[7] However, the Auguste Chouteau who founded St. Louis, Missouri, often was referred to as René-Auguste, but his birth date was listed in family records as September 26, 1750.

[9] Kieran Doherty suggests that Laclède informally adopted Auguste Chouteau, providing him with an education in one of the Catholic schools of New Orleans.

[10] Though highly influenced by Laclède, many historians have also commented on his mother's character and intelligence that proved to be exceptionally important throughout his entire life.

Maxent and Laclède formed a partnership in the early 1760s to build a French trading post on the west bank of the Mississippi River north of the village of Ste.

They began buying supplies in early 1763, and on July 6, 1763, they obtained the necessary license from the French territorial government to trade with the Native Americans, primarily those living near the Missouri River.

[12] Starting in August 1763, Chouteau, Laclède and some 30 other men traveled upriver from New Orleans to Sainte Geneviève with trade goods.

[19] He planned to store the goods until spring, and then have Chouteau and his team build the trading post at the site they selected in December 1763.

[18] As Chouteau wrote, Laclède said, "You will come here as soon as navigation opens, and will cause this place to be cleared, in order to form our settlement after the plan that I shall give you.

"[20] In the late winter, Chouteau fitted out a boat and led a party of 30 men across the river, where they landed on February 14, 1764.

[22] It was on a site long occupied by indigenous tribes, as demonstrated by the numerous massive earthwork mounds left from the Mississippian culture of the 9th–12th centuries.

[23] Laclède was at Fort de Chartres until early April, recruiting French settlers from the east side villages.

[24][25] Within months, Laclède had built a home for his common-law wife Marie-Thérèse, who traveled to the outpost from New Orleans, arriving in September 1764.

[28] He quickly expanded the business to include agricultural properties, and banking, and owned an early grist mill in St. Louis.

In 1780, Chouteau played a small role in the Battle of St. Louis, in which the village was defended against a British-led Native American attack.

[35] In 1793, these problems culminated in an order from the Spanish Governor General Francisco Luis Héctor de Carondelet, in which all trade between settlers and tribes was to cease.

Late that year, Chouteau provided valuable information to the Lewis and Clark Expedition about the population of the Louisiana territory, along with observations of wildlife and local villages.

[42] From 1806 to 1815, Chouteau continued leading family fur trade business, eventually negotiating part of the Treaties of Portage des Sioux in 1815 after the War of 1812.

In the 1780s, Chouteau also had some type of long-term affair with Native American Marie, while she was enslaved by Lieutenant Governor Francisco Cruzat.