Portrait of Marie Thérèse Bourgeois Chouteau
Francois M. Guyol de Guiran, Portrait of Marie Thérèse Bourgeois Chouteau, ca. 1805-15. Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis.
Marie-Thérèse Bourgeois Chouteau was born in the city of New Orleans in the Louisiana colony in 1733. Her father Nicholas Bourgeois was an immigrant from France, and her mother Marie Joseph Tarare was an immigrant from Spain. When Marie-Thérèse was only six years old, her father died. Although her mother quickly remarried, Marie-Thérèse was sent to live at the Ursuline convent, where she learned to read, write, and perform all the tasks expected of a French colonial housewife.
When Marie-Thérèse was fifteen years old, her family arranged for her to marry René Chouteau. René was from France and owned a tavern in New Orleans. A year later, in 1749, Marie-Thérèse gave birth to a son who was named René Auguste. But life with her husband must have been unhappy, because shortly after her son was born Marie-Thérèse moved back into her parents’ home. In 1752 René left New Orleans entirely, returning to France and leaving his wife and child behind. After he departed, Marie-Thérèse began calling herself a widow and her friends and family treated her as one. Under French law this allowed Marie-Thérèse to keep custody of her son and own and manage her own property.
In 1755 Marie-Thérèse met a recent immigrant from France named Pierre de Laclède Liguest. Pierre was a partner in a French trading company. Marie-Thérèse and Pierre fell in love, but Marie-Thérèse’s preexisting marriage to René meant that they could not be legally married. Instead, they moved into a New Orleans home together and lived as common-law husband and wife. Relationships like theirs were not uncommon in New Orleans, but their unofficial status would have prevented them from moving in the most respected circles of the city’s society. Between 1758 and 1762 Marie-Thérèse gave birth to three children: Jean-Pierre, Marie Pelagie, and Marie-Louise. Because their parents were not married, all of the children were given the last name Chouteau, after their mother.
In 1763 Pierre decided to move to the frontier village of St. Louis, where he would have more direct opportunities to trade and grow his business. He took Marie-Thérèse’s eldest child René Auguste with him. Marie-Thérèse, who was pregnant, was left in New Orleans to manage their home and three other children. After the birth of Victoire, her fifth and final child, Marie-Thérèse packed up and moved to St. Louis to reunite the family.
Pierre prospered in St. Louis. He built a large home with a farm plot and gave her three enslaved Black people and two enslaved Indigenous people to help her manage the property. Since they were not married, Pierre needed to take extra steps to make sure Marie-Thérèse would control their property for the rest of her life. He put all of it in her name, calling it a gift in honor of the hard work René Auguste had done for his company. Pierre moved into the home with Marie-Thérèse. Their wealth and status in St. Louis meant that the rest of the community accepted their relationship, even if it was outside the bounds of traditional marriage. Over the next few years, Pierre and René Auguste taught Marie-Thérèse the ins and outs of trade in St. Louis, and she became a prosperous merchant in her own right.
In 1767 just as Marie-Thérèse was gaining a name for herself, her husband René returned from France. When he learned that Marie-Thérèse was a property owner and merchant, he went to the courts to demand that she be forced to return to his home. René hoped to use his rights as a husband to take control of Marie-Thérèse‘s property so he could use her money for his own ventures. The governor of Louisiana issued an order requiring Marie-Thérèse to return to New Orleans. Luckily for Marie-Thérèse, the lieutenant governor of St. Louis refused to comply, stating that Marie-Thérèse had lived as a widow for many years and had earned all of her property and fortune independent of her husband.
In 1805 the sale of some of her property brought in enough wealth to make Marie-Thérèse one of the richest people in St. Louis.
Protected by the local government as well as her own status and private fortune, Marie-Thérèse remained in St. Louis. René died in 1776, putting an end to his case against her and leaving Marie-Thérèse truly independent for the first time in her life. Marie-Thérèse could have finally married Pierre, but she chose not to. Pierre’s business had failed and he was in debt. She worried that if she married him, she would be required to pay off his debts. Her decision was wise. Pierre passed away only two years later, leaving behind massive debts. Since Marie-Thérèse had not married him, she was free from any responsibility toward his estate and could continue to pursue her own interests unencumbered.
Marie-Thérèse traded land, furs, and grain, accumulating wealth and status with every passing year. She saw each of her children married to members of the most prominent families of St. Louis, establishing kinship ties that would ensure everyone’s future prosperity. By 1787 her farm had grown to include an orchard, a barn, and a cabin for her enslaved people. She had seventeen people who lived and worked with her to maintain her home, farm, and business: two free white male laborers, three free Black male laborers, eight enslaved women, and four enslaved men. In 1805 the sale of some of her property brought in enough wealth to make her one of the richest people in St. Louis.
Marie-Thérèse lived out the rest of her life in the home Pierre built her, with the constant support of one of the enslaved Indigenous women Pierre had given her. When she died in 1814 she freed that enslaved woman and gave her enough money and goods to help her establish a modest home. She also left behind five children and fifty grandchildren, who together made up one of the most powerful trade families in the Louisiana territory.
Vocabulary
- common-law marriage: When a couple lives together and presents themselves as a married couple without going through an official church or government wedding ceremony.
- convent: The home of a community of nuns.
- estate: All of the money and property owned by a person.
- merchant: A person whose business is buying and selling goods.
- tavern: A business that serves food and drink to customers.
- widow: A woman whose husband has died.
Discussion Questions
- Why did Marie-Thérèse Bourgeois Chouteau call herself a widow? How did this help her take control of her life?
- Why did Marie-Thérèse Bourgeois Chouteau never remarry? What does this reveal about the status of women in colonial Louisiana?
- Over the course of Marie-Thérèse Bourgeois Chouteau’s life, ownership of the Louisiana colony passed from the French to the Spanish to the French and then to the new United States of America. How might these shifts have affected her life?
Suggested Activities
- Compare Marie-Thérèse Bourgeois Chouteau’s life story with that of other New France women in trade: Madame Montour, Charlotte-Françoise Juchereau de Saint-Denis, and Marguerite Faffart. What similarities do these women share? How did race and class affect the trajectories of their lives?
- To consider the importance of familial networks in the colonies, pair this life story with any or all of the following:
Themes
WORK, LABOR, AND ECONOMY; DOMESTICITY AND FAMILY
