The Grand Marshal of STL street names has not yet been found but we can give credit to Georgia for pointing me at this.----Jim ------------------------------------------------------- After swearing off his attempts at being an entrepreneur in Europe, Gratiot returned to St. Louis, where he accumulated large amounts of real estate, and also had interests in milling, salt making, farming, distilling, tanning and mining. His daughters married into the Chouteau family and formed other important alliances with the leading families of the town, including the Labbadies and Cabannes. His daughter Louise was known as the most beautiful woman in St. Louis; she married Jules De Mun in 1813. Gratiot's son, Charles Gratiot, Jr., was one of the earliest graduates of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, served during the War of 1812, and eventually became a brigadier general in the Army Corps of Engineers. Note: Ladies, take heart, I have never seen an ugly woman in ST Louis, but some of the guys are a little marginal.----Jim Charles Gratiot hosted William Clark when he made an official visit to St. Louis in 1795 for the U.S. Army. Gratiot also assisted Meriwether Lewis in 1803-04 as a translator and witness in his dealings with the Spanish Governor, Charles Dehault Delassus. On March 9-10, 1804, Gratiot signed the transfer document which delivered Upper Louisiana from Spain to the United States as an official witness (see Block 6). He also rode with Meriwether Lewis overland to link up with the Corps of Discovery at St. Charles on May 20, 1804. After the American takeover of the province Gratiot was appointed as judge of the court of common pleas, justice of the peace and clerk of the board of land commissioners. He died of a stroke in St. Louis on April 20, 1817, leaving vast amounts of real estate to his widow and eight surviving children. Victoire Chouteau Gratiot died in 1825.