More Information on Manuel Lisa:

Manuel Lisa was born in New Orleans on September 8, 1772. His parents were Spanish; his father, a government official, migrated to New Orleans from Murcia, Spain, while his mother hailed from St. Augustine, Florida. By 1796 Lisa owned his own trading vessel and worked along the Mississippi River. He had also married his first wife, a widow named Polly Charles Chew. Lisa arrived in St. Louis about 1799 and convinced Spanish officials to grant him land for "agricultural purposes." Lisa also entered into direct opposition and competition with the powerful Chouteau family. He tried to circumvent their royal license to exclusive trade with the Osage Indians and obtain free trade for all. Failing at this, he wrested the official Osage trading rights from the Chouteaus in 1802.

Lisa helped Lewis and Clark prepare for their journey west in 1803-04, although neither explorer, particularly Lewis, liked him. After the return of Lewis and Clark, Lisa organized the first large-scale fur trading and trapping venture to the far West, departing in 1807 and setting up Fort Raymond at the confluence of the Yellowstone and Bighorn rivers. He was in partnership with Kaskaskia merchants Pierre Menard and William Morrison. Lisa next established the St. Louis Missouri Fur Company, organized in 1808-09 with William Clark, Pierre Chouteau, Meriwether Lewis' brother Reuben, Benjamin Wilkinson, Sylvestre Labbadie and Andrew Henry. Their major expedition in 1809 opened the Upper Missouri after the hostilities of the Arikara, but ran into trouble when they established a post at the Three Forks of the Missouri in today's western Montana, where they were under constant attack by the Blackfeet. Lisa ordinarily had good relations with Indian tribes, and personally led each trading foray into the West. After the death of his first wife, Lisa married Mrs. Mary Hempstead Keeney, a widow. Lisa died at his country home at Sulphur Spring, Cheltenham (near St. Louis) on August 12, 1820. At the time of his death his books included a 5 volume version of Don Quixote by Cervantes and books of Latin and Greek works, along with English, Spanish, French and Latin dictionaries. He is buried in St. Louis' Bellefontaine Cemetery.