Auguste Chouteau
1750 - 1829

Auguste Chouteau (1750-1829) helped choose the site and found the city of St. Louis in 1763, when he was just 13 years old. Chouteau served as a clerk for his "stepfather," Pierre Laclede, before their journey northward from his birthplace, New Orleans. The men wintered downriver from St. Louis at Fort de Chartres. On February 14, 1764 Chouteau returned to the site, leading a party which felled the first timber, cleared the first land and built the first structures in St. Louis. Pierre Laclede made Auguste Chouteau a full business partner in the 1770s.

Chouteau came to be respected by Indian leaders as a truthful and fair negotiator. The fur trade remained his major business but he also branched out into retail merchandising, real estate and banking. Generally, Auguste was the businessman who managed the family finances in St. Louis, while his half-brother Pierre Chouteau, Sr. negotiated directly with the Indians and served in the field.

Marie Therese Cerre Chouteau
1769 - 1842

Marie Therese Cerre married Auguste Chouteau in 1786 when she was seventeen years old and he was thirty-seven.

On September 21, 1786 Auguste Chouteau married Marie Therese Cerre (1769-1842); she was 17, he was 37 (see Block 13). The couple had nine children (the first two died in infancy). In 1794 Chouteau convinced the Spanish governor, the Baron de Carondelet, to grant his family a six year monopoly of the fur trade with the powerful Osage Indians of western Missouri. Chouteau avoided involvement with Jacques Clamorgan (see Block 26) in the Upper Missouri trade and business entanglements with the American, John Jacob Astor. When the Americans assumed control of St. Louis in 1804, Chouteau did all he could to assist them, allowing his family to come through the transition virtually unscathed. They remained the most powerful family in St. Louis after the transfer of power. Chouteau and his family assisted Lewis and Clark to prepare for their expedition in the winter of 1803-1804. In 1816 Chouteau announced his retirement, although it took him many years to settle his accounts. Auguste Chouteau had one of the most extensive libraries in colonial St. Louis (over 600 books), including the works of Bacon, Descartes, Locke, Frederick the Great, Montesquieu, Rousseau and Voltaire. He amassed 50,000 acres of land. By and large, Auguste's sons had been a disappointment to him, and none carried the torch of the family's fur trade business. Two daughters married well, into the Paul family.

Auguste Chouteau died on February 24, 1829, and was mourned as the leading citizen of St. Louis. He was originally buried in the churchyard of the Old Cathedral, and his grave was later moved to Calvary Cemetery on St. Louis' north side, where it can be seen today.

More Information on Auguste Chouteau's Personal Property:

When Auguste Chouteau died in 1829, he left an enormous estate, including many slaves. The marriage contract between Auguste and Therese Chouteau, dated September 21, 1786, entitled Therese to $6,000 upon the death of her husband. Thirty six slaves were sold at public auction by the probate court. The following is a transcription from the St. Louis Civil Court's Probate Records. The sale was held on the steps of the St. Louis Courthouse on September 15, 1830, and recorded in Book D, p. 19:

Order for the sale of slaves belonging to the Auguste Chouteau estate at the Courthouse door on September 15, 1830.

There were a total of 36 slaves; 12 other slaves were given directly to Therese Cerre Chouteau (the widow). Two died after Auguste Chouteau passed away. On November 16, 1830, a report of the sale of these slaves was given to the court [Book D, pp. 53-54]; individual prices for each slave were not recorded. However, the total for the sale was $10,838.88, half of which went to the widow and half was split between the seven children of Auguste Chouteau. A receipt for the sale of the slaves was given to the court on May 13, 1831 [Book D, page 112].