Five Experts Speak At History Conference

By MARK EVANS

mevans@stegenherald.com

A relatively small but enthusiastic crowd heard five guest speakers give presentations at the annual Ste. Genevieve History Conference last Saturday.

The annual event, put on by the Foundation For Restoration of Ste. Genevieve, had been cancelled by the COVID-19 crisis in 2020.

One speaker did cancel this year. Chris Collins, superintendent of the  Ste. Genevieve National Historical Park was scheduled to give an update on the park. He sent out email messages Saturday morning that he was feeling ill and was cancelling as a precaution.

Sharon Person, professor of English at St. Louis Community college and co-author  with Carl J. Ekberg of “St. Louis Rising,” presented “Un ‘mariage inconstant’: Guillaume Pottier drafts a will, and the Louisiana Superior Council rejects it.”

Dr. Adam Criblez, director of the Center For Regional History at Southeast Missouri State University, gave “History of Early Cape Girardeau.”

Dr. Will Thompson, chairman of the Department of World Languages and Literatures at the University of Memphis, presented “Fictional Portraits of the French Creoles of the Illinois Country.”

Dr. David MacDonald, emeritus professor of history at Illinois State University, gave “Jean-Baptiste Ducoigne, an Under-Appreciated Leader of the Kaskaskia Tribe” and Bob Mueller, local historian, presented “Town Lots, Houses, and Outbuildings in Colonial Ste. Genevieve.”

The audience shared several questions and comments following each presentation.

Mike “Skip” Weiler, Foundation president, made opening and closing remarks.

“I learned a lot today from all of you,” Weiler said at the end.

More information from the presentations will appear in upcoming editions of the Herald.