RENVILLE

[hermin1]

dawn said:

Hermin, is this the same Henry Quinn that was married to Jennie Georgina?

Dawn

I think he is Dawn. What we need to find is a marrige record forthem , that is if they married by ceremony.
Do you have Jenny Georgianna's heirship papers that I can look at? the other thing is to get his probate papers and see if she is listed as one of his spouses.

[hermin1]

nncy58 said:

Here is another interesting story about George Quinn and his family. I couldn't figure out how to get only the pages i want so when you go to this web site the story is on pages 18 through 20.





www.laposadagv.com/resort_report/Jan2005.pdf

You click on the printer icon in the Pdf Toolbar. then on the left side of the Printing box,you tell it to print pages 18 to 20. c;oick on Oka and it will print out just those pages foryou.

[hermin1]

nncy58 said:

Here is another interesting story about George Quinn and his family. I couldn't figure out how to get only the pages i want so when you go to this web site the story is on pages 18 through 20.





www.laposadagv.com/resort_report/Jan2005.pdf

the only story I see is one by Winston Churchill Mani.
the only Quinn menitoned in the article is Susan Quinn,Winston's paternal grandmother

[wanbligi]

tamara said:

Pahahata Tipiwaka THIS PART IS REFERRING TO THE CHURCH OR TIPIWAKAN AND PAHA OF COURSE IS HILL SOMETHING.
,Sept 11,1881,Sarah Quinn he George Quinn Wakan hdayamani cinca
DOESNT THIS READ LIKE SARA IS THE CHILD OF GEORGE OR WAKAN HDAYAMANI (HIS INDIAN NAME)
and
Mayasan Oct 16,1881 MAYASAN IS THE CHURCH (SISSETON RESERVE)
Ema Iyasamani qa Sophia Tasinasawin encapi miniakastanpi
THESE TWO IYASAMANI AND TASINASAWIN WERE BAPTIZED
married ,buried, born I don't know

mniakastanpi = would be baptized as mni =water + akastanpi = to pour over / as they would do in a church to baptize.

[dawn]

No I have not been able to find Jennie's probate. The last husband I know of was a George Johnson and she would have moved back to Santee from MN, because she was living with him in Santee. This would have been in 1917. I have been looking for the records of this marriage also. She had three husbands that I am aware of Henry Quinn, Joseph Williams and George Johnson. If anyone knows about them please let me know.

Dawn

[vmarier]

Re: Renvilles
My cousin is married to a descendant of Gabriel Renville. Check on rootsweb.com and then go to World Project and they have an excellent collection of pedigrees and then they also list the sources that they used to build the pedigrees. They will also show up on other sections of Rootweb.com. Everything is together in a family tree format or text. It was easier to look at that then trying to put together everything from many sources. And then this is a large family. vmarier

[hermin1]

vmarier said:

Re: Renvilles
My cousin is married to a descendant of Gabriel Renville. Check on rootsweb.com and then go to World Project and they have an excellent collection of pedigrees and then they also list the sources that they used to build the pedigrees. They will also show up on other sections of Rootweb.com. Everything is together in a family tree format or text. It was easier to look at that then trying to put together everything from many sources. And then this is a large family. vmarier

Thanks for the information.i also was able to access the Renville tree via Ancestry.com (which is connected somewhow to Rootsweb) or heritage quest(I can't remeber which ) @ 2 years ago at th elocal library on one o the computers they had set up for access to both heritage quest and Ancestry.com,and it is a humongous tree.

[scararm]

I have a copy of a picture I got at Blue Cloud Abbey. It was listed as Gabriel Renvilles four wives. The picture is of four women sitting in front of a tipi. I tried to upload in the reply section but dont know how to do it. Asked for help on a different thread but is there a page that tell you how to use this tool.
thanks scararm

[Vicky]

scararm,
Jimmy had a wonderful tutorial about posting images here and I can't find it on site any more. You will need to sign up for an account on an image hosting site like photobucket. That's the one I use because it is just so easy. There is also a popular one they use here which shows cool little thumbnails, I think it is called imageshack or something like that. After you open your account, you upload your photos to the site. It tells you exactly what to do, not hard at all. On photobucket, you will have three little boxes showing under the picture you downloaded. Simply right click and copy either the img code or the URL and paste it onto your post here at Oyate. Practice once or twice and it will be easy! PM me if you have any trouble, I'll be happy to try to help.

[Jimmy]

I'm posting this for DarkWolfe.

