Biographies of Area Pioneers, Settlers and other Important Figures.
Letters "K-L"
Entries in maroon font have been transcribed from Johnson's New Universal Cyclopaedia, published in 1876 by A.J. Johnson & Co., New York.
Keith, Lewis
Keller, George
Keller, Jacob
Kern, Manasseh
Kollar, J.G.
La Salle, Rene Robert Cavelier, Sieur de, born at Rouen, France, in 1643; became a Jesuit, but renouncing
his profession, embarked for Canada in 1666; became a fur-trader; in 1669 set out to find the Northwest Passage by way of the Great
Lakes; explored Lake Ontario, and in 1671 discovered the Ohio; went to France in 1674; was ennobled and received important grants in
Canada. Returning in 1678 from another voyage to France, he explored the Great Lakes and attempted to colonize their shores; descended
the Illinois and the Mississippi, reaching the Gulf of Mexico April 9, 1682, and named the region Louisiana. In 1683 he went to France,
and, having received a commission, endeavored in 1684 to plant a colony in Louisiana, but the voyage was disturbed by dissensions, and
he landed in March 1685 in Matagorda Bay, Texas, and built a fort. His followers were much reduced in numbers, and having decided to go
by land to Canada, he was murdered by his own men on the banks of the Trinity River, March 19, 1687.
Low, Daniel
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