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CHAPTER IV TITLE AND
EARLY SETTLEMENTS. Title to Missouri Lands- Right of Discovery-Title of France and Spain- Cession to the United States - Territorial Changes - Treaties with Indians - First Settlement-Ste. Genevieve and New Bourbon-St. Louis-When Incorporated-Potosi - St. Charles - Portage des Sioux--New Madrid - St. Francois County - Perry-Mississippi-.Loutre Island- "Boone's Lick" -Cote Sans Dessein--Howard County - Some First Things -Counties - When Organized. |
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The title to the soil of Missouri
was, of course, primarily vested in the original occupants who inhabited the
country prior to its discovery by the whites. But the Indians, being
savages, possessed but few rights that civilized nations considered
themselves bound to respect; so, therefore, when they found this country in
the possession of such a people they claimed it in the name of the King of
France, by the right of discovery. It remained under the jurisdiction of
France until 1763. Prior to the year 1763, the entire
continent of North America was divided between France, England, Spain and
Russia. France held all that portion that now constitutes our national
domain west of the Mississippi River, except Texas, and the territory which
we have obtained from Mexico and Russia. The vast region, while under the
jurisdiction of France, was known as the Province of Louisiana,” and
embraced the present State of Missouri. At the close of the “ Old French
War,” in 1763, France gave up her share of the continent, and Spain came
into the possession of the territory west of the Mississippi River, while
Great Britain retained Canada and the regions northward, having obtained
that territory by conquest, in the war with France. For thirty-seven years
the territory now embraced within the limits of Missouri, remained as a part
of the possession of Spain, and then went back to France by the treaty of
St. Ildefonso, October 1, 1800. On the 30th of April, 1803,
France ceded it to the United States, in consideration of receiving
$11,250,000, and the liquidation of certain claims, held by citizens of the
United States against France, which amounted to the further sum of
$3,750,000, making a total of $15,000,000. It will thus be seen that France
has twice, and Spain once, held sovereignty over the territory embracing
Missouri, but the financial needs of Napoleon afforded our Government an
opportunity to add another empire to its domain. On
the 31st of October, 1803, an act of Congress was approved,
authorizing the President to take possession of the newly acquired
territory, and provided for it a temporary government, and another act,
approved March 26, 1804, authorized the division of the “ Louisiana
Purchase,” as it was then called, into two separate territories. All
that portion south of the 33d parallel of north latitude was called the
"Territory of Orleans,” and that north of the said parallel was known
as the 6” District of Louisiana,” and was placed under the jurisdiction
of what was then known as "Indian Territory.” By virtue of an act of
Congress, approved March 3, 1805, the "6th District of Louisiana” was
organized as the "Territory of Louisiana,” with a territorial
government of its own, which went into operation July 4th of the
same year, and it so remained till 1812. In this year the “Territory of
Orleans “ became the State of Louisiana, and the “Territory of
Louisiana” was organized as the "Territory of Missouri.” This change took place under an act
of Congress, approved June 4, 1812. In 1819, a portion of this territory was
organized as “Arkansas Territory,” and on August 10, 1821, the State of
Missouri was admitted, being a part of the former “ Territory of
Missouri.” In 1836, the "Platte Purchase,” then being a part of the
Indian Territory, and now composing the counties of Atchison, Andrew,
Buchanan, Holt, Nodaway and Platte, was made by treaty with the Indians, and
added to the State. It will be seen, then, that the soil of Missouri
belonged— 1. To
France, with other territory. 2. In
1763, with other territory, it was ceded to Spain. 3. October
1, 1800, it was ceded, with other territory from Spain, back to France. 4. April
30, 1803, it was ceded, with other territory, by France to the United
States. 5.
October 31, 1803, a temporary government was authorized by Congress
for the newly acquired territory. 6.
