Guiding Questions

Evidence & Interpretations

     On May 30, 1879, J. B. Bottineau affixed his signature to the bottom of one of Bailey T. Baldwin's affidavits to the Pension Bureau. 

Signatures of Joshua Ring and J. B. Bottineau, witnesses on Bailey T. Baldwin's Application for Arrears of Pension, 30 May 1879; click on image to view complete document

 

     Who was J. B. Bottineau?  Thanks to the intrepid teamwork of Jeane Morneau DeCoursey, Ruthanne Fresonke, and Mike, we've learned a few things about the man behind this elegant signature and evocative name. 

     J. B. Bottineau, it turns out, was Jean Baptiste Bottineau (or John B. Bottineau), a prominent Minneapolis attorney and son of the famed Pierre Bottineau and his first wife "Jennie" (Genevieve) Larence.  Born May 3, 1837 in St. Paul, Minnesota Territory, he died December 1, 1911 in Washington DC (this according to Debra McCann's authoritative website on Bottineau genealogy and history; source cited and relevant excerpts pasted in the appendix).

     According to the 1899 Minneapolis Tribune article profiling Marguerite Baldwin's life (see the modern leather-stocking tale), 

J. B. Bottineau, who used to live in North Minneapolis, was the son of a full-blooded Chippewa squaw, with his father a half-breed, and he was cousin of Mrs. [Margaret] Baldwin's first child.

     In other words, Jean Baptiste Bottineau was cousin to Charles Bottineau, Margaret's child with Basile Bottineau (Basile, brother of the famed Pierre, drowned around 1850 while on an expedition out West for the Hudson's Bay Company).   This made J. B. Bottineau Margaret Baldwin's nephew by her first marriage to Basile -- and, therefore, Bailey T. Baldwin's nephew-in-law.  (Right:  Marguerite Bleau dit Rossignal Bottineau Baldwin, or Kas-Kas-Ka-Na-Gee, ca. 1862, courtesy of Jeane Morneau DeCoursey)

     Recall that the late 1870s was a very difficult time for Bailey T. Baldwin, with his blindness, hernia, rheumatism, and other ailments.  By this time, too, Nellie Kinsman Lang Blowe was a widow, her second husband Louis Bleau murdered in December 1874.  In a few years Louis & Nellie's daughter, little Louise Blow (b. 1875), would be living with Edward & Adelaide Thibodeau, not far from Bailey & Marguerite.  It seems very likely that Jean Baptiste Bottineau and his family were part of the circle of friends and extended kin of Bailey & Margaret -- meaning that Nellie, Louis, and J. B. Bottineau were at least acquainted, and perhaps shared more affective ties.

     In the 1900 census, John B. Bottineau, a 64 year-old widower, is listed as an attorney, living with his grandson John Earl Bottineau (age 13, b. Dec 1886 MN, father b. MA, mother b. MN) and his daughter Mary L. Baldwin (age 36, b. Dec 1863 ND, father b. Canada, mother b. MN).  All three resided at 1829 3rd St. N., Minneapolis.  All three were also probably in mourning, since Mary Louise's mother, and Jean Baptiste's wife of 38 years, Margaret Renville, died less than a month before this census was taken (d. 19 May 1900) -- and twelve days before Margaret Baldwin died (d. 31 May 1900). 

     Ten years later, in 1910, Marian L. Baldwin and her father J. B. Bottineau were living in Washington D.C., with Marian working as an "accountant" in the "Indian Office." 

1910 Census, Washington County, District of Columbia    John B. Bottineau 74 -- / ND / ND / Head / Attorney General Practice    Marian L. Baldwin 47 ND / ND / ND / Daughter / Accountant Indian Office    Teresa Hurting 63 -- / Ger / Ger / Housekeeper private family domestic    Horace Mell 11 WA / WA / WA / Grandson

 

     Mary Louise Bottineau Baldwin turns out to have led a fascinating life, becoming, among other things, the first woman of color to graduate from Washington Law School in Washington D.C.  She went on to become a prominent advocate of Native American Indian causes in the Office of Indian Affairs.  For many years the Marie Louise Bottineau Baldwin Scholarship provided meritorious women of color with the financial wherewithal to attend Washington Law School, though in recent years the scholarship has not been offered  (offsite link)  (Right:  photograph of Marie Louise Bottineau Baldwin, from the website of the Women's Law Association (WLA) of the Washington Law School, www.wcl.american.edu; information on recent years kindly provided by Ms. Sarah K. Brown, 2006-07 WLA President)

     Another bit of corroborating evidence was unearthed Ruthanne Fresonke -- a document showing that on Feb 27, 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt issued an Executive Order that "Mrs. Marie L. Baldwin, whose name appears upon the Minnesota clerk register, may be certified for appointment as clerk at $900 in the Office of Indian Affairs . . ."  (see this offsite link).

     Marie Louise's husband, and the man from whom she acquired her Baldwin surname, was named Fred Baldwin, according to Debra McCann's website.  Who was Fred Baldwin?  Was he related to Bailey T. Baldwin?

     Surprisingly, the answer is no.  There is no evidence that any of Bailey's siblings or other relatives from Alabama (if indeed he had any) ever came to Minnesota.  Instead, this Fred Baldwin is probably the chap listed in this 1880 census page -- the 19 year-old son of a "mining capitalist" living in South Minneapolis (though there is another Fred Baldwin in Minneapolis who also fits the profile).  That Marie Louise shared her surname with our Bailey T. Baldwin evidently was completely coincidental.

     Did Nellie and her daughters know Marie Louise Bottineau?  Very probably.  Marie Louise was born in 1863.  Jennie Lang was born in 1866, and Nellie Lang in 1868.  All three lived in the same part of town, and would've been close enough in age to play together.  We would not be surprised to learn that all three were childhood chums.

     Finally, googling "John B. Bottineau" leads to several intriguing websites detailing how, from the 1990s, an attorney named John B. Bottineau has represented the Little Shell Pembina Band in a $5 trillion lawsuit against the federal government.  The lawsuit remains unresolved, while the relationship between this modern-day John B. Bottineau, and the Jean Baptiste Bottineau who signed Bailey's pension affidavit back in May 1879, remains at present unknown.

Conclusion

     So there was a connection between Bailey, Marguerite, J. B. Bottineau, and his daughter Marie Louise, though the "Baldwin" surname had nothing to do with it.  Jean Baptiste & Marie Louise were related by marriage to Marguerite & Bailey's family (through Marguerite's marriage to Basile Bottineau).  What we imagined might have been a deeper connection -- the "Baldwin connection" -- turns out to have been nonexistent.

     This also seems part of the genealogist's craft:  Sometimes things are coincidental, and you don't find the connection you're seeking.  But if you're lucky, as we were here, you discover some worthwhile knowledge along the way.

     The bottom line is that there was enough of a connection for prominent Minneapolis attorney Jean Baptiste Bottineau, son of Pierre Bottineau, to serve as witness for Bailey T. Baldwin in May 1879 in order to help Bailey get his pension arrears from the Pension Bureau.  That act of witnessing very probably means that Jean Baptiste and Bailey were friends, or at least on good and cordial terms, as were Marie Louise and Bailey & Marguerite and their families -- that all were part of the same network of friends and extended kin in Northeast Minneapolis.  And that seems important to know.

Appendix