History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume I, Part 13

Author: Douglass, Robert Sidney. 4n
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 844

USA > Missouri > History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 13

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Life in Ste. Genevieve in these early years was not very different from pioneer life in other parts of the country. It was at first a typical French village. Some of the inhabit- ants were members of the old French fam- ilies, but the greater part of them were of the peasant elass. They were so shut off from the world, in the midst of a vast continent their nearest neighbors being sixty-five miles away at the little village of St. Louis, that they were . dependent, almost entirely, upon themselves. News reached them from Europe only after the long voyage across the Atlan- tic and the almost equally as long and tedi- ous voyage up the Mississippi, and so cut off from the world in an isolation difficult for us to comprehend, there developed the characteristic life of the frontier. The people were happy and industrious. They were re- ligious by nature and provided liberally for the church. Their priests were held in high esteem and religion entered into all the af-

fairs of their daily lives. They lived the free open life of a new country. They tilled the soil or voyaged on the river, they hunted or trapped in the great woods, or traded with the Indians, and somehow from it all they managed not only to live in considerable comfort, but to accumulate property. We find that Lambert La Fleur, who died in 1771, left an estate of about $14,000.00, all of which had been accumulated while a resi- dent in Ste. Genevieve. But their industries and even their religion did not form all, or perhaps even the greatest part, of the life of the people of Ste. Genevieve. Being French they were fond of pleasure and amusement and they found both, even in the midst of the life in a frontier town. Their games, their social meetings, their dancing, their jests amused some of the courtly travelers who visited them direct from the King's court at Paris. They, no doubt, found all these things crude and even disagreeable to cultivated and refined tastes. Some of these travelers who were received by Ste. Genevieve with open- hearted hospitality were rude enough to for- get the duties of a guest and to write of their entertainment in a most sarcastic and cutting way. In spite of this, however, the people of the town found in their simple amusement and pleasure that relaxation from toil and care which is necessary to a healthy and sane life.

The first legal proceedings under Com- mandant Rocheblave were had on the 19th of May, 1766, it was the drawing up of a marriage contract between Pierre Roy and Jeanette Lalond. After that there was a rec- ord of the sale of land, the first sale of land was made by Pierre Aritfone to IIenri Car- pentier, another land sale was by Joseph Le- Don to Le Febre du Couquette. In the same year there is a record of the sale of salt

HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI

works on the Saline river with ten negroes and a lot of cattle by John LaGrange to one Blowin. In the year 1767 an appeal was prosecuted from the decision of the Comman- dant to the Cabildo at New Orleans.

One of the peculiar customs of old Ste. Genevieve was that of bringing all persons charged with crime to church on Sunday and exhibiting them before the congregation after the service in order that they might be known and recognized by the whole com- munity.

The first baptism in the old village of Ste. Genevieve was performed by a Jesuit Mis- sionary named P. M. Watrin, February 24, 1760; the first religious marriage was cele- brated on October 30, 1764, by Father J. L. Meurin the parties were Mark Canada and Susan Henn, both of these persons had lived among the Indians, the woman for five years as a prisoner. This marriage was witnessed by Jean Ganion and T. Tebriege.

The great common field south of Ste. Gene- vieve was the most valuable possession of the inhabitants, this land was fenced at the ex- pense of the entire town and at the beginning of each year a portion of the field was as- signed to each resident who was expected to cultivate this and keep the fence in repair near his part of the field. If any one aban- doned his land it was sold at a public sale at the church door. Plowing was done with a wooden plow and horses were seldom used but generally oxen were attached to the plow. Horses were used for pulling the charrette or cart; this cart had no iron fastenings or iron tires, the wheels were usually made of sea- soned white oak with the hub of gum. From one to three horses were driven to the cart ; when more than one horse was used they were driven tandem, the traces being of twisted rawhide. This cart was used for all

kinds of work as well as for family use; when women traveled in them they were seated in chairs that were tied to the rail of the cart .**

Ste. Genevieve had a population of 945 in the year 1799 and 1,300 in 1804, one-third of the population were slaves. The trade was fairly large in early times, principal things bought and sold were lead and furs. The commercial men of Ste. Genevieve during the period from 1804 to 1820 were remarkably ac- tive and successful in their business pursuits. Ferdinand Rozier was one of the early mer- chants and was very successful in business; Louis Bolduc was another merchant who be- came very wealthy. It is said that at one time an American named Madden, who was also rich, offered to wager that he had more money than Bolduc; the latter, however, re- torted by asking Madden to bring a half bushel measure in order to measure the sil- ver money in Bolduc's cellar. Another wealthy trading firm was Menard & Valle. This firm was established in 1817, the year that the first steamboat made its way up the Mississippi river. Pierre Menard, one of the partners of this firm, was the Indian agent and controlled a great amount of trade throughout the west.

