Bois Brûlé is one of the eight

townships A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

located in

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 (effectiv ...

, in the United States of America.

Etymology

Bois Brûlé comes from the French word Bois-Brûlés (Burnt Woods) which was named for the Mississippi River bottom land by the same name. The name for the area was given by French colonial

habitants Habitants () were French settlers and inhabitants of French origin who farmed the land along both shores of the St. Lawrence River and the Gulf of St. Lawrence in what is now Quebec, Canada. The term was used by the inhabitants themselves an ...

, and was frequently applied by the French to a burnt tract of forest.

History

The early Native American inhabitants of the area were the Mississippian Mound Builders. The Mississippian Mound Builders were part of the

Mississippian culture The Mississippian culture was a collection of Native American societies that flourished in what is now the Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from approximately 800 to 1600 CE, varying regionally. It was known for building la ...

which went into decline in the 12th and 13th centuries. In the 1770s, members of the

Kaskaskia The Kaskaskia were a historical Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. They were one of about a dozen cognate tribes that made up the Illiniwek Confederation, also called the Illinois Confederation. Their longstanding homeland was in ...

Tribe living in the

Illinois Country The Illinois Country ( ; ; ), also referred to as Upper Louisiana ( ; ), was a vast region of New France claimed in the 1600s that later fell under Spanish and British control before becoming what is now part of the Midwestern United States. Whi ...

began migrating into area. In the 1780s, the

Shawnee The Shawnee ( ) are a Native American people of the Northeastern Woodlands. Their language, Shawnee, is an Algonquian language. Their precontact homeland was likely centered in southern Ohio. In the 17th century, they dispersed through Ohi ...

and

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

tribes, living in

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

and

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

but originating in

and

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, had been once again displaced and had immigrated with Colonial Spanish consent to the present-area of the Bois Brûlé bottoms. The Spanish authorities invited them to settle and act as a buffer to the native

Osage Indians The Osage Nation ( ) () is a Midwestern Native American nation of the Great Plains. The tribe began in the Ohio and Mississippi river valleys around 1620 A.D along with other groups of its language family, then migrated west in the 17th cen ...

to the south. The first European settler in the Bois Brûlé Bottoms was Jean Baptiste Barsaloux, a traveling merchant. In response to the presence of the Shawnee and Delaware, he moved to the area in 1787, and applied for a concession of land for himself and his father, Girard Barsaloux. By 1779 immigration into the

Spanish Colony The Spanish Empire, sometimes referred to as the Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy, was a colonial empire that existed between 1492 and 1976. In conjunction with the Portuguese Empire, it ushered in the European Age of Discovery. It ...

was still restricted only to Catholics. At this time seven men of the “English Nation” as the Americans were known, petitioned Francois Valle and received permission from Lieutenant Governor Leyba to settle tin the Bois Brûlé bottom, as safety against incursions of Indians and to prevent the wandering away of cattle. In 1798, a number of Irish Catholics were given permission to settle in the Bois Brûlé area. The Bois Brûlé Township was organized in 1821 and was one of Perry County's original 3 townships. The Bois Brûlé Post Office (1886-1902) was located at a landing on the Mississippi River sometimes called Anchor Landing.

Geography

The Bois Brule Bottomlands cover an area eighteen miles long and 3 to 6 miles wide along the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

. To the north lie the Grand Champ bottomlands while hills and river bluffs lie to the south. There are 6 unincorporated communities in Bois Brûlé Township: Allans Landing, Belgique, Bishop's Landing, Claryville, McBride, Menfro and Sereno.

Demographics

2000 Census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 501 people living in the township. The racial makeup of the town was 98.30%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, and 0.80% from other races.

2010 Census

As of the

of 2010, there were 540 people living in the township. The racial makeup of the town was 97.9%

, 0.19% American Indian and Alaska Native, and 1.30% from other races.Missouri: 2010 - Population and Housing Unit Counts, 2010 Census of Population and Housing https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/cph-2-27.pdf

References

{{Perry County, Missouri Townships in Perry County, Missouri 1821 establishments in Missouri Populated places established in 1821 Townships in Missouri