Daniel Bissell was born in 1768 at Windsor, Connecticut. He was the son of Captain Ozias Bissell. In 1777, Bissell joined the 8th Regiment under Colonels Bradley and Swift and served as orderly sergeant. He continued his service in the regular army as a sergeant after the Revolutionary War and participated in battles on the western frontier under General St. Clair. He married Deborah Seba of Middletown, Conn., in 1793; they had six children, one dying in infancy. He was in command at Fort Massac on the Ohio River at the time of the Louisiana Purchase, and was sent to the Missouri Territory where he was appointed military commander of the territory. By government order, he built Fort Bellefontaine and for several years (1809 1813) was its commandant. While at Fort Bellefontaine, he was appointed justice of the peace for St. Ferdinand Township by Frederick Bates. He served in the War of 1812 on the northern frontier under General James Wilkinson and General George Izard and was rewarded with the brevet of brigadier general following his outstanding conduct at the battle of Lyon's Creek, October 19, 1814. Bissell spent his last years of military service at southern posts and was mustered out of service in 1821 at Baton Rouge. Bissell spent the remaining years of his life attempting to prove that his discharge had been unjustified. After 1821 Bissell retired to his estate on Bellefontaine Road. In 1825, he served as chairman of the committee to make arrangements for General Lafayette's visit to St. Louis. He died of pneumonia at his home in December 1833. His wife died November 15, 1843. James Russell Bissell (1808-1887) was the only surviving son of Daniel Bissell. James studied law at Transylvania University, Lexington, Kentucky, before returning to St. Louis to take over the Bissell farm upon his father's death in 1833. He married Anna Haight Christopher (1822-1905) on March 7, 1849. They had seven children. James died at the Bissell homestead in 1887.