|
|
|
|
CAHOKIA: ITS ZENITH
SIEUR PIERRE LACLEDE AND AUGUSTE CHOTEAU During the early part of 1764, when the wild flow were abloom in all the land, and water, lilies were unfolding their petals to the sun, when in some of the primitive gardens of Cahokia the Tiger lilies and violets and roses were spending their perfume, when the dark forest glade was an amphitheatre of blossoming verdure, there came Cahokia Sieur Pierre Laclede and with Pierre and Auguste Choteau spent some time in this then thriving and bustling village. So impressed with its possibilities was Auguste Choteau that he opened a trading store in its confines. long time before this the Common Fields of Cahokia been placed under cultivation. Wheat and corn were raised in large quantities, and mills for the grinding these cereals were established. Horse mills also were common. Horses and cattle were introduced very early. We read that the cattle came from Canada, whilst the horses were of the Arabian, strain and were imported from the Southwest, from the Spanish settlements. It is not to be understood that the cultivation of the soil was of a very high order. Utensils were crude. The plows were wooden and were usually drawn by oxen. The oxen were fastened together by the horns, by means of a flat piece of wood, and not yoked as was customary with the English settlers in other parts of the country. The wagons were small two-wheeled carts made by the farmers themselves, or by the village Smith. The crops, which grew without much care, due to the richness of the virgin soil, were cultivated by hired or slave labor and chiefly by hand, The French people were given much to the cultivation of small fruits and flowers. Cherry, apple, peach and plum trees grew in every yard. Large beds of flowers were cultivated, and wild flowers were gathered in abundance. As late as 1825, when La Fayette visited Cahokia the French inhabitants searched the woods for wild flowers, and the banquet hall was literally filled with them. . . . The houses were mainly built after one pattern. The "ground plan" was marked off by trenches in which upright posts were set side by side in pallisade style. The tops were sawed off at uniform height. On top of these posts the roof was placed constructed of simple frame wood work thatched with wild grasses, or in earliest times with the skins of wild animals, and in later years covered with rough hewn, split shingles, about two foot long each. The spaces were filled with mud and grass, and later with mortar made from lime burnt in the bluffs near by. MORE PRETENTIOUS DWELLINGS ERECTED With the coming of wealthier inhabitants the lure of substantial homes and more luxurious surroundings was felt. One of the most pretentious of these dwellings was built by Sieur Francois Saucier, which consisted of four rooms, built of upright posts spaced about two feet apart, and the spaces between filled with walls of lime stone, quarried near what is now Falling Springs. This old home was purchased by the United States government for a Court-house. During the Columbian Exposition held in Chicago, Illinois, this building was transferred to Jackson Park, said city, and it remained there until 1939 when it was brought back and re-erected on its old site.
We now come to the building of a real mansion, one in which the youthful General La Fayette was entertained in 1825. This mansion was built within a stone's throw of the first church of the Holy Family, by the gallant Sieur Nicholas Jarreau (Jarrot) in 1796. It was the most pretentious dwelling in all of this territory, at that time, and probably the first house built of brick in the Mississippi Valley, and was considered one of the wonders of its day. Nearly all the materials of which it was constructed were imported from France, and along with these materials came the men who built the walls. Its glazed window sash were also imported, and in its entire construction symmetry of design and substantial workmanship were evidenced. It is still in a fair state of preservation after almost a century and a half of existence. It is at this time (1943) being used for residence and school purposes by the Sisters of the Precious Blood, who, in 1899, re-opened the parochial school, which had for many years languished. In referring to old houses in Cahokia, or close thereto, we must not forget the old "Abbey House," built by the parish in about 1836 when Mother Mary Fabronie with Sisters Louise and Stephen of the order of St. Joseph, came from France and opened a school at Cahokia called the institute of St. Joseph. The sisters were welcomed as angels from heaven, and for 24 years their labors were appreciated as several of their old pupils some years ago were still glad to attest. The convent property then consisted of one old building in the Canadian style, 20 by 40 feet, a new and larger building in the plantation style, 20 by 60 feet, and a small chapel. These buildings have entirely disappeared but the property is still known to the natives as the "Abbey House." Cahokia never was a very large town. Captain Pittman, reporting to the English government in1766, says of Cahokia: "The village is long and straggling, being threefourths of a mile from north to south, with 45 dwellings." In 1832 Reverend Father Doutrelinge counted 31 families. In 1914, Reverend Robert Emmet Hynes stated that 42 houses were within the village limits. But late in the eighteenth century, in the period of which we write Cahokia enjoyed great prosperity as a trading post, and Cahokia merchandise was carried up and down the river from New Orleans to the Falls of St. Anthony, although