the State Historical Society of Missouri
![Thomas James (right) and family. [State Historical Society of Missouri, James Memorial Library Photograph Collection, R1480]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2024-07/1.-thomas-james.jpg?h=3521e68b&itok=FOTxPwy5 "Thomas James (right) and family. [State Historical Society of Missouri, James Memorial Library Photograph Collection, R1480]")
Thomas James spent little of his life in Missouri, but he significantly influenced the state. With a strong…
![William Jewell. [Walter Williams, ed., A History of Northeast Missouri (Chicago: Lewis Pub. Co., 1913)]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2021-03/1-William-Jewell_0.jpg?h=38140c0f&itok=swOuvi2T "William Jewell. [Walter Williams, ed., A History of Northeast Missouri (Chicago: Lewis Pub. Co., 1913)]")
In some respects, William Jewell’s story is similar to those of thousands of others who…
![William Keil. [Oregon Historical Society, OrHi 4508]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2022-07/1.%20William%20Keil.jpg?h=f62b8f15&itok=w7echtbx "William Keil. [Oregon Historical Society, OrHi 4508]")
William Keil was born on March 6, 1811, or 1812, in Bleicherode, Erfurt, Prussia. His…
Abiel Leonard, a lawyer, jurist, and political leader, was born in Windsor, Vermont, on May…
![A facsimile of the title page in the first edition of Zenon Leonard’s narrative about his experiences. [Adventures of Zenon Leonard (Cleveland: Burrows Brothers Co., 1904)]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2021-09/1-Zenas_Leonard.jpg?h=cab23028&itok=lEAzXXCf "A facsimile of the title page in the first edition of Zenon Leonard’s narrative about his experiences. [Adventures of Zenon Leonard (Cleveland: Burrows Brothers Co., 1904)]")
Zenas Leonard, a fur trapper best known as the author of Adventures of a Mountain Man…
Regis (Registre) Loisel was born near Montreal, Canada, in about 1773, and at an early age…
![This watercolor rendering of “Plan de Luzieres” is thought to show the French ancestral home of Pierre-Charles Delassus de Luzières. [Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, X08600]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2024-07/1.-pierre-charles-delassus-de-luiziere.jpg?h=d41dc4b5&itok=m0JPiZsI "This watercolor rendering of “Plan de Luzieres” is thought to show the French ancestral home of Pierre-Charles Delassus de Luzières. [Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, X08600]")
Pierre-Charles Delassus de Luzières played an important role in the history of Upper Louisiana during the…
![Susan Shelby Magoffin. [Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, Photographs and Prints Collection, N12846]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2021-09/1-Susan_Shelby_Magoffin.jpg?h=c1a32540&itok=-gk7HbjM "Susan Shelby Magoffin. [Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, Photographs and Prints Collection, N12846]")
Susan Shelby Magoffin was born on July 30, 1827, at Arcasia, her father’s estate near…
![A late nineteenth-century illustration of French missionaries traveling by canoe with Native Americans. [Harper’s Monthly, April 1892]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2022-04/1.%20Pierre%20Gabriel%20Marest.jpg?h=816a8e6d&itok=isPnDzQI "A late nineteenth-century illustration of French missionaries traveling by canoe with Native Americans. [Harper’s Monthly, April 1892]")
Pierre Gabriel Marest, a Jesuit priest in the Illinois Country, was among a group of French…
![Isaac McCoy. [Oklahoma Historical Society, Muriel Wright Collection, 15075]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2022-04/1.%20Isaac%20McCoy.jpg?h=f693cbf2&itok=M-IXdp5f "Isaac McCoy. [Oklahoma Historical Society, Muriel Wright Collection, 15075]")
Isaac McCoy was born on June 13, 1784, in Fayette County, Pennsylvania. At the age of six,…