On the other side of the Mississippi, three miles south of St. Louis, in the little French village of Cahokia, January 19th, 1813, John J. Anderson, the well-known banker of St. Louis, was born.

During the war of 1812, his father, Reuben Anderson, was connected with the army, and emigrated from the state of Delaware when some military companies were ordered West. He had charge of the military stores when the troops were stationed at Bellefontaine, and in the change of location incident to military life, he had to move from station to station until his connection with the army was severed. He had married Miss Margaret Byron, daughter of Captain Byron, of the United States army, and the eldest child of the marriage was the subject of this memoir.

The first recollections of John Anderson are associated with the French hamlet of Cahokia, surrounded by the thick forest trees in which it then nestled, and which concealed it almost totally from view, until the visitor entered upon the open space which surrounded the romantic village. He remained there until Belleville was made the capital of the county, when his father removed from Cahokia to the new seat of government, and was soon after appointed sheriff, which responsible public office he held for eight years - or until his death, which took place in 1822. By his death the family was left in rather straitened circumstances, and young John J. Anderson, who was then attending school, soon after was removed from the school-house, at the early age of thirteen. It was necessary that he should earn his own livelihood, and, entering thus early upon the eddying currents of life, he came to St. Louis July 2d, 1827.

The first business experience of John J. Anderson was in the store of Richard Ropier, where he was employed first as a boy, but being of an ambitious and diligent nature, as he advanced in years, he was gradually promoted, until he became the confidential clerk of the proprietor, and in 1834 became a partner in the concern, the firm then becoming Ropier & Anderson. Two years afterward, Mr. Ropier retired, and the junior partner purchased the whole business, which he conducted upon a most extensive scale, and for many years in the most profitable manner.

Commercial life is ever precarious, and subject to uncertainties and fluctuations, which the most observing and cautious cannot at all times control. In the year 1842, the pecuniary pressure was so great that many of the strongest firms in the country were forced to submit to the stringency of the times, and could not meet their financial contracts. John J. Anderson was of this number. He failed; but all of his debts, when fortune again smiled upon him, he cancelled in an honorable manner.

With all his worldly wealth swept away, and having debts hanging over him, and feeling keenly the torture of the rankling shafts of adversity, the spirit of John J. Anderson was not subdued, but was nerved to greater efforts. He conducted mining and merchandising for a short time, and was then appointed clerk of the City Council in the spring of 1843.

About this time, Joseph S. Morrison, of Pennsylvania, came to St. Louis, and, becoming acquainted with Mr. Anderson, had so much confidence in his business capacity, that he offered to take him as partner in the banking business, which offer being accepted, the new banking-house went into operation under the title of John J. Anderson & Co., which continued until 1849, when Mr. Morrison retired.

Every one who has been a resident of St. Louis for a little more than a score of years, remembers the great fire of 1849, and the terrible visitation of the Asiatic cholera. The general conflagration in the eastern part of the city burnt the banking-house of Mr. Anderson to the ground, but quickly he commenced building the structure in which he is at present located, at the corner of Main and Olive streets, and then took Reuben Anderson, his brother, into partnership.

Mr. Anderson has taken an active part in the government of St. Louis, and was a member of the Common Council for four years. He took an active part in all measures tending to the improvement of the harbor, and ably seconded the effective efforts of the Hon. Luther M. Kennett, to whom St. Louis owes so much for having removed the obstructions of the harbor. He was the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, when one million of dollars was appropriated to the Ohio and Mississippi and Pacific Railroads - half a million each. He was two years director in the Pacific Railroad, was a director in the Iron Mountain Railroad, and is now a director in the North Missouri Railroad. He procured for the Bank of St. Louis its charter, subscribed liberally to its stock, and is now its efficient president.

So popular was John J. Anderson from his official service in the City Council, that he has been since frequently importuned by his friends to become a candidate for other high and responsible public offices, but has always declined. The new marble building which he has erected is a monument of his liberal enterprise. The marble was brought from the quarries of Vermont, and it was the first entire marble building that was erected in St. Louis. Its cost exceeded $80,000. He is one of the ten gentlemen that have undertaken the building of the Southern Hotel, of this city, which will be one of the palatial structures of the Union - costing $600,000.

On April 23d, 1835, Mr. Anderson was married to Miss Theresa Billon, daughter of Charles L. Billon, of Philadelphia. He has worked out a destiny of which anyone might be proud; and whatever of wealth, public confidence, and social position be has achieved, he owes to the self reliant and energetic elements which make up his character.

John J. Anderson, pioneer merchant and banker, was born January 19, 1813, in Cahokia, Illinois, son of Reuben Anderson, a native of Delaware, and a soldier in the War of 1812. Mr. Anderson was reared and educated at Belleville, Illinois, and then came to St. Louis, where he was trained to commercial pursuits. In the early years of his business career he was a successful merchant in that city, but in 1842 he met with financial losses which swept away his accumulations and made it necessary for him to begin life anew. After that he became associated with Joseph S. Morrison, of Pennsylvania, in the banking business, was long head of the hause of John J. Anderson & Co., and occupied a prominent position among old-time bankers. He was also identified with the building of the Ohio & Mississippi Railroad, the Pacific Railroad, the Iron Mountain Railroad and the North Missouri Railroad. He married in I835, Miss Theresa Billon, daughter of Charles L. Billon, of Philadelphia.

Among the many picturesque and dashing Western characters who have either lived at St. Louis or had relations with it, and whose adventures and exploits illustrate the early history of the Far West, there is none mare picturesque and dashing than William H. Ashley. Without being inferior to any in the game and manly qualities for which they were all distinguished, he was superior to most of them in education and the acquirements and manners of polite society; he was as accomplished a gentleman in the drawing-room as he was a fearless explorer and fighter in the Rocky Mountains and it is not strange, therefore, that he has come to be recognized as chief among the class which embraced the Subletts, Bridger, Campbell, Smith and Fitzpatrick.

