In celebration of the 250th Anniversary of our country, local members of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution will highlight the patriots buried in Southeast Missouri.
Jacques Missier, DAR Patriot A133324, was born in 1746 in Antibes, France, a Mediterranean coastal town that passed back and forth between being part of France and being part of Italy. He joined the crew of Le Marseillais at Toulon on March 1, 1778, as a matelot (sailor or deck hand) and was dismissed from service at Toulon on December 21, 1779.
His ship was part of the Expedition of Comte d'Estaing, who led a fleet of French warships that sailed to America shortly after a treaty of friendship was signed on February 6,1778. While on the ship, he participated in the capture of the British ship Experience, served in the siege of Savannah in 1779, and went to Santo Domingo before returning to France.
After being discharged from service in Toulon, Jacques Missier moved to Paris where he met and married Marie Louise LeCompte, and their first child, Jean Louise, was born in 1787. Jacques, Marie and Jean Louise Missier immigrated to the United States with the French Five Hundred in 1790. Their daughter, Marie Francois, was born in Gallipolis, Ohio, in 1791.
After two years in Gallipolis, Jacques Missier moved his growing family first to the Kaskaskia area in Illinois and finally to Ste. Genevieve, Missouri.
The twelve children of Jacques Missier and Marie LeCompte are:
Jean Louise, born June 6, 1787, in Paris, France
Marie Francois, born 1791 in Gallipolis, Ohio
Susanna, born August 21, 1794, near Kaskaskia, Illinois
Marie Gabriele, also born near Kaskaskia, no date given
Raphael, born September 29, 1796, Ste. Genevieve, Missouri
Marie Louise, born October 1, 1798, Ste. Genevieve
Twins Philipe and Nicholus, born January 1, 1801, Ste. Genevieve
Hortense Arsene, born February 10, 1803, Ste. Genevieve
Twins Eugenia and Charlotte Caroline, born February 17, 1805, Ste. Genevieve
Elizabeth, born November 30, 1806, Ste. Genevieve
Jacques Missier, d.i.t. (aka) Misse, died in Ste. Genevieve on August 20, 1834. His wife, Marie Louise LeCompte Misse, died on October 10, 1842. The cemetery where they were buried was located in the Mississippi River flood plain southeast of Ste. Genevieve’s current location. When the town relocated two miles north and about a half mile inland after the Great Flood of 1785, the cemetery was not moved.
In 1994, a descendant, Lt. Colonel Francis Missey (US Army Ret.) and his wife placed a memorial stone in Ste. Genevieve Memorial Park for Jacques Misse and Marie Louise LeCompte Misse. The Louisiana Purchase Chapter, NSDAR, has an active member who is a descendant of Jacques Missier.
Sources:
Basler, Lucille, Pioneers of Ste. Genevieve, p. 199
Gallipolis, Ohio - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallipolis,_Ohio
Ministère des Affaires Étrangères, Les Combattants Français de la guerre d'Américaine, 1778–1783, 1905, pp. 11-15, 22, 61, and 63
Misse, Jacque, Affidavit for a Revolutionary War pension, 5 December 1832, from the loose papers of the Ste. Genevieve Archive.
Records, Ste. Genevieve Catholic Church, FamilySearch.com
Service Source: Les Combattants Français de la guerre d'Américaine, 1778–1783, publiées par les soins du Ministère des Affaires Étrangères, 1905
Compiled by Joan McCready, Louisiana Purchase Chapter, NSDAR.