Pittman, who visited Ste. Genevieve in 1769 says that the town was settled 28 years previously by persons from Kaskaskia at- tracted by the goodness of the soil and the plentiful harvest and describes the situation of the village as very convenient, being within one league of the salt spring, which was for the general use of the French subjects. There were a number of works at the spring and large quantities of salt were made for the Indian hunters and other settlers. He says also that a lead mine which supplied the

* Rozier, "History of Mississippi Valley," p. 123.

IIISTORY OF SOUTHIEAST MISSOURI

LOUIS BOULDUC'S HOUSE, STE. GENEVIEVE

LOUIS GUIBOURD'S HOUSE, STE. GENEVIEVE

HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI

whole country with shot was about 15 leagues distant. He further says: "The village of St. Louis is supplied with salt and other pro- visions from here. An officer appointed by the French Commandant as the entire regu- lation of the police here, is a company of militia commanded by a Mons. Vallet, who resides at this place and is the richest in- habitant of the country of the Illinois; he raises great quantities of corn and provisions of every kind, he has a hundred negroes be- sides hired white people constantly employed. The village is about one mile in length and contains about seventy families. Here is a very fine water mill for corn and plants be- longing to Mons. Vallet."*

It is possible that the Vallet mentioned was a member of the family afterwards known as Valle.

In 1803 Paul Alliot visited Ste. Genevieve and says of it: "It is inhabited by twelve hundred people who are especially engaged in the cultivation of wheat and in the chase ; they own lead mines from which they derive great profits. In their forests they find bears prodigiously fat and large, the oil from which is much sought after by the inhabi- tants, even by those of New Orleans. They raise good vegetables and make excellent but- ter and cheese. That city is large enough and rich enough to support a priest, yet it does not have any and the people are dying. They are governed by a Commandant who always terminates in a friendly manner the quarrels which arise among them. t

Peck, who visited the place in 1819, gives the following account of the place.

Ste. Genevieve is the oldest French Village in Missouri. When Laclede and the Chouteaus

* Pittman, "Mississippi Settlements," p. 96.

t Robertson, "Louisiana, " Vol. I, p. 103.

came from New Orleans to establish a trad- ing-post at St. Louis, in 1763, they stopped at Ste. Genevieve, which contained about twelve or fifteen families, in as many small cabins, but finding no warehouse or other building in which they could store their goods, they went on to Fort Chartres and wintered. We date the commencement of Ste. Genevieve as a village from the period of the erection of Fort Chartres, the second, about 1756. Very probably there were pre- vious to this, as there were in the lead- mining districts, what are called in patois French, cabanes, a term expressing the idea of "shanties," a cluster of shelters for tem- porary purposes. Such cabanes were in the lead-mining district when Philip Francis Renault had his exploring parties out at va- rious points in the upper valley of the Mis- sissippi. And, by the way, I find no evidence that lead-mining was followed in the mining country after Renault, disappointed, and a "broken merchant," quit the business about 1740, until the possession of Illinois by the British about twenty-five years thereafter. Many of the French inhabitants who held slaves left the Illinois country ; some went to the newly established town of St. Louis; others to Lower Louisiana. Many families also went to the lead mines in Missouri, while others stopped at Ste. Genevieve and New Bourbon with their servants. This gave an impulse to the former town, which before 1770 became the depot and shipping-port for the lead business. The French at St. Louis, as a nom-de-nique, called Ste. Genevieve Misere, as they did Cardondelet, Vide Poche ; and in their turn received the nick-name of Pain Court, to indicate they were short of bread.

