USA > Minnesota > Ramsey County > St Paul > A history of the city of Saint Paul, and of the county of Ramsey, Minnesota > Part 11
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PELON used to tend JACKSON'S bar, while Saint Paul was only the western suburb of Pig's Eye. At that time, all sorts of liquors were sold out of the same decanter, and a stranger, coming in once, asked PELON if he had any confectionery ? PELON, not knowing the meaning of the word, supposed it was some kind of liquor, passed out the decanter of whisky to his customer, saying : "Oui, Monsieur, here is confecshawn, ver good, superb, magnifique, pretty fair."
PELON afterwards kept a saloon of his own on the lower levee, but, ultimately, age and infirmities'overtook him, and he . died in 1852, at " old man LARRIVIER's," on Lake Phelan.
STANISLAUS BILANSKI,
who settled in Saint Paul this year, was a Polander by birth, and had lived in Wisconsin prior to coming to Saint Paul. He purchased a claim and cabin on the point of second table-land between Phelan's Creek, and Trout Brook, near the machine shops of Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad Company, called then "'Oak Point," and lived there several years. BI- LANSKI Was an uxorious individual, and had a facility for mar- rying and divorcing wives, that ultimately brought him to an untimely end. While living with his fourth wife, in 1859, he died, on March 11th of that year, under circumstances that showed he had been poisoned. The full particulars of the
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case will be found in the chapter devoted to the events of the year 1859.
THE BATTLE OF KAPOSIA.
In September of this year occurred the famous battle of Kaposia, between the Chippewas and Sioux. References will be found in the previous pages of this history to the savage warfare that had been waged for several years between these two hostile tribes, whose deadly feud must have begun genera- tions ago, and sacrificed a hecatomb of warriors during those years.
Early in the spring of 1841, three Chippewa warriors . pro- ceeded to the vicinity of Fort Snelling, and lay concealed in a thicket there; looking for Sioux scalps. Ere long, KAIBOKA, a Dakota chief, accompanied by his son, and another Indian, passed along, when they were at once killed and scalped, and the cowardly assassins escaped. Enraged at this act, a war party from LITTLE CROW's village, at Kaposia, headed by that chief, equipped themselves and started on a campaign of revenge. Three of LITTLE CROW's sons were in the party. Near the Falls of Saint Croix, they fell in with the Chippewas. Two of CROW's sons were shot dead, and the party returned. Another section of the expedition penetrated the Ojibwa country as far as Pokeguma, where there was a village of Indians and . a missionary station, at which EDMUND F. ELY, for several years subsequently a resident of this city, was present. The Dakotas attacked this, but inflicted little damage on the enemy, losing two of their own number.
In revenge for this raid, the Chippewas, in 1842, determined to attack the Sioux village, of LITTLE CROW, at Kaposia. A war party of about 40 was formed at Fond du Lac, and, in their downward march, they were joined by recruits from the Mille Lac and Saint Croix bands, until the party numbered about 100. They arrived unnoticed at the bluff back of Pig's Eye, where they halted in Pine Coolie, the ravine just back of the old poor-house, to reconnoiter. This was about 10 o'clock in the forenoon.
Just at this moment, a Red River half-breed, named HENRY
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SINCLAIR, * who was in the employ of the missionaries KAVE- NAUGH, at Red Rock, came along on the trail, riding a pony. Him they hailed, and inquired, "if there were any Dakotas about." SINCLAIR was about to reply, when his pony took fright, and started off at break-neck speed. He did not try to check him, but galloped on, and in a few minutes, arrived at the mission house, where he reported what he had seen. There were two Sioux at Rev. Mr. KAVENAUGH's house, who at once started off on the run to alarm the men at Kaposia. Mrs. THOMAS ODELL, then Miss ELIZABETH WILLIAMS, a half-breed girl, was a pupil at the Red Rock mission. She states that, a moment after the Indians left, the rattle of guns was heard, showing that the work of death had commenced. But we must go back a little.
On Pig's Eye bottom, a little distance from Pine Coolie, where the Chippewas were lying in ambush, was the cabin and field of FRANCIS GAMMEL, a French Canadian, who had come to Minnesota as a voyageur, in 1829, and had lived at Mendota. He was now married to a Dakota woman, and they had one child, DAVID GAMMEL, then an infant. That morning, an old Indian, named RATTLER, a brother of old BETS, well known to the early residents hereabout, had gone over to GAM- MEL's house, with his two wives, and a son and daughter, in- fants, in order to help Mr. and Mrs. GAMMEL hoe their corn. GAMMEL and his wife, and one of RATTLER's wives, were in the field at work. The other Mrs. RATTLER complained of being sick, and went into the house, whither old RATTLER followed. The three children were playing near by.