Ashley was a Virginian, born in Powhattan County, in that State, in 1785, and, like many others of the youth of the "Old Dominion" in that day, came to Missouri in quest of a fortune. He went to St. Genevieve in 1803, and engaged in the manufacture of saltpetre in Washington County. After a time he became a merchant, and then surveyor under General William Rector, the first surveyor general of Missouri, and in 1819 made his home in St. Louis. He owned a place of eight acres outside of the city on the north, near what is now the intersection of Broadway and Biddle Street, where he built a spacious and stately mansion for those times, and which he made the seat of a freehanded hospitality. His experience as surveyor had given him information about valuable lands in the territory, and his name appears frequently in the records of the times as purchaser of property outside of the city. It is mentioned as a proof of his high honor, and also as a conspicuous event in the history of the times, that a wealthy Englishman, William Stokes, who came to St. Louis in 1819 to make investments, deposited with Ashley $60,000, to be invested at his discretion. His popular manners and affable bearing, together with his capacity for business, made him influential in the field of politics, and he was chosen Lieutenant-Governor in the first election held in the State after its admission to the Union. Far several years he was engaged in the fur trade, the most profitable as well as the most respectable business of that day, and in the prosecution of the business he exhibited all the enterprise, courage, daring and control over men which it demanded, and laid the foundation of the liberal fortune which afforded him leisure for public affairs and social enjoyments.

When Ashley embarked in the fur trade, the American Fur Company was already established in the region east of the Rocky Mountains, doing an extensive business and owning forts, at which it was accustomed to hold annual gatherings for the sale of goads and supplies and the purchase of skins from the Indians, hunters and trappers. These meetings were important events, and the company had turned them to such good account in establishing friendly relations with the tribes and attaching the white trappers to its fortunes that it seemed like a hopeless task for an opponent to enter the field against it. But Ashley proved to be an antagonist able to hold his own in a contest even with this powerful company; he was as generous as he was chivalric, and was singularly successful in attracting choice young spirits to his standard, for he made their fortunes as well as his own. All the Subletts - Captain William L. and his three brothers were associated with him, and so also were Robert Campbell, Bridger and Fitzpatrick. His first venture in the business was not only a failure, but a disaster as well. He had obtained a first-class barge at St. Louis, loaded it with a stock of goods, including guns and ammunition, and carrying a full complement of men, the boat being in charge of Joseph Labarge, and Ashley himself being in charge of the enterprise. All went smoothly until they reached the region inhabited by the Arrickaree Indians, who received the party with the usual signs of friendship and desired to trade. Ashley concluded to purchase horses from them and divide his force, sending one party with pack-horses direct overland to a point several hundred miles above on the river, while the other party continued to proceed more slowly on the boat. But the treacherous savages had no sooner supplied themselves with weapons than they turned them against the whites, making an attack, unexpected and without warning, upon the land party as it was getting ready to start. Ashley and his men bravely defended themselves, but they were taken at a disadvantage; several were killed and others wounded, and the Indians captured their goods, packs, and the very horses which they had sold them a few days before. At the beginning of the fight, and while the Indians were preparing to seize the barge, Captain Labarge cut the rope and pushed off, and in a few minutes the rapid current bore the craft out of reach. Ashley and the survivors of the land party managed to fight their way against the savages and intercept the boat same distance below and return with it to St. Louis. Notwithstanding this inauspicious and disheartening beginning, Ashley organized a second expedition and sent it out into the Green River country. It was fortunate enough to escape attack from the Indians, but the venture did not prove successful, and Ashley found his resources greatly exhausted by the two successive failures, with nothing to show far all his outlay and trouble. A man of tamer spirit would have withdrawn from the business and left the fur trade to the two great companies, the American and the Hudson Bay, which were already in the field, and whose supplies of men and means were practically unlimited. But Ashley was not made of tame material. He managed to send out another expedition, which was attended by a small measure of success. Another followed which yielded ample returns, and Ashley had the wisdom and self-control to retire on his fortune and turn the business over to his associates. His policy in the conduct of the trade differed from that of the two great companies with which he had to compete in avoiding all commercial relations with the Indians. He dealt exclusively with white trappers and hunters. These silent men were found all along the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains, pursuing their vocation of trapping beaver on the headwaters of the Missouri, Platte and Green Rivers, and Ashley's plan of business was to attract them to his headquarters, provide them with supplies and pay them for their year's service, and take their skins and furs once a year at the annual meeting. One of his achievements was the hauling of a cannon, with an ox-team, a distance of twelve hundred miles to his fort in the mountains, and mounting it as a weapon of defense against the Indians. When he drew out of the business with a generous fortune, the young men, Sublett, Campbell and others, whom he had taken into his service succeeded to it, organized the Rocky Mountain Fur Company and continued operations until they had met with as large a measure of success as their patron and friend had achieved.

In 1831 General Ashley was elected to Congress to fill the unexpired term of Spencer Pettis, killed in the duel with Biddle, and at the succeeding election was chosen for a full term,-and re-elected for a third term in 1834, making a congressional record of five years. His title of general, which is always associated with his name, comes from his appointment as brigadier-general in the Missouri militia. His first wife died in St. Louis in 1821, and he married Eliza B. Christy, daughter of William Christv, and after her death he married Mrs. Wilcox, widow of Dr. Wilcox, and daughter of Dr. Mass, of Howard County. He died at St. Louis in 1839, in his fifty-fourth year, and his body was taken on the steamboat "Booneville," Captain Joseph Labarge, to his farm on Lamine River, Cooper County, where he owned a tract of 20,000 acres. He left no children, and this land passed into other hands, but his solitary grave is pointed out in the burial reservation of one acre on a beautiful eminence in sight of the Missouri River. He is described by those who knew him as a man about five feet nine inches in height, and one hundred and thirty-five pounds in weight; thin face and prominent Grecian nose, with an attractive presence and pleasant manners. -D. M. GRISSOM.

Moses Austin, the first projector of American colonization in Texas, was born in Durham, Conn. In early manhood he became connected with lead mining and the manufacture of sheet lead in Wythe County, Virginia. There his children were born. Failing in business, in 1799 he removed to the then Spanish territory of Missouri, and received a grant of land in the lead region covering the present town of Potosí, where he established works for the manufacture of sheet lead. He prospered, established a fine home, the seat of hospitality, and ever enjoyed the respect of the surrounding country. His probity and integrity were recognized by all, as well as his enterprise and intelligence, but owing to changes in the mining laws and a financial crisis, he again suffered financial reverses about the year 1818.

