Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/113

 HISTORY OF SOUTHExVST MISSOURI 53 ing in office until his death. He was the father of six sons, Raphael, Joseph M. D., Bartholomew, Vital, John B. and August. Vital St. Gem, the brother of Jean Bap- tiste, lived for a time at the Saline but came to Ste. Genevieve in 1791, the house in which he lived until his death was afterward oc- cupied by Mrs. Menard and is still standing. He died in 1816. John B. Pratte, who came to Ste. Ge- nevieve about 1754, was one of the most suc- cessful merchants in the early history of the town. He held a number of local offices among them the chairmanship of the Board of Trustees of the town. His sons were Ber- nard, Joseph, Antoine, Bileron and Henry. The Pratte family now prominent in Ste. Genevieve county are descendents of John B. Pratte. The Janis family, many of whose descend- ants are still to be found in Ste. Genevieve, came to the district very early in its history. The founder of the family was Nicholas Janis, who lived for a time in Kaskaskia. His sons were Francois, Antoine and Bap- tiste, his daughters were Felicite, who mar- ried Vital St. Gem; Catherine, who married Stephen Bolduc, and Francoise who became Madam Durocher. The population of Ste. Genevieve in- creased very rapidly after the delivery of the territory east of the river from France to England. The. French of Kaskaskia, Fort Chartres, Prairie du Rocher and Cahokia, unwilling to live under the government of England removed in large numbers across the river to St. Louis and Ste. Genevieve. This was from the years 1765 to 1769. Of course at this time the territory of Upper Louisiana had been transferred to Spain, but this change was not known to the French in this country, and accordingly they be- lieved they were moving back under the flag of France. The first legal proceedings at Ste. Genevieve were had on the 19th day of
 * Iay, 1766. In that year Rocheblave was

Commandant, and M. Robinet was the notary and greffier. They were both officers of France and held office until November 22, 1769, when they gave way to the officers of Spain. This first legal proceeding was the drawing up of a marriage contract between Pierre Roy and Jeanette Lalond. The court records and the official corre- spondence of the French and Spanish officials both at St. Louis and at New Orleans contain abundant evidence that Ste. Genevieve was a prosperous and flourishing village during the latter half of the eighteenth century. In 1769 Rui in a report to Governor O'Rielly says that the town contains fifty-five or sixty citizens, and Piemas in the same year says the population is about 600. Other state- ments made from time to time to the various Spanish Governors indicate that the town grew steadily, especially after its removal to its present site. Among early officials was Phillip Roche- blave, who had been commandant at Kaskas- kia at the time that post was taken by the Americans under George Rogers Clark, and after a somewhat adventurous life had made his way to St. Louis ; he was there appointed commandant both civil and military of the post of Ste. Genevieve. He was succeeded by Francois Valle a member of one of the oldest and most influential families of Ste. Genevieve. Valle was succeeded by Fran- cisco Cartabona de Oro, and he by Henri Peyroux De La Coudeniere. In 1796 Fran- cois Valle, Jr., became commandant with both civil and military authority. He was succeeded by his brother Jean Baptiste who held the post until the transfer to the United