Jean Francois Saucier
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Jean François Saucier, the founder of Portage des Sioux, Missouri, was born in 1743 at the Mobile settlement. He was the son of Francois Saucier and Marie Jeanne Fontaille, and a grandson of Jeanne Baptiste Saucier and Gabrielle Savary. Jean Francois spent his early years at Mobile, working with his father at various periods of time. Jean Francois was described by his father as being “the other myself”. His writings, contacts and the positions he held in Missouri and Illinois show he started his formal education in France in 1752, as requested by his father. Soon after his father’s death, he returned to Illinois. Since his father's death the family was no longer receiving his salary Jean Francois' expenses in Paris and his schooling could no longer be paid. Jean Francois’ assistance was now needed by his mother who was left with young children to rear. Jean Francois shortly after receiving word from his mother returned to colonies to help his family. In 1759 several records show that sixteen year old Jean Francois was a Cadet (a junior officer) in the French Colonial Army garrison at Prairie du Rocher in Missouri.
In 1765, when Fort Massac was surrendered by France to the British, Jean Francois Saucier, was in command of the fort. After the surrender of the fort, Jean Francois moved to the west side of the Mississippi River, then still under French control. Before the British could occupy the fort, it was destroyed by the Chickasaw Indians and not rebuilt.
Records show that in 1774 Francois was now an officer of the troops of France at the fort in Prairie du Rocher.
Jean Francois Saucier was married three times, first on November 29, 1774 to Marguerite Cadron and they had two children; second on October 7, 1780 to Angelique Roy de Lapensee, they had four children together; his third marriage was on October 7, 1793 to Marie Francoise Nicolle and together they had eight children. Jean Francois adopted the eight children of Marie Francoise from her marriage to Charles Lefebvre. After the deaths of his first two wives and four children at the family home in Cahokia, having not lived in his family home for several years, he rented out his home for use as the county courthouse. In 1793 Jean Francois sold the home for the sum of One Thousand Dollars and it became the Cahokia Courthouse for many years thereafter. According to many accounts the sale was not finalized until 1795. One reason given for selling and not returning to his former home in 1793 was because the deaths of his two wives and children at the home had left him with bad memories that caused him great depression. Later he was to move with his remaining children to a home he had purchased on 2nd Street in St. Louis in 1792. A year after this move, having been a widow for five years, he married his third wife Marie Francoise Nicolle. Jean Francois Saucier’s daughters and adopted daughters married men of prominence in St. Louis and the surrounding areas; this reflected not only his concerns for their futures but also the wide respect he had earned through long involvement in commercial and civic affairs of the region. All the children and adopted Children of Jean Francois Saucier were well educated, with sons being sent to different colleges.
It is said that Jean Francois Saucier was the father of twenty-two children (eight of those were the Lefebvre children of his third wife whom he had adopted). He died on August 6, 1821, at the age of seventy-eight years, in the village he had founded.
In 1799, The Spanish government requested Jean Francois Saucier, at that time a resident of St. Charles, to form a settlement at what was then called La Portage Des Sioux, and to persuade the inhabitants living on the East side of the river, now under American control, to move to the new settlement, who according to Governor Zenon Trudeau had expressed a desire to settle in the new village. Trudeau, in wanting to establish a village at Portage Des Sioux urged Jean Francois, who held the confidence of the French creoles on the American side of the river, to quietly use his influence to induce the creoles to settle near the Spanish post, encouraging them by giving every facility necessary to form the village by the Spanish military post and assigning them land there. As an inducement to get Jean Francis to help with the project Governor Trudeau promised Francois a salary of over 100 pesos annually, a salary he was never to receive from the Spanish Government. Jean Francois was assured if he succeeded in this important service; it would be appreciated by the Spanish Government. Governor Zenon Trudeau selected Jean Francois Saucier to establish the village because of his confidence in Jean François, and knowing that Jean Francois’ influence with in the Creoles living on the American side of the river would be instrumental in getting them to make the move. Jean François Saucier, himself a resident of Illinois was born at Mobile in 1743 and was the grandson of Jean Baptiste and Gabrielle Saucier. His Father, also named Francois Saucier, was a Captain of the French Marines and the highly respected engineer for the colony and under his father’s direction Fort de Chartres was constructed.
