178 Births From Mine La Motte

Submitted by Michael Miller

The area of Madison County now known as Mine La Motte was first visited by white men in 1715, when the French Governor General of Louisiana, Phillippe Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac & his men saw the indians & the crude mines & the lead that they retrieved from it. This discovery & visit predates the settling of Ste. Genevieve by some 20 years. However as far as records show, NO permanent settlement was made at Mine La Motte, until AFTER 1735, & the founding of Ste. Genevieve as the first permanent settlement in the Missouri territory.

After years of disuse, a group of Frenchman were mining at the site of Mine La Motte when they were attacked by Indians in 1774. It is believed that the miners killed in this skirmish were originally interred on the grounds of what is now known as the Mine La Motte Cemetery, several years later their remains were reinterred in Ste. Genevieve. After the founding of the Village of St. Michael’s (now Fredericktown) & the flood of 1813, some of the French settlers relocated to what is now called Village Creek, others moved south of the old village of St. Michael’s refusing to go back to their old homes. It is believed that throughout these years a settlement or residents lived at what is Mine La Motte, during the 1800’s the importance of Mine La Motte, to the economy of Madison County increased with the output of lead, & the mining industry in the southeast Missouri region. During the Civil War the smelter & the mining works were destroyed by the Union Army. To keep any supply of bullets or lead from getting to the Confederates, the destruction during the Civil War & the looting & burning & pillaging by troops on both sides & those outriders that swore allegiance to no one greatly damaged the economy in the county. The rebuilding of the mining works & the emergence of the railroad, & immigration from Ireland, Germany, & other parts of Europe attracted new settlers to the region. Mine La Motte prospered, & at 1900 bolstered a large population, a company story & drug store, Catholic, Baptist, Presbyterian, Christian, & Methodist Churches, two schools, one colored school, a brass band, streets, houses & a railroad depot at Lead Station.

After the depression Mine La Motte became just another roadside stop. Eventually the mines closed, the people scattered, the buildings were eventually torn down, & the homes that now exist are all that is left of what was a thriving community.

Dr. W.W. Watkins practiced in Mine La Motte from 1872-1878, thereafter moving to Pittsburgh, KS., & from there to Idaho. He kept a journal of the births he attended in Mine La Motte, both white & african-american.

The material contained in the records & the way he records it changes from time to time, so as the content change, it will show in this document. The dates recorded in here are from the Dr.’s records.