Jean Baptiste Creely (1758-1833) and Elizabeth Bienvenue Delisle (1763?-1852)

Jean Baptiste Creely Parents

Born: 1758.¹

Married: Elizabeth Bienvenue Delisle, 18 May 1779 in Kaskaskia, Randolph, Illinois.²

Died: 14 June 1833. ^{1, 3}

Buried: ? in Florissant, St. Louis, Missouri.¹

Elizabeth Bienvenue Delisle

Born: about 1763.⁴

Died: ?

Buried: 11 March 1852 in Florissant, St. Louis, Missouri.⁵

Children

1. Elizabeth Creely

2. Angelique Creely (born 23 February 1785;⁶ christened 22 May 1785 in Kaskaskia, Randolph, Illinois;⁶ buried 4 December 1797 in Florissant, St. Louis, Missouri).⁷

3. Joseph Creely (born 17 August 1787;⁶ christened 18 August 1787 in Kaskaskia, Randolph, Illinois;⁶ buried 3 February 1791 in Florissant, St. Louis, Missouri).⁷

4. Francis Creely

5. Creely [unnamed male child] (born 18 July 1792 in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri;⁸ died 18 July 1792 in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri;⁸ buried 19 July 1792 in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri).⁸

6. Louise Marie Th. Creely (christened 8 June 1793 in St. Louis County [exact locale unknown], Missouri).⁹

7. Julie Creely

8. Aurore Creely

9. Angelique Creely (died 4 December 1797, buried in Florissant, St. Louis Missouri).¹

10. Anne Creely (christened 13 September 1798).¹

11. Cecilia Creely (second marriage)

12. Michel Creely

13. Catharine Creely

14. Jean Baptiste Creely

Notes on Jean Baptiste Creely

• Was illiterate and signed with a mark.¹⁰
• Operated a ferry across the Kaskaskia River at Reily Lake. On July 4, 1778, American General George Rogers Clark captured him in order to learn about Kaskaskia before capturing it. Jean Baptiste told the general ". . . that all was quiet in Kaskaskia . . ." Clark then forced Jean Baptiste to ferry him and his men across the river to the town.¹¹ I find it rather interesting and a little bit special that a Creely (and my ancestor) had a hand in the American Revolution.
• By 1783 he had professed himself a citizen of Virginia (which at that time claimed the land that is now Illinois).¹²
• He was recorded in the 1787 census of Kaskaskia.¹³
• He supposedly, "came from Kaskaskia in 1787. He owned a wind-mill on the Mississippi in 1798."¹⁴ However, I find it more likely that he came to Missouri on a permanent basis between 1790 (when Francis was christened in Kaskaskia) and 1791 (in the Spanish census, see below).
• He sold land in Kaskaskia on 7 July 1790.¹⁵ This is the last record I have of him in Kaskaskia.
• In a 1791 Spanish census of Missouri (then Louisiana territory), he had a farm with five slaves that grew wheat, corn, and tobacco. His name there is recorded as "Juan Bap Crelis."¹⁵
• He was recorded as "Baptiste Creely" in the 1830 census of St. Ferdinand, St. Louis, Missouri. At the time he was 70-80 years old (born between 1750 and 1760) and living with his wife.
• His probate records begin in 1833. The inventory of his state included three black slaves: a man about 50-years-old named Baptist ($250), a woman about 50-years-old named Aggy (worth $50), and an 11-year-old boy also named Baptist (worth $200).³

Notes on Elizabeth Bienvenue Delisle

• She was the daughter of Charles Bienvenue de Lisle (1724-1803) and Elizabeth Lalande Guillemot (?-?).² Her father was born in Detroit to one of the original settling white families and moved to Kaskaskia in the 1750's. Her mother was born to a Canadian couple (Jean Baptiste Guilmon dit Lalande and Charlotte Marchand) who moved to Illinois in 1734 or 1735. Charles was among the French heads of family who was part of the exodus from Kaskaskia to Missouri in the late 1780's or early 1790's.
• Elizabeth's Bienvenue progenitors must not be confused with the more wealthy and prominent Antoine Bienvenue family in Kaskaskia at the same time. The other Bienvenues came directly from France (as opposed to Detroit).
• Alternate surnames: Bienvenu, Bienvenus, De Lisle, Delile, De Lisle.
• In the 1850 Federal Census of District 82, St. Louis, Missouri, she is listed as 90-years-old (an age inconsistent with other census) and next door to her daughter, Elizabeth Creely on one side and her son-in-law, Pascal Dubreuil.

Sources

1. Earl Fischer Database of St. Louisans

2. Beauregard, Marthe F. La population des forts français d'Amérique, v. 2, p. 85.

3. St. Louis Probate Court case #01058.

4. 1850 Federal Census of District 82, St. Louis, Missouri.

5. Register of St. Ferdinand parish, Florissant, St. Louis, Missouri (burial record 11 March 1852).

6. Beauregard, v. 2, p. 123.

7. Register of St. Ferdinand parish, Florissant, St. Louis, Missouri.

8. Register of Old Cathedral parish, St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri.

9. Catholic Baptisms, Saint Louis, Missouri, 1765-1840, p. 66. [Microfiche]

10. Kaskaskia manuscripts (translated), #918.

11. Menard, Ruth. "Riley/Reily Lake," in Towns & Families of Randolph County, published by the Randolph County Genealogical Society, 2000, p. 78.

12. Mason, Edward G. Early Chicago and Illinois, p. 198.

13. Alvord, Clarence Walworth. Kaskaskia Records, 1778-1790, p. 414.

14. Houck, Louis. A History of Missouri from the Earliest Explorations and Settlements Until the Admission of the State into the Union, v. 2, p. 67.

15. Houck, Louis. The Spanish Regime in Missouri, v. 2, p. 376-377.

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