Jean Francois took up residence at Portage Des Sioux in early spring of 1799, laid out the village and persuaded many of his fellow Frenchmen to move and settle there. The original settlement was of tents until more permanent dwellings could be built. For his service, Jean Francois, was to receive a land grant from the Spanish government in the new village of 8,000 arpens of land; approximately 6,800 acres of land. Francis Saucier was appointed commandant of Portage Des Sioux, a position which he continued to hold until the change of governments in 1803. From a petition drawn in October of 1803, a grant of "Commons," gave the following names as the original settlers of Portage des Sioux: Francis Saucier, Francis Leseuer, Simon Lepage, Charles Hibert, Julian Roi, Augusta Clairmont, Etienne Pepin, Abraham Dumont, Louis Grand, Jacques Godefroi, Baptiste Lacroix, Brazil Picard, Patrice Roi, Joseph Guinard, Antoine Lepage, Pierre Clermont, David Eshbough, Charles Roi, Thomas Whitley, Matthew Saucier and Solomon Petit.
Portage des Sioux was a stopping place for the Indians on their voyages up and down the river. Frequently the Mississippi, in front of the town, would be covered with fleets of canoes, while the village would swarm with swarthy voyageurs. During the Indian troubles the inhabitants of the village of Portage des Sioux were not bothered by the local tribal members.
Jean Francois today is known as the founder of Portage des Sioux, Missouri, the most important settlement in the St. Charles district, located on the Mississippi River on the tongue of land between the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers, where the Missouri approaches nearest to the Mississippi, north of the Mississippi River. The village of Portage des Sioux was established at the insistence of the Spanish government in 1799 as a means to counter, in the words of Governor Zenon Trudeau, “A military post which the Americans intended to build twelve miles downstream”. (This was never constructed by the American government). When the Spaniards took possession of the Illinois country west of the Mississippi River, the first military movement was to establish a military post near the mouth of the Missouri River.
Jean Francois received a grant of 600 arpens of land for each of his children and an additional 1,000 arpens for himself and his wife to reward him for his “laborious task” as commandant of Portage Des Sioux, a position he filled without any type of pay. Since this land grant to Jean Francois was made by the Spanish Government shortly before the Louisiana Purchase, the United States Congress at the time refused in two separate votes to honor the commitment and the grant made by the outgoing Spanish Government. It would not be until after Jean Francois' death that his heirs would be finally awarded the land grant by the United States.
Francois Saucier and his two brothers Mathieu and Jean Baptiste in later years all served in the Cahokia County Court as Judges and Justices of the Court according to the court records showing their participation in different court cases and their signatures on their rulings in numerous cases appearing before them at Cahokia.
Spain which had never given up possession of the Louisiana territories, finally, ceded them to France in November of 1803 and France sold it to the United States a month later. Jean Francois Saucier acted as commandant of the post at Portage Des Sioux until the Louisiana Territory was sold and ceded to the United States on December 30, 1803 by France. Although the Louisiana Territories control had changed hands several times, Jean François Saucier, a prominent and respected citizen, continued to serve in positions of importance in the local government at Portage des Sioux in his latter years. In 1805, after the Louisiana Territory was sold and transfer to the United States, he was appointed and served with distinction as a Justice of the Court of Common Pleas for a number of years. Jean Francois Saucier also served as a delegate to the Convention in St. Louis to protest American land policies, taxation, military service without compensation, movement of Native Americans in the Territory and the attachment of Louisiana to the Territory of Indiana. Jean Francois Saucier signed the document on September 29, 1804 at the Convention attesting to those grievances.
