Jean Gabriel Serre (1734 - 1805)

Born 12 Aug 1734 in Notre-Dame de Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Ancestors

Husband of Marie Catherine Giard — married 24 Jan 1764 in Kaskaskia

Descendants

Died 4 Apr 1805 at age 70 in St. Louis, Louisiana Territory, United States

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Jean Gabriel Serre lived
in Canada, Nouvelle-France.

Biography

Jean Gabriel Serre is Notable.

Jean Gabriel Serre is a DAR Patriot Ancestor, A023659.

Jean Gabriel Serre served with French-Canadians Rendering Aid during the American Revolution.

Gabriel was born in 1734 ^[1]... He passed away in 1805.

He was a Montreal-born frontiersman and trader (coureur de bois) who roamed the Great Lakes to the Illinois.

“In 1753 at the age of 19 years, he joined an expedition from Canada to the Ohio River under the command of M. de Belestre. At the expiration of his term of servie he became a trader with the Indians and made his home in the town of Kaskasia.” (South Dakota Historical Collection, Vol. 9, p 97)

He came to Illinois as a young man, by 1755 had established a trading post at Kaskaskia, Illinois, trading with the Indians, where he became a wealthy merchant with land and 43 slaves, and was a powerful figure. He outfitted many traders and hunters for the Missouri region and maintained close relations with the Indians of the area.

He married Marie Giard in 1764^[2]

In 1768, 4 years after the founding of St. Louis, the first land grants were made to settlers. One of these was a grant made to Gabriel Cerre on Sept 10, 1768, embraced the area, which became the site of the town of Breman many years later. It was surveyed by Antoine Soulard (his son-in-law) and recorded with the Registre de Arpendage on April 15, 1798. This grant covered 184 arpents - about 156 acres - but Cerre did not settle there, having a house and farm in the present Soulard area, then south of the village of St. Louis. Cerre's property here, later known as Survey #2042, was sold after his death in 1805 and by the 1830's had been acquired by Rufus Easton. Cerre was also granted title to two other tracts west and north of his riverfront holding. Survey -#3209, to the west, covered about 255 acres and later became the Farrar tract, which included the site of Hyde Park. Northwardly along the west bank of Gingras Creek was another Cerre property, later called Survey #2041, and acquired by Clement B. Penrose.
Also, Gabriel claimed about 6000 acres that comprise most of present-day Arnold, Mo. In a land claim settlement (known as Decision No. 877) Gabriel transferred this land to his 2 sons-in-law, Auguste Choteau and Antoine Soulard (the surveyor general of Upper Louisiana). Gabriel had obtained this land in 1798 from the Spanish government. His interest in it appears to have been for financial speculation. In 1802 the land was willed to his daughters who had married into the prominent St. Louis families of Chouteau and Soulard. (In 1811 their property was divided into 44 parcels of 160 acres each and sold to settlers. )

He traded with the Indians for furs and just days before George Rogers Clark arrived in Kaskaskia, he left with a large quantity of furs for Quebec.

Here is an interesting adventure which happened in 1778 during the American Revolution:
Gen. George Rogers Clark had come from Kentucky with a small army of about 175 men to take control of the west and break the hold of the British on the French and Indian population there. He was anxious to get Gabriel Cerre, who had great influence in the Mississippi Valley, on his side as soon as possible. On July 4, 1778, Clark crossed the river at night and took control of Kaskaskia without a shot. Gabriel was in St. Louis at the time and was disturbed that Clark had posted a guard at his home in Kaskaskia. He sought to return to Kaskaskia under a promise of safe passage. It was part of Clark's psychological game to refuse to issue an outright promise that Cerre would not be arrested, only that Cerre would have nothing to fear if he were innocent of the charges against him.
"One other man whom Clark sought to arrest, was Gabriel Cerre, Kaskaskia's most important trader, who eluded capture either by accident or design. The Cerres lived on the main street in the center of the village with four children between the ages of 13 and 3 years. Pascal Leon, Cerre's 6-1/2-year-old-son, saw Clark peering in a window. When Clark entered the house, Madame Cerre jumped out of bed and seized the poker, threatening to break Clark's head. Clark called on his interpreter, Michel Parrault, to explain to her that Clark intended no harm to herself and her children, but was only looking for her husband. She assured Clark that M. Cerre was not at home and gave him permission to search the house. Clark took a candle and looked under and around the bed and then withdrew without disturbing the beds where the children lay." [The George Rogers Clark Adventure in the Illinois, p. 93]

