[1] His father was Joseph Antoine de Villeré, an official in the French Navy during the reign of King Louis XV and later a colonial militia captain in the German Coast area of present-day southeast Louisiana.

A few years after 1763's cession of La Louisiane to Spain, Joseph was sentenced to death by Spanish Governor Alejandro O'Reilly, who was sent by King Charles III to suppress a local revolt.

Villeré joined the French Army and was educated for two years in France at the Crown's expense, due to his father's death at the hands of O'Reilly.

His men stood fast, assigned to the area near Lake Borgne and Bayou Dupre, as British forces approached New Orleans by sea.

In fact, Villeré's son Gabriel, who had the rank of major and guarded the plantation with thirty soldiers, was surprised and captured when the British Army initially made its presence known.

His gubernatorial administration was noted for efforts to provide bankruptcy protection for debtors, the designation of death-by-dueling as a capital offense, and reduction of the level of state debt.