Baptized on 27 Jul 1823 at the Catholic Church of St. Louis (Old Cathedral).

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Julien Gamache worked in Carondelet for many years as a carpenter and builder. He also operated a planing mill. In 1841, 18-year old Julien Gamache signed a contract to build a convent for the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet. In 1979, an "Inventory - Nomination Form" was submitted to the United States Department of the Interior to place the convent on the National Register of Historic Places. Page 10 of this document includes the following:

"The convent archives record a building contract between Celestine Pommerel and Julien and Auguste Gamache, who built this and the other early buildings. They were to be paid $300 upon completing the basement (ground floor?), $200 upon completing work, and $550 in five years, for all material and labor. Members of the Gamache family, who also ran a ferry and owned the land which became Jefferson Barracks, still live nearby. The architect was Mr. John Pitcher."

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On 24 Jan 1843, Julien Gamache purchased a tract of land on Fourth Street in the town of Carondelet from Wilson Primm for $400. This land sale is recorded in Book Z2, pages 210-211. In later years, Fourth Street was renamed Michigan Avenue. Julien Gamache built a two-story home on this property (6215 Michigan). This home is described on pages 26, 27, and 47 of a book that was written by NiNI Harris with the title, "A History of Carondelet." This book was distributed by Southern Commercial Bank in 1991. Judge Wilson Primm was a long-time friend and neighbor of the Gamache family. Judge Primm lived across the street on the east side of Fourth Street (Michigan Avenue). Judge Wilson Primm is described on pages 20 and 22 in the "A History of Carondelet" book.

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Julien Gamache and Mary Deroin were married by Father Jacques Fontbonne at Sts. Mary & Joseph Catholic Church in Carondelet on 13 Nov 1843. The name Fontbonne is well known in the St. Louis area. Fontbonne University is a 4-year, coeducational, Catholic, liberal arts school and is located in Suburban St. Louis. The Sponsoring Church Organization for the University is the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet. Before leaving France, Father Fontbonne was assigned as a "spiritual father" and accompanied his biological sisters (Sister Febronie and Sister Delphine) and a small group of nuns to St. Louis. In 1836 these nuns opened a convent in Carondelet. This small convent became the cradle for a religious community.

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On 25 Aug 1848, Julien Gamache signed a contract to lease land from Henry T. Blow. The land was located in the Commons of Carondelet, North of River Des Peres. Perhaps this land was used to cut timber. Julien Gamache operated a planing mill that produced lumber. This contract was recorded in Book Z5, pages 212-213 on 10 Aug 1849.

Henry T. Blow is described on pages 20, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 33, and 38 in the "A History of Carondelet" book. The following is included on page 24:

"In 1847 Blow acquired about sixteen acres of woodland in Carondelet, lying north of Haven Street and extending west from Virginia Avenue to Colorado Avenue. By the time Blow moved his family to Carondelet, he had already begun his political career. Although Virginia- born, he opposed slavery and allied himself with the Free Soil Party. He helped fund a group of lawyers who began a suit for freedom on behalf of the slave Dred Scott in 1848."

The following is included on pages 25 and 26:

"The financial panic of 1857 caused farm prices to plummet and late, crop-killing frosts brought a demise to many South St. Louis County farmers. To make ends meet, West Point graduate turned South County farmer, Ulysses S. Grant, cut and delivered firewood to area families, including the Blow family. Once Grant let the wheel of his wagon scrape the bark off a tree as he drove through the entrance gate at the Blow home. Mrs. Blow sharply reprimanded Grant for damaging the tree."

And the following is included on page 38 about Susan Blow, daughter of Henry T. Blow:

"When the doors of the new Des Peres School opened in the fall of 1873, Carondelet native Susan Blow began conducting an experiment in education called kindergarten. Due to Susan Blow's untiring efforts during the next forty-three years, the kindergarten movement spread from the school at 6303 Michigan Avenue, across the city, and eventually, across the nation."

Des Peres School at 6303 Michigan Avenue was located just one block South of the Julien Gamache home at 6215 Michigan Avenue. Eventually, Des Peres School closed. The building at 6303 Michigan Avenue is now the home of the Carondelet Historical Society.

