Ceran St. Vrain

Ceran St. Vrain
Ceran St. Vrain portrait
Born	Ceran de Hault de Lassus de St. Vrain May 5, 1802 St. Louis, French Upper Louisiana Territory, present-day St. Louis, Missouri
Died	October 28, 1870 (aged 68) Mora, New Mexico Territory, present-day Mora, New Mexico
Resting place	Saint Vrain Cemetery, Mora
Nationality	American
Employer	Bent, St. Vrain & Company, U.S. Government
Spouse(s)	4 wives
Children	3
Parent(s)	Jacques Marcellin Ceran de Hault de Lassus St. Vrain and Marie Felicite Dubreuil St. Vrain
Relatives	Felix St. Vrain (brother), Savinien St. Vrain (brother), Marcellin St. Vrain (brother) Charles Emanuel St. Vrain (brother), Domitille St Vrain (brother), Emma De Hault Vrain (sister)

Ceran St. Vrain, born Ceran de Hault de Lassus de St. Vrain (May 5, 1802 – October 28, 1870), was a major fur trader, near Taos, New Mexico, where he and his partner William Bent established the trading post of Bent's Fort. St. Vrain acted as an ally of the new United States territorial governor, Charles Bent, appointed during the Mexican-American War, by raising a force of volunteers and participating with the US Army in suppressing the Taos Revolt. Afterward, he served as a translator in the US military's trial of numerous Mexican and Native American men who had been part of the revolt. Later, St. Vrain settled in Mora, New Mexico New Mexico Territory, where he had a grist mill and supplied the U.S. Army.

Ceran St. Vrain was the son of French aristocrats, who came to the United States, in the late 18th century, to escape the French Revolution. His father was Jacques Marcellin Ceran de Hault de Lassus St. Vrain (1770-1818), the third son of Pierre de Luziere. Jacques was previously an officer in the French navy and commander of the King's galiot La Fleche - the Arrow - and captain of militia. His mother was Marie Felicite Chauvet Dubreuil of St. Louis. They were married on April 30, 1796. They had a large family. A brother was Felix St. Vrain, who became a US Indian agent and was killed by the Sauk tribe, in what came to be known as the St. Vrain Massacre, during the Black Hawk War of 1832. They settled near St. Louis, Missouri, where Ceran was born on May 5, 1802. His parents arranged for him to be educated by tutors and in a private school.