Bellefontaine Cemetery

I had not been here until today. And after we spent a few weeks studying the Louisiana Purchase and Lewis and Clark's journey through it, I wanted to see where he was buried. There are 86,000 people buried at Bellefontaine and many have contributed greatly to the growth of our city and country.

This information is taken from the Cemetery Tour Book, which helps navigate the 314 acres.

General William Clark (1770-1838)

They led the expedition that explored the Louisiana Territory all the way to the Pacific Ocean. After 2 years and 4 months Meriwether Lewis and Clark returned to St Louis.

Adolphus Busch (1838-1913)

Forty breweries existed in St Louis when Eberhardt Anheuser bought The Bavarian Brewery before the Civil War. His daughter, Lilly, married Adolphus Busch who sold supplies to the brewery. After the Civil War, Busch joined his father-in -law in the brewing business. Anheuser-Busch is the world's largest brewery. (Inbev)

Captain Isaiah Sellers (1802-1864)

He was the most famous of all steamboat men. He was the first man to use the pseudonym, "Mark Twain", and after his death, Samuel Clemens adopted it because it stood for truthful writing, as Clemens explains in his "Life on the Mississippi."

Hempstead Family/Manuel Lisa (1772-1820)

The former Hempstead family burying ground is the oldest section of the cemetery, which was their farm. Stephen Hempstead, father of the family, was a veteran of the Revolutionary War, having served in Nathan Hale's regiment. One of the largest monuments in this section is of Manuel Lisa, a famous fur trader of Spanish descent. He married Mary Hempstead even though he was a Roman Catholic and she was Yankee-born Presbyterian. She was the first white woman to go into the Indian country along the upper Missouri River.