66 During this year, or possibly the year previous, HENRY JACKSON was appointed, by the Governor of Wisconsin Territory, a Justice of the Peace. There was some delay in getting the commission, &c., after his bonds had been sent to Madison, as the mails in winter were very slow. One day, a couple came to his house, very anxious to be married. JACKSON informed them that he was not yet authorized to perform that ceremony legally, and they would have to defer their marriage a few days. This was a great disappointment to the loving hearts that were so anxious to "beat as one," but they could not think of postponing the happy hour. JACKSON was equal to the dilemma. He proposed to marry them by bond-i. e., that they should give a bond that, when his commission arrived, they would appear and be legally married by him, and in the meantime they could live together. They gladly consented to this. The bond was made out and signed, and the happy couple went on their way rejoicing, &c. Any public officer who could bridge over little difficulties like this, was a handy man to have around. JACKSON Was justice, postmaster, hotel-keeper, legislator, clerk of court, and several other functionaries combined in one. He even used to naturalize foreigners, "by bond," probably. But then, like vaccination, if it didn't take the first time, it could be renewed. CHURCH ITEMS. In May of this year, Father GALTIER left his mission field here, and was transferred to another field of labor. Father RAVOUX then officiated at Saint Paul and Mendota alternately, for some five or six years longer, until the parish was divided into two. In the fall of this year, the first Protestant service was held by Rev. Mr. HURLBUT, a missionary of the Methodist church, who remained in this region about a year. The service was held at the house of HENRY JACKSON. CHAPTER XII. · EVENTS OF THE YEAR 1845. PROBABLE POPULATION AT THIS DATE-A POLYGLOT VILLAGE-SETTLERS OF THIS YEAR-LEONARD H. LAROCHE-THE FUTURE MERCHANTS' HOTEL-FRANCIS ROBERT THE FREEMAN BROTHERS-W. G. CARTER-Charles CAVILEER-A MRS. RUMSEY STARTS THE FIRST SCHOOL-S. COWDEN, JR., ALSO TRIES IT. AT T the beginning of the year 1845, there were probably about thirty families living in and around what, by that date, was pretty well known in this region as "Saint Paul.” There were also a few persons-single men—laborers, mechanics, voyageurs, trappers, &c., who composed a sort of floating population; so that the village, or settlement, (for it was so scattered about, from the seven-corners to Phelan's Lake, that it was hardly even a village,) had begun to be a point of some considerable promise. LOUIS ROBERT, HENRY JACKSON, JOHN R. IRVINE, WM. HARTSHORN, J. W. SIMPSON, and others, were now engaged in trade, and were bending all their influence and energies to benefit the infant metropolis, and draw population and traffic hither. At this time, by far the largest proportion of the inhabitants were Canadian French, and Red River refugees, and their descendants. There were only three or four purely American (white) families in the settlement, while most of the French were intermarried with the native race, so that not more than one-half the families in the place, if that many, were white. In the families of the mixed bloods, the Sioux, Chippewa, Menominee, Cree, Kootenais, Winnebago, and perhaps other tongues, were spoken. English was probably not spoken in more than three or four families. SETTLERS OF 1845. Among the new comers this year, were FRANCIS CHENE VERT, DAVID BENOIT, LEONARD H. LAROCHE, FRANCIS ROBERT, AUGUSTUS and DAVID B. FREEMAN, W. G. CARTER, CHARLES CAVILEER, and others. LEONARD H. LAROCHE was a Canadian by birth, and, by occupation, a carpenter. He was engaged in trade for awhile with DAVID FARIBAULT, in a little store which stood on what was afterwards called Bench street. On August 13, 1846, LAROCHE purchased from HENRY BELLAND a small tract of ground, described in the deed as "bounded on the front and back by HENRY JACKSON'S land, and on the sides by MCLEOD and DESMARAIS." The consideration was $165. This is probably the land on which the Merchants' Hotel of to-day stands, as, during that year (1846) LAROCHE built a cabin of tamarack logs, which, with some additions, afterwards became the “Saint Paul House," of which the Merchants of to-day is the outgrowth. LAROCHE sold this property to SIMEON P. FolSOM, in 1847, and went to Crow Wing, where