Jean Baptiste de Rainville: (abt.1725 - ?)
He married Marie-Francoise Haines/Hains (daughter of Joseph Haines/Hines/Ainse & Catherine Migneron) in 1750 at Notre-Dame, Quebec City, Quebec. Their children were: Marie-Francoise (b.1751), Louise-Joseph (b.1753), Joseph (1754-abt.1795) & Paul-Vincent (b.abt.1755).
Jean was trading in the Belle (Ohio) River & Michilimackinac.

Joseph Renville I (1754 - abt.1795)
He was the son of Jean Bte.Rainville & Marie-Francoise Haines/Hains, born in Quebec. Joseph married Miniyuhe, (the sister of Mdewakanton Chief Little Crow - Big Thunder), at Green Bay in 1775 [there was a Jean Bte.de Rainville (1722-1760), son of Rene de Rainville & Anne-Celeste Carpentier, who married Marie-Josephte Duteau at Sorel in 1754 - is this Jean also the father of Joseph ?]. Joseph & Miniyuhe had sons Victor (Ohiya) Renville & Joseph (Akipa) Renville (1779-1846).
Joseph was thought to have been educated in France and settled for a time at Green Bay, trading to the west. In 1779 he was near the mouth of the Minnesota River.

Joseph Renville II (abt.1779 - 1846)
He was born to Joseph & Miniyehe, at either the Kaposia village or below Mt. Trempeauleau. Joseph II married Marie (Tonkanne) Little Crow (daughter of the sister of Chief Little Crow) and their children were: Joseph III (abt.1807-1856) (m.1st. to Marie & m.2nd.to Tenosia Armatender/Ermatinger?), Antoine (abt.1810-1884) (m.1st.to Elizabeth & m.2nd.to Madeline), Angelique (b.abt.1813) (m. Hypolite Dupuis 1837/42), Agathe (b.abt.1815), Francois (b.abt.1815) (m. Marguerite Bellegarde), Madeline (b.abt.1823), Michel (1822-1899) (m. Margaret-a Wahpaton woman abt.1848), Rosalie (b.1823), Marguerite (b.abt.1825), Jean Bte. (abt.1831-1903) & Gabriel (adopted) (1818/25-1892).
He was educated in Canada, then sent for in 1795 to mourn the loss of his father. From 1795 he lived with the Gens du Large (Sioux of the Prairie). In 1805 he left Prairie du Chien with the Pike expedition up the Mississippi R. (as interpreter) to determine & purchase a site for a U.S. fort and to explore the Mississippi to its source. During the War of 1812 he served as an officer in the British Indian Dept. recruiting Native-Americans for the British cause and commanding Dakota warriors at the seige of Ft. Meige. After the war he traded for the Hudson Bay Co. at the headwaters of the Minnesota River (River St. Peters). After the union of the Hudson Bay Co. & the Northwest Fur Co. he help establish the Columbia Fur Co., in parnership with Dickson, Mackenzie, Laidlow, Lamont & Tilton, with its headquarters on Lake Traverse.
In July of 1823, Joseph joined the U.S. expedition (led by Mj.Stephen H.Long) as interpreter/guide, at Ft.Snelling. He is spoken of in William H.Keating's, "Narrative of an Expedition to the Source of St.Peter's River", "...Joseph Renville, a half-breed of the Dacota nation,...the very manner in which he performed these duties...requires that something should be stated of this man, whose influence among the Sioux appears to be very great...son of a French trader on the Mississippi,...mother being a Sioux resident at the village of the Petit Corbeaux, he was brought up amoung the Indians and deprived of all education excepting such as his powerful mind enabled him to acquire...We have met with few men that appeared to us to be gifted with a more inquiring and discerning mind or with more force and penetration..at the commencement of the late war, the British government determined to use the Indians as auxilliaries, Col.Dickson, to whom the chief direction of this force had been entrusted, sellected Renville as the man upon whom he could place most dependence: to him, therefore, was the command of the Sioux given, with the rank, pay and emoluments of a captain in the British army...to him the Americans, are, we doubt not, indebted for the comparatively few injuries done by the Sioux; he repressed their depredations and prevented them from sharing in those bloody and disgusting transactions which disgraced the conduct of the Chippewas, the Potawatomis, Miamis, Ottowas, ...".
By the time the American Fur Co. bought the CFCo. in 1827, Joseph had firmly establish himself at Lac Qui Parle, by building a stockade (Ft. Renville/Adams) and maintaining an army of warriors called Tokadantee or Prairie dogs.
Joseph N.Nicollet, explorer/scientist who addressed the U.S.Congress after his travels (1836) in the region, said of the Renville's, "...may stop a while to say, that the residence of the Renville family, for a number of years back, afforded the only retreat for travelers to be found between St.Peter (Minnesota River) and the British Posts, a distance of 700 miles. The liberal and untiring hospitality dispensed by this respectable family, the great influence exercised by it over the Indians of the country, in the maintenance of peace and the protection of travelers, should demand cesides special gratitude, some special acknowledgment of the U.S. and also from the Hudson Bay Company..."
Joseph died at Lac Qui Parle on 18 march, 1846 and was buried on a hilltop overlooking his stockade.

