“HisÂtory 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.â€â€”from the foreword by Carl J. EkbergSettled 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 rockâ€â€” 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.
#1551607 in Books imusti 2016-10-27Original language:English 7.90 x .40 x 5.30l; .0 #File Name: 0809153122184 pagesPaulist Press
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