After paying his debts he had something left, however, and having lived under Spanish rule from 1799 to 1804, and believing the Mexican revolution against Spain was substantially at an end, he conceived the idea of founding an American colony in the wilds of Texas. For this purpose, late in 1820, he visited, at considerable hazard, San Antonio de Bexar, and there made application, through the local governor, endorsed by the local authorities, to the proper authorities of the interior, for n grant of land upon which to establish a colony. This, thus endorsed, was forwarded to the intendant-general at Monterey, by whom the right was conceded Jan. 21, 1821. Pending its consideration and confident of success, Mr. Austin returned to Missouri to prepare for carrying out the enterprise. The trip through the wilderness to Natchitoches and thence by river steamers to Missouri was long, the streams swollen, and the weather inclement. He contracted disease and reached home only to die, leaving an injunction that his son, Stephen F., should assume his place. The name of Moses Austin must ever stand as the pioneer in planting civilization in the Texan wilds. The date of his death was June 10, 1821.

Madame Elizabeth Ortes was born September 27th, 1764, at Vincennes, a French military post of great importance on the Wabash. To have been in Indiana at that early date, was to have been in a wilderness, and a vast region on both sides of the Mississippi went by the name of Illinois. Her mother's name was Marguerite Dutremble, and that of her father Antoine Barada, who, previous to his marriage, was a French soldier, and served for some years in the French army, then commanded by Louis St. Ange de Bellerive. When Vincennes had been given up to the English, the very year after her birth, her parents still remained at the post; but seeing, day by day, the old customs gradually dying away, which, from long use, had become necessary to their existence; and feeling, also, that dislike to the English natural to the French, they removed to St. Louis in 1768. Madame Ortes was then four years of age, and St. Louis was founded seven months before her birth.

At the age of four years, the memory had commenced to retain upon its delicate tablet impressions of external objects, and Madame Ortes distinctly recollects her removal from Fort Vincennes to St. Louis, and knows well the time when the little log church was built on Second street, near Market, on the same square where the cathedral now stands. The church was built by Jean B. Ortes, who became her future husband. She distinctly recollects the time when the French flag was lowered, and the town was delivered to the Spaniards by Louis St. Ange do Bellerive, who was then commandant. She well remembers the appearance of that distinguished general of the French, and the time when he died, at the house of Madame Chouteau, situated on the square opposite the Missouri Republican office. She distinctly remembers Pierre Laclede Liguest, the founder of the city, and was thirteen years of age when he died, on the Mississippi, at the mouth of the Arkansas.

At fourteen years of age, Mademoiselle Elizabeth Barada was married to Jean B. Ortes, one of the companions of Liguest, who was a native of the same place, the county of Bion, on the borders of France; and their birth-spot was in the shadow of the towering Pyrenees. Both emigrated to America at one time, and they were together when the site of St. Louis was chosen and the trees marked where the erection of the buildings was to be commenced. He was a carpenter and cabinet-maker, and died in 1813, at the age of seventy-five years.

Madame Ortes is now nearly ninety-six years of age, and has lived ninety-two years in St. Louis. She has seen all the different phases of the Mound City, from 1768 to the present time. She was a little girl during the first French domination, and saw Piernas, the first Spanish governor, when he arrived in the town. She had grown to womanhood when the town was attacked by the savages, in 1780. She was intimate with the families of the different Spanish commandants, and was in the fortieth year of her age when the city was again delivered to the commissioner of the French, and on the following day was consigned to a representative of the United States, and the star-spangled banner floated from the battlements. She has witnessed all the changes St. Louis has undergone during the almost century of its existence. She has seen the little log cabins of one story, as they grew tottering by the decaying fingers of Time, supplanted by palatial buildings. She has seen the gay, convivial, and happy inhabitants that once formed the population, go, one by one, to their "narrow house;" and a new people, with different tastes, and animated by mercenary motives, are living and breathing around her. Every thing has become more attractive to the eye — shows the march of intellect and civilization; but the atmosphere created by sympathetic influence has been chilled, and the warm sunshine of happiness, which radiated the days of the former inhabitants, is now wanting.

Time has dealt gently with Madame Ortes. Though ninety-six years of age, her health is good, spirits buoyant, and her mind lucid and active. Her memory is most astonishing, and she loves to talk of the time that has passed, of the persons who were the companions of her childhood, and with whom she associated in the spring and summer of her life. She was always of a happy nature, lived a retired life, never was troubled by worldly wants, and, to use her own graphic expression, "her cellar was always full." To these salutary causes is to be attributed the health and the length of life she has enjoyed. We are happy to relate that she has resided, since the death of her husband, in the house of Mr. Joseph Philibert, her son-in-law, having at her command all worldly comforts. She is surrounded by her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and in their society almost forgets the infirmities and regrets of age, and lives a life of comparative happiness.

Louis Barada was born in St. Louis, and settled with his parents in St. Charles about the year 1800, where he resided during the rest of his life. He died in March 1852, and his wife died in February 1873.

Mr. Barada followed various occupations, but devoted most of his time to the butchering business and milling. He assisted in the building of the famous old stone flouring mill, in which at one time owned an interest. He also helped to build the old stone Catholic church, and was one of its trustees for many years, serving in that capacity until his death.

He married Ellen Gagnon by whom he had eleven children: Louis, Jr., Danaciene, Louise, Ann N., Mary, Pierre, Benoist, Ellen, John B., Lucille and Eaulie. Louis, Jr., Danaciene, Benoist and Eulalie died in childhood and Pierre died at the age of ten years. Louise married David Knott, who died in St. Louis in 1848. His widow still resides in that city. Ann N. married Antoine LeFaivre, who died in 1883; she is still living Mary married Charles Cornoyer, who died in St. Louis in 1871, and his widow still resides there. Ellen was married twice; first to John LeFaivre, who died two years afterwards and she subsequently married Joseph Widen, who died from injuries received from the explosion of the steamer George A. Wolf. His widow lives in St. Louis. John B. was the clerk on the steamer Robert, and died in St. Louis of Yellow fever, contracted in New Orleans. Lucille married Lucien F. LaCroix, and died in St. Louis in 1863. Mr. LaCroix married again, and is living in Helena, Montana, publishing the Daily Independent.