Victor (Ohiya) Renville: (? - 1833)
He was the the son of Joseph & Miniyehe, born at Kaposia. Victor was married to the grand daughter of Walking Buffalo (Red Wing) whose name was Winona Crawford (she was the daughter of fur trader). Their son was Gabriel (Tiwakan) (b.1825) (m. Mary Brown).
Victor was killed by the Ojibwe, near Little Falls, while leading a Dakota war party against the Ojibway in 1833. In August of 1836, Joseph N.Nicollet (from his Journal) arrived at a 8-10' cliff (1/4mi., below the rapids of Little Falls) on the Mississippi with hieroglyphics which an Ojibwe (Chagobay), who was traveling with them, interpreted them "...markings refer to is that of the death of Rainville...so and so on his way back from St.Peter found abandoned on the shore of the river the body of a Sioux he recognized as Rainville's; that he took its hair and drew these signs on the rock to tell the Sioux he only took it on the third day and also to tell them what cowards they must be for not having rescued the body of their chief for so long a time...they held dances for several days at Leech Lake when the head of hair was brought there...". Nicolet also relays "...the brother of [Joseph] Renneville, the trader of Lac qui Parle, a Sioux half-breed, was killed by a Chippewa ambushed in the brush overlooking the river..."

[DarkWolfe]

Greetings Renville/Rainville/ De Rainville cousins,

I knew once we fond that missing link, it would lead back to my own ancestors.

