Saint Michel, Missouri
St. Michel is an abandoned village located in Madison County, Missouri, United States. St. Michel is now incorporated into Fredericktown.
Etymology
Although the origin of the name is not certain, one of the original founders of the village of St. Michel − Nicholas Caillot − had been a "Knight of the Grand Cross of the Order of St. Michel" in France, and this most likely accounts for the name. It might be pointed out also, however, that there was a Michael Caillot in the group, and a Nicholas Caillot had a son Michel, whose patron saints were Michel.[1]
History
Founded in the years between 1790−1800, St. Michel was established as a lead-mining village. The founders of St. Michel were a cohesive group of thirteen families,
Village
The French Creoles of St. Michel built their homes in the American log cabin style, which the French referred to as pièces sur pièces (horizontal logs) rather than in the French vertical log Poteaux en terre (posts-in-the-ground) or Poteaux-sur-sol (post-on-a-sill) style, with perpendicular log posts set closely together in the ground or on a sill, and with clay chinked in-between filling the interstices. This suggests either that St. Michel housed a lower economic class or that Americans nearby aided the Creoles in house raising and the Creoles accepted the American style of log house construction.[2]
The Catholic church of St. Michel was established in 1802 and named after the Archangel Michel, to whom early Christians gave the care of their sick. Whether the church was blessed on St. Michael's day or was dedicated to the patron saint of one of the members, is not known. The original church was a log church.[1]
Population
St. Michel had a population of 65 in the year 1804, and was estimated to have had approximately 100 inhabitants in the years 1815−1816, with 300 inhabitants in the years 1818−1820. Some 250 persons were counted in 1830.[2]
Mining
The purpose of the settlement was to extract lead for the
References
- ^ a b c d State Historical Society of Missouri: Madison County http://shs.umsystem.edu/manuscripts/ramsay/ramsay_madison.html
- ^ ISBN 9780826263063.
- ^ Historic Source Survey Phase 1 City of Fredericktown, Missouri http://www.dnr.mo.gov/shpo/survey/MOAS001-R.pdf
- ^ A Directory of Towns, Villages, and Hamlets Past and Present of Madison County, Missouri http://thelibrary.org/lochist/moser/madisonpl.html