Portage Des Sioux had an important role in ending hostilities of the War of 1812. The leaders of the Native American tribes that had joined the British against the Americans met with the Missouri Territory Governor William Clark (of Lewis and Clark fame) and both sides came to an agreement and a peace treaty was negotiated. The tribes gave up their claim to the lands on both sides of the Mississippi River, north of the Missouri and Illinois Rivers, and acknowledged American sovereignty of those lands.
The following old newspaper article from an early Missouri newspaper is about the Louisiana Territories control being switched in 1803 from the Spanish and French Governments to the United States. It shows that our ancestor Jean Francois Saucier was present on the day that the flags were swapped at the Government House in St. Charles County, Missouri and the Louisiana Territory officially became part of the United States. An excerpt from that article reads as follows:
"The date is March 1804; - one year after the United States secured the Louisiana Territory from Napoleon. A large crowd has assembled near the Government House in St. Charles County. Many notables are there, including (Jean) Francois Saucier of Portage des Sioux, Francis Duguette, Captain Mackey Wherry and Dr. Antoine Reynal. A squad of militia, under Colonel Timothy Kibby, marches in. Don Carlos Tayon, Commandant of St. Charles steps forward and reads a letter from Charles DeHault DeLassus, Governor of Upper Louisiana, which contains this vital statement:
"On the 9th of the present month (March) I relinquished the command of this place and all of Upper Louisiana to Mr. Amos Studdard, Captain of the Artillery of the United States".
An order is barked out - six men step forward and haul down the Flag of the Spanish Empire - another order is barked out - six more men advance - the flag of the Napoleonic Empire is sent scooting up the town flag pole - then another terse order - the original six men step forward - a quick jerk and the French tricolor is sent hurtling to the earth - then amid the hurrahs' of the crowd - the shooting of a cannon, fire crackers - the waving stripes of Old Glory are shunted up the pole - to stay there for once and forevermore.
As Old Glory waves triumphantly and the band strikes up "Yankee Doodle" that little "indescribable feeling" etches its way into the hearts and souls of all those ruddy pioneers that are present, for they know that St. Charles is now a part of "the land of the free and the home of the brave" - AMERICA; men cry; women weep; children shriek. A NEW AMERICA HAS BEEN BORN!!!
It is assumed that Jean Francois Saucier’s brothers Mathieu and Jean Baptiste were there with Jean Francois among the numerous Saucier family members that were present for and celebrated this historic moment in history when the Louisiana Territory was transferred to the United States.
Jean François Saucier remained near Portage des Sioux for the remainder of his life, living in poverty during his latter years. He petitioned the United States Government for relief in 1817, making a claim for the 1,000 arpens that had been granted to him for his for his efforts in establishing Portage des Sioux that was never conveyed to him. Eleven years after Jean Francois' death, in 1832, all but 200 arpens (170 acres) of the 8,000 arpens (6,800 acres) near the town of Hannibal originally granted by the Spanish government to Jean Francois for his service in founding the village, was granted and confirmed to his heirs by the United States government.
Jean Francois Saucier had lived under many flags, twice under the flag of France, under Britain, Virginia, the United States, Northwest Territory, Spain, Louisiana Territory, and Missouri Territory. Jean Francois lived to see and witnessed the Louisiana Territory become part of the United States, but, he did not live to see Missouri become a state in the union. It was just two days after he died that Missouri on August 10, 1821 was admitted to the union as the 24th state of the nation.
The St. Louis “Missourian” of August 8, 1821, reported the following in a story on Jean Francois' death: "He was the founder of the village of Portage Des Sioux and one of the first settlers of upper Louisiana; he lived as he died, "beloved and respected". His five daughters married respectively: Colonel Pierre Menard; Cornel Pierre Chouteau; James Morrison; Jesse Morrison; and Jean Francois Perry. Francois’ third wife was Marie Francoise Nicolle Les Bois, widow of Charles Lefebvre of Cahokia.. She was the eldest daughter of Etienne Nicolle Les Bois and Marie Angélique Giard of Cahokia. They were both poisoned by their Slaves. Marie Francoise was born September 19, 1761 and married Jean Francois Saucier on October 7, 1793. Her sister married Francois LeSieur on January 28, 1799, also one of the first settlers of Portage Des Sioux".
