Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/177

 CHAPTER IX SOCIAL LIFE Population in 1804 — Settlements — Occupations — Differences Between French and America Settlements — Houses op the French — Stockades — Food and Cooking — Dif- ferences IN the French Produced by Residence in This Country — Social Life — Dress —Amusements — La Guignolee — Contented Character of the French — Trade — Amer- ican Settlers — Characteristic Life — Houses — Clothing — Food — Law-Abiding Char- acters — German Settlers — Absence op Spanish Settlers — Merchants — Prices — Prod- ucts — Travel — Roads — River Travejl — ^Kbel-Boats — Religious Conditions — First Ser- vices — Restrictive Lava's op Spain — Records of the Catholic Church in Ste. Gene- vieve — Fatpier Meurin — Father Gibault — James Maxwell — First Church Buildings — Support op Priests — Bishop Dubourg — De Andreis — Founding op St. Mary's Sem- inary — Danger op Misunderstanding the Character op the People. By the time of the transfer to the United States, in 1804, there were living in the terri- tory of Louisiana about 10,120 people. Of these, the greater number were in Southeast Missouri. Each of the five districts into which the Spanish had divided the country for pur- poses of administration was in a flourishing condition. There had been a considerable im- migration into the district from the territory of the United States across the river, and, as we have seen, in a few places there were large numbers of French settlers. The following table gives as correctly as can be determined the population of the principal settlements at the time of the Louisiana Purchase : Cape Girardeau district, 1,470; Ste. Genevieve dis- trict, 2,350 whites and 520 slaves; New Ma- drid district, 1,350 whites and 120 slaves. By this date settlements had been made in most of the present counties of this section. There were probably no settlements in Dunk- lin, Butler, Ripley, Carter, Stoddard, and Rey- nolds counties, but in all the other counties there were at least some attempts at settle- ment made. There were flourishing towns at New Madrid, Cape Girardeau and Ste. Gene- vieve. Ste. Genevieve was a distinctly French settlement; Cape Girardeau was just as dis- tinctly an Amei-ican settlement, while New Madrid was in part French and in part American. As we have seen, these people were attracted here by a number of things. It is, perhaps, true that the greater number of them came on account of the richness of the soil and the pos- sibility of obtaining land on easy terms from the Spanish government. The settlers were largely farmers. This is true of the districts of Cape Girardeau and New Madrid ; in fact, outside of trading and the running of an oc- casional mill, there were no other settled in- 117