1. Francis Vigo, born Giuseppe Maria Francesco Vigo, was an Italian-born Spanish soldier and later a fur trader who aided colonial forces during the American Revolutionary War and helped found a public university in Vincennes, Indiana.
12 Facts About Francis Vigo
1. 2.
In 1783, Vigo moved to Vincennes and operated a fur trading business there.
3.
Francis Vigo offered to serve George Rogers Clark as a spy during the American Revolutionary War.
4.
Francis Vigo was sent to Vincennes to learn of the conditions at the now British-held Fort Sackville.
5.
Francis Vigo travelled down the Wabash, Ohio, and Mississippi Rivers to St Louis.
6.
Francis Vigo reportedly complained that he was never compensated by the US government for supporting American credit during the war.
7.
In 1801, Francis Vigo petitioned the US Congress for a donation of land to establish the Jefferson Academy in Vincennes.
8.
In 1806, Francis Vigo was named one of the original trustees of the now renamed Vincennes University.
9.
Francis Vigo was featured in a collectors coin to celebrate the bicentennial of Indiana statehood.
10.
Francis Vigo died March 22,1836, while living in the home of Jean Baptiste and Elizabeth LaPlante, in Vincennes.
11.
Vigo County, Indiana, on the Wabash River north of Vincennes, is named for Francis Vigo, as is Vigo, Indiana.
12.
Francis Vigo was featured in a collectors coin to celebrate the bicentennial of Indiana statehood.