USA > Missouri > History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 12
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After the punishment of the Indians for the killing of Trotter, and some representa- tions made by De Lassus to their chief, the band seems to have given up the larger part of their depredations and no longer to have troubled the inhabitants.
In 1808 the government made a treaty with the Osages, by which it was agreed that the boundary between them and the United States should begin at Fort Osage on the Mississippi river, run due south to the Ar- kansas river and down the Arkansas to the Mississippi. All the land east of this line was to pass from the Indians to the govern- ment of the United States. They also ceded to the government their lands north of the Mississippi river and two square leagues west of this line, to contain Fort Osage. This treaty left to the Osages only the western part of the territory now embraced in Mis- souri. In 1825 the Osages made another treaty by which they gave up their rights to all the lands in Missouri.
In 1793 Spain, by action of Baron Ca- rondelet, granted to the Shawnees and Dela- wares a tract of land situated between the Cinque Homme and Cape Girardeau. This
tract extended as far west as White river. This territory was claimed by the Osage In- dians and was relinquished by them in their treaty of 1808. The government of the United States, however, did not press this claim to this particular tract, for one of the clauses in the treaty by which Louisiana was ceded to the United States bound this coun- try to the fulfilment of all treaties and agree- ments between Spain or France and the Iu- dian tribes. In 1815 there began a move- ment of the Shawnees and Delawares to the west. They seemed to have been promised other lands in consideration of their removal. Some of them went to Castor and St. Fran- cois rivers; some of them settled on White river not far from Springfield. In 1825 a treaty was made with the Shawnees by which they exchanged their Spanish grants in the Cape Girardeau district for a tract of fifty square miles west of Missouri. They removed to these lands in what is now the Indian ter- ritory. In 1829 the Delawares gave up their title to the Cape Girardeau lands and moved further west. In 1832 the allied Delawares and Shawnees made a treaty by which they relinquished the very last of their lands and improvements in Southeast Missouri. This act extinguished the last title held by the Indians to the territory of Missouri.
While the Indians' lands were all trans- ferred by this date (1832), not all the In- dians themselves disappeared from this sec- tion of the state at that time. There are many persons now living who well remember when there were scattered bands of the In- dians in Southeast Missouri. One of the last of these bands was that at the village of Chil- letecaux, near Kennett. They remained here until game practically disappeared and it became impossible for them longer to live by hunting. Some of them died, and the sur-
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HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
vivors moved away, a few at a time, to the west. Most of them went to the Indian ter- ritory.
Some effort was made to educate the In- dians, even in the early time. Rev. John Ficklin, a Baptist preacher of Kentucky, was sent by the Kentucky Mission Society to Mis- souri to secure some of the children in order to establish an Indian school in Scott county, Kentucky. He had an interview with the chief of a band of Shawnees and Delawares on the Maramec river. This chief was named Rogers. He was a white man, but had been taken prisoner by the Indians in boyhood and had been so trained by them that he was practically an Indian himself. He had mar- ried a young woman, a daughter of the chief, and because of his influence and talents had succeeded to the office. The Indians, under instructions of Captain Rogers, cultivated farms and opened a school in the village, which was attended by the children of the American settlers and of the Indians. These children studied their books in school hours and then engaged in shooting with a bow and arrow and other Indian pastimes, at inter- mission. One of the white children who be- gan his early education in this mixed school was Rev. Louis Williams, who afterwards be- came a distinguished minister.
About the time of the cession Captain Rogers and his band had removed to Big Spring, at the head of the Maramec river. They intended to reside in this place, but the country was not suited to them and many of them died. They attributed these deaths to the influence of the evil spirit and moved away, settling in Franklin county, not far south of Union. The sons of Captain Rogers and Captain Fish, who succeeded him as
chief, discussed with Reverend Ficklin the question of sending some of their children to Kentucky. Louis Rogers, a son of Captain Rogers, who could already read and write, offered to go to Kentucky, provided he were permitted to take his family with him. This was assented to, and some of the Indians went to Kentucky to this school. Peck ("Life of Peck," p. 111) says that this band of In- dians were very thrifty farmers and brought the best cattle to the St. Louis market that the butchers received.
The Indian has now disappeared from Southeast Missouri. He no longer pursues the hunt through the forests, or causes the settler to tremble at the sound of the war- hoop. His wigwam, his lodge of poles and mats, his implements of warfare, his tools and utensils no longer exist, or are found only in museums and collections of relics. The very mounds he reared as places for the burial of his dead, as sites for home or tem- ple, are no longer sacred to the purposes for which he dedicated them, but are desecrated by the spade of the explorer and relic hunter, and his very erection of them is denied.
