Old Rail Fence Corners: The A. B. C's. of Minnesota History
History
Old Rail Fence Corners: The A. B. C's. of Minnesota History
Frontier and pioneer life -- Minnesota; Minnesota -- Biography; Minnesota -- History, Local; Pioneers -- Minnesota -- Biography
Indians used often to stop to get something to eat. They never stole
anything and seemed satisfied with what we gave them. We were on the
direct road from Fort Snelling to St. Paul. It was made on the old trail
between those two places. This went right up Seventh Street. The Indians
often brought ducks and game to sell.
I used to shoot pigeons and prairie chickens on what is now Summit
avenue.
I used to make cushions for Father Revoux's back. He had rheumatism very
badly. He used to go by our house horseback. I wanted to give him the
cushions but he would never take anything he did not pay for.
I bought a number of knockdown chairs in Chicago all made by hand for
$125 and sold them for much more. Those chairs would last a lifetime.
The parts were separate and packed well. They could be put together
easily.
Mrs. Stephen Rochette--1855.
When we first came into St. Paul in 1855 we landed on the upper levee.
It was used then more than the lower one. We thought we could never get
used to the narrow, crooked streets. We lived with my father, Jacob
Doney, where the Milwaukee tracks now cross Seventh Street.
We soon had three cows. We never had any fence for them, just turned
them out and let them run in the streets with the other cows and pigs.
Sometimes we could find them easily. Again we would have a long hunt.
Mrs. James A. Winter--1855.
We came to Faribault in 1855. My father had the first frame hotel there.
The Indians had a permanent camp on the outskirts of the village. I was
a small girl of sixteen with very fair skin, blue eyes and red cheeks.
The squaws used to come to the house asking for food, which mother
always gave them. "Old Betts" was often there. A young Indian, tall and
fine looking used to come and sit watching me intently while I worked
about the house, much to my discomfort. Finally one day he came close to
me and motioned to me to fly with him. I showed no fear but led the way
to the kitchen where there were others working and fed him, shaking my
head violently all the time. He was the son of a chief and was hung at
Mankato.
Mrs. George E. Fisher--1855.
Mother's name was Jane de Bow. Her father and mother were French. She
came to Minnesota with the Stevens' in 1834 when she was seven years
old. They were missionaries and when their own daughter died induced
Jane's family to let them have her. The Indians were always sorry for
her because her mother was away. They called her "Small-Crow-that-was
Caught". Mrs. Stevens never could punish her for it made the squaws so
angry.
The first Indian child my mother ever saw was a small boy who stood on
the edge of Lake Harriet beckoning to her. She was afraid at first but
finally joined him and always played with the Indian children from that
time.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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