Joshua Barton was born in Tennessee, son of Rev. Isaac Barton and brother of David Barton, one of the first United States Senators elected from Missouri. He came west soon after his elder brother settled in St. Louis, and read law here under the preceptor ship of Rufus Easton. After his admission to the bar he was associated with Honorable Edward Bates in practice until the State Government of Missouri was organized, when he was made Secretary of State. This office he resigned to accept the appointment of United States district attorney for Missouri, a position which he held until his tragic death, which occurred on the 28th of June, 1823. On that date he was killed in a duel fought with Thomas C. Rector on Bloody Island.

Note: Most all other soures indicate his death occurred on 30 Jun 1823.

Nicholas Beaugenou, Sr., with his family, came over from Fort Chartres, where they had lived for a number of years, with the first comers, accompanied by Mrs. Beaugenou's two brothers, Charles and Francis Henrion, both single men.

Nicholas Beaugenou, Sr., born in Canada, died in St. Louis, in 1770. Mrs. Beaugenou, née, Henrion, born in Canada, died in St. Louis Sept.,1769. Their children, born in Canada and Fort Chartres, were then all minors except the oldest of them, Nicholas, Jr.

1. Nicholas Jr. (Fifi), born in Canada in 1741, married Catherine Gravelle in 1775; she died in St. Louis, 1795, and he in 1826, aged eighty-five years.
2. Charles.
3. Maria Josepha, born 1748, married Toussaint Hunaut in 1766, at eighteen (the first marriage recorded in the archives); she died in 1799.
4. Helen, born in 1751, married to Jamea Brunel, La Sabloniere, in 1771, at twenty years.
5. Therese, first married to Joachin D’eau, from Canada, in 1777, and secondly to Jacques Noise in 1781; she died h Cahokia in 183-
6. Agnes Frances, to Joseph Hugé, from France, in 1776, died in 1797.
7. Elizabeth to Alexis Loise, 1773.

Note: Name was also spelled Beaugenoux.

Nicholas Beaugenou, Jr., called Fifi, was born in Canada, 1741, came with his father, first to Fort Chartres and then to St. Louis in 1764.

He married here Catharine Gravelle in 1775, who died in 1795; they raised three children.

1. Julie, born 17776, married to Francois Valois, February 4, 1794, at eighteen.
2. Nicholas
3. Vital

Tbis second Nicholas Beaugenou lived here and about from the origin of St. Lois, 1764, to his death at St. Ferdinand in 1826, a period of over sixty years; he lived in various parts of the village and surrounds, was much on horseback, made and traded off several farms. Fee Fee creek in our county, received its cognomen from his juvenile nick-name of Fifi. He died in St. Ferdinand in 1826, aged eighty-five years.

Francis M. Benoit, a fur merchant, son of Louis Antoine Benoit and Marie Rouse Sumande, born in Quebec, in 1768, married Marie Catherine Sanguinet in St. Louis, Nov. 22, 1798. He died Oct. 21, 1819. Aged fifty-one years, leaving three sons and two daughters, and his widow Dec. 8, 1859, in her seventy-ninth year.

1. Francis, Jr., born 1799, died in Louisiana.
2. Louis A. (Condé), Aug. 13, 1803, and died Jan. 17, 1867, at sixty-four; first wife Miss Barton, two children; second, Miss Hackney, five children; third, Miss Wilson, eight children, fifteen in all.
3. Sanguinet, 1805, to Miss Dubois; separated.
4. Adeline, 1807, to Jas. M. Riley at Liberty, Sept. 20, 1831.
5. Amanda, 1809, to Cyrus Curtis, March 27, 1827.

The most distinguished statesman accredited to Missouri, was born March 14, 1782, near Hillsborough, North Carolina, and died in Washington D.C., April 10, 1858. His father was Colonel Jesse Benton, a lawyer, of North Carolina, and his mother was Ann (Gooch) Benton, and came of the Gooch family of Virginia. Half orphaned by the death of his father when he was eight years of age, Thomas H. Benton grew up under the care of his mother, and in his early youth had few opportunities for study. The extent of his academic training appears ro have been attendance for a time at the grammar school and a short course of study at the University of North Carolina. He left the last-named institution remove with his mother's family to Tennessee, where they occupied a large tract of land, which had been acquired by his father, and founded what became known as "The Widow Benton's Settlement." Later this place took the name of Bentontown, and is so called at the present time. Benton studied law with St. George Tucker, land in 1811 was admitted to the bar under the patronage of Andrew Jackson, at that time a judge of the Supreme Court and his warm friend. Elected to the Legislature of Tennessee, he obtained the passage of a law for the reform of the judicial system of the State, land another by which the right of trial by jury was given to slaves. In the War of 1812 he was for a time Jackson's aid-decamp, and also raised a regiment of volunteers. Later, owing to a quarrel, in which his brother, Jesse, and William Carroll, afterward General Carroll, became involved, he and his former friend, General Jackson, became bitter enemies. On the 4th of September, 1813, the Benton brothers and General Jackson had an encounter in Nashville, in which knives and pistols were freely used, and Jackson received a ball in his left shoulder, while Jesse Benton received severe dirk wounds.

