Manuel Lisa

Manuel Lisa
Sketch of Manuel Lisa
Born	(1772-09-08)September 8, 1772 New Orleans, Louisiana
Died	August 12, 1820(1820-08-12) (aged 47) St. Louis, Missouri
Nationality	Spanish, American
Other names	Manuel de Lisa
Occupation	land owner, merchant, fur trader, Indian agent, explorer
Employer	Missouri Fur Company, U.S. Government
Known for	Being a Spanish American frontiersman, who was co-owner of the Missouri Fur Company and as a United States Indian agent, during the War of 1812, helped to pacify the Teton Sioux, Omaha and Ponca Nations and keep them loyal, in wartime, to America.
Spouse(s)	1) Polly Charles Chew; 2) Mitane (Meetahnay); and 3) Mary Hempstead Keeney
Children	1) children; 2) Rosalie and Christopher; and 3) no children
Signature

Manuel Lisa, also known as Manuel de Lisa (September 8, 1772 in New Orleans, Louisiana – August 12, 1820 in St. Louis, Missouri), was a Spanish citizen and later, became an American citizen who, while living on the western frontier, became a land owner, merchant, fur trader, United States Indian agent, and explorer. Lisa was among the founders, in St. Louis, of the Missouri Fur Company, an early fur trading company. Manuel Lisa gained respect through his trading among Native American tribes of the upper Missouri River region, such as the Teton Sioux, Omaha and Ponca.

After being appointed, as US Indian agent, during the War of 1812, Lisa used his standing among the tribes to encourage their alliance with the United States and their warfare against tribes allied with the United Kingdom. While still married to a European-American woman in St. Louis, where he kept a residence, in 1814 Lisa married Mitane, a daughter of Big Elk, the principal chief of the Omaha people, as part of securing their alliance. They had two children together, whom Lisa provided for equally in his will with his children by his other marriage.

Little is known of the early life of Manuel Lisa, but he is believed to have been born in 1772 in New Orleans, then part of Spanish Louisiana. It was ceded to Spain by France after the British victory in the Seven Years' War, when the British gained Florida in exchange with Spain for French lands west of the Mississippi River. His father, Christoval de Lisa, was born in Murcia, Spain, while his mother, Maria Ignacia Rodriguez, was born to a colonial family in St. Augustine, Florida. It is likely that Christoval came to Spanish Louisiana in the service of the governor Alejandro O'Reilly, who started his tenure in 1769.