1. Manuel Lisa, known as Manuel de Lisa, was a Spanish citizen and later American citizen who, while living on the western frontier, became a landowner, merchant, fur trader, United States Indian agent, and explorer.
35 Facts About Manuel Lisa
1. 2.
Manuel Lisa gained respect through his trading among Native American tribes of the upper Missouri River region, such as the Teton Sioux, Omaha and Ponca.
3.
Little is known of the early life of Manuel Lisa, but he is believed to have been born in 1772 in New Orleans, then part of Spanish Louisiana.
4.
Polly Manuel Lisa lived in the city with their three children while her husband made his long expeditions to various Indian territories on the Upper Missouri River.
5.
Polly Chew Lisa died in 1817 in St Louis while Manuel Lisa was away on an expedition.
6.
In 1819 Manuel Lisa took his new wife Mary with him for his next expedition and winter at Fort Manuel Lisa, Nebraska.
7.
Manuel Lisa tried to gain custody of his children with Mitane, who let him take Rosalie back to St Louis the next year for education at a Catholic school, but refused to let him have Christopher.
8.
Manuel Lisa included provisions for both Rosalie and Christopher in his will, along with his children by his first wife Polly Chew.
9.
Manuel Lisa likely moved to St Louis to enter the fur trade, the major part of the regional economy.
10.
Manuel Lisa competed with Pierre Chouteau, a prominent member of the founding family, who had gained a position as a US government Indian agent; Chouteau and his brother had gained their wealth and social positions through the fur trade and as merchants.
11.
Manuel Lisa had difficult relations with James Wilkinson, then-governor of US Louisiana Territory.
12.
Manuel Lisa assigned John Colter of his party to explore the region and trade with the nearby Blackfeet tribe.
13.
In July 1808, after a successful trading season, Manuel Lisa departed Fort Raymond, leaving behind a small party of men for the winter.
14.
Manuel Lisa was created as a temporary trust by its founders, designed to either expire or reorganize after three years.
15.
Manuel Lisa transferred the fort's contents to the new company, and abandoned the isolated post.
16.
The next year, he ascended the river to Fort Manuel Lisa and conducted more trading operations.
17.
Manuel Lisa returned to St Louis in the autumn of 1810.
18.
Manuel Lisa remained among the Mandan and Arikara tribes until Henry came downriver, and they returned to St Louis together at the end of 1811.
19.
In 1811 Manuel Lisa was host to the first recorded tourist to present-day South Dakota: Pittsburgh lawyer Henry Marie Brackenridge.
20.
In May 1812, Manuel Lisa went upriver to Fort Manuel Lisa, trading there until his return to St Louis on June 1,1813.
21.
Manuel Lisa happened to be at Fort Manuel Lisa in North Dakota when Sacagawea, the historic interpreter and guide for the Lewis and Clark Expedition, died at the fort on December 20,1812.
22.
Manuel Lisa's outpost became among the most important in the region, and the basis for the development of the major city of Nebraska.
23.
Manuel Lisa set out for Fort Manuel Lisa of Nebraska, where he secured alliances between the United States and Missouri-area tribes, such as the Omaha and Ponca.
24.
Manuel Lisa was especially effective among the Teton Sioux further upriver in present-day Minnesota, whom he organized to send war parties against tribes allied with the British.
25.
Later, the US government recognized Manuel Lisa, calling his efforts as a "great service in preventing British influence" in the northern area.
26.
Manuel Lisa eventually had two children with Mitain: Rosalie and Christopher.
27.
In St Louis, Manuel Lisa was considered an ally of the landed elite.
28.
Manuel Lisa became more affiliated with leading American members of St Louis, including Edward Hempstead, a land claims attorney, and Thomas Hart Benton, editor of the St Louis Enquirer.
29.
In 1818 Manuel Lisa was with most of the residents in St Louis who turned out to welcome the newly assigned Bishop Louis William Du Bourg.
30.
Manuel Lisa had decided to make St Louis the seat of the diocese of Louisiana and the Floridas.
31.
When he and Mary arrived, Manuel Lisa sent his second wife Mitain away from the fort.
32.
Manuel Lisa was instrumental in extending the "commercial outreach of St Louis" to the Yellowstone and Bighorn rivers and to tribes previously more under British influence.
33.
Manuel Lisa was buried at Bellefontaine Cemetery at the Hempstead family plot.
34.
The historian Chittenden believed Manuel Lisa left few assets to his estate.
35.
Manuel Lisa was responsible for constructing at least seven forts as trading posts in the American West.