In 1813 Benton was appointed a Lieutenant-colonel in the United States Army, and set out to serve in Canada, but peace being declared soon afterward, he returned and resigned his commission. In 1815 he came to St. Louis, and began the practice of law here. About the same time he established a newspaper, "The Missouri Inquirer," and through this journal he vigorously advocated the admission of Missouri as a State. A tragic incident of the early years of his residence in St. Louis was his duel with Charles Lucas, fought on Bloody Island, in 1817, which resulted in the death of Lucas. Notwithstanding this unfortunate affair, and the extent to which it prejudiced him in the public mind, he became a recognized leader in the councils of the young commonwealth of Missouri, and when the State governm1ent was formed he was elected, at the end of a prolonged and bitter contest, one of the first United States Senators from this State. Possessed of a commanding intellect, an assiduous student, resolute, temperate, industrious, and endowed with a memory whose tenacity was marvelous, he soon placed himself among the leaders in the national council. One of his earliest efforts was to secure a reform in the disposition of the government lands to settlers. A pioneer himself, he sympathized with the demands of the pioneer, and in 1824, 1826 and 1828 advocated new land laws. He demanded (1) a pre-emptive right for all actual settlers; (2) a periodic reduction according to the time the land had been in the market, so as to make the prices correspond to the quality; (3) the donation of homesteads to impoverished, but industrious persons who would cultivate the land for a given period of years. He presented a bill embracing these features, and renewed it every year, until it took hold upon the public mind, and was at length substantially embodied in one of President Jackson's messages, which secured its final adoption. Becoming reconciled to General Jackson, he was one of the ablest and most loyal supporters of his administration, and gained great influence in the Democratic party. He was one of the earliest advocates of a railroad to the Pacific, and was prominent in directing explorations in the far West, in encouraging overland transit to the Pacific, and in working for the occupancy of the mouth of the Columbia. He also favored the opening up and protection of the trade with New Mexico; encouraged the establishment of military stations on the Missouri and throughout the interior, and urged the cultivation of amicable relations with the Indian tribes, and the fostering of the commerce of our inland seas. In the first annual message of President Jackson strong ground was taken against the United States Bank, when the depository of the national moneys, and subsequently, when he directed the withdrawal of the deposits and their removal to certain State banks, the result was disastrous to the business of the country. Colonel Benton took up the matter, addressed himself to a consideration of the whole question of finance, circulating medium and exchange, and urged the adoption of a gold and silver currency as the true remedy for the existing embarrassment. He made on this subject some of the most elaborate speeches of his life, which attracted attention throughout the United States and Europe, and the name of "Old Bullion" was given to him. His style of oratory at this period was unimpassioned and very deliberate, but overflowing with facts, figures, logical deduction and historical illustrations. In later life he was characterized by a peculiar exuberance of wit and raciness that increased with his years.

From 1841 until 1851, under Presidents Tyler, Polk and Taylor, he participated in the discussions that arose in regard to the Oregon boundary, the annexation of Texas and other important subjects. During the Mexican War his services and intimate acquaintance with the Spanish provinces of the South proved most useful to the government. At one time it was proposed by President Polk to confer upon him the title of lieutenant-general, with full commland of the army, in order that he might carry out his conceptions in person. Questions in regard to slavery were brought on by the acquisition of Mexican territory. These were adjusted by rbhe compromise acts of 1850, which were introduced by Clay; were opposed by Benton, and defeated as a whole, but passed separately. In the nullification struggle Benton was Calhoun’s leading Democratic opponent, and their opposition to each other developed into a life-long animosity. In 1847, in answer to the "Wilmot proviso," which excluded slavery from all territory subsequently acquired, Calhoun introduced resolutions that embodied his doctrine of State rights. Colonel Benton denounced Calhoun's resolutions as a "fire-brand." The resolutions never came to a vote, but they were sent to the Legislature of every slave state, were adopted by several of them, and were made the basis of after conflict and party organization. In his hostility to Benton, Calhoun sent the resolutions to Missouri, and confided them to certain Democrats in the Legislature whom he knew to be unfriendly to Benton's re-election to the Senate. By skillful management the resolutions were passed in both branches without Benton's knowledge, and a copy was sent to Washington. He promptly denounced them as not expressing the sense of the people, and containing disunion doctrines, designed to produce separation and disaster, and declared that he would appeal from the Legislature to the people. On the adjournment of Congress he returned to Missouri and canvassed every section of the State in a series of speeches famed for their bitterness of denunciation, strength of exposition and caustic wit. The result was the return of a Legislature, in 1849-50, with Benton men in the plurality, but composed of opposite wings, and he was defeated by a coalition between his Democratic opponents and the Whigs. At the close of his term he therefore retired from the Senate, after six successive elections and thirty years' continuous service. In 1852 he stood as a candidate for Congress, made a direct appeal to the people of his district, and was elected over all opposition. He gave his warm support to the administration of Franklin Pierce, but when the Calhoun party obtained the ascendency, he withdrew this support. The administration then turned on him and displaced from office all his friends throughout Missouri. Soon afterward the Kansas-Nebraska bill was brought up, and he delivered a memorable speech against it, which did much to excite the country against the act, but failed to defeat its passage. At the next election he was defeated for Congress, and retiring from active politics, he devoted two years to literary pursuits.

In 1856 he became a candidate for Governor of Missouri, but while his old friends rallied to his support, a third ticket, and the consequent division of political forces, lost him the election. In the presidential election of 1856 he supported Buchanan, in opposition to his son-in-law, Colonel Frémont, giving as a reason that Buchanan, if elected, would restore the principles of the Jackson administration, while he feared that the success of Frémont would engender sectional parties, fatal to the permanence of the Union. In 1854 he issued the first volume of his "Thirty Years' View" of the workings of the government, which presented a connected narrative of the time from Adams to Pierce, and dealt particularly with the secret political history of that period. The second and last volume appeared in 1856, and the work is known everywhere as one of the most important contributions to the political history of our country. In the closing years of his life he underrtook the task of abridging the debates of Congress, and this work, which was brought down to the conclusion of the great compromise debate of 1850, was published in fifteen volumes.

Colonel Benton married Elizabeth McDowell, daughter of Colonel James McDowell, of Virginia. She suffered a stroke of paralysis in 1844, and from that time he was never known to go to any place of festivity or amusement. She died in 1854, leaving four daughters, the second of whom married General John C. Frémont.

Additional Biographical Sketch of Hon. Thomas H. Benton

Headstone & Marker - Bellefontaine Cemetery, St. Louis

Note: It is possible that Joshua may have met Thomas H. Benton during the War of 1812 and became friends. in 1839, Benton formally recommended Joshua to the Indian Office for the appointment to the St. Louis superintendency. Joshua also participated in the 1839-1840 Democrat campaign in support of Benton; and when Joshua drew up his Last Will & Testament on 18 Nov 1842, he left the $3,800 note Benton owed him to be held in trust for Benton's daughter Susan until she became of suitable age.

Was born near the city of Trent, in the Italian Tyrol, in 1780, and died in St.Louis, April 20, 1831, at the age of fifty-seven years. He served, at the age of seventeen years, in the Italian army which opposed Napoleon's invasion, and at the battle of Marengo received a sabre cut on the forehead, which marked him for life. In 1798 he came to the United States, and after a short stay in Philadelphia settled in Baltimore. In 1809 he removed to St. Louis with Rene Paul and engaged in the mercantile business. In 1811 he married Pelagie Chouteau, only daughter of Major Pierre Chouteau, Sr., one of the founders of the city. They had seven children, one of the daughters, Clara, becoming the wife of. Wm. L. Ewing, and mother of Wm. L. Ewing, Jr., who was mayor of the city from 1881 to 1885.

