Pierre Menard

Pierre Menard (7 October 1766 – 13 June 1844) was a fur trader and U.S. political figure. Pierre Menard was born at St. Antoine-sur-Richelieu, near Montreal, Canada, third in a family of ten children. His father was Jean Baptiste Ménard, a French soldier in the regiment of Guyenne.[1]

This article is about Pierre Menard, the Illinois politician. For other uses, see Pierre Menard (disambiguation).
Pierre Menard

Resident in the Illinois Country by the end of the 18th century, Marnard became a successful businessman. He served in the legislature of the Indiana Territory, and then presided over the Illinois Territory Council. He was elected the first Lieutenant Governor of the State of Illinois in 1818.

Biography

Early life

After a short period of formal schooling in Montreal, Pierre, at about age fifteen, signed on with a trading expedition to the vast Illinois Country. By the early 1790s Menard had established a solid trading business of his own; his Kaskaskia business ledgers first recorded transactions, beginning in the spring of 1791. He was granted a St. Clair County commercial license in 1793 at the age of thirty, while already a respected entrepreneur.[1]

Personal life
Pierre Menard's home, built in 1802

In 1792 Menard married Thérèse Godin, who died in 1804 leaving four children. Two years later, he married Angélique Saucier, granddaughter of François Saucier, Engineer General in the French army and construction supervisor of nearby Fort de Chartres. Eight children were born to Pierre and Angélique.[1]

Politician

Menard was a member of the Indiana Territorial Legislature, 1803–1809, and president of the Illinois Territorial Council 1812–1818.[2]

Pierre Menard House

The Illinois Territory was a frontier region of the United States, formerly part of the Illinois Country, a portion of New France administered originally from Quebec and later transferred to Louisiana. Upon the admission of Illinois as a state in 1818, the population of the new state was divided between French-speaking and English-speaking citizens. To balance the ticket, Menard became the state's first Lieutenant Governor, serving from 1818 to 1822 with the first governor, Shadrach Bond.

Economic forces, however, were already leading people inland from the French-speaking areas along the Mississippi River, and largely to promote real estate interests,[3] the first Illinois General Assembly decided in 1820 to move the state capital from Kaskaskia, Menard's home town, to Vandalia.

Menard left office in 1822 and returned to private life. He died in 1844 and was buried at Fort Kaskaskia, near his house.

Legacy

Menard County, Illinois is named for the Lieutenant Governor.[4] His house, near Chester, Illinois, is preserved as the Pierre Menard Home State Historic Site.

Bayou Manard (spelled with two a's), a branch of the Arkansas River, was named for Pierre Menard.[5]

References
  1. "Pierre Menard on lib.niu.edu". Archived from the original on 2015-05-18. Retrieved 2015-05-15.
  2. Menard on politicalgraveyard.com
  3. Past Illinois Capitols
  4. Gannett, Henry (1905). The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 205.
  5. "Manard-Oklahoma Historical Markers". Archived from the original on 2013-04-21. Retrieved 2013-01-21.
Political offices
Preceded by
Office established		 Lieutenant Governor of Illinois
1818-1822		 Succeeded by
Adolphus Hubbard
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