Childhood
Jean Baptiste Charbonneau was born to Sacagawea, a Shoshone, and her owner, the French-Canadian trapper Toussaint Charbonneau, in early 1805 at Fort Mandan in North Dakota. This was during the Lewis and Clark Expedition, which wintered there in 1804–05. The senior Charbonneau had been hired by the expedition as an interpreter and, learning that his pregnant wife was Shoshone, the captains Lewis and Clark agreed to bring her along. They knew they would need to negotiate with the Shoshone for horses and guides at the headwaters of the Missouri River. Meriwether Lewis noted the boy's birth in his journal:
The party that were ordered last evening set out early this morning. the weather was fair and could wind N. W. about five oclock this evening one of the wives of Charbono was delivered of a fine boy. It is worthy of remark that this was the first child which this woman had boarn and as is common in such cases her labour was tedious and the pain violent; Mr. Jessome informed me that he had freequently administered a small portion of the rattle of the rattle-snake, which he assured me had never failed to produce the desired effect, that of hastening the birth of the child; having the rattle of a snake by me I gave it to him and he administered two rings of it to the woman broken in small pieces with the fingers and added to a small quantity of water. Whether this medicine was truly the cause or not I shall not undertake to determine, but I was informed that she had not taken it more than ten minutes before she brought forth perhaps this remedy may be worthy of future experiments, but I must confess that I want faith as to it's efficacy.—The infant Charbonneau traveled from North Dakota to the Pacific Ocean and back, carried along in the expedition's boats or upon his mother's back. His presence is often credited by historians with assuring native tribes of the expedition's peaceful intentions, as they believed that no war party would travel with a woman and child.
In April 1807, about two years after the expedition, the Charbonneau family moved to St. Louis, at Clark's invitation. Toussaint Charbonneau and Sacagawea departed for the Mandan villages in April 1809, and left the boy to live with Clark. In November 1809, the parents returned to St. Louis to try farming, but left again in April 1811. Jean Baptiste continued to reside with Clark.
Clark's two-story home, built in 1818, contained an illuminated museum 100 feet (30 m) long by 30 feet (9.1 m) wide. Its walls were decorated with national flags and life-size portraits of George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette, Indian artifacts and mounted animal heads. Upon visiting the museum, Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, a geologist and ethnographer, wrote,
"Clark evinces a philosophical taste in the preservation of many subjects of natural history. We believe this is the only collection of specimens of art and nature west of Cincinnati, which partakes of the character of a museum, or cabinet of natural history."
As a boy, Charbonneau learned from the vast collection.
Clark paid for Charbonneau's education at the St. Louis academy, a Jesuit Catholic school, although the expense was considerable for the time. The school's single classroom was then located in the storehouse of Clark's friend, the trader Joseph Robidoux. Brothers James and George Kennerly paid for Charbonneau's supplies for 1820 and were reimbursed by Clark:
- January 22, 1820: payment to J. E. Welch for two quarters tuition of J. B. Charbonneau, a half-Indian boy, and firewood and ink. Amount = $16.37
- April 1, 1820: to J. & G. H. Kennerly for one Roman History for Charbonneau, a half Indian, $1.50; one pair of shoes, $2.24; two pairs of socks, $1.50; two squires of paper and quills, $1.50; 1 Scott's Lesson, $1.50; 1 dictionary, $1.50; 1 hat, $4.00; four yards of cloth, $10.00; one ciphering book, $1., one slate and pencils, $.62.
- April 11, 1820: to J. E. Welch for one quarter’s tuition, including fuel and ink. Amount = $8.37.
- June 30, 1820: to Louis Tesson Honoré for board, lodging and washing. Amount = $45.00.
- October 1, 1820: to L. T. Honoré for lodging, boarding, and washing from 1 July to 30 September at $15.00 per month. Amount = $45.00
- March 31, 1822: to Louis Tesson Honore for boarding, lodging and washing of J. B. Charbonneau, a half Indian.
From June through September 1820 and in 1822, Jean Baptiste boarded with Louis Tesson Honoré, a Clark family friend and member of his church, Christ Episcopal. The general had helped organize the church in 1819. They lived in St. Ferdinand Township in St. Louis County, Missouri near Charbonneau's father's 320 acres (1.3 km2) of land.
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