He formed a partnership with his brother-in-law, Pierre Chouteau, Jr., and conducted a successful business for several years, and afterward, with Pierre Chouteau, Jr., John P. Cabanne and Bernard Pratte, became associated with John Jacob Astor in the American Fur Company. The business was very profitable, and Mr. Berthold, at the time of his death, was counted one of the wealthy citizens of St. Louis. He was well educated and accomplished and was held in high esteem for his elegant manners and his sterling uprightness. He was mster of several languages, and it is recorded of him that when Lafayette, with his staff of friends came to St. Louis, in 1825, Bartholomew Berthold sat at the banquet table and conversed with them all in their several tongues. His widow survived him forty-four years, dying in 1875, in her eighty-fifth year.

The second son of Jean David Billon and Marguerite Robert, was born in the Town of Locle, Canton of Neufchatel and Valangin, Switzerland, on January 10, 1766. His ancestor's were French Huguenots, that had left France at the revocation of the Edict of Nantes by Louis 14th.

In 1787, at the age of twenty-one years, having acquired the profession of a Watch-maker, he came to Paris, where he remained nearly four years, during which he witnessed those exciting occurrences, which preceded the breaking out of the French Revolution, and the destruction of the ancient monarchy. *

In September, 1790, Mr. Billon crossed over to England, with the passport of the King Louis 16th (now in my possession), and resided during the next five years in London. In 1795 he came to the United States and established himself in Philadelphia, the then Capital, carrying out his original intention on leaving his native land of becoming an American citizen.

On May 12, 1797, he was married at the Trinity Catholic Church in that City, to Miss Jeanne Charlotte, daughter of Pierre Hubert Stollenwerk, born in Cape Francois, Island of St. Domingo, Sept. 17, 1781, her parents being of old French families, who had emigrated to that Island from Paris about the year 1765.

Charles Billon, Sr., continued in business with varied success, in Philadelphia, for nearly twenty-four years. In 1818, with his wife and numerous family of eight children (having lost four others), he removed to St. Louis, where he resided four years, until his death Sept. 8, 1822, at the age of 56 years and 8 months.

His widow, after having survived her husband the almost unparalleled period of nearly 58 years, died April 12, 1880, at the very advanced ago of nearly ninety-nine years.

Their children, all born in Philadelphia, were:
Frederic Louis, born April 23, 1801, married Eulalie L. Generelly, May 20, 1829. Had twelve children.
Charles P., born June 20, 1803, married Frances, daughter of Col. Thos. F. Riddick, he died Jan'y 19, 1863.
Virginia Jane, born May 9, 1805, married Paul B. Gratiot; she died Nov'r 29, 1871.
Caroline Emily, born June 2, 1809, widow of Capt. Jno. Atchison, of Galena.
Paul Gustavus, born Feb'y 29, 1812, of Richland, Mo.
Henry Adolphus, born Feb'y 29, 1812, died July 3, 1824, aged 12 years.
Charles Alfred, born June 20, 1815, of Davenport, Iowa.
Antoinette Theresa, born March 23, 1817, widow of John J. Anderson.

* The destruction of the Bastile, July 14, 1789, the confederation of the Champ de Mars, &c., speedily followed by the execution of the King, Louis 16th.

Born in New Orleans on 14 Jan 1733, Marie was the daughter of Nicholas Bourgeois, who died when she was aged five. At the time of his death, his widow Marie Joseph Tarare, was pregnant and had three young children but married the year following to Nicholas Pierre Carco, who raised young Marie.

A marriage was arranged for her at the age of fifteen to René Auguste Chouteau who was a New Orleans baker and tavern keeper ten years her senior. The marriage proved to be an unhappy one, and some speculate that René had been cruel to her. In any case, it is clear that he abandoned Marie and their young son Auguste and sailed to France.

Finding the company and attentiveness of the educated and polished merchant Pierre Laclède engaging, and he equally impressed, the two bonded and considered themselves married although the Roman Catholic law forbid any such legal union as Marie was still legally married.

In August of 1763 Laclède, along with his young assistant Auguste Chouteau (son of Marie T. Bourgeois and René Chouteau), led a party up the Mississippi River in search of a place to establish a fur trading post. They located a site eighteen miles south of the Mississippi and Missouri confluence, marked their spot and Laclède then sent Auguste back to the location to begin building the trading village.

When Laclède returned to the small village in September 1764, he brought with him Marie Thérèse Bourgeois Chouteau and their four children: Jean Pierre, Pelagie, Marie Louise, and Victoire. All given the name Chouteau, René had not returned from France so clearly these were not his biological children but rather Laclède's. Pierre, Marie and the children resided here until 1768 when he built a stone house.

René Chouteau eventually returned to New Orleans and found the whereabouts of his wife Marie. He had set about to bring her back to New Orleans, but died three years later on the 21st of April 1776 with her never having left St. Louis or Pierre. Despite René's death, Marie did not marry Pierre and was always referred to as "Veuve" or Widow Chouteau. Although it was a well-known fact that Marie and Pierre lived in the same house, she remained a respected resident of the community and was held in good esteem, some defending her reputation and stating her relationship with Pierre was a platonic one.  

In 1778 Pierre died. The home and other properties were willed to Auguste Chouteau and the four Laclède children, but Marie was to have use of the house so long as she lived. After his death, she was considered a good business woman and was well respected in the social circles. The matriarch of this founding family had lived fifty years in St. Louis - long enough to see it grow from an outpost to a significant town and gateway to the west. She died on 14 Aug 1814 at age eighty-one, seven months and is honorably laid to rest at Calvary Cemetery.

