Prominent and Highly Respected Pioneers - St. Charles, MO - Missouri Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

County of marker: St. Charles County
Location of marker: W Randolph St. & Madonna Dr., St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Cemetery, St. Charles
Erected by: St. Charles Borromeo Parish
Date Erected: A.D. 1954

Marker Text:

IN MEMORY OF
SIEUR FRANCOIS DUQUETTE
Born in Quebec, Canada, in 1774
Died at St. Charles
Feb. 2, 1816
In the Bloom of Manhood, 42 Years Old

AND OF HIS WIFE
MADAME MARIE LOUISE BEAUVAIS
Born in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri
in 1776
Died at St. Charles
ARP. 2, 1841, Aged 65 Years

PROMINENT AND HIGHLY RESPECTED,
PIONEERS
Who assiduously sustained and cultivated
early Catholicity in St. Charles
Whose memory is held in affectionate
Regard by the Borromeo Parish

Their mortal remains rest beneath
This massive, Old-Fashioned monument. The
oldest of its kind in this St.
Charles County, dating
from 1816
―
"Let us now praise men of renown -- -
"Their bodies are buried in peace,
"And their name liveth unto generations."
ECCLI. 44 1-14.
―

A HISTORIC NOTICE This monument was originally erected in the First Borromeo Cemetery at Main and Jackson Streets, where Francois Duquette was buried. Together, with his remains it was removed about 1829 to the second grave-yard on the block where the Borromeo Church now stands. Where twelve years later Mrs. Duquette was laid to rest at the side of her noble husband. Lastly, in 1854, both bodies and the commemorative shaft were transferred to this hallowed spot in the present Borromeo Burial Grounds in tribute to their Perennial Memory.

The sculptured inscription on the obelisk, having been well nigh obliterated by the ravishes of time, was in 1917 restored by the generosity of His Excellency Most Rev. John I. Glennon, S.T.D., Archbishop of St. Louis and of Miss Stella M. Drumm, Librarian and Historian of the Missouri Historical Society in this year 1941. Finally, the monument having again suffered from corrosion, was totally renovated by the grateful Borromeo Parish and adorned with an imperishable bronze, proclaiming forever its immortal legend.

Web link: [Web Link] History of Mark: "Duquette had his home built out of town and up a wooded hill. On a map from the 1820’s, the street in front of their home will be called “High Street (Third Street).” Even seventeen years later in 1812, Baptiste Jeaneuse, gave up his home at what would become 920 N. Third Street, saying that he wanted to live where there is life and activity and people. I tell you it is a lonely life living way up on the hill. It may have been lonely up there but it was probably also safer. It was the first suburb. A rutted trail called a “gully” coming down the hill to the river will later be named Decatur St. "The basic house was of the French style of upright logs called a poteaux en terre. It was a fairly large log cabin for its day, earning it the term “mansion.” The main room had a loft over it, two fire places and a large porch. Marie Louise would have arrived with her trousseau and her slaves and set to work to make her home the center of a growing French community up on the hill…we know that because that is exactly what will be reported about her home later." ~ St. Charles County History Additional point: Not Listed

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