Guiding Questions
 

Evidence & Interpretations

     Every story has its main characters.  This story has four:  Marguerite Bleau dit Rossignal Bottineau Baldwin, her husband Bailey T. Baldwin, her brother Louis Bleau, and her sister-in-law Nellie Kinsman Lang Blow.  We don't even have photos of Nellie and Louis.  All we know for sure is that: 

•    Nellie was in very desperate straits in the early 1870s after divorcing Frank Lang

•    In the early 1870s she moved to Minneapolis or Anoka and married Louis Bleau

•    In December 1874 Louis Bleau was murdered at a holiday dance in Centerville, Anoka County

•    Soon thereafter Nellie bore Louis's daughter Louise Blow

•    Nellie's small daughters -- little Louise Blow, our great-grandmother Jennie Lang (b. 1866) and her little sister Nelly Lang (b. 1868) -- lived with Bailey T. & Marguerite Baldwin and their extended family through at least part of the 1870s.  (Above right: Marguerite Bleau dit Rossignal Bottineau Baldwin, ca. 1862; photo courtesy of Jeane Morneau DeCoursey)

     Yes, you heard right:  all this fuss is about the extended family of a guy to whom our great-great-grandmother was married for a couple of years in the 1870s.  That may seem a pretty slender reed on which to hang so much attention, but it's also true that Nellie's marriage to Louis Bleau dit Rossignal brought her and her girls under the care and protection of Louis's extended family -- a family with Marguerite & Bailey T. Baldwin at its center.  The stately "half-breed" Ojibwe-Métis woman and the portly, big-hearted Alabama-born blind man became the grandparents for our great-grandmother Jennie Lang, when she was very young, vulnerable, and desperately in need of help.  We believe it very likely that without the love and care of Marguerite & Bailey T. Baldwin, our great-grandmother Jennie would not have survived. (Right: Bailey T. Baldwin, from the Minneapolis Tribune, 2 July 1899)

     This page thus represents, first, a kind of homage to the spirits of Marguerite and Bailey as we look back through time -- a way for us to try to thank you and to honor the years you spent on this Earth.  More prosaically, the page serves as a kind of filing cabinet and bulletin board on which to organize data on Marguerite & Bailey T. Baldwin and their extended kin.  In other words, it's not quite a story yet.  It's more a collection of documents, the raw materials from which a coherent narrative can one day be built.

     Many thanks to Ruthanne Fresonke and Jeane Morneau DeCoursey, whose knowledge and help is woven throughout this page, and this whole section of the website.

     There are several other websites that bear directly on these genealogies, and from which we have liberally drawn in order to try to make sense of this material:

1.  http://www.ojibwe.info   A vast database on Ojibwe genealogy.

2.  http://www.maquah.net   An expansive and very useful site that includes many primary documents on Ojibwe history.

3.  http://users.ap.net/~chenae/geneal.html    "My Elusive Ancestors" by Debra McCann; a marvelous resource that is especially strong on the Bottineau line.

4.  http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=SRCH&db=pouliot-12-26-04&surname=@  "My Pouliot, Dupont, Potvin and Menard Family Tree" by Warren Kramer; another marvelous resource, linked through Ancestry.com's RootsWeb project, that has tons of information on Bottineau's, Blue's, and other families.

5.  http://www.lareau.org/pep.html   "Pig's Eye Notepad:  A Historical Encyclopedia of St Paul, MN, 1830-1850."  A very useful compendium of data put together by Paul and Beth Lareau of Little Canada, MN.

5.  Other pages on this website can be found via the Documents Home, including nellie in minnesota, 1866-1927 and remember the red river valley, along with all the other stuff listed under Bailey & Marguerite Baldwin. 

     Included at the bottom of this page is correspondence with several descendents of these families, their reckonings of how they fit into the picture, and related topics.  Needless to say, it's a very complex story which we're just beginning to sort out; hence this page. 

     Any help would be much appreciated!

