Visit to Portage des Sioux

Hello, family! 

Cousin Carolyn and I just got back from a trip to the St. Louis area. We got a chance to visit Portage des Sioux, Missouri.  This was the village where Felicity and her husband, Francois, lived from approximately 1807 until the late 1830s. After living in Missouri most of her life, middle-aged Felicite traveled up the river to Davenport, Iowa to be near her son, Joseph. (In my imagination, she took a steamboat up the river.)

Portage des Sioux is a small village located on the southern banks of the Mississippi river (the river is heading east/west at this point).  The village is north of city of St. Louis and the Missouri river. This map from approximately 1850 shows the location.  It's named for the Sioux who used it as a place to portage (carry their canoes) between the Mississippi and Missouri river to save time, evade enemies or other reasons of convenience.

 

The village was founded in 1799 by Spanish Lt. Governor Zenon Trudeau and Francois Saucier as a strategically located village for the French speaking population.  In 1799, this part of Missouri was still under Spanish control. 

Portage des Sioux is best known as being the site of the signing of an important series of Indian Peace Treaties after the war of 1812.  According to historian Robert Fisher* President James Madison appointed William Clark, governor of the Missouri Territory, and other big wigs in St. Louis, including St. Louis founder Auguste Chouteau, to invite all natives from "all of the Mississippi and its waters" to be notified of the peace and to send a representative to the gathering.  The gathering was held in the summer of 1815 at Portage des Sioux. It involved dozens of different tribes and hundreds of native peoples as well as uniformed American soldiers in full regalia.  Fisher wrote about the grand event mentioning that  "several hundred French inhabitants of the village of Portage des Sioux" were part of a "motley crowd of those attracted to the great event by business or by mere curiosity." He continues (I'm beginning to get offended.) "Even vagrant gamblers prowled about seeking opportunities to pluck the unwary." Well, well!  I can tell you with near certainty that our ancestors were living in Portage des Sioux at that time.  Based on the small size of the village and surrounding areas, they were certainly aware of this important event. Were they part of the motley crew? Perhaps!

The town has maintained the same boundaries as it had in the early 19th century as you can see from the modern map (below).  What has changed is the boundaries of the river itself.  An inlet formed (likely as a result of the 1993 floods) and the village now has a marina for boats in the area before the river bank.  You can see beautiful bluffs across the river in Illinois.

Portage des Sioux was a relatively easy drive from St. Louis.  It is about 40 miles north of the city (as the crow flies) and took me about 40 minutes by car.  From the city, we headed north as if going to Lambert airport and then got off the highway onto rural roads.  The surrounding area is rich, productive farmland.  There had been a lot of rain in St. Louis, so some fields appeared flooded.  We did not see any farm animals, but many fields ready for spring planting.

The largest building in the village is St. Francis Catholic church.  Our ancestors were members of this church, although the building you see today was built in the late 19th century.  

 

Our ancestors Felicite and Francois likely moved to the area around the time of their marriage in 1805. The Louisiana Purchase was in 1803 and Missouri did not become a state until 1820, so they were living there in what was certainly a time of transition. 

With the help of the parish directory of St. Francis Catholic Church in Portage des Sioux, I can see birth, marriage, and death records of our ancestors. We cannot find the marriage record for Francois and Felicite (believe me, Cousin JoAnn Brennan has tried).  I hypothesize that F&F married before a priest was stationed at the church, so no record was saved.  The first records I see of our ancestors are from around 1811.   Francois' death is recorded in the parish in 1828.  It is highly likely he was buried at the cemetery near the church.  Unfortunately, although the cemetery is being mowed, most of the older monuments are in disrepair or too worn to read.

Carolyn and I perused for any Motier name and found none.  The older graves had French-sounding names; the new ones more German.

Here are a few pictures from the cemetery:

 

From the records I've found of this area, our ancestors used the surname "Moquier" or some version of that last name.  In this map, you will see that lot #162 is designated as belonging to Francois Moquez under Baptiste Pujol.  We are pretty sure that is Francois subletting some land from the Pujol family. It's marked with the orange mark. If we are correct, that would mean our land was just to the west of the cemetery.

Here is a picture of those fields:

St. Louis has had a lot of rain, so I don't think the fields are planted yet.  I'm not sure what grows in this area, but it looks like good farmland to me!

In conclusion, we had a lot of fun exploring Portage des Sioux.  I find it interesting and unusual that the village has stayed the same size as when our ancestors lived there and that the land they farmed is still being farmed today.  The St. Francis church did a good job with records and I'm grateful for the directory they published.

No update on the Felicite painting, except she is safe and cared for at the Missouri History Research Center.  I hope to travel to St. Louis again to look at some archives in St. Charles...

It is the 200th anniversary of the Marquis de Lafayette visiting the St. Louis area. I got to see a Lafayette re-enactor.  I did not mention our connection to Lafayette, didn't want to flex to much...

 

 

Big thanks to:

Mimi Stiritz for her invaluable research

Carolyn Zubov for being a great road trip buddy

Jane and Dan Keating for always letting me use their driveway

My dad and mom for editing my prose

JoAnn Brennan for her terrific research.

 

* If you want a copy of Robert L. Fisher's article, I can send it your way.  It is titled, "The Treaties of Portage Des Sioux" The Mississippi Valley Historical Review, Vol. 19, No. 4 March 1933 pp. 495-508.