Chapter 9 cont. KNEW ANTOINE LECLAIRE "I knew Antoine LeClaire very well," said Mr. Clark.  "When I first met him, a young man, he was then five feet, seven inches in height, and weighed about 175 pounds.  He was a compactly, well built man, and filled out later in life until he weighed over 300 pounds.  I remember him well as a fiddler, and he was a good one, too!  He would often be found at country dances, playing his fiddle to the delight of all in the merry crowd.  He was also fond of dancing and was very spry on his feet.  He was considered a good dancer and never wanted for a partner.  He was a simple-minded man, a good neighbor and kind to everybody.  He was clever, but you could not say he was a good business man.  Notwithstanding he met with budiness reverses, yet at his death he left a large property to be distributed among the claimants to his estate." Captain Clark casually remarked that he could talk "Indian" and that when a child he had Indians for his playmates.  He knew the noted Chief Keokuk very well, who was also one of his playmates, and a number of years after Keokuk had acquired wealth and joined the Methodist church he invited the chief to attend a meeting of the Scott County Old Settlers' association, which Keokuk accepted but for some reason never put in an appearance.  Captain Clark also said:  "Father had the first ferry on the Mississippi and the most noted above St. Louis.  He established the ferry to reach the mining country in those days.  He could have claimed his land in Davenport, below Harrison street, just as well as in Buffalo, but if he had gone to Davenport he would have had the two branches of the Rock river to ferry, as we didn't think of bridging rivers in those days.  This (Buffalo) was far the prettier place.  We had every advantage here and were ahead in everything. Debbie Clough G-erischer G-erischer Family Web Site http://gerischer.rootsweb.com/ Assistant CC, Iowa Gen Web, Scott County http://www.celticcousins.net/scott/ List Manager for: IASCOTT-L * G-erischer-L * D-encker-L Fitzpatirck-L * V-lerebome-L * Huntington-L * Otis-L * Algar-L EIGS-L * Pickens-L * McNab-L * Patris-L - Rankin-L