Martin Boismenue House State Historic Site

Pierre Martin/​Nicholas Boisrnenue House, East Carondelet, IL.
I was allowed access to the inside the Martin-​Boismenue House on October 10, 2015 for a photo-​shoot. The house is now owned by the State of Illinois’ Historic Preservation Agency. The Martin-​Boismenue House used to hold two annual open-​houses where the public was invited to view the interior of this late 18^th century homestead and to interact with costumed interpreters to learn about French Colonial America. Traditionally these open houses were held during the Fête du Bons Vieux Temps in February and the St. Nicholas Tradition event in December, but they have not been held for over 10 years.
The Pierre Martin Family. The Martin family was an old and large French Canadian family. Pierre Martin was born in La Rivenue Parish, Quebec, ca. 1745. He had arrived in the Illinois Country and was living in the village of Cahokia by 1770, the year he married Marie St. Yves. Pierre at age 42. He was listed in the 1787 census as the male head of a household living in Cahokia with two children. Pierre Martin was a Revolutionary War veteran.
In the 1790 census, Pierre is listed as head of the household in the village of Prairie du Pont (East Carondelet), Illinois. He apparently acquired the property in this year as an improvement claim which require that he farm the land and built a house. It is therefore assumed that the Martini Boismenue House was constructed in 1790. In 1794, his Prairie du Pont property is described as consisting of a house, barn lot, garden, and other small outbuildings.
The Martin-​Boismenue House is a surviving example of the French Creole poteaux-​sur-​solle (post-​on-​sill) construction and one of the oldest structures of its kind in Illinois. This type of construction utilized upright hewn logs that were seated on a horizontal log sill and the spaces between the logs were filled with pierrotage chinking of mortar and rubble.
The original building measures 20×35 ft and consisted of two rooms separated by a receiving hall and a one room or half basement with a separate rear entrance. The larger first floor room was the parlor, or salle, and was a multi-​purpose living area. The smaller first floor room was the sleeping room, or chambre, and was a more private area.
Limestone fireplaces were located at each end of the house including one in the half basement. There is a large attic which runs the entire length of the house. The house contained a stone cooking fireplace situated in a half basement, or souterrain, a rarity among similar structures that may reflect the prosperity of the owners. The basement likely functioned as a work space and living quarters as well. The original house is approximately 80% intact.
A common feature of Creole architecture are the broad open porches, known as galeries, located on the front and back of the house. The galeries offered additional living space in fair weather as well as to keep the sun and rain off the whitewashed walls.
At the end of the 18^th century, the majority of European settlement in the middle Mississippi River Valley was confined to a sixty-​mile strip between Cahokia and Kaskaskia (the Ste. Genevieve area). This fertile river bottomland, now known as the American Bottom, was the breadbasket for the Louisiana Territory. The principal crop grown was wheat but other commodities included corn, pumpkins, oats, barley, flax, cotton, and tobacco. Farmers in Pierre Martin’s era would use a common field called the le grand champ. Martin would cultivate and harvest his crops with the help of his family, his one or two slaves, and hired day laborers. Once harvested, Martin would have transported his crops south to Kaskaskia where it would then be shipped to New Orleans.
In 1806, Pierre Martin put up the two lots with a house and barn in Prairie du Pont and two common field tracts as collateral for a loan to Jean Francois Perrey. In the same year, his wife died, and his death at age 62 followed the next year. With Martin’s debt unpaid, the probates indicate that Perrey was compensated out of the estate sale. The barn and lot were sold for $ 13. 00 and the house — described as «avec souterraint» (finished basement) — was sold for $ 96.00 to Baptiste Gendron.
Throughout the early 19^th century, several owners are indicated and during the late 19^th century into the early 20^th century it was owned by members of the Boismenue family. The Boismenue family of French Canadian descent appear in the records at Cahokia in the 18^th century.
It was not until 1980, when the Martin/​Boismenue House was destined for demolition, that it became evident that the building was of vertical log construction. When workmen began to strip off the modern siding from the front of the structure, the distinctive vertical log timbers of the original building were exposed (Figure 5). Within 24 hours, a local group of citizens was organized with the intention of saving the structure for its historical significance.