The old town of which I am writing was near the Mississippi, and about one mile be-

HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI

low the ferry and landing. From this point, where the rock forms a landing, for seven miles down the river, was an extensive tract of alluvial bottom about three miles in width. On this rich alluvial the French of Ste. Genevieve and New Bourbon made one of the largest "common fields" to be found along the Upper Mississippi. It contained within the common enclosure from three thousand to four thousand acres. The re- peated inundations of high water, and es- pecially the great flood of 1784, drove the in- habitants to the high ground in the rear, where they built the old residences of the new town, or the existing Ste. Genevieve. Each successive flood tore away the rich bottom along the river, until that of 1844 about "used up" the great common field of the vil- lage. No passenger in passing up or down the great expansive bend of the river would hardly realize that the largest steamers now float in a channel that is more than two miles from the Mississippi river as it ran in 1780 .*

When Flagg visited the Ste. Genevieve dis- triet in 1836, he says that the town then con- tained about eight hundred inhabitants though its population was once said to have exceeded two thousand. Among the persons whom he met at that time was Jean Baptiste Valle who was one of the chief proprietors of Mine La Motte, and though at that time more than ninety years of age, was almost as active as when he was fifty. Flagg gave this description of Ste. Genevieve at that time: "Ste. Genevieve is situated about one mile from the Mississippi, upon a broad alln- vial plain lying between branches of a small stream called the Gabourie; beyond the first botton rises a second stepped and behind this is a third attaining an elevation of more than one hundred feet from the water edge. Upon * "Life of Peck," p. 78.

this elevation was erected some twenty years since a handsome structure of stone com- manding a noble prospect of the river, the broad American bottom on the opposite side and the bluffs beyond Kaskaskia. It was in- tended for a literary structure but owing to unfavorable reports with regard to the health of its situation, the design was abandoned and the structure was never completed.

is now in a state of ruins and enjoys the reputation, however, of being haunted, in very sooth its aspect viewed from the river at twilight, with its broken windows out- lined against the western sky is wild enough to warrant such an idea or any other. The court house and Catholic chapel constitute the public buildings. To the south of the village and looking upon the river is situated the common field originally comprising two thousand arpents, but it is now much less in extent and is yearly diminishing from the action of the current upon the alluvial banks. These common fields were granted by the Spanish government as well as the French to every village started under their domination. A single enclosure at the expense of the villagers, was erected and kept in re- pair; the lot of every individual was separ- ated from his neighbors by double furrow. Near this field the village was formerly lo- cated but in the inundation of 1785, called by the habitants, L'annee des grandes eaux, when so much of the bank was washed away that the settlers were forced to secure a more elevated site. The Mississippi was at this time swelled thirty feet above the highest water mark before known and the town of Kaskaskia and the whole American bottom was inundated."t

Flagg says that at the time he visited. in 1836, the immense caves of pure white sand,

+ Flagg's "Far West, " p. 95.

HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI

at not a great distance from Ste. Genevieve, were being opened and quantities of sand sent to Pittsburg for the manufacture of flint glass. He speaks also of a number of beautiful fountains in the neighborhood, one of them of surpassing loveliness.

Flagg also comments on the shot factories at Herculaneum and speaks with very great delight of the great rocks above Herculaneum called "Cornice" rocks.

One of the prominent citizens of Ste. Gene- vieve was Ferdinand Rozier. He was born in the city of Nantes, France. He had been in the French navy and came to America, set- tling first in Philadelphia, afterward in Ken- tucky, and finally removing to Ste. Gene- vieve in 1812. Rozier engaged in trade im- mediately upon his arrival, and continued in business to the end of his life. He was a man of enterprise and ability and had branch stores at Perryville and Potosi. Many of the goods bought and sold in those days came from the East and in the course of his trade Rozier made six trips between Ste. Genevieve and Philadelphia on horseback. A single trip of this kind at the present date would be considered a very great undertaking, to say nothing of six of them. Rozier left a large family, many of whose members have been, and are still, prominent in Missouri.

Associated with Rozier, for a number of years, was the famous naturalist, John James Audubon. Like the family of Rozier, his family lived in Nantes; the naturalist was born, however, in Louisiana, where the fam- ily resided for a short time. When John James Audubon was but a child, the family returned to France, and he was educated in the French schools. One of his teachers was the famous painter, David. Audubon and Rozier entered the navy together during the

French Revolution. They served in the navy for only a short time and finally decided to emigrate to America. They first lived in Pennsylvania, then in Kentucky, visiting in Springfield and Louisville, and spending in this state the time from 1807 to 1810. In 1810 they purchased a keel-boat, loaded it with provisions and whiskey and voyaged in it to Ste. Genevieve. Audubon's account of this voyage up the Mississippi river is a very interesting one. He pictures the scenes on the river and the slow progress of the keel- boat in a very remarkable manner. The two men embarked in business in Ste. Genevieve, together, and were very successful. The suc- cess of the business, however, depended en- tirely upon Rozier, for Audubon had no taste for business at all, but spent his time in the woods hunting and painting birds. In 1811 he sold his interest in the business and re- turned to Kentucky. Here he devoted him- self for a time to business, but finally gave up entirely to the study of nature, becoming one of the greatest ornithologists of the world.