Marguerite Bleau dit Rossignal's Ancestry

Naming Patterns

Perhaps the first thing to be said about Marguerite Bleau dit Rossignal and her siblings, genealogically speaking, is that they all basically had two surnames, each of which had many spelling variations:

Needless to say, this makes searching for members of this family pretty difficult.  So too does the commonness of their given names.  According to the 1850 census, the most common given names among the Métis in Pembina County, Minnesota Territory, were as follows (total population = 1,219; total population with gender identified, 1,218):

In other words, among the Métis of the Red River Valley in the year 1850, nearly half the people shared one of ten given names, all related to biblical figures and Catholic saints.  Nearly one female in five was named "Mary"; about one in seven named "Marguerite"; and more than one male in eight named "Joseph" ! 

What does the "dit" mean?  A  conjugation of the irregular French verb dire, meaning "to say" or "to tell," the word dit has the same root as the English words "dictate" and "diction," and as the Spanish verb "decir" -- all stem from the Latin verb "dicere," meaning "to speak" or "to say."  According to "genealogyabout.com" (a subsidiary of the New York Times),

Who were Marguerite's parents?  This part is easy, thanks to the research already undertaken by Debra McCann:

Margaret's parents Antoine Bleau dit Rossignal and Marguerite Bourdon were married in 1822 in St Boniface, Manitoba, according to marriage records posted a website devoted to Métis history & culture:

From this we learn the probable name of Margaret's maternal grandfather:  Louis Bourdon.  The date of the marriage in 1822 corresponds precisely with the date of Margaret's birth in 1823.

According to the "Modern Leather-Stocking Tale" (in turn based mainly on Margaret Baldwin's memory), Margaret's parents were half French and half Ojibwe (Métis), with full-blooded Ojibwe mothers and full-blooded French fathers. 

This would mean that, in biogenetic terms, Marguerite Bourdon and Antoine Bleau dit Rossignal were each half Ojibwe and half French, and that their children were thus the same.  These biogenetic proportions say nothing about culture or upbringing, of course.  As we have seen, Ojibwe-French Métis culture in the Red River Valley, a complex and dynamic synthesis of Native and European cultures, experienced mounting pressures from immigrant settlers and the US and Canadian governments as the 19th century progressed.  By the 1850s, Ojibwe-Métis lifeways were being increasingly challenged by expansionist white Anglo Protestant cultures.  This was just as the Bleau dit Rossignal siblings were coming of age and figuring out how to carve out a life in the new social world being created before their eyes.

Who were the siblings in Marguerite's generation?  As best as we can determine, Antoine & Marguerite Bleau dit Rossignal had from eight to ten children, spread out over a full 24 years: 

Bleau dit Rossignal siblings, children of Antoine and Marguerite Bleau dit Rossignal; sources below

 

We are certain about the two eldest, Marguerite and Antoine, and the four youngest:  Jeandron, Aiken, Felix, and Louis.  We are not so sure about Alexis, to whom we have no further references, and who might well be the Augustus killed by Sioux (Lakota) Indians at Fort Abercrombie during their uprising in 1862 (see below).  Nor do we have further references to Joseph.  Felicité Bleau (b. 1848 and female in the 1850 census) & Felix Blue (b. 1848, male) were probably the same person, with an incorrect gender in the 1850 census.

When Marguerite (b. 1824) was around 14 or 15, she married Basil Bottineau, the brother of the famed Pierre Bottineau, bearing him at least one child, Charles Mijigisi Bottineau.  What do we know about Basil and Pierre's ancestry?  Again, that part is easy.  To summarize again from Debra McCann's website:

The date given here for Louise Bottineau's birth (1856) must be incorrect, because the widow Marguerite Bleau dit Rossignal Bottineau married Bailey T. Baldwin in February 1851, and had her first child with Bailey, daughter Lucy Baldwin, in April 1852.  We have no further reference to Louise Bottineau.

