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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.
Illustration: Manuel Lisa. Oil on canvas, 1818. Acc. # 1979.97.1
Courtesy of Missouri Historical Society
A portrait of Mary Hempstead Lisa, Manuel Lisa's second wife.
From "St. Louis, the Fourth City, 1764-1909" by Walter
B. Stevens, St. Louis, Missouri: S.J. Clarke Publishing Company,
1909.
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