Louis Gabriel de Contades

Contades was born on 11 October 1759 in Angers, the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department.

[2] His paternal grandfather was Louis Georges Érasme de Contades, Marquis de Contades, a prominent battlefield commander during the Seven Years' War who was made a Marshal of France.

[2] In 1791, during the French Revolution, he joined the Armée des Émigrés, a counter-revolutionary armies raised outside France by and out of royalist émigrés, with the aim of overthrowing the French Revolution, reconquering France and restoring the monarchy.

In 1794, he emigrated to Santo Domingo, where he commanded a legion of the Royal Army (supported by Great Britain).

[4] On 17 October 1786, Contades married Périne-Julie Constantin de La Lorie (1767–1840).