On February 24, 1840, the Missouri Republican reported: “Mrs. Francois Saucier, wife of the late judge, died at Portage Des Sioux, 83 years old and born in Kaskaskia in 1757”.
In 1765, when Fort Massac was surrendered by France to the British, Jean Francois Saucier, was in command of the fort. After the surrender of the fort, Jean Francois moved to the west side of the Mississippi River, then still under French control. Before the British could occupy the fort, it was destroyed by the Chickasaw Indians and not rebuilt.
Records show that in 1774 Francois was now an officer of the troops of France at the fort in Prairie du Rocher.
Jean Francois Saucier was married three times, first on November 29, 1774 to Marguerite Cadron and they had two children; second on October 7, 1780 to Angelique Roy de Lapensee, they had four children together; his third marriage was on October 7, 1793 to Marie Francoise Nicolle and together they had eight children. Jean Francois adopted the eight children of Marie Francoise from her marriage to Charles Lefebvre. After the deaths of his first two wives and four children at the family home in Cahokia, having not lived in his family home for several years, he rented out his home for use as the county courthouse. In 1793 Jean Francois sold the home for the sum of One Thousand Dollars and it became the Cahokia Courthouse for many years thereafter. According to many accounts the sale was not finalized until 1795. One reason given for selling and not returning to his former home in 1793 was because the deaths of his two wives and children at the home had left him with bad memories that caused him great depression. Later he was to move with his remaining children to a home he had purchased on 2nd Street in St. Louis in 1792. A year after this move, having been a widow for five years, he married his third wife Marie Francoise Nicolle. Jean Francois Saucier’s daughters and adopted daughters married men of prominence in St. Louis and the surrounding areas; this reflected not only his concerns for their futures but also the wide respect he had earned through long involvement in commercial and civic affairs of the region. All the children and adopted Children of Jean Francois Saucier were well educated, with sons being sent to different colleges.
It is said that Jean Francois Saucier was the father of twenty-two children (eight of those were the Lefebvre children of his third wife whom he had adopted). He died on August 6, 1821, at the age of seventy-eight years, in the village he had founded.
In 1799, The Spanish government requested Jean Francois Saucier, at that time a resident of St. Charles, to form a settlement at what was then called La Portage Des Sioux, and to persuade the inhabitants living on the East side of the river, now under American control, to move to the new settlement, who according to Governor Zenon Trudeau had expressed a desire to settle in the new village. Trudeau, in wanting to establish a village at Portage Des Sioux urged Jean Francois, who held the confidence of the French creoles on the American side of the river, to quietly use his influence to induce the creoles to settle near the Spanish post, encouraging them by giving every facility necessary to form the village by the Spanish military post and assigning them land there. As an inducement to get Jean Francis to help with the project Governor Trudeau promised Francois a salary of over 100 pesos annually, a salary he was never to receive from the Spanish Government. Jean Francois was assured if he succeeded in this important service; it would be appreciated by the Spanish Government. Governor Zenon Trudeau selected Jean Francois Saucier to establish the village because of his confidence in Jean François, and knowing that Jean Francois’ influence with in the Creoles living on the American side of the river would be instrumental in getting them to make the move. Jean François Saucier, himself a resident of Illinois was born at Mobile in 1743 and was the grandson of Jean Baptiste and Gabrielle Saucier. His Father, also named Francois Saucier, was a Captain of the French Marines and the highly respected engineer for the colony and under his father’s direction Fort de Chartres was constructed.
