Antoine Saugrain
Antoine François Pierre Saugrain (born February 17, 1763 in Paris , † March 5, 1820 in St. Louis ) was a doctor and chemist born in France .
Life
Saugrain was born in Versailles in 1763 . He was trained as a doctor and chemist in Paris by Antoine François de Fourcroy and Mathurin Jacques Brisson . In 1783 he went on his first trip to North America to work as a mineralogist for Gilbert Antoine de St. Maxent in New Orleans , where he was also licensed as a surgeon. Upon his return he worked with Joseph-Ignace Guillotin on vaccine development. Saugrain was the brother-in-law of Guillotin, who was married to his sister Louise. In 1787, Saugrain traveled to the United States with a letter of recommendation from Benjamin Franklin . In 1788 he took part in a scientific expedition to explore the Ohio River . Saugrain was injured during an Indian raid and returned to France. Because of his pro-royalist views, Saugrin had to flee France at the beginning of the French Revolution in 1789. He returned to the United States and helped establish a French émigré community in Gallipolis , Ohio . There he married Genevieve Rosalie Michau on March 20, 1793. In 1799 the Saugrains moved to St. Louis. Dr. Saugrain was the city's only doctor until the United States took over St. Louis with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 .
Saugrain manufactured test bodies for Meriwether Lewis , which he sent to President Thomas Jefferson in early 1804 , and provided the Lewis and Clark Expedition with medical supplies. He was the first doctor west of the Mississippi to prevent smallpox from 1809 with the vaccine developed by Edward Jenner . From a public health perspective, his willingness to vaccinate anyone regardless of solvency was particularly noteworthy. A copy of a notice to provide vaccine to all those living in needy circumstances and to physicians outside of his practice area is with the Missouri State Historical Society .
Outside of medicine, Saugrain also had interests in mineralogy , physics and chemistry. Saugrain experimented with early versions of phosphorus matches and made thermometers and barometers in Gallipolis.
family
Saugrain's daughter Rosalie (1797–1787) was married to the pioneering entrepreneur Henry von Phul , brother of the American artist Anna Maria von Phul .
Honors
In 1944 the Liberty freighter SS Antoine Saugrain was named in his honor.
literature
- Lawrence O. Christensen, Dictionary of Missouri Biography , University of Missouri Press, Columbia and London, 1991, p. 670
- Maureen O'Connor Kavanaugh, Hidden History of Downtown St. Louis , Arcadia Publishing, 2017
- Anne Rogers, Lewis and Clark in Missouri , University of Missouri Press, 2002, pp. 20-21
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Saugrain, Antoine |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Saugrain, Antoine François Pierre (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Franco-French-American doctor and chemist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 17, 1763 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Paris |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 5, 1820 |
| Place of death | St. Louis |