John Overton Choules, D. D., an American clergyman, born in Bristol, Eng., Feb. 5, 1801, died in New York, Jan. 5, 185(5. His parents were members of the Wesleyan connection; but he united with the Baptist church, and in 1822 became a student of divinity in the Baptist college at Bristol. Having completed his theological course, he emigrated to America in 1824. The first winter after his arrival in New York was spent in supplying various churches in that city and vicinity. In the spring of 1825 he became principal of an academy at Red Hook, N. Y. In September, 1827, he was ordained as pastor of the second Baptist church in Newport, R. I. After a pastor-ate of about six years, he accepted the call of the first Baptist church in New Bedford, Mass. In 1837 he became pastor of the Washington street church, Buffalo, in 1841 of the Sixth street Baptist church, New York, and in 1843 of the Baptist church at Jamaica Plain, near Boston. In 1847 he resumed the pastorate of the second church in Newport, and in 1854 accompanied Mr. Vanderbilt in his steam yacht on a voyage to Europe. He was the author of two volumes of travels, entitled "Young Americans Ahroad" and "The Cruise of the North Star." Besides these volumes, he completed Smith's "History of Missions" (2 vols. 4to, 1832); wrote a continuation of Hinton's "History of the United States;" and edited Neal's "History of the Puritans," Forster's "Statesmen of the Commonwealth in England," and James's "Church Members' Guide." CHOUTEAU. I. Auguste, an American pioneer, horn in New Orleans in 1739, died in St. Louis, Feb. 24, 1829. He and his younger brother Pierre were the founders of the city of St Louis, and their lives were closely connected.

II. Pierre, brother of the preceding, born in New Orleans in 1749, died in St. Louis, July 9, 1849. In August, 1703, the two brothers joined the expedition of Laclede, under a commission from the director general of Louisiana, to establish the fur trade in the region west of the Mississippi river, and bordering on the Missouri and its tributaries. Au-guste was intrusted by Laclede with the command of the boat. They reached the settlement of St. Genevieve in November, being just three months ascending the river from New Orleans. In the winter they selected a point 61 m. above St. Genevieve, on the western bank of the Mississippi, for their principal post, and named this St. Louis. Auguste Chouteau was in charge of the party that commenced operations here, Feb. 15, 1764. Speaking of the brothers in his "Sketch of the Early History of St. Louis," Nicollet observes: "These two young men, who never afterward quitted the country of their adoption, became in time the heads of numerous families, enjoying the highest respectability, the comforts of an honorably acquired affluence, the fruit of their own industry, and possessed of a name which to this day (1842), after a lapse of 70 years, is still a passport that commands safety and hospitality among all the Indian nations of the United States, north and west." Both were prominent men, and officers ranking as colonels in the early history of St. Louis. III. Pierre, son of the preceding, born in St. Louis, Jan. 19, 1789, died there, Sept, 8, 1865. He was at first a clerk with his father and uncle, who were then largely engaged in the fur trade with the Indians, but soon entered into business for himself.

Following the Indians as they receded from point to point, heat different times established himself at what are now St. Joseph, Kansas City, Belleview, Council Bluffs, Fort Pierre, Fort Berthold, Fort Union, at the mouth of the Yellowstone river, and Fort Benton, at the head of navigation of the Missouri. As early as 1800 he went up to Dubuque to trade with the Sacs and Foxes, ascending and descending the rivers in canoes. He also followed the Indians as they receded up the Osage river, and up the Mississippi from Keokuk to St. Paul, having trading posts all along the rivers. In 1834 he and his associates purchased the interest of John Jacob Astor in the American fur company; and in 1839 they formed the trading company which, under the firm name of P. Chouteau, jr., extended its operations southward as far as the Cross Timbers in Texas, northward to the falls of St. Anthony, and northwestward to the Blackfeet country, monopolizing the fur trade of the entire region east of the Rocky mountains, and also controlling the trade with Santa Fe in New Mexico. This business involved large transactions in the eastern cities and in Europe, and for many years Mr. Chouteau resided in New York. In 1819 he was a member of the convention which framed the first constitution for the state of Missouri, but with this exception he never engaged in politics.