Most of those now living within the bor- ders of the state never saw an Indian in his native haunts, and cannot reconstruct the life of the time when he formed an impor- tant part in the making of the history of the country. And yet we cannot give more than mere casual attention to the story of the de- velopment of Southeast Missouri, without discovering that the Indian once played a great part here. He has left ineffaceable traces of his life, and no one can ever hope to come to a complete understanding of our his- tory without a study of Indian life and char- acter.
SECTION II
Under France and Spain -
CHAPTER V
STE. GENEVIEVE DISTRICT
THE NAME LOUISIANA-THE ILLINOIS- THE FRENCH AND SPANISH DISTRICTS WITH THEIR LIMITS-THE APPEARANCE AND CHARACTER OF THE COUNTRY-STE. GENEVIEVE-PROBABLE DATE OF FIRST SETTLEMENT-"THE OLD VILLAGE OF STE. GENEVIEVE" - ORIGINAL SET- TLERS-OFFICIALS AND LEGAL PROCEEDINGS-OCCUPATIONS - THE "BIG FIELD" - INDIAN TROUBLES-LIFE OF THE FRENCH PIONEERS-POPULATION-PITTMAN'S ACCOUNT - VISIT OF PAUL ALLIOY-AS PECK SAW THE TOWN-IMPRESSIONS OF FLAG-FERDINAND ROZIER - JOHN JAMES AUDUBON-JOHN SMITH T .- HENRY DODGE-JOHN RICE JONES-NEW BOUR- BON-NEW TENNESSEE -- TABLE OF SETTLEMENTS-FIRST SETTLERS IN IRON COUNTY-THE COOK AND MURPHY SETTLEMENTS-ST. MICHAEL'S-OLD MINES-FIRST SETTLERS IN JEF- FERSON COUNTY-PERRY COUNTY SETTLEMENTS-LONG'S ACCOUNT.
La Salle applied to the territory along the Mississippi the name Louisiana. It was early divided by the French into two parts, Upper Louisiana which was north of the Arkansas river and Lower Louisiana which was south of the Arkansas. It should be said here that the whole territory on both sides of the river north of the Ohio was frequently called the country of the Illinois, and so va- rious settlements and rivers were spoken of as being in the Illinois. They applied differ- ent names, also, to the rivers of the district. They called the Mississippi the river St. Louis, the Missouri they named the St. Philip, and the Wabash was called the St. James.
Upper Louisiana was divided into five dis- tricts : first, the district of St. Louis between the Missouri and the Maramec; second the district of Ste. Genevieve between the Mara- mec and Apple Creek; third the district of Cape Girardeau extending from Apple Creek Vol. I-4
to Tywappity bottom; fourth the district of New Madrid which reached south to the Ar- kansas river; and fifth the district of St. Charles which lay north of the Missouri river. All of these districts fronted on the Mississippi and extended an unknown dis- tance to the west.
This country of Upper Louisiana, at the time the French began their settlements, was one of wonderful beauty and attractive- ness. All explorers and travelers who visited it were enraptured with the country and the prospects of its development. Its hills and forests, its streams and springs were all of unusual beauty. The openness of the woods, the comparative absence of undergrowth made the woods both attractive and easy to travel through. The alluvial plains not yet changed by the earthquakes with their wide stretches of level woodland, with their great trees, were esteemed by many of the early travelers as the choicest part of all Upper
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HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
Louisiana. The country possessed many at- tractions for the French and especially for the French Canadians. The climate was milder than that of Canada, the rivers were open during the most of the year, and the forests abounded with game. Buffalo, deer, and turkeys were the most important of these. The streams were full of fish and the
tracted by all of these opportunities for ac- quiring wealth, planted settlements. The earliest of these were grouped about the miues. They were transient in nature. The first permanent settlement was made at Ste. Genevieve.
It is not possible to fix the exact date of the first settlement of Ste. Genevieve. Our
F
T
FIRST BRICK HOUSE BUILT WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI (Used as a Court House in 1785)
whole country swarmed in season with almost incredible flocks of geese, ducks, swans, and wild pigeons. It was a hunter's paradise, and to it were attracted many men because of the abundance of wild game. But there were other more solid attractions for the settlers. The district of Ste. Genevieve was exceed- ingly rich in minerals; that of New Madrid in fine soil and timber.
