Rene Auguste Chouteau, Jr. , was an American trader and politician. He was a member of the wealthy Chouteau fur-trading family of St. Louis, Missouri. During his career, he was engaged in trading with the Osage tribe, was appointed a justice of the first territorial court, and held a number of public offices.
Background
René Auguste Chouteau, Jr. was born in September 1749 in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, the son of René Auguste and Marie Thérèse (Bourgeois) Chouteau. He was baptized on September 7, 1749, and was probably born on the same day or at most a day or two earlier. Soon after his birth, the mother, alleging gross cruelty on the part of her husband, separated from him taking her infant with her. In 1757 she formed an unsanctioned but generally approved union with Laclede, by whom she had four children, all of whom, in observance of French law, bore the surname of the undivorced husband.
Career
In August 1763 Laclede with his family left New Orleans for the Illinois country, reaching Fort de Chartres in November. Auguste Chouteau, now a sedate, intelligent, and disciplined lad of fourteen, who enjoyed the utmost confidence of his stepfather, accompanied him in December on a tour of the west bank of the river, where a site was selected for a new settlement. Two months later Laclede sent him in command of a party of thirty men to begin the building of the village, to which the founder, who followed in April, gave the name of St. Louis. Until the death of Laclede, June 20, 1778, Chouteau was his chief lieutenant in all the many activities in which he was engaged.
Succeeding to the management of the business, Auguste built up, by his energy, ability, and tactfulness, a large trade. A connection with the Osage Indians, then on the Osage River, in the present Vernon County, Missouri, had been made apparently as early as the eighties, his half-brother Pierre acting as his representative with the tribe. In 1794 he obtained a monopoly of the Osage trade, which he retained until 1802, adding considerably to his fortune. On the transfer of Louisiana to the United States, March 10, 1804, he cordially cooperated with the officials in establishing the new order. He was appointed one of the three justices of the first territorial court, and in 1808 became a colonel of the St. Louis militia, a title which clung to him for the rest of his life. In the following year, when St. Louis was incorporated as a town, he was made chairman of its board of trustees.
In 1815, with Governors Edwards of Illinois Territory and Clark of Missouri Territory, he served as a federal commissioner in negotiating treaties with the Sioux, Iowas, Sauks, and Foxes. He was also the United States pension agent for Missouri Territory, 1819-1820. He had, however, small inclination toward public office, giving his time chiefly to his many business interests. Others of the family sought the remoter frontier, but “Colonel Auguste” spent most of his days in St. Louis. He died at his home and left a narrative of the founding of the village which family tradition says is only a fragment of a work embracing the local annals of many years, the larger portion having been accidentally burned. The French inscription on his tomb characterizes his life as a model of the civic and social virtues, and contemporary records attest its truth.
Achievements
René Auguste Chouteau was well-known as the founder of St. Louis, Missouri. He became the wealthiest citizen in St. Louis and the largest town's landholder. The humble Laclede cottage he rebuilt and enlarged, adding to it a beautiful garden and making it one of the town’s show places.
Personality
Chouteau was of less than medium height, with a high forehead, light brown hair, an oval face which he shaved smooth, straight nose and classic mouth, and his expression was quiet and grave.
Connections
Chouteau was married, September 26, 1786, to Marie Thérése Cerré, who with four sons and three daughters survived him.