Just at this moment, a squad of Chippewas, who had been sent out to reconnoiter, sneaked through the bushes outside the field, and seeing the two Sioux women at work, fired a volley at them. Mrs. RATTLER fell dead, and Mrs. GAMMEL was mortally wounded. GAMMEL picked her up and carried
* SINCLAIR came from Selkirk Settlement, in 1839, piloting a drove of cattle. He was a simple-hearted, honest fellow. One time he was sick, at Mendota, and Surgeon EMERSON, at the fort, sent, by some one, a box of pills, for him to take a dose from. N. W. KITTSON called on him a little while after this, and found that SINCLAIR had not only swallowed all the pills, but was then chewing up the box! S. afterwards went to Sauk Rapids, or Crow Wing, where he died a few years ago.
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her into the house, followed by some of the blood-thirsty Chip- pewas, who rushed in and scalped the dying woman in his arms, and at once retreated, not knowing of the presence of RATTLER and his other wife, in an adjoining room. As they bounded off, giving the scalp-halloo, GAMMEL seized a gun and fired at them, wounding one in the leg, but they did not, at any time, offer to molest him. Just then they observed the little boy of RATTLER, who was endeavoring to hide in the bushes. They seized him and cut off his head. The little son of GAM- MEL,* and the daughter of RATTLER, named Ta-ti, (HER LODGE,) escaped unnoticed. This affair had all occurred in a moment, and was undoubtedly å military blunder of the at- tacking party. Their design had been to crawl, unobserved, to the bank of the river, opposite Kaposia, and there, concealed in the dense shrubbery, lie in wait for some unsuspecting party of Sioux, and massacre them. But, seeing the Dakota women in the field, they had rashly attacked them, thus giving the alarm prematurely.
If they had carried out the first named plan, they could not have chosen a more opportune time than that day. The Sioux at the village were in the midst of one of their drunken sprees, and, as is customary at such times, the squaws had hid their guns and other weapons, to prevent them from doing each other any harm. The firing across the river first gave them the alarm that the enemy was near, when great excitement at once prevailed. The men hunted up their concealed weapons, meantime giving their barbaric war-whoop, and yelling like so many demons, in order to scare the enemy, probably. In this vocal exercise they were joined by the squaws and chil- dren. As soon as they could arm themselves, the Sioux bravely advanced across the river to attack the enemy. The latter, by this time, had advanced near the bank of the river, about where the quarantine grounds now are, and here the battle mainly
* GAMMEL's son, DAVID, grew up to manhood at Mendota, and served in a Minnesota Regiment. Old RATTLER died in 1851, of an overdose of whisky. TA-TI, his daughter, afterwards became the wife of Wa-kin-yan-ta-wa, (HIS THUNDER,) sometimes called "CHASKA," who saved GEORGE H. SPENCER's life, in 1862, and was poisoned acciden- tally the year following. TA-TI now lives at Mendota. FRANCIS GAMMEL died at Mendota, in IS71.
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took place. It raged with great spirit for a couple of hours, during which the firing was incessant. Some hand-to-hand encounters also took place between the two sides, while the forest and bluffs rang with their incessant yelling. The firing was plainly heard in Saint Paul. Every inch of the battle- ground was hotly contested. Toward noon, the Chippewas began to fall back, and soon retreated on their path, followed by the Sioux, who pursued them over the bluff, and several miles toward Stillwater. The Chippewas left some nine or ten dead bodies on the field, and may have carried off their wounded. The Sioux also lost heavily. Different accounts place their loss at nineteen or twenty, including the mortally wounded, who died subsequently. The dead Chippewas were at once scalped, while the squaws amused themselves by hack- ing and mutilating them. "Old BETS" went around pound- ing their heads with a huge club. One of her sons, afterwards called Ta-opi, or WOUNDED MAN, was so named because wounded in this fight.
When the Chippewas first made the attack, a messenger was sent to Fort Snelling with the intelligence. It was the policy of the Government to prevent and punish these inter- tribal carnages, and Major DEARBORN at once dispatched a party of soldiers from Companies D, G and H, First Infantry, who at that time garrisoned the fort, to Kaposia, to stop the conflict. The party came down below Pickerel Lake in boats, and thence across by land, but did not arrive until after .the conflict was over. THOMAS S. ODELL, now of West Saint Paul, was one of this party. I am indebted to him and his wife for many of the minor incidents of this strange affair.
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CHAPTER X.
EVENTS OF THE YEAR 1843.
