PLANS UNDER WAY TO MARK CITY BICENTENNIAL

~Correction: City will celebrate 200th anniversary of arrival of Louis Lorimier to Cape area, not 200th anniversary of founding of the city.

Beginning in January 1992, Cape Girardeau will start a yearlong celebration to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the establishment of the city, whose uncontested founder was Don Louis Lorimier.

He was the first and only commandant appointed by the Spanish regime to govern the District of Cape Girardeau, one of the five original districts of Missouri, founded 1792-93.

Many committees will be appointed prior to the observance to organize events involving churches, schools, civic organizations, and the city itself. Two hundred years is not long in the calender of time, but the United States is a new country compared to many countries in Europe and Asia.

When the city celebration begins, residents will be asked to contribute historical data and family mementos that will be of local interest. In this way, details about past events that took place in the city, but were not publicly recorded, will become known and add to the chronicle of the area.

It is safe to say that when the city was beginning, the majority of the residents were more interested in what transpired in their daily life than recording facts on paper. Writing material was scarce and many of the individuals were unschooled.

Lorimier's secretary, Barthelemi Cousin, was an educated man, and Lorimier was fortunate to have obtained him to keep records of the city. He also taught Lorimier how to write his name. This was important because as head of the new settlement, the commandant was required to sign many documents to make them legal. Unfortunately, Cousin's records were lost after his death in 1824.

Before Cousin's death, he gave the records to Agatha Steinback. one of Lorimier's daughters. She, in turn, gave them to Joseph McFerron to put in a book. It was not done, and the records disappeared. Cousin had surveyed the area, and laid out Cape Girardeau in 1805-06. The loss of the records has been a great misfortune for the city.

Southeast Missouri is a paradise of information for students of history, geology, genealogy, and archaeology. Although it is considered bad to brag, it is hard for residents of Southeast Missouri not to do a little boasting about the area because of the history, the age of the settlements, the pioneers, and the resources and attractiveness of the countryside.

After the American Revolution when the government had no money to compensate the soldiers, certain land privileges and concessions were made to them for land west of the Mississippi in the newly acquired Louisiana Territory. Many revolutionary veterans headed for the West and a number of them came to Missouri.

These individuals were usually hard working pioneers who were anxious to make a better life for themselves and their families. They came from the Carolinas, Virginia, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and New York. They organized caravans or wagon trains and traveled in groups for protection against the Indians. Two of these individuals who came form the East and who made a mark on our local history were Ezekiel Able, and Col. William H. Ashley. There were many others.

The Nancy Hunter Chapter of the DAR under the leadership and enthusiasm of Mrs. Dorothy Krueger Points has tried to locate and have marked the graves of Revolutionary War soldiers. Many of them were unmarked, as were the graves of the first residents of Cape Girardeau. It was not until Lorimier gave the land for Lorimier Cemetery when his wife, Charlotte, died, March 1803, that a permanent grave site was available for the residents of Cape Girardeau. It is here that many of the leaders of the area were buried during the early years of the 19th century.

As area residents start fall house cleaning, they should remember to put aside old records of importance that will add to the coming bicentennial. In so doing, something very valuable may be added to what is now on file for the approaching celebration marking the 200th birthday of the city.