� Our great, great grandfather �
At about 1820, he was commissioned to train the Spanish troops stationed in Cuba. On November 1822 he gave a fencing exhibition with two of his colleagues Grabiel D'Herbois and Dennis at the Nichols Inn, located at the San Francisco Plaza in La Havana.
He decided to come to Mexico with his friend Toussaint, who became the founder of the well-known Touissaint Mexican family. Their friendship strengthened when later in Mexico they married the Santa Cruz sisters. They probably arrived in Mexico in 1822. Given his reputation as a sword and fence master, he quickly became a private instructor to the upper class and army officers. Soon, he was not only acknowledged as one of the finest swordsman in Mexico but also abroad.
He married Maria Guadalupe Gonz�lez in 1827, having Fernando in May 1828, Miguel in 1830 and Maria Josefa in September 1832. Both his sons became fine swordsmen and played a relevant role during the defense of their Military School in the Castle of Chapultepec.
At the age of 44, on 6 December 1837, Antoine Poucel was hired by the Mexican Army to teach fencing and etiquette at the Military School, then at the Castle of Chapultepec. He, nevertheless, continued with his private tutoring practice.
In 1840 he founded the first military fencing school, probably located in the Betlemitas ex convent, while continuing his teaching at the Military School. He was responsible for the training of the officers and cadets that defended Mexico City against the American Invasion on September 12 and 13 of 1847.
After the death of his first wife, Antoine Poucel remarried in 1840 to Estefan�a Santa Cruz Zamora, with whom she had eleven children: Isabel, Jos� Antonio, Maria de Jesus Macaria, Eugenia Victoria, Romulo Eugenio Agust�n, Manuel Henrique, Maria Concepcion Rosa, Juan Nepomuceno Alberto, Jose Gerardo Francisco, Felix Antonio Joaquin, Mauro Adolfo, and Jose Maria Emiliano Poucel, where this side of the family stems from. All his sons joined the army.
In 1858, Antoine traveled to Durham England to give some fencing exhibitions. Estefan�a accompanied him, and took the opportunity to re-christen their daughter Maria Concepci�n Adela Poucel Santa Cruz. Estefan�a's brother, who was also there, baptized his daughter Apolinaria Santa Cruz Lensina.
He continued to teach until the age of 67, retiring from the Mexican Army on 11 October 1860.
Almost blind and close to dying, with the imminent news of the disembarkation of the French Army in Veracruz, his children asked him: "Father, whom should we fight for, France or M�xico?" He responded: "Who feeds you", thus it exhorted them to fulfill with honor their commitment to Mexico. All his children thus defended Mexico against the French Intervention. His son Agust�n Poucel, a lieutenant at the time, was one of the inmaculados who accompanied Ju�rez in his withdrawal to Paso del Norte during the French Intervention.
2/ Correo de la Federaci�n". 14 january 1828.
3/ Exp. 5-1-7606. .Arch. Gral. de la Sr�a. de Relaciones. Antonio Poucel, Exp. Personal. Arch. Defensa Nacional.