NOTICES OF SOME SETTLERS-JOHN R. IRVINE, J. W. SIMPSON, WILLIAM HARTS- HORN, A. L. LARPENTEUR, SCOTT CAMPBELL, ALEX. R. MCLEOD, &C., &C .- RONDO SELLS HIS CLAIM-AN INDIAN IN PURSUIT OF WHISKY.
D URING the year 1843, there was quite an accession to the population-among others, JOHN R. IRVINE, C. C. BLANCHARD, J. W .. SIMPSON, ANSEL B. COY, WILLIAM HARTSHORN, A. L. LARPENTEUR, SCOTT CAMPBELL, AN- TOINE PEPIN, &c., &c.
JOHN R. IRVINE
was born in Dansville, New York, November 3, 1812. When a boy, he worked at blacksmithing, but, about the age of 17, removed to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where he learned the trade of plastering, and, in 1831, was married to Miss NANCY GAL- BRAITH. He afterwards returned to Dansville, and resumed blacksmithing. In 1837, he emigrated west, living for three years in Green Bay, and, in 1840, settled in Prairie du Chien, where he went into the grocery trade. While living in Buffalo, New York, he had become acquainted with HENRY JACKSON- indeed, he and JACKSON had come to Green Bay together, the latter soon removing to Galena, however. About February, 1843, JACKSON was on his way down the river to purchase goods, and, stopping at Prairie du Chien, there found his old friend, who was in business with ANSEL B. CoY and .C. C. BLANCHARD. JACKSON at once urged him to remove to Saint Paul, as being a much more promising place for trade, rapid growth, &c., than Prairie du Chien. So warmly did he set forth the advantages of Saint Paul, that Mr. IRVINE resolved. at least to visit it and see the land of promise. He accordingly came up here in the latter part of that winter, in a sleigh, with
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a load of groceries and other goods for sale, and, after looking around over the field, resolved to remove here. He therefore purchased of JOSEPH RONDO the balance of the old Phelan claim (remaining after the sale of about half to Sergeant MOR- TIMER.) The price paid for this tract was $300. RONDO had at that time a very good log dwelling built on the French plan,
JOHN R. IRVINE.
(i. e., the logs squared and let into grooves-not notched at the corners.) It stood about where the northwest corner of Third and Franklin streets would now be. With some ad- ditions, it made a very comfortable dwelling, and was used by Mr. IRVINE for several years. Mr. IRVINE thinks that the claim he bought of RONDO contained 300 acres. It extended back to the marsh on the Lake Como road, which residents of some 15 or 20 years ago may remember.
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After purchasing this property, Mr. IRVINE returned to Prairie du Chien, to remove his family and business hither. He placed his household effects and goods in a large Mackinac boat, and, as soon as navigation opened, hired the steamer Ot- ter, on her first trip up, to tow it to Saint Paul. His partner, ANSEL B. CoY, came with the goods,, but Mr. BLANCHARD did not come up until a few weeks subsequently. Mr. IRVINE arrived some time in June with his family. The boat was run up the slough between the upper levee and the main land, and moored there. It was then all heavy timber and underbrush in that locality, and, as there was no road-hardly a foot-path from the bluff down to the water-the unloading and carrying of the goods up the bluff was no small job.
A dense forest covered the bottom land near the upper levee. Mr. IRVINE cut immense quantities of wood for steamboats off of that bottom, without apparently making any impression on it. Upper Third street, from the seven-corners to the bluff, was a quagmire, almost without bottom. Cows used to stick there years after this, to the great trouble of their owners. Along the side of the hill, near Pleasant and College avenues, was a morass, with a forest of cedar and tamaracks growing on it. No one at that day could have imagined it would, in so few years, become the valuable property it now is, covered with comfortable residences. For several years, Mr. IRVINE cultivated a considerable part of his land for a farm.
Mr. IRVINE subsequently (about 1845, he thinks) purchased the MORTIMER claim, and, in 1848, entered the land (which had then been surveyed) in the land office at Stillwater. In November, 1848, for $250, he deeded the east half of the north- west quarter of section 6, town 28, to HENRY M. RICE, which afterwards became a part of Rice and Irvine's Addition. But of this anon.
Mr. IRVINE has been one of our most active and useful citi- zens during his thirty-two years' residence. The ample prop- erty, which his foresight and prudence prompted him to secure and hold, is now one of the finest portions of our city. The proceeds of most of it which has been sold, has been reinvested in erecting substantial business blocks, mills, warehouses, and
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other buildings, which now stand as a credit to the enterprise of the owner. Although 63 years of age, a period when most men court repose, Mr. IRVINE is still actively engaged in busi- ness, and is known as one of our most energetic and hard- working men. Mr. IRVINE has served our county in the Legislature, and other elective bodies, and perhaps no one of our pioneer settlers more fully enjoys the esteem of the public than he, and the wish that the " great reaper" will long delay his visit.