October 1, 1804, it was included in the "District of
Louisiana” and placed under the territorial government of Indiana. 7. July
4, 1805, it was included as a part of the "Territory of Louisiana,”
then organized with a separate territorial government. 8. June
4, 1812, it was embraced in what was then made the "Territory of
Missouri.” 9. August
10, 1821, it was admitted into the Union as a State. 10.
In 1836, the “ Platte Purchase” was made, adding more territory
to the State. The cession by France, April 30,
1803, vested the title in the United States, subject to the claims of the
Indians, which it was very justly the policy of the Government to recognize.
Before the Government of the United States could vest clear title to the
soil in the grantee it was necessary to extinguish the Indian title by
purchase. This was done accordingly by treaties made with the Indians at
different times. EARLY
SETTLEMENTS.
The name of the first white man who
set foot on the territory now embraced in the State of Missouri, is not
known, nor is it known at what precise period the first settlements were
made. It is, however, generally agreed that they were made at Ste. Genevieve
and New Bourbon, tradition fixing the date of the settlements in the autumn
of 1735. These towns were settled by the French from Kaskaskia and St.
Philip in Illinois. St. Louis was founded by Pierre
Laclede Liguest, on the 15th of February, 1764. He was a native
of France, and was one of the members of the company of Laclede Liguest,
Antonio Maxant & Co., to whom a royal charter had been granted,
confirming the privilege of an exclusive trade with the Indians of Missouri
as far north as St. Peter’s River. While in search of a trading post
he ascended the Mississippi as far as the mouth of the Missouri, and finally
returned to the present town site of St. Louis. After the village had been
laid off he named it St. Louis
in honor of Louis XV., of France. The colony thrived rapidly by
accessions from Kaskaskia and other towns on the east side of the
Mississippi, and its trade was largely in. creased
by many of the Indian tribes, who removed a portion of their peltry trade
from the same towns to St. Louis. It was incorporated as a town on the ninth
day of November, 1809, by the Court of Common Pleas of the district of St.
Louis; the town trustees being Auguste Chouteau, Edward Hempstead, Jean F.
Cabanne, Win. C. Carr and William Christy, and incorporated as a city December
9, 1822. The selection of the town site on which St. Louis stands was highly
judicious, the spot not only being healthful and having the ad
vantages of water transportation unsurpassed, but surrounded by a beautiful
region of country, rich in soil and mineral resources. St. Louis has grown to be the fifth city in population in the
Union, and is to-day the great center of internal commerce of the Missouri,
the Mississippi and their tributaries, and, with its railroad facilities, it
is destined to be the greatest inland city of the American continent. The next settlement was made at Potosi, in Washington County,
in 1765, by Francis Breton, who, while chasing a bear, discovered the mine
near the present town of Potosi, where he afterward located. One of the most prominent pioneers who settled at Potosi was
Moses Austin, of Virginia, who, in 1795, received by grant from the Spanish
government a league of land, now known as the “Austin Survey.” The grant
was made on condition that Mr. Austin would establish a lead mine at Potosi
and work it. He built a palatial residence, for that day, on the brow of the
hill in the little village, which was for many years known as “ Durham
Hall.” At this point the first shot-tower and sheet-lead manufactory were
erected. Five years after the
founding of St. Louis the first settlement made in Northern Missouri was
made near St. Charles, in St. Charles County, in 1769. The name given to it,
and which it retained till 1784, was Les Petites Cotes, signifying, Little
Hills. The town site was located by Blanchette, a Frenchman, surnamed
LeChasseur, who built the first fort in the town and established there a
military post. Soon after the establishment of the military post at St.
Charles, the old French village of Portage des Sioux, was located on the
Mississippi, just below the mouth of the Illinois River, and at about the
same time a Kickapoo village was commenced at Clear Weather Lake. The present town site of New Madrid, in New Madrid county, was
settled in 1781, by French Canadians, it then being occupied by Delaware
Indians. The place now known as Big River Mills, St. Francois county, was
settled in 1796, Andrew Baker, John Alley, Francis Starnater and John
Andrews, each locating claims. The following year, a settlement was made in
the same county, just below the present town of Farmington, by the Rev.