Within Upper Louisiana the French, at-
records are not sufficient for us to determine the precise year in which it was founded. But while this is impossible we are able to carry the history of the town back to a date previous to that of any other settlement in the state, so that it is evident that here was made the first settlement of white men within the limits of Missouri. Not only is this true, but it was, in fact, the first French settle- ment west of the river and one of the first in
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HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
the valley of the Mississippi. Kaskaskia, Vincennes, and a few others are older, but only a few of them. Before there was a set- tlement at St. Louis, or St. Charles, or Cape Girardeau, or New Madrid, Ste. Genevieve was a thriving and prosperous village.
The original town was not located on the present site of Ste. Genevieve, but in the great common field about three miles south of the present town. This old town was called "le vieux village de Ste. Genevieve"- the old village of Ste. Genevieve. The site on which it stood has been swept away by the river. This old site was abandoned in 1785 owing to an unprecedented rise in the river which overflowed the entire town. So great was the flood and so vivid the impression it made on the people that this year was ever afterward known as the year of the great flood. By 1791 the removal to the new site was completed and the place where the old village had stood was gradually washed away by the river.
It is a matter of regret that we cannot fix the precise time when the first settlement here was begun. This, as has been stated, is not possible. Several considerations, how- ever, enable us to fix the approximate date.
In the year 1881 there was discovered an old well on the bank of the river in the Big Field of Ste. Genevieve. The river had eaten away the earth from about the well until it stood up like a stone chimney. On a stone in the top of this well was the date 1732. A part of the stone containing the date was chipped off by Leon Jokerst, who discovered the old well, and preserved by him. The re- mainder of the old well was swept away by the currents of the river. This old well evi- dently belonged to some house in the out- skirts of the old town, and the date is very probably the year in which the well was con-
structed. If this is the case then the first settlement was made sometime prior to 1732 .* There is still to be seen in the office of the recorder of deeds an affidavit made in 1825, by Julien Labriere, in which he deposes that he is fifty-six years of age, that he was born in the old village of Ste. Genevieve, that he remembered to have seen as a small child the first settler in the village, one Baptiste La Rose, then very old. The affidavit sets out also the reeollections of Labriere concern- ing the removal to the new site.
Pittman who visited Ste. Genevieve in 1765 says that the first settlers eame to Ste. Genevieve about twenty-eight years ago from Caseasquias attracted by the goodness of the soil and the plentiful harvests.t
Mrs. Menard of Ste. Genevieve as late as 1881 had in her possession what was perhaps the oldest legal document relating to the town. It was an aeeount of the sale of a house and lot belonging to the estate of Lan- rent Gabouri. Jean Baptiste St. Gem was the purehaser. The property is described as lo- eated in the village of Ste. Genevieve which must have been an established village at the time of the transfer. The bill of sale is dated in December, 1754. The terms used in describing the property leave no doubt that the settlement was an old and well estab- lished one at that remote date and had been in existence for many years.#
In the collection known as the Guibour Papers now in the Missouri Historical So- ciety files are to be seen copies of petitions to the commandants of the district for land. In one of these Franeois Rivard asks for a grant of land, which from the terms of the petition, must have been located near the vil-
* "History of Southeast Missouri, " p. 241.
t "Mississippi Settlements," p. 95.
# Houck, "History of Missouri, " Vol. I, p. 239.
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HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
lage for the petitioner promises to set aside a certain part of it for a church. The grant was made as requested and is dated 1752. It appears that at this time one Chaponga cultivated a part of what is now the Big Field of Ste. Genevieve. In the same year one Geneaux prays for a grant of land along the Saline Creek adjoining the land of one Dor- lac who must have been in the Big Field also.
A fort named Fort Joachim was located in the old village during the year 1759. A ref- erence to this old fort is to be found in the register of the Catholic church of Ste. Gene- vieve. Numerous other references to old events are found scattered through church records, in court proceedings and the letters and books of private persons. None of them give an exact date for the founding of the town, but all of them indicate that it was settled early in the eighteenth century.
The original settlers of the old village of Ste. Genevieve were Francisco Valle, Jean Baptiste Valle, Joseph Loisel, Jean Baptiste Maurice, Francois Maurice, Francois Cole- man, Jaques Boyer, Henri Maurice, Parfait Dufour, Joseph Bequette, Jean Baptiste Tho- mure, Joseph Govreau, Louis Boldue, Jean Baptiste St. Gem, Laurent Gabouri, Jean Beauvais, B. N. Janis and J. B. T. Pratte.