One of the famous men of this period in Missouri was the celebrated John Smith T. He was a native of Georgia, but had lived in Tennessee before coming to Missouri. He removed to Ste. Genevieve about the year 1800 and afterwards lived at a little town called Shibboleth, in Washington county. Smith was a tall, slender man, of the mildest appearance and the most courteous manners, the very last man, judging by his appearance only, to be considered at all dangerous. He was, however, a man of terrible passions and when aroused he was one of the most danger- ous men in the history of the state. He was famous for his skill with the pistol and the rifle, and he had many encounters of a most serious and bloody character. His house re-

HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI

sembled an arsenal, for it was filled with arms and weapons of every kind. He, him- self, was a skilled mechanic, and kept slaves who were expert in the making of weapons. Smith's principal business was that of min- ing. He had at first entered into Burr's schemes for invading Mexico, but withdrew from that when they were warned by the proclamation of President Jefferson. Col. Smith was selected at one time to visit Wash- ington, and represent the people of the ter- ritory before Congress. In 1806 he was ap- pointed one of the Territorial Judges of the court of General Quarter Sessions. In spite of his numerous difficulties and duels, and in spite of the enemies which he had, Smith finally died a natural death, and was buried in St. Louis.

Henry Dodge was born at Vincennes, Oc- tober 12, 1782. He was the son of Israel Dodge and his wife, Nancy Hunter. Israel Dodge, it will be remembered, was one of the first American settlers in Upper Louisiana, having come to the Ste. Genevieve district prior to 1800. The family engaged in the manufacture of salt on Saline creek. Henry Dodge was a very prominent and influential man. He served for a time as sheriff of Ste. Genevieve county; his greatest service, how- ever, was rendered in a military way. On the breaking out of the Indian troubles, about the time of the war of 1812, Dodge was appointed as a general in the territory of militia. During that time he was exceedingly active in protecting the frontiers from the Indians. He lived in Ste. Genevieve until the year 1827, when he removed to Wiscon- sin. During the Black Hawk war, he was in command of some of the American troops, and defeated Black Hawk and the Indians. He also served in the army during the cam- paign against the Indians in the south and in

1835 was in charge of the expedition of the west. He was appointed Governor of Wis- consin territory for two terms and afterward was elected to the senate from Wisconsin. During his residence in Missouri he served as a member of the constitutional convention, and was prominent among those who helped to frame the constitution.

The first resident of Washington county, during this period, was a native of Wales. This was John Rice Jones, who was born in Wales in 1759. He was a soldier in the Revo- Intionary army, and assisted George Rogers Clark in the capture of Vincennes. Before coming to Missouri, he lived for a time in Vincennes and also in Kaskaskia. In 1804 he removed to Ste. Genevieve where he con- tinued in the practice of law. He afterward fixed his residence at Potosi. He acquired a large practice, for he was a good lawyer, and full of energy and devotion to his clients. He was one of the prominent members of the con- stitutional convention, representing Wash- ington county. He lived to the age of sixty- five, and two of his sons, John Augustus Jones and Hon. George W. Jones, were very prominent in public life, the latter being, at one time, United States senator from Iowa.

As we have seen Ste. Genevieve was the ad- ministrative center of a district and the resi- dence of a commandant. This district in- cluded a large territory. Within it were the present counties of Ste. Genevieve, Perry, Jefferson, Washington, Madison, and Iron. During the period with which we are now ell- gaged, extending from the visit of DeSoto to 1804, settlements were made in all these coun- ties. All these settlements were under the authority of the commandant of Ste. Gene- vieve. Within the present county of Ste. Genevieve only two settlements besides Ste. Genevieve itself were made at this time.

HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI

They were "Novelle Bourbon" or New Bour- bon and New Tennessee.

