Brazeau Creek
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Brazeau Creek is a stream flowing through
Perry County, Missouri Perry County is a county located in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Missouri. As of the 2020 census, the population was 18,956. Its county seat is Perryville. The county was officially organized on November 16, 1820 (effective ...
and emptying into the
Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...
.


Name

Brazeau Creek was named for Joseph (Jean) Brazeau (also spelled Obrazo) a merchant from St. Louis, Missouri in the years 1791–1799, or a member of his family, who has settled in the
Brazeau Bottom The Brazeau Bottom is an alluvial floodplain, also called a 'flat', extending along the Mississippi River in Perry County, Missouri. The Brazeau Bottom lies below the American and Bois Brule bottoms along the Mississippi River. The flat bottomla ...
s in the
Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...
floodplains.


Physical geography

Brazeau Creek runs through the northern part of Brazeau Township and empties into the Mississippi River near
Wittenberg, Missouri Wittenberg is an unincorporated community in Brazeau Township in eastern Perry County, Missouri, United States. It is located on the Mississippi River, southeast of Perryville. Wittenberg is situated in the Brazeau Bottoms on Brazeau Creek opp ...
. The stream is 10.3 miles long and its watershed contains an area of 30 sq. miles. A number of tributaries flow into Brazeau Creek:


Cultural geography

A number of bridges have crossed Brazeau Creek over the years. The Brazeau Creek CR 446 Bridge northeast of
Altenburg Altenburg () is a city in Thuringia, Germany, located south of Leipzig, west of Dresden and east of Erfurt. It is the capital of the Altenburger Land district and part of a polycentric old-industrial textile and metal production region betw ...
, and Brazeau Creek Route C Bridge, CR 438 Bridge at Wittenberg, and the Wittenberg Railroad Bridge on the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway. The town of Brazeau and Brazeau Township were named after the creek.


History

The first Europe settlers on Brazeau Creek was a group of American Catholics. These American Catholics from Kentucky - descended from Irish Roman Catholic families that settled in
Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
- were referred to as “Maryland Catholics” or “English Catholics” to distinguish them from the resident French-speaking Catholics in the area. The reference to Maryland was due to their having left Maryland in 1785 following the American Revolution, and seeking land elsewhere for a better life. The leader of this group, Joseph Fenwick, left New Bourbon village, possibly over issues of land-ownership or to relocate himself beyond easy reach of the colonial officials. He initially planned to settle on Apple Creek at the mouth of Indian Creek, in close proximity to the villages that the Shawnee were erecting at that time. The presence of so many Indians probably caused Fenwick to give up his plans and instead establish a settlement at the mouth of Brazeau Creek on the
Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...
. This small settlement was named Fenwick Settlement after its founder. The settlement grew to about 20 families with the arrival of more Catholic families from Kentucky. However, the location of the settlement was not particularly adapt to farming and the settlement did not prosper. By 1807-1808 the Fenwick group began to drift away. The township of Brazeau was organized in 1821, named after Brazeau Creek. Soon after, Protestant English and Scots-Irish settlers arrived from North Carolina. In 1839, German Lutheran immigrants from the
Duchy of Saxe-Altenburg Saxe-Altenburg (german: Sachsen-Altenburg, links=no) was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine branch of the House of Wettin in present-day Thuringia. It was one of the smallest of the German states with an area of 1323 square kilomete ...
arrived and established a number of "colonies" in the vicinity of Brazeau Creek. Brazeau, Missouri was named after the creek.


References

{{authority control Rivers of Perry County, Missouri Rivers of Missouri