What about Charles Mijigisi Bottineau?  Again, Debra McCann: 

All of this is confirmed by other evidence.  Charles Mijigisi Bottineau's pension file shows he was born in 1838, married Marie Ducette, and served in the 5th Minnesota Infantry Regiment.  Here's a summary of what we learn of Charles's family from various of his pension papers:

This means that Charles's mother Marguerite was only 14 or 15 when she bore him.  The "Modern Leather-Stocking Tale," on the other hand, says Marguerite was married to Basil for only two years; it also says that after Bailey married the widow Margaret in 1851, he "gave her little son a home."  The first claim, coming from Margaret more than half a century after the fact, is likely the result of her telescoped memories.  The second is corroborated by other evidence, like Bailey's deposition in Charles's Civil War pension file.

 So Charles Mijigisi Bottineau was 13 years old in 1851 when his mother married Bailey.

What about the ancestry of Basil and Pierre Bottineau?  Here again, thanks to the work of Debra McCann and others, we know a fair amount about their father, Charles Bottineau (see box, below, to read more).

 

Basil and Pierre Bottineau's mother was Marguerite Machequayzaince Son-gabo-ki-che-ta (also referred to as Ah-Dick Songab ["Clear Sky Woman of the Reindeer Clan"] and Margaret Clear Sky, 1775-1864).  Here's some of what we know about her ancestry and descendents:

So that is a sketch of the ancestry of Marguerite and her siblings, and of the ancestry of Marguerite's first husband Basil Bottineau.  

What do we know about Marguerite's life?  The best place to start is the modern leather-stocking tale (which comes mostly from her memory, filtered through the journalist "K. B. M.").  From this extraordinary newspaper article we learn that she was a knowledgeable, resourceful, energetic, and creative woman, devoted to her family and loved ones, among many other things.  Here we carry the story forward and fill in the blanks as best we can with other evidence.

Margaret Bleau dit Rossignal Bottineau Baldwin & Family, 1849-1900

The earliest US census evidence we have for Marguerite's family is the Minnesota Territorial Census of June 11, 1849, which shows Antoine Blowe living in Pembina County (the Red River Valley) with two males and two females.  (source:  http://www.parkbooks.com/Html/res_18~1.html; accessed Oct 2006)

This conflicts with the 1847 date in the "Modern Leather-Stocking Tale" for Marguerite's epic 600 mile foot journey.  Yet in some ways it matters little:  1847, 1849 -- the overall effect was the same:  some members of the Bleau dit Rossignal family, including both parents and some of their children, migrated out of the Red River Valley and into the bustling cities of the Mississippi River Valley.

By September 1850, thanks largely to Marguerite's efforts, she, her parents, and at last four of her siblings were ensconced in St Paul, as seen in the following 1850 census.

1850 Census  St Paul MN Territory  ( )

Another of Marguerite's brothers, Antoine, b. 1827, married to Catherine Roussin (Rossignal), decided to stay up in the Red River region, where they raised their family (including Charlotte Blue; see below).  Other of Margaret's brothers who stayed up north probably included Augustus (Alexis) and Jeandron (see correspondence with Jane Bucknall, below).

1845-1851.   Bailey T. Baldwin's Early Years in the Upper Midwest

What about Bailey T. Baldwin?  The earliest indirect evidence for him comes from the "Modern Leather-Stocking Tale":

The earliest direct evidence for Bailey's presence in the Upper Midwest is from the year 1847, and comes from the Eagle Eye of Jeane Morneau DeCoursey and her husband Bill, who found the following documentary evidence for Bailey in St Croix Falls, Wisconsin, just across the St Croix River from Taylor's Falls, Minnesota, about 15 miles northeast of St Paul.  According to a "minibiography" that accompanies a compilation of documents recently published by the Washington County Historical Society,

A man whom we think might be Bailey appears in St Paul in the 1849 Minnesota Territorial Census:

Bailey does not appear in the 1850 census, which is not entirely surprising given his itinerant lifestyle as a cart-trader between St Paul and Pembina.