"Cerre finally appeared at Clark's headquarters. Clark played out a well-planned scene. He first questioned Cerre in private, detailing the charges that had been made against him. Cerre acknowledged that he had dealt with the British and with the Indians, as a businessman. He said he never had sent Indian war parties to the American frontier. After asking Cerre to wait in another room, Clark called in the seven who had made the charges. This time he questioned them in front of other Kaskaskians. They tempered their charges with general statements, admitted they were in debt to Cerre, and received a tongue lashing from the American commander. Clark called Cerre back into the room, told him he had honorably acquitted himself, that the guard would be removed from his home, and that he was free to conduct his business as usual. Cerre, won over by the display of American fairness, took the oath of allegiance to the United States, thus bolstering Clark's hand in future dealings with the French."^[3]
After the seizure of Kaskaskia in 1778, he joined in aiding the Americans. He outfitted Clark's troops for the attack on the British at Vincennes and provided provisions and money for Clark's efforts.

The family moved across the river in 1779 (or 1781) to St. Louis which was under the Catholic Spanish, but Gabriel, who conducted business affairs all up and down the Mississippi, became Clark's principal supplier and, along with many other Frenchmen, he was happy to make a profit supplying the Americans.
In Dec. 1780 he was listed on the roster of the Spanish Colonial Militia of St. Louis as an enlisted man, age 45.

In 1783, Gabriel dispatched 2 Canadian traders, Francois and Joseph LeSieur, to establish a trading post on the Mississippi at the mouth of the Ohio River, making it the first settlement in the New Madrid district. They called it L'Anse a la Graisse (the cove of the grease, because of the abundance of buffalo and bear meat in the region). Later, Col. George Morgan chose this same site for a proposed settlement that he called New Madrid, and although his plans didn't materialized, many settlers did come to the area and kept the name Morgan had chosen. [from History of Missouri: Under Spanish Rule]

He built a large stone house in St. Louis - for picture see:
from a website about him (link no longer works)
"This house measured 60 x 30 feet and was built about 1770, along with a large stone warehouse. Cerre became one of the wealthiest men in St. Louis - an inventory of his estate in 1802 showed personal property equivalent to 129,701 Livres. Cerre had a household of 61 people, which included 43 slaves. . . Madame Cerre died on July 31, 1800, and was followed to the St. Louis churchyard within five years by her husband, who died April 4, 1805. Today, this property is bounded on the north by the Eads Bridge (completed in 1874), and is covered by the Gateway Arch Parking Garage structure."

The Haas apple (also Fall Queen, Maryland Queen or Hoss) originated with Gabriel Cerre of St. Louis, Missouri in the 1800's. According to Beach, it was widely disseminated throughout the Midwest and Southwest where it was recognized as one of the hardiest American apples. The Haas is a red apple ripening in October. The firm, juicy, aromatic white flesh is often stained with red.^[4]

Gabriel Serre was a very well known figure in Illinois during the latter half of his life^[5] many more sources can be found on his Find A Grave memorial.

Gabriel died in St. Louis in 1805^[6]
Find A Grave: Memorial #86900867

Sources

1. ↑ Drouin Genealogical InstituteIGD
2. ↑ Birth, Death, Marriage, Parents, Siblings Programme de Recherche en Démographie Historique, Université de Montréal (paid subscription) PRDH: Le Programme de recherche en démographie historique (membership): Individu: 88346
3. ↑ from "powwow at Cahokia" at http://216.125.204.247/Cahokia_Beginnings/Powwow%20at%20Cahokia.htm ]
4. ↑ from "Apple Variety Descriptions" at: http://www.bighorsecreekfarm.com/descriptions2.htm
5. ↑ "Transactions of the Illinois State Historical Society for the year ... Volume 8", pp 275-286
6. ↑ "Find A Grave Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVL9-2227 : 13 December 2015), Jean Gabriel Cerre, 1805; Burial, Saint Louis, St. Louis City, Missouri, United States of America, Calvary Cemetery and Mausoleum; citing record ID 86900867, Find a Grave, http://www.findagrave.com.

• Daughters of the American Revolution, DAR Genealogical Research Databases, database online, (http://www.dar.org/ : accessed July 8, 2022), "Record of Jean Gabriel Serre", Ancestor # A023659.
• Index to French Canadian Revolutionary War Patriots
• Canadian participants in the American Revolution, an index, by Virginia Easley DeMarce, page 77 (Image 84)
• PRDH: Research Programme in Historical Demography (membership): Famille: 19128
• PRDH: Research Programme in Historical Demography (membership): Famille: 41114
• Beckwith, Paul Edmond. The Creoles of St. Louis. 1893.
• Wikipedia: Jean-Gabriel Cerré
• Donald Chaput, « CERRÉ, JEAN-GABRIEL », dans Dictionnaire biographique du Canada, vol. 5, Université Laval/University of Toronto, 2003– , http://www.biographi.ca/fr/bio/cerre_jean_gabriel_5F.html.