he died about 1859 or 1860. W. G. CARTER, or "GIB." CARTER, as the old settlers better knew him, was a cousin of HENRY JACKSON. He was a native of Virginia. When he came here, he lived for two or three years on the claim which PHELAN sold JACKSON, called then "Prospect hill." CARTER was, in 1848, a member of the Stillwater Convention of that year. He subsequently made a claim, or, at least, owned a piece on the Fort road, and died there about 1852. His widow still resides in this city. FRANCIS ROBERT was a younger brother of Capt. Louis ROBERT, and a native of Missouri. After his arrival here, he was engaged in the fur trade for Louis. In 1848, while descending the rapids of the Saint Croix in a birch-bark canoe, he was thrown out and badly injured on the rocks, by a blow on the chest. From this injury he never recovered, and, after months of suffering, died on September 27, 1849, aged 30 years. Out of respect, the Legislature, which was then in session, adjourned for one day, to attend his funeral. FRANCIS CHENEVERT was a clerk of LOUIS ROBERT. He was born at Prairie du Chien, of Canadian parents. He appears, from the Register of Deeds' records, to have purchased (in connection with DAVID BENOIT) the claim of Pierre BottiNEAU, on June 16, 1846. CHENEVERT was unmarried, and lived here until 1865, when he died at the residence of a friend on Robert street. Of DAVID BENOIT I can get little or no information that is reliable. He probably resided here but a very short time. HORN. AUGUSTUS and DAVID B. FREEMAN had been residents of Saint Louis. The latter had been employed by WM. HARTSHORN, while in business there, and was engaged by him to come to Saint Paul, when he established his own store here, in 1845. AUGUSTUS FREEMAN was also employed by Mr. HARTSThe FREEMANS, in connection with A. L. LARPENTEUR, and possibly with Wм. H. RANDALL, continued the business of HARTSHORN, when he retired from it, a couple of years later. DAVID B. FREEMAN died in January, 1850, under the following circumstances: He was going over to Stillwater in a sleigh, which was overturned, and the horses got away. FREEMAN pursued them a couple of miles, becoming overheated, and then sat down on the snow to rest. In consequence of this, he caught a violent cold, inflammation of the lungs set in, and he died after a very short illness. FREEMAN was an Odd Fellow, and, although the Odd Fellows' Lodge had not been instituted then, the members buried him with the honors of the order. He was interred on what was afterwards Pearl street, in the First Ward. The remains were dug up in 1863, while some improvements were going on there, and recognized by the "three links" on the coffin. This was the first Odd Fellows' funeral in Minnesota. AUGUSTUS FREEMAN subsequently went to New York and died there. CHARLES CAVILEER came to Minnesota in 1841, in company with the missionary, Rev. B. F. Kavenaugh, and Wм. R. BROWN, and settled at Red Rock. He was a saddler by trade, and, in 1845, located in Saint Paul, which was then becoming enough of a place" to carry on that business. He occupied, for some time, a building on the levee, and in 1847, perhaps, moved up to what was once called Saint Charles street. In 1848, he and Dr. DEWEY engaged in the drug business. Mr. CAVILEER Was Territorial Librarian for a few months, and, in 1851, removed to Pembina, where he has been postmaster almost ever since that year. THE FIRST SCHOOL. During this spring, or early in the summer, Mrs. MATILDA RUMSEY, who had come to Saint Paul a few months before, with Mr. BLANCHARD and his wife, (the latter her sister,) established a small school for children, in a log building on the bottom, near the upper levee. This was, beyond doubt, the first school in Saint Paul. There were only a handful of scholars, however, and the school was not kept up long. On June 23, Mrs. RUMSEY was married to ALExander Mege, and the school was abandoned. A young man, named S. CowDEN, Jr., then attempted to reestablish the school. There is some disagreement among the old settlers, as to whether he did carry on one or not. Some think he did not succeed in opening one, but others are certain that he taught in the fall of that year. COWDEN was a young man, who had worked awhile for HENRY JACKSON. He came from Prairie du Chien, and was married to a Winnebago halfbreed. COWDEN died some years ago, and his wife is living at the Winnebago Agency, in Blue Earth county. |