Customer Reviews

Before Lewis and Clark: The Story of the Chouteaus, the French Dynasty That Ruled America's Frontier

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OK-I'm going on the wild assumption that you're checking out this book because of your interest in Lewis and Clark. Be warned, the subject matter in Christian's book is somewhat tangentially related, although you will be given little entertaining factoids such as that one of the scientific specimens sent back to Jefferson from St Louis at the start of the Expedition was a large hairball from the stomach of a buffalo.

I live in St Louis, so I found the story of its founding (by the Chouteaus and their father/husband Laclede) interesting. Christian lives up to the subtitle by giving you a detailed picture of the life of this dynasty as it affected this area, which means you get a good idea of what it was like to be a trader on the Missouri (and some of the neighboring rivers), including interesting insights into relations with American Indians. Indeed, it was quite eye-opening to see how welcoming the Indians initially were of the French settlers/traders in and around St Louis. It was also informative to read of how the French and Indians interbred and lived quite comfortably with one another, although on unequal terms. The Chouteau dynasty began in the 1760's and continued for roughly another 80 years or so, so they had to accommodate and adapt to the change in governance that occurred with the Louisiana Purchase by the US (which although purchased from France, consisted of a territory immediately previously administered-with a very long rein-by Spain).

If you're looking more for some background into what was known about the area encompassed by the Louisiana Purchase at the time L + C started off on their expediation (and quite a bit was known; and in fact North America had already been traversed in Canada, so L + C weren't quite the 'firsts' they're made out to be), check out The Course of Empire by DeVoto.

To learn about the journey itself which, not withstanding the caveats above, is truly fascinating story, do yourself a favor and try to find something other than the popular Undaunted Courage, by Stephen Ambrose. The account provided by Ambrose is in my opinion is seriously flawed, fundamentally lacking in basic historical background necessary to appreciate the Expedition, e.g., any indication of who'd previously explored the regions into which they were heading and lacking a summary map illustrating the geographic (mis)information L + C used to plan their journey. Undaunted Courage also falls down whenever Ambrose attempts the most rudimentary analysis. To top it off, his writing style often made me cringe.

To provide socioeconomic and political background to the Purchase and the settlement that was to follow it, I recommend Mr Jefferson's Loast Cause: Land, Farmers, Slavery, and the Louisiana Purchase by Roger Kennedy.

This is the story of the Chouteaus, the primary founders of St. Louis and, to a very large degree, the people who laid the foundation which led to the State of Missouri. If you are interested in factual history you will find portions of this book illuminating. The author does a very credible job in certain sections of this work.

If you are interested in the social interactions of the Chouteau clan, again, this is a good book for you. But if you are interested only in the impact of the Chouteau clan on the historic development of St. Louis and the future State of Missouri then, while portions of this book will be useful to you, major portions of this work you will simply want to skim.

The author spends quite a bit of time delineating who married who, who begat whom, who married in, what properties they owned, what slaves were owned, freed and which were troublesome, how much they paid for each, who contested the sales...you get the idea. The author provides excruciatingly detailed accounts of bills of lading, packing slips, property details in wills and court settlements right down to who was to get what. Is this history? Sure it is, this really happened. She draws directly from the original documents. But more importantly, is it relevant...not really. The author spends all too much time communicating extraneous, unnecessary information which detracts from her primary thesis: Who were the Chouteaus and what was their amazing impact on the development of the Missouri frontier? As a result, the fascinating Chouteau story tends to get watered down in irrelevant minutia. The Chouteau story gets lost in page after page of useless information.

However, as stated above, there are portions of this book that contribute considerable scholarship to the emerging St. Louis / Missouri frontier as it developed from roughly 1760 through 1830. Those nuggets are quite good, very illuminating and make this book worth spending time with. Just be forewarned that this book reads like an unfinished work still seeking clarity.

For anyone interested in the early history of the American West this book is an invaluable resource. The Chouteaus and other families in St Louis continuously intermarried and did business with each other. This book supplies what has been lacking in the literature of the fur trade, a solid and careful recounting of the story of their lives and business dealings, backed up with page by page notes, citing sources completely.
The title of the book is misleading, as it covers much more. The story of the fur trade is quite complicated and has long needed a comprehensive analysis of the families involved. Anyone who has read fur trade history and been baffled by all the people and their business and personal relationships will turn to it as a definitive resource.It is clearly written. It is not a "page turner," though the stuff of it has the been the source of many a good book.

Shirley Christian's work on the legacy of the Chouteau family should be considered the definitive on this subject area. After reading numerous books on the fur trade, it was enlightening and a treat to learn so much of the importance of this intriguing ancestry.
From the days of establishing St. Louis in 1764 by Pierre Laclede Liguest (Chouteau) and his fourteen year old son Auguste Chouteau, up to circa 1850's, Christian leaves no stone unturned. How this extensive family was so instrumental in the politics, economy, real estate, Indian affairs, groundwork of western expansion, etc. is truly a saga of fascination.
It is fortunate that the author included the Chouteau family tree as the names can become quite confusing (many Pierre's, Auguste's, Chouteau's, inter-marriages with the Gratiot's, Papin's and Labbadie's).
Although not totally devoted to the era "before" Lewis and Clark, it is nevertheless an absorbing and accommodating read, extensively researched.

For those who study history with the genealogist's eye, this is an invaluable work. The charts, other families mentioned, detailed records that others find tedious, and fur trade information make it indispensable. If you just want a school kid's glossed-over history with anglo overtones, skip this one. This is the real story of who opened trade to the west.

When I originally read this book, I thought it was primarily dedicated to the exploration of the Louisiana territory before Lewis and Clark, but the book is really about the dynasty of the Chouteau family of French traders and town founders of St. Louis who not only came before Lewis and Clark by about 40 years but remained to develop the territory, town and engage in the fur business west of the Mississippi along with trading north up the Missouri. It as quite astonishing to read that when Lewis and Clark reached St. Louis to start their trek in 1803 that the accommodating Chouteaus, along with other French settlers and perhaps Spanish, had settled a town of 200 or more houses with the Chouteaus owning fairly upscale homes along with significant land grants that pre-dated the Americans. The Chouteaus were enterprising merchants that had significant contacts with local Indian tribes such as the Osages and other tribes in the surrounding areas North such as the Arikaras. Not only did the Chouteaus know the territory and trade as far west as Spanish held Santa Fe their family stayed in St. Louis and interacted with Governor Lewis of Louisiana until his death and had a lifelong friendship with Indian agent William Clark. The Chouteaus relationships with local tribes was key to having reasonaly good relations with whites and Indians. What is amazing about this book is the amount of documentation and letters that survived from over 200 years ago. The family has a long history after Lewis and Clark's adventure with sons graduating from West Point and their presence in local politics and involvement with St. Louis and the territory goes well into the 19th century. This book has a great amount of detail about a family that developed the interior of America.