In 1795, American settlements were established on Femme Osage Creek in what is now St. Charles County, Missouri, north of St. Louis.  It was then called Upper Louisiana or New Spain.  In 1805, Missouri became part of the Territory of Louisiana and remained so until 1812 when it became a Territory in its own name.  At that time it claimed 20,000 inhabitants. Most of the early settlers came from Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee, North and South Carolina, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Vermont.   The five original districts in Upper Louisiana Territory were St. Louis, Ste. Genevieve, St. Charles, Cape Girardeau and New Madrid.

This database is based upon the PIONEER FAMILIES OF MISSOURI, by Bryan and Rose.  It consists of early tax lists, Spanish land grants, census records, military records, and extractions from the HISTORY OF MISSOURI by Louis Houck.  This is an on-going project with periodic updates.  There are over 20,000 linked families as of July 1999.  Coordination of data entry was done by the HANCOCK FAMILY ORGANIZATION, descendants of William Hancock who settled in St. Charles County in 1797.