Jean Gery (before 1638 – 1690?) (also spelled Jean Jarry, Yan Jarri or Jean Henri) was a French explorer and a deserter from the La Salle expedition of 1685. After leaving the expedition, Gery became chief of a group of

Coahuiltecan The Coahuiltecan were various small, autonomous bands of Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Native Americans who inhabited the Rio Grande valley in what is now northeastern Mexico and southern Texas. The various Coahuiltecan groups were hunter ga ...

Indians, claiming that he had been sent by

God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

to rule over them. He was brought to Monclova, and later to

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

, by Alonso de León, the Spanish governor of

Coahuila Coahuila, formally Coahuila de Zaragoza, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Coahuila de Zaragoza, is one of the 31 states of Mexico. The largest city and State Capital is the city of Saltillo; the second largest is Torreón and the thi ...

. Gery was interrogated by Spanish officials, and could not tell a coherent tale, though he consistently claimed to have originally come from a French fort to the east. Despite the fact that the Spanish had concluded that Gery was insane, he was sent along with de León on an expedition to locate this French fort. Despite Gery's mental instability, he was invaluable as a translator and guide, eventually leading de León to the remains of Fort St. Louis on April 20, 1689. After returning to Coahuila, de León sent Gery to rendezvous with representatives of an Indian tribe at the

Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( or ) in the United States or the Río Bravo (del Norte) in Mexico (), also known as Tó Ba'áadi in Navajo language, Navajo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the Southwestern United States a ...

. This is the last known mention of Gery, who presumably died before de León's next

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

expedition. "On this journey I sorely missed the old Frenchman," de León later wrote, "because of his knowledge of all the Indian languages of the region. He was always found faithful. Only with his help was it possible to discover the settlement he came from."

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gery, Jean 1630s births 1690s deaths French colonization of Texas People of Spanish Texas