the State Historical Society of Missouri
Henri Peyroux de Ia Coudrenière was born in France around 1743, the son of Marguerite-…
![A detail from Thomas Hutchins’s 1778 map of the Illinois Country showing Ste. Genevieve, Kaskaskia, and Fort de Chartres. [Courtesy of the David Rumsey Historical Map Collection, Image 5045002]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2023-07/1.%20Marie-Joseph%20Deguire.jpg?itok=qusVsjPP "A detail from Thomas Hutchins’s 1778 map of the Illinois Country showing Ste. Genevieve, Kaskaskia, and Fort de Chartres. [Courtesy of the David Rumsey Historical Map Collection, Image 5045002]")
During the first half of the eighteenth century, marriages between Native Americans and…
![Charles de Hault Delassus. [Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, Photographs and Prints Collection, N36696]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2023-07/1.%20Charles%20de%20Hault%20Delassus.jpg?h=9a83fe1d&itok=iH6qI-8F "Charles de Hault Delassus. [Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, Photographs and Prints Collection, N36696]")
Following the Louisiana Purchase, Charles de Hault Delassus, Upper Louisiana’s last Spanish…
![This 1778 map of the Illinois Country by Thomas Hutchins depicts the region as it appeared during Israel Dodge’s lifetime. [Courtesy of the David Rumsey Historical Map Collection, Image 5045002]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2023-06/1.%20Israel%20Dodge.jpg?h=4e0e6038&itok=J2Zc_h4S "This 1778 map of the Illinois Country by Thomas Hutchins depicts the region as it appeared during Israel Dodge’s lifetime. [Courtesy of the David Rumsey Historical Map Collection, Image 5045002]")
Israel Dodge exemplified the adventurous spirit of a young, expanding United States at the…
![A detail from the Finiels map of the Mississippi River showing the area around St. Louis. The original is in the Archives de la Marine, Chateau, Vincennes, France. [Courtesy of Carl J. Ekberg]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2023-07/1.%20Nicolas%20de%20Finiels.jpg?h=198c041c&itok=zTGl8JJc "A detail from the Finiels map of the Mississippi River showing the area around St. Louis. The original is in the Archives de la Marine, Chateau, Vincennes, France. [Courtesy of Carl J. Ekberg]")
Nicolas de Finiels, an expatriate French engineer who served the Spanish monarchy during…
![This depiction of colonial Ste. Genevieve by artist Oscar Berninghaus is among the murals in the Missouri State Capitol. [State Historical Society of Missouri, color transparency in Ralph Walker Photographs Collection, P0108-017298-1]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2022-03/1.%20Augustin%20Charles%20Fremon%20de%20Lauriere_0.jpg?itok=B9g8N34s "This depiction of colonial Ste. Genevieve by artist Oscar Berninghaus is among the murals in the Missouri State Capitol. [State Historical Society of Missouri, color transparency in Ralph Walker Photographs Collection, P0108-017298-1]")
The French Revolution induced many royalists to emigrate to the Louisiana Territory in the…
![Charles Gratiot. [Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, Photographs and Prints Collection, N12406]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2022-03/1.%20Charles%20Gratiot.jpg?h=da3dda78&itok=P4mvgJCd "Charles Gratiot. [Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, Photographs and Prints Collection, N12406]")
At the time of the Louisiana Purchase, Charles Gratiot’s outspoken support for the incoming…
![Plan of Hardeman’s Garden, also called Fruitage Farm, with labyrinth. [State Historical Society of Missouri, Glen O. Hardeman Collection, C3655]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2023-01/1.%20John%20Hardeman.jpg?itok=r4CSXw-u "Plan of Hardeman’s Garden, also called Fruitage Farm, with labyrinth. [State Historical Society of Missouri, Glen O. Hardeman Collection, C3655]")
John Hardeman, best remembered for the botanical showplace he created on the banks of the…
![Francis White Cloud. Portrait by George Catlin, circa 1844–1845. [Courtesy of the National Gallery of Art]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2020-06/Francis-White-Cloud.jpg?h=46afd397&itok=EItLaSEK "Francis White Cloud. Portrait by George Catlin, circa 1844–1845. [Courtesy of the National Gallery of Art]")
The Ioways did not live in what is now Missouri for much of the historical era.…
![An artist’s depiction of Fort San Carlos. Constructed under orders from Fernando de Leyba, it played a crucial role in stopping the British attack on St. Louis in 1780. [Walter B. Stevens, ed., History of St. Louis the Fourth City, 1764–1909, vol. 1 (1909)]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2021-09/1-Fernando_de_Lebya.jpg?h=e98014da&itok=NUd_VvtK "An artist’s depiction of Fort San Carlos. Constructed under orders from Fernando de Leyba, it played a crucial role in stopping the British attack on St. Louis in 1780. [Walter B. Stevens, ed., History of St. Louis the Fourth City, 1764–1909, vol. 1 (1909)]")
Controversy swirled around Upper Louisiana’s third lieutenant governor in life and in death…