New Bourbon was situated about two and one-half miles from the old village of Ste. Genevieve. Its site was on a hill which over- looked a strip of plain about one league in width, lying between it and the river. The settlement here was made in 1793 by order of Baron Cardondelet. Cardondelet was at this time lieutenant governor of Upper Louisiana with headquarters at St. Louis. He founded this colony and made it a separate adminis- trative division in order to give a place to. Pierre De Hault De Lassus De Luziere who was made the commandant of New Bourbon. It was the intention to bring to this new set- tlement the colony of French nobles who had emigrated from France during the Revolution and had formed a settlement in Ohio called Gallipolis. The scheme for bringing these French nobles was never carried into effect fully, but some of them came and made their home here near Ste. Genevieve. The author- ity of the commandant at this place extended west to Mine La Motte. At New Bourbon there was a small mill erected in 1793 on the creek now called Dodge's creek. The mill was built by Francois Valle and afterward sold to Israel Dodge. It was the first mill west of the Mississippi river.

The settlement called New Tennessee was made in what is now Saline township. The first settlers here were Peter Bloom and Thomas Madden. Both of them had formerly lived at Ste. Genevieve. Others who lived in the vicinity were Nicholas Counts, Joseph Hughes, Jesse Bryant, William Painter, John and Edward Walsh, Elder Wingate Jackson. who was a Bapitst preacher, and John Mc- Farland, who was a minister of the Meth-

odist church. This settlement was made about the year 1800.

The following table gives the larger num- ber of the settlements in the Ste. Genevieve district made before the transfer to the United States in 1804. The dates are as accurate as can now be given:

Ste. Genevieve 1735

Old Mines in Washington county 1748

Aline a Breton near Potosi 1775

In Bois Brule Bottom. 1787

On the Cinque Homme in Perry county . 1788 New Bourbon near Ste. Genevieve. .1793 Ally's Mines on Big River in St. Fran- cois county 1797

On the Aux Vases in Perry county 1797

On the Brazean in Perry county. .1797 On Establishment creek in Perry county . 1797 The Fenwick Settlement on Apple creek.1797 In Bellevue Valley 1798

Murphy Settlement now Farmington. . . 1798 Herculaneum 1798

Cook's Settlement southwest of Farm-

ington 1799

On Joachim creek in Jefferson county. . 1799

St. Michael now Fredericktown. .1800

On the Saline in Perry county 1800

Between Joachim and the Plattin 1801

William Reed was the first settler in the Bellevue Valley in Iron county. He came in 1798. having received permission of De Lu- ziere the Spanishi official in charge at New Bourbon. Solomon George came about the same time and made his home on the Little St. Francois. Elisha Baker came to the same settlement from the Bois Brule Bottom in 1798, being accompanied by his son Elijah. Joseph Reed, a nephew of William, was an- other of the early settlers. Near the vicin-

HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI

ity of Big River Mills in St. Francois county, a settlement, was begun in the year 1796. The men who located there at that time were John Ally, Andrew Baker, Francis Starnater and John Andrews. They had marked out their claims two years earlier than this. At first they did not erect houses, but lived for a time in camps. This settlement grew rapidly and soon became one of great importance. On the first day of March, 1797. Henry Fry and Rebecca Baker, two inhabi- tants of this settlement, accompanied by a number of their friends, set out for Ste. Genevieve; they intended to be married at that place. There was no one nearer than Ste. Genevieve who was authorized to per- form a marriage ceremony. While on their way in the vicinity of Terre Blue, they were met by a party of Osage Indians who stopped them and robbed them of everything they possessed. These circumstances compelled them to return to the settlement and post- pone the intended marriage for one year. In 1798, Reverend William Murphy, said to have been a Baptist minister, living in Tennessee, together with his son William and a friend named Cyrus George, came to Upper Louisiana and received permission from the authorities to form a settlement in St. Fran- cois county. The site chosen by them is that of the present town of Farmington. William Murphy returned to Tennessee and died while there. In 1801 other sons of William Mur- phy came to the settlement and began to open farms on the land granted to them. Sarah Murphy, the widow of the minister, deter- mined to make the trip from Tennessee to Louisiana and to take possession of the land which had been granted to her husband ; this she did in 1803. The party with whom she came consisted of three sons, Isaac, Jesse and Dubart, a daughter, a grand-son, and a

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History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume I, Part 13

Author: Douglass, Robert Sidney. 4n Publication date: 1912 Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 844

Author: Douglass, Robert Sidney. 4n
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 844