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During the 1850's, Julien Gamache and his business partners, Eugene Leitensdorfer and Thomas Leitensdorfer, operated a Gold Mine in the New Mexico Territory. The partners (and perhaps others) were the proprietors of Carondelet Mining Company. Mrs. Josephine Colburn, sister of the Leistensdorfer brothers, may have also been an investor in the company. They were all related and were second cousins in the Gamache Family. The mine was located at Real de Dolores (4 miles Southeast of Madrid, on the Northeast side of the Ortiz Mountains).

Most of the information on the mining operation was obtained from two repositories, the Missouri History Museum (Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis Archives) and DeGolyer Library at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. The Webb Collection at the Missouri History Museum contains letters written by James J. Webb and other correspondence. Many of these letters were sent to John Kingsbury in Santa Fe.

During the late 1970's, a small cache of letters from John Kingsbury to James Webb were found in the library's manuscript holdings at SMU. A project was started to transcribe these letters. They were published in 1996 by Southern Methodist University Press in a book titled, "Trading in Santa Fe, John M. Kingsbury's Correspondence with James Josiah Webb, 1853-1861." During the middle of the nineteenth century, they operated a general goods store in Santa Fe by the name of "Webb & Kingsbury." Carondelet Mining Company was a customer of Webb & Kingsbury.

The following is included in the Foreword, page xiii (See Memorial # 198834774) of the Trading in Santa Fe book:

"When the two New Englanders forged an alliance in 1853, twenty-four-year-old Kingsbury, who had little experience, went to Santa Fe to manage sales and collections. James Webb, age thirty-five, with previous ownership of stores in New England, Savannah, St. Louis, and Santa Fe, supplied him with the kinds of goods that he presumed the residents of Santa Fe and army personnel posted there would want to buy. The experienced Webb knew the problems of maintaining a consistent flow of goods. To meet the general scarcity of merchandise in Santa Fe, stores such as Webb & Kingsbury's needed to be kept supplied by seasonal overland shipments that often arrived late, or were delayed when hostile Indians assaulted the wagon trains."

The financial panic of 1857 ushered in a period of tight money and caused many businesses to fail. Carondelet Mining Company was one of the businesses that failed in the autumn of 1857. In a letter (See Memorial # 198834774) to James Webb, dated 14 Nov 1857, John Kingsbury wrote the following:

"The news by this mail has made very uneasy about money matters. Tillman Rozier & Co. have failed, and there is a report here that Doan King & Co. also have failed. This last I can find no foundation for and can only hope it is not so. If it should be true I fear we are bound to suffer by them. I will inclose a statement of our a/c with the. Owing to the tightness of the money market I suppose Ganuche did not pay his notes to Tillman and we will escape there. It is too late now & I am too far off, to make any moove in regard to these two a/cs. I trust you are fully posted in regard to them, and have taken all necessary steps, in case my fears are realized."

In a letter (See Memorial # 198834774) to James Webb, dated 30 Nov 1857, John Kingsbury wrote the following:

"I do not thing [sic] we can calculate on anything from the mines for a year or two. The Lectensdorfer [Eugene Leitsendorfer's Carondelet Mining company] outfit will be a complete failure."

While in New Haven, Connecticut, James J. Webb wrote the following to John M. Kingsbury in a letter (See Memorial # 198834774), dated 16 Feb 1858:

"I yesterday received a letter from Mess. Berthold Rozier & Co. informing me that they had at last affected a settlement with the Carondelet Mining Co. by taking two notes of Julien Gamache payable to their own order at 6 months from Dec 23rd 1857 and one at 12 months from same date each for seven hundred & ninety-five & 62/100 dollars bearing interest at the rate of 10 % per annum and secured by Deed of trust of Julien Gamache & wife on property in Carondelet, Mr. Amedee Barthold Trustee. So I presume that matter is at last secured. I presume Tillman is out of the concern, why the change was made I cannot tell."