William Murphy, a Baptist minister from East Tennessee. In 1796, settlements
were made in Perry county by emigrants from Kentucky and Pennsylvania; the
latter locating in the rich bottom lands of Bois Brule, the former generally
settling in the “ Barrens,” and along the waters of Saline Creek. Bird’s
Point, in Mississippi county, opposite Cairo, Illinois, was settled August
6, 1800, by John Johnson, by virtue of a land-grant from the commandant
under the Spanish Government. Norfolk and Charleston, in the same county,
were settled respectively in 1800 and 1801. Warren county was settled in
1801. Loutre Island, below the present town of Hermann, in the Missouri
River, was settled by a few American families in 1807. This little company
of pioneers suffered greatly from the floods, as well as from the incursions
of thieving and blood-thirsty Indians, and many incidents of a thrilling
character could be related of trials and struggles, had we the time and
space. In 1807, Nathan and Daniel M. Boone, sons of the great hunter
and pioneer, in company with three others, went from St. Louis to
“Boone’s Lick,” in Howard county, where they manufactured salt and
formed the nucleus of a small settlement. Cote
Sans Dessein, now called Bakersville, on the Missouri River, in Callaway
county, was settled by the French in 1801. This little town was considered
at that time, as the “ Far West” of the new world. During the war of
1812, at this place many hard-fought battles occurred between the whites and
Indians, wherein woman’s fortitude and courage greatly assisted in the
defence of the settlement. In 1810, a colony of Kentuckians numbering one hundred and
fifty families immigrated to Howard county, and settled on the Missouri
River in Cooper’s Bottom near the present town of Franklin, and opposite
Arrow Rock. Such, in brief, is the history of
some of the early settlements of Missouri, covering a period of more than
half a century. These
settlements were made on the water courses; usually along the banks of the
two great streams, whose navigation afforded them transportation for their
marketable commodities, and communication with the civilized portion of the
country. They not only encountered the
gloomy forests, settling as they did by the river’s brink, but the hostile
incursion of savage Indians, by whom they were for many years surrounded. The expedients of these brave men who first broke ground in the territory, have been succeeded by the permanent and tasteful improvements of their descendants. Upon the spots where they toiled, dared and died, are seen the comfortable farm, the beautiful village, and thrifty city. Churches and school houses greet the eye on every hand; railroads diverge in every direction, and, indeed, all the appliances of a higher civilization are profusely strewn over the smiling surface of the State. Culture’s hand Has scattered verdure o’er the
land; And smiles and fragrance rule
serene% Where barren wild usurped the
scene. SOME FIRST
THINGS.
The first marriage that took place in Missouri was April 20, 1766, in St. Louis. The first baptism was performed in May, 1766, in St. Louis. The first house of worship,
(Catholic) was erected in 1775, at St. Louis. The first ferry established in 1805, on the Mississippi River, at St. Louis. The first newspaper established in St. Louis (Missouri Gazette), in 1808. The first post office was established in 1804, in St. Louis -Rufus Easton, post-master. The first Protestant church erected
at Ste. Genevieve, in 1806--Baptist. The first bank established (Bank of
St. Louis), in 1814. The first market house opened in 1811, in St. Louis. The first steamboat on the Upper
Mississippi was the General Pike, Capt. Jacob Reid; landed at St. Louis
1817. The first board of trustees for
public schools appointed in 1817, St. Louis. The first college built (St. Louis College), in 1817. The first steamboat that came up the Missouri River as high as Franklin was the Independence, in May, 1819 Capt. Nelson, master. The first court house erected in
1823, in St. Louis. The first cholera appeared in St.
Louis in 1832. The first railroad convention held in St. Louis, April 20, 1836. The first telegraph lines reached
East St. Louis, December 20, 1847. The first great fire occurred in St. Louis, 1849. |
