In a message dated 2/21/01 9:31:44 PM, MOJEFFER-D-request@rootsweb.com writes: << Are these perhaps actual French immigrants? Does anyone have a basic knowledge of the immigration patterns into this area? >> Ste. Genevieve, Missouri was the first settlement in Missouri founded in the 1700s by French Canadian trappers and Jesuit priests who travelled down the riverways from Montreal, to Detroit and down into Peoria, Illinois. They ended at Kaskaskia, Prairie du Rocher and Fort Chartres where a mission was founded by Jesuit priests. Many of the people later migrated into the areas around Jefferson, Washington, St. Francois and other counties which were rich in minerals that were mined by the French. The area around Old Mines and Potosi still have descendants from the original settlers of Ste. Genevieve but many of them moved into the Jefferson County area too, Desgagne and Politte, to name the two that I am related to. (The Politte name also carried a dit name, Robert or Raubert.) If you live around the eastern counties of Missouri you will be quite familiar with French Canadian names that are a great part of our history. There is super book about the French Canadians by Father Yealy called, simply, Ste. Genevieve. It is out of print but the best book of the history of the French. Becky