User blog comment:Slate Vesper/Assassinews 15-06-'13 — Three Assassin's Creeds in development and Patrice Désilets' lawsuit with Ubisoft/@comment-4013467-20130623043717/@comment-1153722-20130626075226

Yes, John de la Tour and Jean III, Count of Auvergne are definitely not the same person. The Assassins and Templars started expanding to the Americas in 1503 (and the Assassins were fully settled into Florida by 1510). By that time there also weren't any actual colonies in current US soil yet, and John de la Tour was the first Assassin to arrive in those colonies.

I also don't think that John de la Tour's outfit would remain in such a good state for 200 years. I would say John de la Tour lived in the late 17th or early 18th century.