The amiable wife of Mr. IRVINE, is one of the first white women who settled in Minnesota, and has endured the priva- tions and struggles of pioneer life, with others of that noble few, who deserve especial mention. Mr. and Mrs. I. have one son and six daughters living, most of the latter married to well- known citizens.
When IRVINE bought RONDO's claim, the latter at once made a new claim in and near the marsh, on the Lake Como Road. When the land was entered, in 1848, it was noticed that the lines overlapped somewhat, but land was so cheap then, that such things were hardly noticed. A few acres were not worth disputing about.
FURTHER ABOUT RONDO.
Mr. RONDO subsequently laid out quite an addition on this claim, or a part of it, and it has of late years become valuable property. The marsh has been so drained and graded that it can scarcely be found, except by close search.
RONDO has raised a large family, and has a number of grand- children to bear his name down to posterity. He lives in a plain manner, in his brick house, on the street which is called after him, and, though nearly 80 years old, worked hard in the harvest field this summer. His long life has been full of inter- esting events, and, as one of his ancestors lived to 112, and two more over a century, Mr. RONDO, now our oldest living settler resident among us, may live a score of years yet, to see still more generations of his descendants.
C. C. BLANCHARD.
With Mr. IRVINE, came CHRISTOPHER C. BLANCHARD, who
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had been his partner in business in Prairie du Chien, and con- tinued that relation after arriving here. Mr. BLANCHARD Was not pleased with Saint Paul, however, and soon returned to Prairie du Chien, and thence to Saint Louis. No tidings have been received of him for some twenty years, and he may not now be living. BLANCHARD was a married man, and his wife's sister, Mrs. MATILDA RUMSEY, lived with him. When he went back down the river, Mrs. RUMSEY remained here, residing with Mr. IRVINE's family.
ANSEL B. COY,
who had also been a partner of IRVINE, at Prairie du Chien, as before stated, came to Saint Paul quite early in the spring, in charge of the goods. He, too, was not suited here, and soon after returned.
ALEXANDER MEGE.
During the season of 1843, a Frenchman named ALEX. MEGE, who had lived at Prairie du Chien, came to Saint Paul, and purchased the interest of Coy, when that gentleman left. MEGE and IRVINE dissolved subsequently, and MEGE kept a store in a building on the Mortimer claim. On June 23, 1845. he was married to Mrs. MATILDA RUMSEY, at Mr. IRVINE'S house, by Rev. Father RAVOUX. In 1847, Mr. and Mrs. MEGE removed to Montrose, Iowa, where Mrs. MEGE subsequently died. Mrs. RUMSEY is the lady mentioned elsewhere who taught the first school in Saint Paul.
J. W. SIMPSON.
JAMES W. SIMPSON was born in Virginia, 1818. We have seen it asserted, that in his younger days he was a clergyman, but do not state this on positive authority. He came to Min- nesota in 1842, and resided about a year at Sandy Lake, where he was connected with the mission in some capacity, and then came to Red Rock, where he resided a short time, settling at Saint Paul in October of 1843. He bought an acre of BENJ. GERVAIS, where Union block now stands, and opened a store, the second one in the village. He afterwards sold this, and
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bought a tract between Baptist hill and the Merchants' Hotel, where he lived until his death. He soon after established a commission business on the levee, which he continued until within a year or two of his death. He was elected county treasurer in 1849, and so scrupulously just and honest was he, that he turned over at the end of his term the identical coin collected by him, having kept it as a fund separate from any other money. About 1868, his health failed, and he was very feeble for some months. Indeed, his death was prematurely reported once or twice. It finally came to his relief on May 30, 1870, in the 52d year of his age. He died respected by all. Mr. SIMPSON was married, in 1846, to a Miss DENOYER, a niece of LOUIS ROBERT.
WILLIAM HARTSHORN
was born at Dedham, Massachusetts, in 1794. He learned the trade of hatter when a boy, and subsequently removed to Springfield, Massachusetts, where he established a store, and continued in the fur and hatting business for several years, part of the time on a large scale, as he once made a sale of furs to JOHN JACOB ASTOR, for $100,000. Adversity came upon him, however, and he sold out his business, removed to Brockport. New York, subsequently to Lewiston, thence to Michigan City, &c., where he was in the hotel and stage business, and, in 1839. settled in Saint Louis, where he engaged again in the fur and peltry trade.
