Chouteau was the name of a highly successful, ethnically French fur-trading family based in Saint Louis, Missouri, which they helped found. Their ancestors Chouteau and Laclède initially settled in New Orleans. They then moved-up the Mississippi river and established posts in the Midwest and Western United States, particularly along the Missouri River and in the Southwest. Various locations were named after this family. People Marie-Therese Bourgeois Chouteau (1733-1814), matriarch of the family children of Marie-Therèse Bourgeois Chouteau and René Augustin Chouteau, Sr. René Auguste Chouteau (1750-1829), founder of St. Louis, Missouri Auguste Aristide Chouteau (1792-1833), fur trader Henri Chouteau I (1805-1855), railroad executive, killed in Gasconade Bridge train disaster Henri Chouteau II (1830-1854), married Julia Deaver Azby Auguste Chouteau Sr. (1853-?), lawyer and one of the founders of Minnesela, South Dakota, husband of Cora Baker (great-great-granddaughter of Isaac Shelby) Azby Chouteau Jr. (1884-?) Henri Arminstead Chouteau III (1889-1952), realtor Edward Chouteau (1807-1846), trader Gabriel Chouteau (1794-1887), served in War of 1812 Eulalie Chouteau (1799-1835), married René Paul (1783-1851), first surveyor of St. Louis Gabriel René Paul (1813-1886), Union Army general in the American Civil War Louise Chouteau, married Gabriel Paul, French chevalier Emilie Chouteau, married Thomas Floyd, US officer in the Black Hawk War Children of Marie-Therèse Bourgeois Chouteau and Pierre Laclède (also founder of St. Louis, Missouri): Victoire Chouteau, (1760-1825), wife of Charles Gratiot, Sr., financier of the Illinois campaign during the American Revolutionary War Charles Gratiot, (1786-1855), builder of Fort Meigs and Fort Monroe and participant in Battle of Mackinac Island Henry Gratiot (1789-1856), soldier in the Black Hawk War Adèle Gratiot (1826-1887), wife of Elihu B. Washburne (1816-1887), U.S. Secretary of State and U.S. Ambassador to France Jean Pierre Chouteau (1758-1849) Auguste Pierre Chouteau (1786-1838), founder of posts in Oklahoma and Chouteau, Oklahoma Emilie Sophie Chouteau (1813-1874), wife of Nicolas DeMenil and owner of Chatillon-DeMenil House Pierre Chouteau, Jr., nicknamed 'Cadet', (1789-1865), founder of posts on Upper Missouri River, including Fort Pierre and Chouteau County, Montana, and partner to Bernard A. Pratte in the Pratte & Chouteau Trading Company. François Chouteau, first official European settler of Kansas City, Missouri Yvonne Chouteau (1929-2016), 20th-century Shawnee classical ballerina, one of the "Five Moons" of Oklahoma; 5th-generation descendant of Jean Pierre Chouteau Marie Pelagie Chouteau (1760-1812), grandmother of Emilie Pratt, wife of Ramsay Crooks (1780-1859), General Manager and President of the American Fur Company and business partner of Jean Pierre