The first was Louis Lorimier (1748-1812). Born in the Etienne parish of Montreal, Quebec in Canada Lorimier is recognized as the first European settler of Cape Girardeau, Missouri. More specifically he was responsible for the founding of both Cape Girardeau County and Bollinger County.
Cape Girardeau county was first settled by French Canadian and Shawnee who came with Lorimier from Pickawillany in the Ohio area. Lorimier's wife, Charlotte Bougainville was half French and half Shawnee. It is thought that Charlotte was the daughter of Louis Antoine de Bougainville, a participant in the French and Indian Wars.
During that time in Ohio, Lorimier had supported the British leading Shawnee and Delaware Iandian raids against the colonists. When George Rogers Clark retaliated, trying to exterminate the Indians, Lorimier escaped and soon moved to the area west of the Mississippi then under control of the Spanish Crown.
The settlement of Girardeau, named for Jean-Baptiste de Girardot, who established a trading post in the area in 1733. The "Cape: in the name was a rock promontory overlooking the Mississippi. Spanish control of the area dates from 1793 when Spain acquired the Louisiana Territory. Lorimier was given the right to establish a trading post, giving him trading privileges and a large tract of land . He was made commandant of the district and prospered in his tradings and land sales.
Lorimier's involvement with the incoming wagon train began while he was representing the Spanish. Upon meeting George Frederick Bollinger, he and Lorimer struck up a friendship. The North Carolian was a peaceful, intelligent and religious man .Lorimier found him to be the perfect man to lead more settlers into the area. He offered Bollinger an offer of land concessions to the new settlers and a large tract of land to Bollinger himself if he would persuade other colonists from North Carolina to settle in the Cape Girardeau area. The Spanish rules were that settlers could locate on as much as 800 arpens of land (640 acres) upon the paynment of 41 dollars, about five cents an arpen (the cost to have the land surveyed). Improvements on the tracts were required and the settlers would need to become permanent residents. Spain required that only Catholics settle that area, Lorimier was willing work around that regulation with those on the wagon train. Bollinger signed a document stating that he and all the families he had brought were Catholic and that seemed to suffice.
George Frederick Bollinger (1770-1842) was born in North Carolina of Swiss parentage. In 1797 he and a neighbor, John Mussgenug, also called "Moose", made their way on horseback to the small Spanish outpost of Cape Girardeau on the west bank of the Mississippi River in Upper Louisiana Territory.
Bollinger met Louis Lorimier, commandant of the Spanish post at Cape Girardeau, who promised him concessions of land if he would bring more settlers to the area. Bollinger returned to North Carolina and in 1798 married Elizabeth Hunsucker. In 1799 he bought back a wagon train of twenty colonists and their families. All were of German or Swiss parentage and members of the German Reformed Church.
Soon after their settlement Lorimier ordered the settlers to form a company of militia and they were organized under the command of George Frederick Bollinger who was made a major. Bollinger built a log mill on the Big Whitewater River which was later replaced by a stone grain mill in what was then Bollingerville, at what is now Burfordville. Bollinger also built a fortress nearby to provide protection from Indian raids for his family and neighbors. Other settlers were brought in subsequent wagon trains including Reverend Samuel Weiberg of the German Reformed Church in 1805.
In October of 1812 the Territory of Missouri was organized. The First Council included George Frederick Bollinger and Stephen Byrd. The First Territorial Assembly met in October of 1812.
In 1819 when Madison County was organized a new town was laid out by Saline Creed and named Fredericktown in honor of then Colonel George Frederick Bollinger.
Colonel Bollinger was made a member of the first Territorial Assembly and a member of the State Senate for several terms. In 1828 he was president pro tem of the Senate and in 1836 was a presidential elector. He died in 1842, seven years before Bollinger County was organized.
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