In 1843, he started for the Upper Mississippi, to purchase furs. On the way up, he met HENRY JACKSON on the steamer. JACKSON told him he had some furs to sell, which induced him to stop here. The result of the visit was, that he and JACKSON formed a copartnership, and HARTSHORN, returning to Saint Louis to close up his business there, settled in Saint Paul in September, although he did not bring his family up for some months afterwards. The first deed on the Ramsey county records, is one dated April 23, 1844, in which JACKSON deeds to WILLIAM HARTSHORN, for $1,000, the "half of three acres, it being the place where said JACKSON now lives, lying im-
132 The History of the City of Saint Paul, [1843 mediately on the Mississippi River, known as the Saint Paul's Landing."
Mr. HARTSHORN also bought, that year, or early in 1844, a tract of GERVAIS, on his claim, bounded by what (now) would be Sibley and Minnesota streets, and Fourth and Sixth streets. In 1846, when PIERRE BOTTINEAU sold his claim, (Baptist hill,) he describes it as "bounded on the west by HARTSHORN." There was a log house on this tract, about where the Schurmeier block now stands.
The copartnership with JACKSON lasted only about two years, and Mr. HARTSHORN, withdrawing, moved to the old Morti- mer claim, and commenced business there on his own account. He also had one or two stores or trading posts in other places, at Saint Croix Falls and on the Minnesota River. He in- creased his business so at one time, that he had several of these outside stations. D. B. FREEMAN, who had clerked for him in Saint Louis, and AUG. FREEMAN ; A. L. LARPENTEUR, ED. WEST, of New York ; W. H. MORSE, of Stillwater ; and others, clerked for him, and JOSEPH CAMPBELL, JOSEPH DES- MARAIS, ANTOINE and SAM. FINDLEY were employed by him at various times, as interpreters. It was also through him that WILLIAM H. RANDALL, of New York, came to Saint Paul, in 1846.
In the winter of 1847-8, Mr. HARTSHORN disposed of his interest to JOHN and WILLIAM H. RANDALL, the FREEMANS and LARPENTEUR, under the name of "FREEMAN, LARPEN- TEUR & Co.," and removed to Stillwater. Not liking that place, he soon returned to Saint Paul, and re-embarked in trade. He continued in business until 1864, when disease fastened on him, and he died January 2, 1865. A newspaper sketch says of him: "He was an honest and pure-minded man, with a kindness of heart and absence of guile that made him beloved by all. Ever upright himself, in his simplicity, he perhaps placed too much confidence in others, and hence, though at times well off, he was over-reached to an extent that kept him in reduced circumstances most of his life." Mrs. TYLE HARTS- HORN, his venerable widow, who, with him, sustained the pri- vations and hardships of pioneer life, died March 4, 1874.
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WILLIAM E. HARTSHORN, his only son, is still a resident of Saint Paul.
AUGUSTE L. LARPENTEUR
was born May 16, 1823, at Baltimore, Maryland. His father was an emigrant from France. In 1840, he went to Saint Louis, to enter into business there with a relative, and, some time after his arrival, got acquainted with WILLIAM HARTS- HORN, who had been up to Saint Paul on a fur-buying expedi- tion, and had formed a partnership with HENRY JACKSON. He engaged LARPENTEUR, in 1843, to go to Saint Paul with him, and gave him charge of an invoice of goods and horses. LAR- PENTEUR at once started for Saint Paul, on the steamer Otter, Capt. SCRIBE HARRIS, and arrived here September 15, 1843.
HARTSHORN & JACKSON had their trading house in the Jack- son building, on the point. LARPENTEUR was in the service of the firm about two years. In 1845, Mr. HARTSHORN dis- solved with JACKSON, and moved up to the Mortimer place, where he opened business on his own account, and Mr. LAR- PENTEUR remained with him, having mainly the charge of the whole business. In 1848, Mr. HARTSHORN retired from the trade, and disposed of his interest in it, with a quantity of real estate, to a new firm, called FREEMAN, LARPENTEUR & Co .- WM. H. RANDALL, of New York, having, also, an interest in it. They completed a warehouse on the levee, which HARTSHORN had commenced, and continued there until the death of DAVID B. FREEMAN, in January, 1850, when the business was wound up and passed over to JOHN & WM. H. RANDALL. In the spring of 1850, Mr. LARPENTEUR built a frame store on Third street, just above Jackson, and started business for himself. In 1847, we should state, he built as a residence for himself, the building on Jackson street, afterwards, for many years, known as the " Wild Hunter Hotel." In 1855, he built the four-story brick block on the corner, and used it several years as a store, carrying on a large business. The hard times of 1858 com- pelled him to close up, and eventually he lost all his fine property on that street.
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