Antoine Pierre Soulard (November 16, 1766 – March 11, 1825) was an early settler and government official of

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

Early life

Born to Henri Francois Soulard and Marie Francoise (Leroux) Soulard in

Rochefort Rochefort () may refer to: Places France * Rochefort, Charente-Maritime, in the Charente-Maritime department ** Arsenal de Rochefort, a former naval base and dockyard * Rochefort, Savoie in the Savoie department * Rochefort-du-Gard, in the Ga ...

, France, Soulard became a lieutenant in the

French navy The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...

. His father and brother also were French naval officers.Beckwith, Paul. Creoles of St. Louis. 1893. St. Louis, Nixon-Jones, p. 9.Edwards, Richard, and M. Hopewell. Great West and Her Commercial Metropolis, Embracing a General View of the West, and a Complete History of St. Louis, from the Landing of Ligueste in 1704, to the Present Time:The Portraits and Biographies of Some of the Old Settlers, and Many of the Most Prominent Business Men. St. Louis, Edwards’ Monthly, 1860. With the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

, and the subsequent Reign of Terror, Soulard fled his homeland for the United States.Mrs. Harriet M. Soulard Gone. Saint Louis Republic, 9 November 1888, Volume XXXI, Issue 21335 He arrived in Marblehead,

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in 1794. Knowing that there were many fellow Frenchmen in St. Louis, Soulard began his journey there. He traveled across

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

on horseback, then floated down the Ohio River on a

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, eventually arriving in Ste. Genevieve.Christensen, L. O., Foley, W. E., & Kremer, G. Antoine Pierre Soulard. Dictionary of Missouri Biography. Page 712.

Career and later life

Soulard arrived in Ste. Genevieve by February 1794. Rumors of an invasion of Spanish Upper Louisiana by French and American troops convinced Spanish authorities that the town needed to be fortified. Soulard was appointed to supervise the construction of a fort in Ste. Genevieve. Upon completion of the fort, Soulard then traveled to St. Louis. He introduced himself to the lieutenant-governor of

Upper Louisiana Upper may refer to: * Shoe upper or ''vamp'', the part of a shoe on the top of the foot * Stimulant, drugs which induce temporary improvements in either mental or physical function or both * ''Upper'', the original film title for the 2013 found fo ...

Zénon Trudeau Zénon Trudeau (1748–1813) was a soldier, planter, and administrator who served as Lieutenant-governor of Upper Louisiana, New Spain, between 1792 and 1799. Biography Born in New Orleans, Trudeau joined the Spanish Army in his youth, a pl ...

. Soulard was appointed the first surveyor-general of Spanish Upper Louisiana on February 3, 1795 by Trudeau.Christensen, L. O., Foley, W. E., & Kremer, G. Antoine Pierre Soulard. Dictionary of Missouri Biography. Page 712. He performed at least 710 surveys from 1795-1806.Missouri State Archives, Registre d'Arpentage. (n.d.). Retrieved July 20, 2020, from http://mdh.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/regdarpen Soulard remained in this position during the tenure of the next lieutenant governor, Charles de Hault de Lassus, eventually resigning in May 1806 after the area was turned over to the United States. Trudeau added to Soulard's responsibilities, appointing him to the position of adjutant pro tem of the lieutenant governor on October 30, 1795. Soon after this new appointment, Soulard married Marie Julia Cérre, the daughter of a wealthy merchant and fur-trader,

Jean-Gabriel Cerré Jean-Gabriel Cerré (August 12, 1734 – April 4, 1805) was a Quebec-born merchant in the Illinois Country and St. Louis. The son of Joseph Serré and Marie-Madeleine Picard, he was born in Montreal. Cerré established himself in Kaskaskia as ...

.Christensen, L. O., Foley, W. E., & Kremer, G. Antoine Pierre Soulard. Dictionary of Missouri Biography. Page 712. Soulard and his wife remained in St. Louis for the rest of their lives. They had several children, including James Gaston, Henry Gustave, Eliza, and Benjamin Antoine.Christensen, L. O., Foley, W. E., & Kremer, G. Antoine Pierre Soulard. Dictionary of Missouri Biography. Page 712. Soulard died in St. Louis on March 10, 1825 and was interred in Calvary Cemetery. The Soulard neighborhood and Soulard Farmers Market in St. Louis are named for the Soulard family.Zivic, Alex (2019-02-25). "Soulard Market's history predates Missouri statehood". Soulard. Retrieved 2020-03-23.http://www.soulard.org/the-ren/2019/2/25/soulard-markets-history-predates-missouri-statehood

References

1766 births 1825 deaths People from Rochefort, Charente-Maritime People from St. Louis American people of French descent Burials at Calvary Cemetery (St. Louis)

External links

* {{Find a Grave, id=20567, name=Antoine Pierre Soulard