City of Portageville, Missouri

Portageville History
Shinbone Trading Post was established in 1848 by Edward Meatte and Charles Davis.
Ed Meatte fathered Mitchell Meatte, Marry Modest Meatte Delisle and Olivia Meatte. Descendants included Mary Secoy, Vergie Patterson and Stella Delisle. According to Mitchell Meatte his mother was the former Modest Maisonville, daughter of a French fur trader and an Indian woman (a sister of Tecumseh).
In 1851, Robert G. Franklin succeeded Meatte and Davis at the Trading Post and then Bob LaFont (descendants are Sam LaFont, Bub LaFont, Harry Lee LaFont, Alene Brenner and Gene LaFont.) LaFont then sold to Dr. Harvey. Later the Delisle brothers, Ambrose and Ed, became interested and carried on a mercantile business for many years.
The town was named Portageville, when its first post office was established in 1872. The word "portage" is a geographical term meaning the distance or space between two rivers.
The town was surveyed and laid out in 1888-90 and Alphonse and Ed Delisle were responsible for the wide streets.
Early French families here were DeLisle, Godair, Meatte, LaFont, Crevoiceur, LeSieur, and Pikey (Pasquin).
Two events helped Portageville grow; Point Pleasant being undermined by the Mississippi River and the coming of the railroad.