While in St. Louis, James J. Webb wrote a 5-page letter to John M. Kingsbury on 5 Mar 1859. On page 2 of this letter, Webb refers to the mail from Santa Fe going through Independence, MO. He wrote the following:

"I got your memo here but do not know what to do as I have not a dollar to buy goods with. Gamache has paid six hundred and fifty dollars on his note, and will pay the balance soon, else I should have nothing to pay freight. You say nothing of remitting. The mail has arrd. at Indep. but will not get here till Monday or Tuesday, until then I can do nothing. If I had found funds here, I could have got through, and loaded and started our train by the 15th, it will probably now, be the 20th at least before Kitchen can start."

On pages 4 and 5 of the 5 Mar 1859, Webb wrote the following:

"There is another thing I want to advise you about, don't get mixed up with E. Leitensdorfer. He has made no return of proceeds of property left on hand when Gamache left for the states, and he has not heard from him for 4 or 5 months. I see you have a debit & credit of about equal amt. get that matter settled as soon as you can and let Eugene take care of himself. Don't compromise yourself in any transactions with Leitensdorfer on acct of Carondelet Mining Co, for I do not believe they will be recognized, don't credit Eugene, either privately or on account of the Co. Gamache wishes to write you for certain information, in regards to the mines. He wants to go out again, and take out machinery and run it, says he can make money as fast as he wants to - will probably go out again next fall if he can locate without a fuss. Gamache is a safe man and will have no partner. Should he go out I think he would be deserving of credit to a limited amt. say one thousand dollars, he is good then for ten times that amt. but I look upon that business as a risk, and would set my fig to credit and not deviate from it. Says he made $7000 last year – wants to make five the coming summer and go to N.M. in the fall."

The St. Louis City Directory for 1860 lists Berthold, Rozier & Co. as wholesale grocers at 108 N. 2nd. On 12 Apr 1859, Berthold, Rozier & Co. wrote a letter (See Memorial # 198834774) to Webb & Kingsbury in Santa Fe, N.M. The following is included in the letter:

"The note of Mr. Julien Gamache in your favor for the sum of seven hundred ninety five 62/100 dollars ($795.62) having been fully settled with interest at ten per cent, we now enclose statement showing balance to your credit of $260.00 which amount we hold subject to your order."

An Archivist at the New Mexico State Archives searched through the historical records of Santa Fe County and helped identify the location of the mine. A description (See Memorial # 198834774) of "Dolores" is included in a book by Robert Julyan with the title, "The Place Names of New Mexico." The following is included in this book:

"DOLORES (Santa Fe; settlement; 4 mi SE of Madrid, on the NE side of the Ortiz Mountains; PO as Real de Dolores 1869-1870, as Dolores 1887-90, 1894-1901, mail to Santa Fe). The original name for this site was Real de Dolores; in colonial NM real referred to a 'campsite, headquarters,' though it is also legal title for a mining camp; it's unknown why this term was applied here. Dolores is one of the names of the Virgin Mary; see Dolores (general). In 1828 placer gold was discovered here, and before long a mining camp sprang up taking the old name, though it soon became simply Dolores or Old Placers. Lt. James W. Abert visited here in 1846 and described the place thus: 'The houses were the most miserable we had yet seen, and the inhabitants the most abject picture of squalid poverty, and yet the streets of the village are indeed paved with gold.' At one time almost 4,000 people lived in the camp, and in 1900 Thomas A. Edison erected a plant in Dolores where he attempted to extract placer gold using static electricity. Numerous rock spoil piles mark the site today. Dolores Gulch heads in the Ortiz Mountains and runs NE."

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Listed in the 1850 Census for Carondelet, St. Louis County, Missouri (Page 282A, Line 31).

Listed in the 1858 Census of Carondelet with an age of 34 years and living with his wife and 6 children (See Memorial # 103354334).

Listed in the 1860 Census for Carondelet, St. Louis County, Missouri (Page 553, Line 15).

Listed in the 1869 Census of Carondelet with an age of 46 years and living with his wife and 9 children (See Memorial # 83696965).

Listed in the 1870 Census for Carondelet, St. Louis County, Missouri (Page 582B, Line 38).

Listed in the 1880 Census for St. Louis, Missouri (ED 329, Page 127B, Line 25).