survived by his mistress Mary Cannon and their four children. His funeral took place in St. George's Round Church in 1824.