Descendants of Jean De Rainville
--------------------------------
1-Jean De Rainville b. 1597, St. Thomas, Lisieux, Calvadoes, France
+Jeanne Brechet b. 1599, St. Thomas, Lisieux, Calvadoes, France
|-2-Paul De Rainville b. Jun 1619, St. Thomas, Lisieux, Calvadoes, France, d.
| 10 Dec 1686, Beauport, Quebec, Canada
| +Pauline Poete b. 1621, Lisieux, Calvados, France, d. 16 Feb 1666, Beauport,
| Quebec, Canada
| |-3-Marie De Rainville b. 1646, Ile de Rhe, Charente-Maritime, France, d. Nov
| | 1711, Beauport, Quebec, Canada
| | +Nicholas Belanger b. 1638, d. 20 Aug 1682, Beauport, Quebec, Canada
| | |-4-Marie Belanger b. 1678, Beauport, Quebec, Canada
| | +Joseph Parant b. 1674, Quebec, Quebec, Quebec, Canada, d. 2 Feb 1727,
| | Hotel Dieu, Quebec, Quebec, Canada
| |-3-Marthe De Rainville b. 1646, Ile de Rhe, Charente-Maritime, France
| | +Pierre Marcoux
| |-3-Jean De Rainville b. 1648, St. Thomas, Lisieux, Calvadoes, France, d. 14
| | Nov 1704, Hotel Dieu, Quebec, Quebec, Canada
| | +Suzanne Badeau b. 18 Aug 1651, Beauport, Quebec, Canada, d. 1669, Quebec,
| | Canada
| | |-4-Jean De Rainville b. 24 Aug 1666, Quebec, Quebec, Quebec, Canada, d. 27
| | | Dec 1723, Beauport, Quebec, Canada
| | +Marguerite Vallee b. 17 Feb 1672, Beauport, Quebec, Canada
| | |-5-Jean De Rainville , III b. 19 May 1693, Beauport, Quebec, Canada, d.
| | | Jul 1724, Beauport, Quebec, Canada
| | +Marie Madeleine Marcou b. 17 Jan 1704, Beauport, Quebec, Canada
| | |-6-Jean Baptiste De Rainville b. 30 May 1723, Beauport, Quebec, Canada
| | | +Marie Francoise Hains b. Abt 1730
| | | |-7-Marie Francoise De Rainville b. 1751
| | | |-7-Louise Joseph De Rainville b. 1753
| | | |-7-Joseph De Rainville , I b. 1754, Quebec, Canada, d. Abt 1795
| | | | +Miniyuhe
| | | | |-8-Victor "Ohiya" De Rainville b. 1777, Kaposia Village, Mn, Usa,
| | | | | d. 1833, Little Falls, Nd, Usa
| | | | | +Winona Crawford b. Abt 1781
| | | | | |-9-Gabriel De Rainville b. 1825
| | | | | +Mary Brown
| | | | |-8-Joseph "Akipa" De Rainville , II b. 1779, Kaposia Village, Mn,
| | | | | Usa, d. 18 Mar 1846, Lac Qui Parle, Mn, Usa
| | | | +Marie "LITTLE CROW" b. 1789, Dakota Territory, Usa, d. Feb 1840
| | | | |-9-Joseph De Rainville , III b. 1807, d. 1856
| | | | | +Marie
| | | | | +Tenosia Armatender
| | | | |-9-Antoine De Rainville b. 1810, d. 1884
| | | | | +Elizabeth
| | | | | +Madeleine
| | | | |-9-Angelique De Rainville b. 1813, Lac Qui Parle, Mn, Usa, d. 2
| | | | | Jan 1890, Mendota, Dakota, Mn, Usa
| | | | | +Hypolite Dupuis b. 1807, La Prairie de Madeleine, Quebec,
| | | | | Canada
| | | | |-9-Agathe De Rainville b. 1815
| | | | |-9-Francois De Rainville b. 1815, Nd, Usa
| | | | | +Marguerite Demers dit Bellegarde
| | | | |-9-Madeleine De Rainville b. 1823
| | | | |-9-Michel De Rainville b. 1822, d. 1899
| | | | | +Margaret , Wahpeton
| | | | |-9-Rosalie De Rainville b. 1823
| | | | |-9-Marguerite De Rainville b. 1825
| | | | |-9-Jean Baptiste De Rainville b. 1831, d. 1903
| | | | |-9-Gabriel De Rainville , Adopted b. 1818-1825, d. 1892
| | | |-7-Paul Vincent De Rainville b. 1755
| | |-6-Francois De Rainville bap. 16 Jul 1724, Beauport, Quebec, Canada
| | +Elisabeth De Laguerpierre
| |-3-Charles De Rainville b. 21 Sep 1649, St. Martin, Ile de Rhe,
| | Charente-Maritime, France, d. 10 May 1699, Quebec, Canada
| +Jeanne Masse
| +Marie Michel b. 1620, Belleme, Orne, France, d. 12 Nov 1678, Ste. Anne de
| la Perade, Beaupre, Montmorency, Quebec, Canada
|-2-Marie De Rainville b. 1621, St. Thomas, Lisieux, Calvadoes, France
|-2-Jean De Rainville b. 1625, St. Thomas, Lisieux, Calvadoes, France
|-2-Charles De Rainville b. 1627, St. Thomas, Lisieux, Calvadoes, France
| +Francoise Blanet
|-2-Marthe De Rainville b. 1620, St. Thomas, Lisieux, Calvadoes, France
+Etienne Bazin b. 1620, France, d. Bef 1662
|-3-Pierre Marie Bazin b. 1646, St. Thomas, Lisieux, Calvadoes, France, d. 23
| Sep 1699, La Durantaye, Quebec, Canada
+Marguerite Le Blanc b. 1650, France
--------------------------------

DarkWolfe

[arduinna]

De Rainville/Renville descendants:
Here is an exciting Family Web Site from the French De Rainvilles. It is written in French, and I am going to read (as I am -not perfectly- literate in French), what is posted on it, that might be of interest for you fellow researchers. Just allow me some time to work on that. I thought I'll let you know about your relatives in France, and who knows, they might be able to converse with you folks in English. The connection to the Dakota is mentionned on the site already. Maybe they would be pleased being contacted from their Dakota/Mdewakanton relatives? You never know, there might be a future tie, and opportunities to do more research in France. Just an idea...

pages.infinit.net/veeren/Frameset.html

Good Luck!
arduinna

[DarkWolfe]

darkwolfe said:

Greetings Renville/Rainville/ De Rainville cousins,

I knew once we fond that missing link, it would lead back to my own ancestors.

