Pierre (Peter) Augustin Bourguignon Derbigny (1769–1829), attorney and public official, was born to a noble family in Laon, France, and successively fled the French and Haitian revolutions, arriving in Pittsburgh about 1792. He subsequently lived in Illinois and Missouri before settling in New Orleans in 1797. Derbigny served as official interpreter for the Spanish and American governments. Before statehood he was clerk of the court of common pleas and secretary of the territorial legislative council. Derbigny served in the lower house of the first state legislature, sat on the Louisiana Supreme Court, 1813–20, was secretary of the state, 1820–27, and served as governor from 1828 until his death after a carriage accident. He authored works supporting the retention of existing Spanish and French laws in the territory and state and collaborated with Edward Livingston and Louis Moreau Lislet on the Civil Code of the State of Louisiana (New Orleans, 1825). Derbigny was also a key supporter of the public’s claim to the Batture Sainte Marie, writing three pamphlets on the subject (ANB description begins John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes, eds., American National Biography, 1999, 24 vols. description ends ; DAB description begins Allen Johnson and Dumas Malone, eds., Dictionary of American Biography, 1928–36, 20 vols. description ends ; Glenn R. Conrad, ed., Dictionary of Louisiana Biography [1988], 1:238–40; Michel d’Herbigny, Pierre Bourguignon-d’Herbigny (1769–1829) Governor of Louisiana and his Descendants in U.S.A. [1979]; Sowerby, description begins E. Millicent Sowerby, comp., Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson, 1952–59, 5 vols. description ends nos. 3475, 3492, 3495; Terr. Papers description begins Clarence E. Carter and John Porter Bloom, eds., The Territorial Papers of the United States, 1934–75, 28 vols. description ends , 9:12–3, 376, 524, 657–8, 1014–6; Derbigny to TJ, 7 Feb. 1805 [DLC]; New-Orleans Argus, 8 Oct. 1829; Washington Daily National Intelligencer, 31 Oct. 1829).