History as They Lived It: A Social History of Prairie du Rocher, Illinois (Shawnee Books) - Softcover

Brown, Margaret Kimball

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0809333406 ISBN 13: 9780809333400

Publisher: Southern Illinois University Press, 2013

Synopsis

“His­tory as They Lived It deserves to be placed within the rich context of Illinois Country historiography going back more than a century. . . . It brings together the fully ripened thoughts of a mature scholar at the very moment that students of the Illinois Country need such a book.”—from the foreword by Carl J. Ekberg

Settled in 1722, Prairie du Rocher was at the geographic center of a French colony in the Mississippi Valley, which also included other villages in what is now Illinois and Missouri: Cahokia, Kaskaskia, Fort de Chartres, St. Philippe, Ste. Genevieve, and St. Louis.  Located in an alluvial valley near towering limestone bluffs, which inspired the village’s name—French for “prairie of the rock”— Prairie du Rocher is the only one of the seven French colonial villages that still exists today as a small compact community.

The village of Prairie du Rocher endured governance by France, Great Britain, Virginia, and the Illinois territory before Illinois became a state in 1818. Despite these changes, the villagers persisted in maintaining the community and its values. Margaret Kimball Brown looks at one of the oldest towns in the region through the lenses of history and anthropology, utilizing extensive research in archives and public records to give historians, anthropologists, and general readers a lively depiction of this small community and its people.

About this title

About the Author:

Natalia Maree Belting earned her Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in 1940 and taught history there from 1941 to 1985. She wrote more than twenty works for children, including "Pierre of Kaskaskia" and "In Enemy Hands," as well as the weekly column "Illinois Past" for the "Champaign News-Gazette" and other central Illinois newspapers.
Carl J. Ekberg is an Illinois State University professor emeritus of history and the author of "French Roots in the Illinois Country" and "Francois Valle and His World: Upper Louisiana Before Lewis and Clark,"

About this edition

• Publisher: Southern Illinois University Press
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0809333406
• ISBN 13: 9780809333400
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 376