Editing Jean Lafitte (section)

===France===
Biographer William C. Davis suggests a different childhood for Lafitte.  According to his 2005 book, Lafitte was born in or near [[Pauillac]], France, the son of Pierre Lafitte and his second wife, Marguerite Desteil. The couple had six children, including at least three daughters. Jean Lafitte was likely born in 1782, although he was not baptized until 1786.  Pierre Lafitte had an older son, his namesake Pierre, born from his first marriage to Marie LaGrange, who died in childbirth. The boys were given a basic Catholic education.<ref name=davis2>Davis (2005), p. 2.</ref>

Acknowledging that details of Lafitte's first twenty years are sparse, Davis speculates that Lafitte spent much time at sea as a child, probably aboard ships owned by his father, a known trader.<ref name=davis25>Davis (2005), p. 25.</ref>  Davis places Lafitte's brother Pierre in Saint-Domingue by the late 1790s and the early 19th century. Due to escalating violence from the [[Haitian Revolution]], in early 1803 Pierre boarded a refugee ship for New Orleans.<ref name=davis5and7>Davis (2005), pp. 5, 7.</ref> This was the last year that [[Napoleon|Napoleon Bonaparte]] failed to regain control of Saint-Domingue. He withdrew his battered troops and ended French involvement in North America, selling the US what became known as the [[Louisiana Purchase]] in 1803: French-claimed lands west of the Mississippi River. By 1806, several "Captain Lafitte"s operated in New Orleans; Jean Lafitte was likely one of them.<ref name=davis25/>