*Various Sources: The Pierre Chouteau Collection - MHS; The Chouteau-Papin Collection - MHS; The P. Chouteau Maffitt Collection - MHS; Gateway Heritage Quarterlies, MHS: After the Journey was Over: The St. Louis Years of Lewis and Clark by Glen E. Holt - Vol. 2, No. 2 - Fall Issue 1981; Veuve Chouteau, a 250th Anniversary by Katherine T. Corbett - Vol. 3, No. 4 - Spring Issue 1983; The Laclède-Chouteau Puzzle: John Francis McDermott Supplies Some Missing Pieces by William E. Foley - Vol. 4, No. 2 - Fall Issue 1983; ed. by Christensen, Lawrence O.; Foley, Wm. E, Kremer; Gary R.; Winn, Kenneth H.,University of Missouri Press, 1999. [MHS - Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis]

Henry M., author, born in Pittsburgh, Pa., 11 May 1786; died there, 18 Jan 1871. When seven years old he was sent to a school at St. Genevieve, in upper Louisiana, to learn the French language, and remained there three years, after which his father took personal charge of his education. He began the study of law at the age of fifteen, and was admitted to the bar in 1806. After a year or two more of special study with his father, he began practice in Baltimore, Md., but soon removed to Somerset, where in the intervals of business he read history and studied Italian and German.

He revisited Louisiana in 1810, and, after practicing law a short time, went to St. Louis. Here he began to collect materials for a work on Louisiana (Pittsburgh, 1812), and also began the study of Spanish. In 1811 he descended the river in a " keel-boat" to New Orleans, and in a month or two was appointed deputy attorney-general for the territory of Orleans, as it was then called. He became district judge in 1812, though only twenty-three years old, and gave his attention for several years to the study of Spanish law.

During the war of 1812 he gave important information to the government, and afterward published a popular history of the war, which was translated into French and Italian. This was undertaken at the instance of a bookseller in Baltimore, where Judge Brackenridge took up his residence in 1814. He joined with Henry Clay in urging the acknowledgment of the South American republics, and wrote much on the subject, his principal publication being a pamphlet of 100 pages, addressed to President Monroe, and signed " An American." This was republished in England and France, and, as it was supposed to represent the views of the American government, was answered by the Spanish minister, the duke of San Carlos. About the same time Judge Brackenridge published, in " Walsh's Register," an elaborate paper on the Louisiana boundary question.

In 1817 he was appointed secretary of the commission sent to the South American republics, and after his return published a " Voyage to South America " (2 vols., Baltimore, 1818; London, 1820), which was highly praised by Humboldt. In 1821 he went to Florida, which had just come into the possession of the American government, and, by his knowledge of French and Spanish, rendered valuable service to Gen. Jackson. In May of that year he was appointed U. S. judge for the western district of Florida, and held this office till 1832, when he removed to Pittsburgh.

He was elected to congress in 1840, but did not take his seat, and in 1841 was named a commissioner under the treaty with Mexico. After this he remained in private life, devoting himself to literature. Besides works already mentioned, he published "Recollections of Persons and Places in the West" (Philadelphia, 1834; 2d ed., enlarged, 1868); "Essay on Trusts and Trustees " (Washington, 1042); and " History of the Western Insurrection " (1859), a vindication of his father's course at that time. He also wrote numerous pamphlets and articles in journals, including a " Eulogy on Adams and Jefferson," delivered at Pensacola, Fla., in August, 1820, and a series of letters in favor of the Mexican war (1847).

John P. Cabanné, pioneer, was born in 1773, at Pau, in the South of France, and died in St. Louis, in 1841. His father was Jean Cabanné, of Bordeaux, France, and his mother, whose maiden name was Duteil, was a sister of General Lucien Duteil, who was in Command of the republican forces at the siege of Toulon, and at whose house Napoleon stayed during the siege. In grateful remembrance of General Duteil's kindness to him, Napoleon bequeathed to the general five hundred thousand francs in his will, written at St. Helena. John P. Cabanné ,was educated and trained to mercantile pursuits in France, and in 1803 came to the United States with considerable capital. He first established his home at Charleston, South Carolina, and engaged in the sugar trade, which he conducted profitably for a year or more. Meeting with a disaster, occasioned by the loss at sea of two of his trading vessels, he then went to New Orleans and embarked in trade in that city.

In 1806 he came to St. Louis and engaged in the fur trade, which was then the principal business of this place. For many years he was interested in this trade with Bernard Pratt, Pierre Chouteau, Jr., Antoine Chenie, Bartholomew Berthold, Manuel Lisa and others. For some years he was a member of the firm of Pratt, Chouteau & Co., and during this period spent much of his time in what was then called the Indian country. He amassed a large fortune and left his family a rich inheritance. He was one of the commissioners appointed to accept subscriptions of stock to the Bank of St. Louis, founded December 17, 1816. He was a member of the first Public School Board of St. Louis, was one of the incorporators of the city, and was foremost in all measures and enterprises designed to promote the advancement and progress of the town. So prominent was he as a business man and citizen that his death was universally regretted, and the utterances of the press and, of the public of that period gave expression to the feeling that the place which he occupied in the .community was one not easy to be filled. He married, in St. Louis, in 1807, Miss Julia Gratiot, daughter of Charles Gratiot, in his day, one of the leading citizens of' Missouri. Five sons and three daughters were born to them, all of whom lived and died in St. Louis, and they have numerous descendants who still reside in the city.

Prominent as a business man, and as a representative, also, of one of the oldest families of St, Louis, was born in this city, October 16, 1846. He is the son of John Charles Cabanné, and grandson of Jean Pierre Cabanné, who came to St. Louis from France in1798, was conspicuous among the old-time fur traders and a pioneer who took an important part in laying the foundation of the city. In France the family seat of the Cabarines was at Pau, capital of the ancient Province of Bearn, corresponding nearly to the modern department of Basses-Pyrenees, of which the city of Pau is now the capital. Pau was the ancient capital of Navarre, and the chief resident of its sovereigns, and Henry of Navarre was born there.

The father of Jean Pierre Cabanné was Count Jean Cabanné, and his mother was a daughter of Baron Duteil, lieutenant-general of artillery, who maintained the school of Auxonne some time before the French Revolution. In Bourrienne’s “Memories sur Napoleon," the statement is made that: “in the fourth codicil to his will Napoleon Bonaparte bequeathed to the son or grandson of Baron Duteil the sum of one hundred thousand francs as a memento of gratitude for the care he took of Napoleon when he was a lieutenant and captain under him." Jean Pierre Cabbané married one of the granddaughters of Madame Chouteau; and in this line J. Charless Cabanne is a descendant of the first white woman who established a home on the west bank of the Mississippi River, in Upper Louisiana. In the maternal line he is also descended from ancestors conspicuous among the pioneers of St. Louis. His maternal grandfather was Judge William Carr, who came to St. Louis in 1804, and helped to establish the local government, under authority of the United States government, and who was speaker of the first Missouri House of Representatives, elected in 1812.

