“Pierre Pallardie is probably the oldest nativeborn citizen of St. Charles county. He was born in 1800, and has lived continuously in the city and county ever since… In his boyhood days that locality (St. Charles County, eventual home to La Charrette Village) abounded in deer, wild turkeys, and other game, and a man could kill all he wanted, and more too, without exhausting the supply. After he began housekeeping he frequently had as many as two hundred smoked venison hams ahead of his immediate wants, and often fed them to hogs in order to get them out of the way. The howl of the wolf broke the stillness of the woods at night, and sheep-raising was a precarious business. They also had black-tailed elk and a few bear. Their plows in those day were made entirely of wood, and the only vehicle which approximated a wagon was the French charrette, a two-wheeled concern, with no tires on the wheels…”

This passage comes from page 181 of the 1876 book of Bryan and Rose, A History of the Pioneer Families of Missouri. called to my attention by Cathie Schoppenhorst of Marthasville, Missouri. On page 16 of La Charrette: A History of the Village Gateway to the American Frontier, I explain how the name origin of La Charrette Vilage likely came about involving both the two wheel French cart, described above, and Joseph Chorette. This highly descriptive passage not only characterized the Missouri frontier, but also illustrated how scattered fragments of La Charrette Village history were flung about over a wide range of literature. 

As early as Pierre Pallardie was born on this exciting frontier, it was still known as the District of St. Charles in 1800, not St. Charles County.