the town was never much larger than it is at this date, 1943. However its inhabitants were progressive and forward-looking during the days of its Zenith. We have made reference to the Jarreau (Jarrot) mansion. Let us now learn a little of its master. The lure of Cahokia, and its fascination as a residential pioneer village, early in the year 1790 induced a young French aristocrat to settle there, and to build a mansion beneath the roof of which were to be born and raised a remarkable family, that later on should give to the American Bottoms' village renown and added lusgtre. This young man was none other than Sieur Nicholas Jarreau, (Jarrot) noted son of a highly respected family of Vesoul, France-Comte, who was born in 1764; at the age of twenty-six emigrated to the Illinois Territory. He landed at Baltimore, and after visiting New Orleans, journeyed up the Mississippi River, sojourning first at Ste. Genevieve and three years later settling definitely in Cahokia. Immediately his high moral character, his splendid education and his business acumen were recognized, and, in1796, we find his name mentioned as one of the Grand Jury of St. Clair County, then already established. In old records of 1793-1795 mention is made of land conveyances made to this intrepid pioneer, and subsequently and prior to his death he acquired title in the American Bottoms to upward of twenty-five thousand acres of land, title to which was confirmed by the United States in 1815. But not alone did Nicholas Jarreau (Jarrot) acquire land and vested interests, he also built a mansion within the limits of Cahokia, that today, in 1943, still stands a splendid vision to behold. Slaves, too, he purchased, and later on when the Illinois Supreme Court decision in the celebrated case, Jarrot vs. Jarrot, liberated all the slaves in this State. . French or otherwise, his descendants promptly acquiesced in this decision. So kind had been the reign of Nicholas Jarreau (Jarrot) and that of his descendants to their numerous slaves, that all were loath to leave, and some refused to be set free, but choose to serve until their death. Early after settling in Cahokia Sieur Nicholas Jarreau espoused Mademoiselle Marie Barbeau of Prairie du Rocher. She died a few years later and left a daughter, Elise, who in 1811 became the wife of a Dr. Tiffin. In 1797 Nicholas Jarreau married Mademoiselle Julia Beauvais of Ste Genevieve, originally of Kaskaskia. Now, indeed, was Nicholas Jarreau considered among the aristocratic French of Illinois. The Beauvais were among the most influential families of Kaskaskia. In 1765 a member of this family owned eighty slaves and furnished to the royal magazine eighty-six thousand weight of flour, which was only a part of one year's harvest. To Julia Beauvais came the rich heritage of the wedding ring, silver ladle, spoons and cups which had been given to her mother Felicita Janis when she married Vital Beauvais in 1776. Trousseau gowns from France ... even Cloth of Gold . . . what treasures these things must have been to this proud French bride; proud, yet withal wonderfully kind and humble, as old records reveal. Truly it is written of Julia Beauvais that she shed copious tears when Sieur Nicholas Jarreau led her away from the home of her parents in quaint Ste Genevieve, to install her as mistress in his humble house in Cahokia. For their first house was a small frame building across the street from the first church of the Seminary of Foreign Missions, "St. Sulpice." But soon her ambitious and progressive husband began the building of a "Mansion" which still today stands a monument to his efforts. The site chosen was just east of the Church. Even as the church was the institution around which the lives of the early French pioneers revolved ... so this house standing within its shadows became the center of hospitality for all the region 'round about. The kindness of heart and urbanity of manners of Nicholas Jarreau, and the mild and amiable disposition of Madame Jarreau, attracted many visitors to this mansion where they were received and entertained in a polished and elegant manner.
Nicholas Jarreau exercised great influence over the wandering Indian tribes. Many anecdotes are told of his exploits, and of his genial disposition. It would lead to far in this small book to enter more extensively into his history. We may only emphasize the fad that Cahokia, in its hey, day, was the very center of culture and of industry in all this Illinois Territory, and that its ancient buildings are worthy of preservation, of enduring conservation. In 1834 Louis Pinconeau, a progressive French-Canadian built the first farm house in the Cahokia commonfields, at a point near the junction of the Commonfields road and the Illinois Central Railway. Others followed his example and by 1858 farm houses were scattered far and wide over the commonfields. About this time Father Doutrelinge thought the church should be moved to a more central location and suggested a point on the Commonfields road where Mrs. Margaret Pluff's residence now stands, and where Reverend Father Savin had lived in a small three-room house from 1811 to 1826. The Cahokians however opposed this plan vigorously and it was dropped for the time being. But the necessity for a church outside the village existed and five years later, Immaculate Conception Church, of Centerville Station was erected. But Cahokia was not to be eclipsed, its old history was not to be obliterated, although dark days were to follow, which days of despair were again to turn to golden sunshine, as we shall see in succeeding pages.
|
|
|