Of these settlers the Valle family were very prominent, Francois Valle, Sr., and his sons Francois, Jr., and Jean Baptiste were all commandants of the post at various times. Francois, Jr., lived for many years in a large one story frame building on South Gabouri Creek. This house is still standing and is a typical French residence of that time. It is low but has large porches making it comfort- able. The wife of Francois Valle was Louise Carpentier whom he married in 1777. They
reared a number of children. One of the daughters of the family married Robert T. Brown of Perry county, another married Dr. Walter Fenwick who was afterward killed in a duel, a third daughter became the wife of Joseph Pratte, and the fourth married Captain Wilkinson. Francois Valle, Jr., died March 6, 1804, and was buried under his pew in the old Catholic church.
Jean Baptiste Valle, the brother of Fran- cois, Jr., married Jane Barbau. He was a prosperous merchant and lived in Ste. Ge- nevieve for a number of years. Another of the sons of Francois Valle, Sr., was named Charles. He married Pelagie Carpentier in 1769, and Marie Louise Valle the only daugh- ter of Francois Valle, Sr., was married to Francois LeClerc in 1776.
Another of the influential families of the old village was the St. Gems, or as they are frequently known St. Gem Beauvais a short- ening of St. Gem de Beauvais. Some mem- bers of the family finally discontinued the use of St. Gem in their name and became known as Beauvais. The founder of the fam- ily in this country was Jean Baptiste, who came to Kaskaskia about 1720 and was mar- ried in 1725 to Louise LaCrois at Fort Chartres. Their family consisted of five sons and two daughters. Two of the sons, Jean Baptiste, Jr., and Vital St. Gem, or as he was often called, Vital Beauvais, removed from Kaskaskia when that place was cap- tured by Clark, to Ste. Genevieve. The former of the two brothers built what was perhaps the first grist mill west of the Missis- sippi. The house in which he lived for many years is still standing in Ste. Genevieve. He was an office holder for a number of years be- ing one of the first judges of the Court of Common Pleas and Quarter Sessions remain-
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HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
ing in office until his death. He was the father of six sons, Raphael, Joseph M. D., Bartholomew, Vital, John B. and August.
Vital St. Gem, the brother of Jean Bap- tiste, lived for a time at the Saline but came to Ste. Genevieve in 1791, the house in which he lived until his death was afterward oc- cupied by Mrs. Menard and is still standing. He died in 1816.
Jolın B. Pratte, who came to Ste. Ge- nevieve about 1754, was one of the most suc- cessful merchants in the early history of the town. He held a number of local offices among them the chairmanship of the Board of Trustees of the town. His sons were Ber- nard, Joseph, Antoine, Bileron and Henry. The Pratte family now prominent in Ste. Genevieve county are descendents of John B. Pratte.
The Janis family, many of whose descend- ants are still to be found in Ste. Genevieve, came to the district very early in its history. The founder of the family was Nicholas Janis, who lived for a time in Kaskaskia. His sons were Francois, Antoine and Bap- tiste, his daughters were Felicite, who mar- ried Vital St. Gem; Catherine, who married Stephen Bolduc, and Francoise who became Madam Durocher.
The population of Ste. Genevieve in- creased very rapidly after the delivery of the territory east of the river from France to England. The French of Kaskaskia, Fort Chartres, Prairie du Rocher and Cahokia, unwilling to live under the government of England removed in large numbers across the river to St. Louis and Ste. Genevieve. This was from the years 1765 to 1769. Of course at this time the territory of Upper Louisiana had been transferred to Spain, but this change was not known to the French in this country, and accordingly they be-
lieved they were moving back under the flag of France. The first legal proceedings at Ste. Genevieve were liad on the 19th day of May, 1766. In that year Rocheblave was Commandant, and M. Robinet was the notary and greffier. They were both officers of France and held office until November 22, 1769, when they gave way to the officers of Spain. This first legal proceeding was the drawing up of a marriage contract between Pierre Roy and Jeanette Lalond.
The court records and the official corre- spondence of the French and Spanish officials both at St. Louis and at New Orleans contain abundant evidence that Ste. Genevieve was a prosperous and flourishing village during the latter half of the eighteenth century. In 1769 Rui in a report to Governor O'Rielly says that the town contains fifty-five or sixty citizens, and Piernas in the same year says the population is about 600. Other state- ments made from time to time to the various Spanish Governors indicate that the town grew steadily, especially after its removal to its present site.