Jean Francois took up residence at Portage Des Sioux in early spring of 1799, laid out the village and persuaded many of his fellow Frenchmen to move and settle there. The original settlement was of tents until more permanent dwellings could be built. For his service, Jean Francois, was to receive a land grant from the Spanish government in the new village of 8,000 arpens of land; approximately 6,800 acres of land. Francis Saucier was appointed commandant of Portage Des Sioux, a position which he continued to hold until the change of governments in 1803. From a petition drawn in October of 1803, a grant of "Commons," gave the following names as the original settlers of Portage des Sioux: Francis Saucier, Francis Leseuer, Simon Lepage, Charles Hibert, Julian Roi, Augusta Clairmont, Etienne Pepin, Abraham Dumont, Louis Grand, Jacques Godefroi, Baptiste Lacroix, Brazil Picard, Patrice Roi, Joseph Guinard, Antoine Lepage, Pierre Clermont, David Eshbough, Charles Roi, Thomas Whitley, Matthew Saucier and Solomon Petit.
Portage des Sioux was a stopping place for the Indians on their voyages up and down the river. Frequently the Mississippi, in front of the town, would be covered with fleets of canoes, while the village would swarm with swarthy voyageurs. During the Indian troubles the inhabitants of the village of Portage des Sioux were not bothered by the local tribal members.
Jean Francois today is known as the founder of Portage des Sioux, Missouri, the most important settlement in the St. Charles district, located on the Mississippi River on the tongue of land between the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers, where the Missouri approaches nearest to the Mississippi, north of the Mississippi River. The village of Portage des Sioux was established at the insistence of the Spanish government in 1799 as a means to counter, in the words of Governor Zenon Trudeau, “A military post which the Americans intended to build twelve miles downstream”. (This was never constructed by the American government). When the Spaniards took possession of the Illinois country west of the Mississippi River, the first military movement was to establish a military post near the mouth of the Missouri River.
Jean Francois received a grant of 600 arpens of land for each of his children and an additional 1,000 arpens for himself and his wife to reward him for his “laborious task” as commandant of Portage Des Sioux, a position he filled without any type of pay. Since this land grant to Jean Francois was made by the Spanish Government shortly before the Louisiana Purchase, the United States Congress at the time refused in two separate votes to honor the commitment and the grant made by the outgoing Spanish Government. It would not be until after Jean Francois' death that his heirs would be finally awarded the land grant by the United States.
Francois Saucier and his two brothers Mathieu and Jean Baptiste in later years all served in the Cahokia County Court as Judges and Justices of the Court according to the court records showing their participation in different court cases and their signatures on their rulings in numerous cases appearing before them at Cahokia.
Spain which had never given up possession of the Louisiana territories, finally, ceded them to France in November of 1803 and France sold it to the United States a month later. Jean Francois Saucier acted as commandant of the post at Portage Des Sioux until the Louisiana Territory was sold and ceded to the United States on December 30, 1803 by France. Although the Louisiana Territories control had changed hands several times, Jean François Saucier, a prominent and respected citizen, continued to serve in positions of importance in the local government at Portage des Sioux in his latter years. In 1805, after the Louisiana Territory was sold and transfer to the United States, he was appointed and served with distinction as a Justice of the Court of Common Pleas for a number of years. Jean Francois Saucier also served as a delegate to the Convention in St. Louis to protest American land policies, taxation, military service without compensation, movement of Native Americans in the Territory and the attachment of Louisiana to the Territory of Indiana. Jean Francois Saucier signed the document on September 29, 1804 at the Convention attesting to those grievances.
Portage Des Sioux had an important role in ending hostilities of the War of 1812. The leaders of the Native American tribes that had joined the British against the Americans met with the Missouri Territory Governor William Clark (of Lewis and Clark fame) and both sides came to an agreement and a peace treaty was negotiated. The tribes gave up their claim to the lands on both sides of the Mississippi River, north of the Missouri and Illinois Rivers, and acknowledged American sovereignty of those lands.
