Latest update on StLToday.com about the new monument in Calvary Cemetery to early St. Louisans, including Creole farmer and pioneer Jean Baptiste Gamache.
The story today shows this monument with the caption,
“The Gamache family and the Archdiocese of St. Louis raised money to erect this monument to mark the resting place of honor the founding men and women of St. Louis, many of whom are unknown.”
I will add that, “Our branch of the Gamache family always knew the connection … .”
There’s literally not a week, almost never a day, that goes by where someone doesn’t ask me if I know another person with the last name Gamache, and adds that it’s “such an unusual name … .” Well, not really, and it’s been in the St. Louis area since before there was a city of St. Louis.
In fact, there is another Donna Gamache in the area, whom you may know associated with e-Women’s Network. She and I are two different people, but the name-game has caused some confusion and laughs.
Not to put too fine a point on the multitude of local Gamaches, I will add that the family pioneer was not only a Creole, but also a Catholic, which the family is largely still today; so there are a lot of Gamaches in the area. My husband is the oldest of eight kids and part of a large extended family spread across St. Louis City, St. Louis County (north and south), and Jefferson County. That’s just one branch of the descendants of Jean Baptiste Gamache.
Oh, yeah: Here’s that link to the next installment to the story. > Looming over a mass grave, a new monument to early St. Louisans <
This was a long time in coming. Our family has waited 245 years to be recognize as co-founders of St. Louis, Missouri.
Jean Baptiste Bequette (the Blacksmith) and
Jean Baptiste Bequette (the Miller) from whom I descend.
I want to thank the Gamache family and the Archdiocese of St. Louis for this monument in honor of the founders of St. Louis Missouri.
Eugene Beckett
Cambria, Illinois
Thank you so much for stopping in and leaving your comment. I agree with you that it was a long time in coming.
Best regards,
Donna J Gamache & John S Gamache
St. Louis, Mo.
PS If you are doing family research and want more info on the St. Louis Gamaches that we know, send me another comment. I can see your e-mail address and will reply privately.
The HALL family will be having a reunion in St. Louis the weekend of Aug. 7-9, 2009. We are descended from Alexis PICARD, one of the men listed in Auguste CHOUTEAU’S journal and, we hope, on the monument pictured above. News of the monument was given to me today by someone at the St. Louis Genealogical Society who is processing our applications to be part of the First Families of St. Louis. Since all of old St. Louis is gone, I was searching for a site where we could be photo’d holding our FF certificates; this looks like the perfect spot. Thank you to everyone who made it possible. (Now the Archdiocese needs to update its Calvary website to feature the new monument so that those who wish to honor their ancestors can find it.)
Warm regards,
Mary Beth Frederick
San Francisco, CA
It’s wonderful to hear from you! I love your idea of a photo opp. I work in media relations for a company in St. Louis, and I could certainly get good coverage for it! If you do organize something like that, please let me know! We will certainly come!
The setting of this momument has become such a bonding experience for the not just the local First Families, but for those who are spread across the USA. Recognition of this interconnectedness of the First Families, and their part in the history of St. Louis, is good for the families, as well as for the City of St. Louis. It makes St. Louis less a mere dot on the map, and it personalizes and expands the human experience of the Europeans who came here hundreds of years ago beyond the few who have always been recognized for that.
I said in my original post (above), “There’s literally not a week, almost never a day, that goes by where someone doesn’t ask me if I know another person with the last name Gamache, and adds that it’s “such an unusual name … .” Well, not really, and it’s been in the St. Louis area since before there was a city of St. Louis.”
Here is a resource I found online from the Missouri history & genealogy resources that shows just some of the Gamaches who come up in a search of the archives. Check this out: There is page after page of Gamaches!
http://tinyurl.com/nnxjyy