Jean-Gabriel Cerré (August 12, 1734 – April 4, 1805) was a

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

-born merchant 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 ...

and

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

. The son of Joseph Serré and Marie-Madeleine Picard, he was born in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

. Cerré established himself in

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 ...

as a merchant in 1755 but retained business and personal connections with Montreal. He was pragmatic in his politics, supporting the British authorities while they were in control and transferring his loyalties to the Americans after

George Rogers Clark George Rogers Clark (November 19, 1752 – February 13, 1818) was an American military officer and surveyor from Virginia who became the highest-ranking Patriot (American Revolution), Patriot military officer on the American frontier, nort ...

seized control of the region. In 1779, he was named a justice of the peace for the district. However, the new government was not able to maintain order and, around the end of 1779, he moved to St. Louis, then under

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

control. His business prospered and he became one of the wealthiest and most influential persons in the area. Control of the

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

territory later passed to France, who sold it to the United States in 1803. Cerré died in St. Louis two years later at the age of 70. Cerre Street in St. Louis was named after Jean-Gabriel Cerré.

Personal life

His daughter Marie-Anne married

Pierre-Louis Panet Pierre-Louis Panet (August 1, 1761 – December 2, 1812) was a Canadian lawyer, notary, seigneur, judge and political figure in Lower Canada. He was born in Montreal in 1761, the son of Pierre Panet, a lawyer. Panet qualified to practice ...

, a Montreal notary, and his daughter Marie-Thérèse married

Auguste Chouteau René-Auguste Chouteau Jr. (; September 7, 1749, or September 26, 1750 – February 24, 1829Beckwith, 8.), also known as Auguste Chouteau, was one of the founders of St. Louis, Missouri, a successful fur trader and a politician. He and his partne ...

, founder of St. Louis.

Julia Julia may refer to: People *Julia (given name), including a list of people with the name *Julia (surname), including a list of people with the name *Julia gens, a patrician family of Ancient Rome *Julia (clairvoyant) (fl. 1689), lady's maid of Qu ...

, his youngest daughter, donated to St. Louis the land that is now

Soulard Farmers Market Soulard Farmers Market is the oldest operating Marketplace, public market in St. Louis, Missouri in the Soulard neighborhood, and the only one operated by the city. It has a reputation of being the oldest public market in the United States west ...

married Antoine Pierre Soulard, the king's surveyor for the upper Louisiana territory.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cerre, Jean-Gabriel 1734 births 1804 deaths French Canadians in the American Revolution People from Kaskaskia, Illinois 18th-century Canadian merchants