The following old newspaper article from an early Missouri newspaper is about the Louisiana Territories control being switched in 1803 from the Spanish and French Governments to the United States. It shows that our ancestor Jean Francois Saucier was present on the day that the flags were swapped at the Government House in St. Charles County, Missouri and the Louisiana Territory officially became part of the United States. An excerpt from that article reads as follows:
"The date is March 1804; - one year after the United States secured the Louisiana Territory from Napoleon. A large crowd has assembled near the Government House in St. Charles County. Many notables are there, including (Jean) Francois Saucier of Portage des Sioux, Francis Duguette, Captain Mackey Wherry and Dr. Antoine Reynal. A squad of militia, under Colonel Timothy Kibby, marches in. Don Carlos Tayon, Commandant of St. Charles steps forward and reads a letter from Charles DeHault DeLassus, Governor of Upper Louisiana, which contains this vital statement:
"On the 9th of the present month (March) I relinquished the command of this place and all of Upper Louisiana to Mr. Amos Studdard, Captain of the Artillery of the United States".
An order is barked out - six men step forward and haul down the Flag of the Spanish Empire - another order is barked out - six more men advance - the flag of the Napoleonic Empire is sent scooting up the town flag pole - then another terse order - the original six men step forward - a quick jerk and the French tricolor is sent hurtling to the earth - then amid the hurrahs' of the crowd - the shooting of a cannon, fire crackers - the waving stripes of Old Glory are shunted up the pole - to stay there for once and forevermore.
As Old Glory waves triumphantly and the band strikes up "Yankee Doodle" that little "indescribable feeling" etches its way into the hearts and souls of all those ruddy pioneers that are present, for they know that St. Charles is now a part of "the land of the free and the home of the brave" - AMERICA; men cry; women weep; children shriek. A NEW AMERICA HAS BEEN BORN!!!
It is assumed that Jean Francois Saucier’s brothers Mathieu and Jean Baptiste were there with Jean Francois among the numerous Saucier family members that were present for and celebrated this historic moment in history when the Louisiana Territory was transferred to the United States.
Jean François Saucier remained near Portage des Sioux for the remainder of his life, living in poverty during his latter years. He petitioned the United States Government for relief in 1817, making a claim for the 1,000 arpens that had been granted to him for his for his efforts in establishing Portage des Sioux that was never conveyed to him. Eleven years after Jean Francois' death, in 1832, all but 200 arpens (170 acres) of the 8,000 arpens (6,800 acres) near the town of Hannibal originally granted by the Spanish government to Jean Francois for his service in founding the village, was granted and confirmed to his heirs by the United States government.
Jean Francois Saucier had lived under many flags, twice under the flag of France, under Britain, Virginia, the United States, Northwest Territory, Spain, Louisiana Territory, and Missouri Territory. Jean Francois lived to see and witnessed the Louisiana Territory become part of the United States, but, he did not live to see Missouri become a state in the union. It was just two days after he died that Missouri on August 10, 1821 was admitted to the union as the 24th state of the nation.
The St. Louis “Missourian” of August 8, 1821, reported the following in a story on Jean Francois' death: "He was the founder of the village of Portage Des Sioux and one of the first settlers of upper Louisiana; he lived as he died, "beloved and respected". His five daughters married respectively: Colonel Pierre Menard; Cornel Pierre Chouteau; James Morrison; Jesse Morrison; and Jean Francois Perry. Francois’ third wife was Marie Francoise Nicolle Les Bois, widow of Charles Lefebvre of Cahokia.. She was the eldest daughter of Etienne Nicolle Les Bois and Marie Angélique Giard of Cahokia. They were both poisoned by their Slaves. Marie Francoise was born September 19, 1761 and married Jean Francois Saucier on October 7, 1793. Her sister married Francois LeSieur on January 28, 1799, also one of the first settlers of Portage Des Sioux".
On February 24, 1840, the Missouri Republican reported: “Mrs. Francois Saucier, wife of the late judge, died at Portage Des Sioux, 83 years old and born in Kaskaskia in 1757”.
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