Re: politte of Missouri - origin

Jan, don't know if you're still around and looking at this board.

Their is controversy about where the Polite name in Ste. Genevieve came. The man named Hypolite Raubert who was neither from Canada nor France. The traditional story about Hypolite is that he was brought into the village of Ste. Genevieve by an indian tribe who reportedly had massacred the boy's family and taken him.As the story goes, a priest traded a barrel of whiskey for the boy who couldn't remember his name. He thought that he father was named Robert or Raubert in French but didn't know if it was a surname or first name. The priest named Hypolite gave his name to the boy.

Hipolite's will spells the name with an "i" and with two "p"s.Hypolite married Maryianne Boyer they had children: Paul, Charles, Louis, Euphrosene, Briget, Pelagie, Mary Louise, Andre, Julie and Leandre.This may not be a complete list.

Some of Hypolite's children took the "dit" name Polite.Not sure why.

There are no source documents that prove the above "myth" about Hypolite.

This story is widely discussed in Ste. Genevieve and Old Mines history as being true or untrue, depending upon who you speak to.