Reared and educated in St. Louis, Mr. Cabanné has been identified in various ways with the city's growth and development since early manhood, but for nearly thirty years has confined his attention chiefly to very extensive dairy interests. He embarked in this business in 1868, and in those days a large portion of land, now embraced in Forest Park, belonged to his dairy farm, and nine hundred cows roamed over these pastures. In 1872 he sold his dairy and established the business of receiving shipments of milk by rail from the farmers living in the county adjacent to St. Louis. He was the pioneer in St. Louis in inaugurating the style of supplying milk for city consumption, which has revolutionized prices and brought about a complete transformation in the character of the lacteal fluid which enters so largely into the living of all classes of people. There is good authority for making the statement that thirty years ago no "whole milk" was sold in St. Louis. Skimmed milk sold at the rate of twenty-eight cents per gallon at retail, and cream, containing not to exceed 10 per cent of butter fat, sold at a dollar and twenty-five cents per gallon. Soon after Mr. Cabanné inaugurated his plan of receiving and delivering to consumers pure and wholesome milk, shipped to the city from farms thirty, forty and even as far as seventy miles away, the prices of milk began to decline and its character to improve, as a result of the competition. Whole milk now sells at less than used to be charged for skimmed milk, and cream containing 5 per cent more butter fat is supplied to consumers by the St. Louis Dairy Company at something like forty cents less than the old price. A pure, and nutritious milk supply has been deemed of such importance to the health of the city that attempts have been made by the St. Louis Board of Health to secure legislation regulating the sale of milk and cream in the city, but, for some reason or other, these efforts to inaugurate needed reforms have failed of results. In 1882 the attention of American dairymen was called to the successful experiment of the founder of the Aylesbury Dairy Company, of London, England, who had established a chemical control department in connection with his dairy and thereby protected himself and his patrons against impure, adulterated and diseased milk, and Mr. Cabanné, who had watched this and similar experiments with much interest, determined to make an effort to improve the milk supply of St. Louis by the same means. Associating with himself Colonel T. T. Gantt, Fred B. Ewing, Randolph R. Hutchinson, Charles Chapman, William Sommerville, Dr. I. G. W. Steedman, J. B. C. Lucas, Robert E. Carr, Thomas T. Turner, John F. Lee, Charles P. Hunt, Charles P. Chouteau and Henry Hitchcock, he organized the St. Louis Dairy Company, of which he was appointed general manager. When he announced to the milk dealers of the larger cities of the country that he was going to inaugurate the plan put into operation by the Aylesbury Dairy they predicted that the project would prove a commercial failure for various reasons, but, notwithstanding the prospective difficulties with which he would have to contend, Mr. Cabanné put his plan into operation and began a vigorous crusade in favor of pure milk. During the first four years of its existence the St. Louis Dairy, Company struggled to overcome the obstacles in its way without being able to declare a dividend to its shareholders, but its patronage then began to increase and it has since enjoyed continuous prosperity. In 1895 its original capital stock of $20,000 was increased to $75,000, and in, 1896 the corporation erected a model milk depot at 2008 to 2018 Pine Street, built on scientific principles and equipped with all the modern devices essential to the handling of milk and milk products in accordance with the most approved sanitary methods. In the field of enterprise to which he has devoted so many years of his life, and in which he has brought to bear on the problems incidental thereto broad intelligence and no small amount of scientific research and investigation, Mr. Cabanné has done much for the health and general welfare of St. Louis, while building up a successful business enterprise. His advanced views and the careful attention which he has given to the details of the business in which he is engaged have made him well known to the great dairy interests of the country, and the influence of his methods and example has been far-reaching in its effects. In St. Louis he introduced, in 1872, the covered milk-wagons now in general use, designed to protect drivers from sun and storm. In 1872 he also received the first shipments of milk to St. Louis by rail, and the same year inaugurated in this city the use of ice in handling and delivering milk. In 1876 he introduced the iron-clad milk-cans, now in general use, into St. Louis; in 1878 erected the first creamery for the supply of the trade; in 1880 delivered the first milk in bottles; operated the first separator, and delivered the first separator cream in the city in 1884; introduced parchment paper for wrapping butter in 1887; sold the first bulk condensed milk in 1889, and in 1896 inaugurated the system of filtering milk, which has enhanced in no small degree its purity. He married, in 1868, Miss Susan P. Mitchell, a great-granddaughter of Major William C. Christy, who became a resident of St. Louis in 1804, and who was one of the most noted men among the pioneers of that period .

Gabriel Cerré was born in Montreal, Canada, May 22, 1734, and was one of a large family of brothers and sisters, Pierre; Louis married Bergaye; Marienne married Globlinski; Marie married Louis Panet; Amelie married Leveque, all of whom remained in Canada.

Gabriel Cerré, in his early youth removed to Kaskaskia, where he became the leading merchant and fur trader. He was bitterly opposed to the American cause, in the revolutionary war, until after an interview with Gen. Clark, who not only secured his friendship and sympathy, but also his aid with the Indians of Illinois, over whom Mr. Cerré had great influence. Mr. Cerré married in 1765 Catherine, daughter of Antoine Gerard and Marie LaFontaine of Kaskaskia. He with his family came to St. Louis in 1781, where he continued in the fur business until his death, which occurred April, 4, 1805. Mrs. Cerré died July 31, 1800. The children of Gabriel and Catherine Gerard Cerre were: Therese, married Auguste Chouteau; Julie, married Antoine Soulard; Pashcal Leon, born Oct. 18, 1771, died at St. Louis May 9, 1849, married the only child of Michael Lamie, who was born in Montreal and came to St. Louis in 1765. His son Michael Lamie Cerre, married Helene Lebeau.

One of the early settlers of St. Louis, came from Kaskaskia after the treaty which gave the Northwest Territory to Great Britain, and engaged in the fur business. In the prosecution of it he sent two young men, brothers, Francois and Joseph Lesieur, down the Mississippi to establish a new trading post among the Indian tribes dwelling on the west bank. They halted at a Delaware village that seemed to be eligibly located on high ground, and easily accessible from the back country. The post afterward became the town of New Madrid. One of Gabriel Cerré’s daughte