In February 1851, Marguerite & Bailey T. Baldwin married, and in April 1852 they had their first child together, Lucy Baldwin.  Bailey continued trading between St Paul and the Red Valley through the mid-1850s.  Part of his business was buying and selling land, as seen in the following document:

3 April 1857     Bailey T. Baldwin and George Worts, Land Purchase of 83 Acres near Stillwater, Minnesota Territory  (U.S. General Land Office )

(click on thumbnail to view full image -- thanks to Ruthanne Fresonke for providing a copy of this document)

Map Break!

Adapted from a topographical map of Minnesota, showing the principal places mentioned in the documents on this web page; adapted from http://fermi.jhuapl.edu/states/maps1/mn (accessed Oct 2006)

1860 Census   Columbus Twp, Anoka Co MN

By 1860, Bailey, Margaret, their three children, and two of Margaret's brothers were farmers in Columbus Township, Anoka County ( ).

Remarkably, we can identify all of these people:  parents Bailey T. & Marguerite Baldwin; Marguerite's first child, 23 year-old Charlies Mijigisi Bottineau Baldwin; Bailey & Marguerite's first two children together, Lucy and William Baldwin; and Marguerite's younger brothers, Aiken and Felix Bleau dit Rossignal.

When this census was taken, 12 year-old Nellie Kinsman was living somewhere around Burr Oak, Michigan.  Soon she would meet Frank Lang (Aug 1861), marry him (Jan 1865), bear his child (Nov 1866), and migrate to Minnesota (Dec 1866).  A short time later she divorced Frank and married Louis Bleau (b. 1852), the youngest of the Bleau siblings.

Moving forward in time to the Civil War years, things begin to get confusing.  Here's some of what we know:

1861-1865    Civil War Service of Baldwin, Bleau, and Bottineau Me

The service records and pension files of Ecan Rescenlibue and Felix Blow shows that these were in fact Aiken and his brother Felix Bleau, and that they served in the same unit together along with their nephew Charles Bottineau.

Sept 1862:   Death of Margaret Bleau dit Rossignal Baldwin's Brother at Fort Abercrombie, Dakota Territory

According to Margaret Baldwin's story of her life as related in the modern leather-stocking tale,

As we've seen, Margaret had somewhere around seven brothers:  Antoine (b. 1827), Alexis (b. 1829), Joseph (b. 1837), Delagois (b. 1843), Aiken (b. 1846), Felix (b. 1848), and Louis (b. 1852).  We have post-1862 references for Antoine, Jeandron, Aiken, Felix, and Louis.   From this it would appear that either Alexis, Joseph, or Delagois was the one "killed and scalped" at Fort Abercrombie in Sept 1862 during the Great Sioux Uprising.

Speaking directly to this question is page 761 of the wonderful old book from R.G.'s smelly old trunk, Minnesota in the Civil and Indian Wars, 1861-1865 (St Paul: Pioneer Press Co., 1890), which contains the following roster:

     The four men killed are listed as follows:

Is this Augustus Ruchenell Margaret Bleau dit Rossignal's brother Alexis?  Very probably.  As best as we can tell, the brothers who remained up north were Antoine, Alexis, and Jeandron, while Margaret, Felix, Etienne, and Louis either migrated to St Paul or were born there (as was Louis in 1852).

1864-1874:   Half-Breed Scrip and Land Purchases Among the Bleau dit Rossignals and Baldwins

The phenomenon of "half-breed scrip" provides a fascinating window into the Red River Métis and the Bleau dit Rossignal family in the 1860s and 1870s -- a topic is so intricate that it appears on a separate page on this website, half-breed scrip and the bleau dit rossignals.

The following table summarizes the principal "half-breed scrip" events and land purchases among the Bleau dit Rossignals and Baldwins from 1864 to 1874 -- at least those we know about.