Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/120

 60 . HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI at not a great distance from Ste. Genevieve, were being opened and quantities of sand sent to Pittsburg for the manufacture of flint glass. He speaks also of a number of beautiful fountains in the neighborhood, one of them of surpassing loveliness. Flagg also comments on the shot factories at Herculaneum and speaks with very great delight of the great rocks above Herculaneum called "Cornice" rocks. One of the prominent citizens of Ste. Gene- vieve was Ferdinand Rozier. He was born in the city of Nantes, France. He had been in the French navy and came to America, set- tling first in Philadelphia, afterward in Ken- tucky, and finally removing to Ste. Gene- vieve in 1812. Rozier engaged in trade im- mediately upon his arrival, and continued in business to the end of his life. He was a man of enterprise and ability and had branch stores at Perryville and Potosi. Many of the goods bought and sold in those days came from the East and in the course of his trade Rozier made six trips between Ste. Genevieve and Philadelphia on horseback. A single trip of this kind at the present date would be considered a very great undertaking, to say nothing of six of them. Rozier left a large family, many of whose members have been, and are still, prominent in Missouri. Associated with Rozier, for a number of years, was the famous naturalist, John James Audubon. Like the family of Rozier, his family lived in Nantes; the naturalist was born, however, in Louisiana, where the fam- ily resided for a short time. When John James Audubon was but a child, the family returned to France, and he was educated in the French schools. One of his teachers was the famous painter, David. Audubon and Rozier entered the navy together during the French Revolution. They served in the navy for only a short time and finally decided to emigrate to America. They first lived in Pennsylvania, then in Kentucky, visiting in Springfield and Louisville, and spending in this state the time from 1807 to 1810. In 1810 they purchased a keel-boat, loaded it with provisions and whiskey and voyaged in it to Ste. Genevieve. Audubon's account of this voyage up the Mississippi river is a vei-y interesting one. He pictures the scenes on the river and the slow progress of the keel- boat in a very remarkable manner. The two men embarked in business in Ste. Genevieve, together, and were very successful. The suc- cess of the business, however, depended en- tirel.v upon Rozier, for Audubon had no taste for business at all, but spent his time in the woods hunting and painting birds. In 1811 he sold his interest in the business and re- turned to Kentucky. Here he devoted him- self for a time to business, but finally gave up entirely to the study of nature, becoming one of the greatest ornitliologists of the world. One of the famous men of this period in Missouri was the celebrated John Smith T. He was a native of Georgia, but had lived in Tennessee before coming to Missouri. He removed to Ste. Genevieve about the year 1800 and afterwards lived at a little town called Shibboleth, in Washington county. Smith was a tall, slender man, of the mildest appearance and the most courteous manners, the very last man, .judging b.y his appearance only, to be considered at all dangerous. He was, however, a man of terrible passions and when aroused he was one of the most danger- ous men in the history of the state. He was famous for his skill with the pistol and the rifle, and he bad many encounters of a most serious and bloody character. His house re-