Among early officials was Phillip Roche- blave, who had been commandant at Kaskas- kia at the time that post was taken by the Americans under George Rogers Clark, and after a somewhat adventurous life had made his way to St. Louis; he was there appointed commandant both civil and military of the post of Ste. Genevieve. He was succeeded by Francois Valle a member of one of the oldest and most influential families of Ste. Genevieve. Valle was succeeded by Fran- cisco Cartabona de Oro, and he by Henri Peyroux De La Coudeniere. In 1796 Fran- cois Valle, Jr., became commandant with both civil and military authority. He was succeeded by his brother Jean Baptiste who held the post until the transfer to the United
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HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
States and was continued in office by Gover- nor William Henry Harrison. This Jean Baptiste was one of the most interesting char- acters in the early history of the town. He lived to a very great age and his descendants still occupy the old homestead in Ste. Gene- vieve.
The early settlers in Ste. Genevieve, while the town occupied the old site in the big field and which has long since been swept away by the river, were engaged principally in the cultivation of the soil of that big field. They had been attracted there largely by the rich- ness of that soil, and in part by the oppor- tunities for trade with the Indians, and in part also because of the nearness to the new mines then being opened up by Renault and his agents. These mines were situ- ated on the Maramee river in what is now Washington county and at Mine La Motte. The lead produced by these mines was car- ried on horseback to Ste. Genevieve for transportation either down the river to New Orleans or else up the river to the Spanish post at St. Louis, which was then called Pain- court. Owing to the peculiar manner by which the pigs of lead were carried to Ste. Genevieve they were not cast in the usual shape but were moulded into a form resem- bling the collar of a horse and were then hung on the neck of the horse for transport. One of these peculiar pigs of lead was found some years ago by the side of the old road leading from the mines on the Maramec to Ste. Genevieve. It seems that some of the in- habitants of the town were engaged in min- ing and in the transportation of the lead. Others of them were early engaged in mill- ing. They shipped flour and meal by way of the river to all the posts about them and as far south as New Orleans. In 1771 Matthew
Kennedy, a merchant at Ste. Genevieve, shipped 1200 pounds of flour to a post on the Arkansas River. This shows that the trade of Ste. Genevieve, even at that early date, was extensive. It is a remarkable fact that the merchants and traders at St. Louis were accustomed to purchase a considerable part of their supplies in Ste. Genevieve.
In common with other settlers in Southeast Missouri, the people of Ste. Genevieve were much troubled by the Osage Indians. These Indians, whose principal camp was on the Osage river, extended their hunting and plundering operations over all the section, and were exceedingly troublesome. They were great thieves, being especially fond of horse stealing. They were accustomed to make raids upon the exposed farms and even upon houses in the outskirts of the village, to seize the horses and other property which at- tracted their attention and to carry it away. If resisted they frequently murdered the owner and burned his house. To assist in protecting themselves against these unpleas- ant raids the people of Ste. Genevieve pro- cured the settlement of the old band of Pe- orias. These Indians from Illinois lived for many years in the vicinity of the town and took part in the resistance to the raids of the Osage Indians. They of course incurred the deadly hatred of the fierce and savage Osages and lived themselves in constant fear of them. They were afraid to venture on hunting ex- peditions which took them away from the immediate vicinity of the town and bewailed the fact that they were compelled to live like women on fish and the produce of the soil instead of living the life of men and warriors. The French, so long as they remained in con- trol of the territory treated the outbreaks and outrages of the Osages with a great deal of leniency, but the Spanishi on taking over
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HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
the territory dealt with a firm hand with these matters and so we find that Baron Carondelet while in command in St. Louis organized the inhabitants of the various posts throughout his territory into companies of militia for the purpose of resisting and chas- tising the Indians. One of these companies was organized at Ste. Genevieve and we find records of its actual participation in the In- dian troubles. On one occasion induced by a particularly flagrant outrage committed near New Madrid, all the companies of Southeast Missouri assembled for the pur- pose of inflicting punishment on the authors of the outrage and we find the little army composed of companies from St. Louis, Ste. Genevieve, Cape Girardeau and New Madrid assembling at Cape Girardeau and making its way to the south where the murderers were apprehended and summarily dealt with.
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