Descendants of Jean De Rainville
--------------------------------
1-Jean De Rainville b. 1597, St. Thomas, Lisieux, Calvadoes, France
+Jeanne Brechet b. 1599, St. Thomas, Lisieux, Calvadoes, France
|-2-Paul De Rainville b. Jun 1619, St. Thomas, Lisieux, Calvadoes, France, d.
| 10 Dec 1686, Beauport, Quebec, Canada
| +Pauline Poete b. 1621, Lisieux, Calvados, France, d. 16 Feb 1666, Beauport,
| Quebec, Canada
| |-3-Marie De Rainville b. 1646, Ile de Rhe, Charente-Maritime, France, d. Nov
| | 1711, Beauport, Quebec, Canada
| | +Nicholas Belanger b. 1638, d. 20 Aug 1682, Beauport, Quebec, Canada

This is my De Rainville line, which goes to Belanger and so on down. I have accumulated a great deal on this family, as I was assisting a "cousin" in her research of the name. Together we purchased nearly all of the Parish Records on film, which are now stored in a FHC in California, where I then resided.

What I am saying here is, the names and dates in my files on these people came directly from the Parish records, recorded in French. It was amazing to see the handwriting of your ancestors on baptism and marriage records. These records would show the child, the parents and both sets of grandparents (maiden names included!).

DarkWolfe

[DarkWolfe]

From a newspaper, The Montevideo Leader, Montevideo, Chippewa County, Minnesota Feb 20, 1914

Joseph Renville
Chippewa County's First Great Citizen

The name of Joseph Renville, the French-Indian fur trader, will always be closely linked with the early history of Minnesota and of what is now Chippewa County. He was born near St. Paul in 1779, during the Revolutionary war, his father being a French trader and his mother a Dakota Indian woman (file comment: Miniyue, daughter of Big Thunder). He was brought up until he was 10 years old among the Dakota Indians, but when his mother deserted her family and went to live with her own people, his father took him to Canada and placed him under the care and training of a faithful Catholic priest where he also gained considerable knowledge of the French language and elements of the Christian faith.

He was brought back while yet a boy, and after his father's death became a skillful interpreter. At the breaking out of the war, of 1812, he with many others of the Northwestern tribes were induced to take sides with the British and he received an appointment with rank of captain, with them marched east to the frontier. He was present at the siege of Fort Meigs in 1813, and after the war was over, accompanied the Kaposia chief to Drummond Island where a British officer thanked them for their services, and, pointing to a large pile of presents said they were gifts from Great Britian to them; Replying to this the Kaposia chief said his people had been prevailed on by the British to make war upon a people that they scarcely knew, and who had never done them any harm. "And now," said he, "After we have fought for you, under many hardships, and lost many of our people, and have awakened the vengeance of our neighbors, you make peace, for yourselves, and leave us to get such terms as we can. No, we will not take your presents, we hold them and yourselves with equal contempt"

Following the war, Renville lived in Canada for a time and then entered the service of the Hudson Bay Company, spending his winters with the Dakota Indians. After the establishment of the military post at Fort Snelling he became much better acquainted with the American people and was ever loyal to this country.

In 1822 he with other experienced trappers and traders organized the Columbia Fur Company of which he was the leader, but some time after, the American Fur Company with wise old John Astor at its head, bought them out, not wishing any rival companies in the western field, but wisely retaining the members in it's employ, and Renville settled permanently at Lac Qui Parle in 1826 where he erected a trading house and carried on an extensive business with the Indians.

About that time he was also regarded by Major Long, commandant at Fort Snelling, as interpreter on an expedition to explore the Minnesota River and the Red River of the North., and Professor Keating, the historian of that expedition, gave to the world some of the most interesting accounts of the Dakota nation that have ever been published, and also gave Mr. Renville as the source of his information.

The Lac Qui Parle mission was established in 1835 largely through Mr. Renville's influence. Although raised as a Catholic he was very liberal in his religious views, claiming and conceding the right of private judgement. While at Prairie du Chein in 1834 he met Dr. Thomas Williamson who had been sent out by the American Board of Foreign Missions to visit and convert the Indian tribes in the upper Mississippi country, and Mr Renville urged him very strongly to visit the large Indian village at Lac Qui Parle and establish a school and mission there, and promised to help him in every possible way. Dr Williamson with other missionaries and teachers went to Lac Qui Parle in June 1835, and was heartily welcomed by Renville and his family. The site chosen for the mission was a beautiful one on the east side of the river, a few rods from the fording place and under shelter of the bluff, and with plenty of good timber, the springs of pure water, and only a short distance below Lac Qui Parle.. It was an ideal spot, convenient to the Indian village of four hundred people, and accessible from all directions. Here the Indians had lived for unknown generations; here they had held their councils and had buried their dead. The woods were full of fur-bearing animals and wild fowl; the lake and streams full of fish and the prairie country on either side was the favorite feeding ground of the buffalo and deer. The woods gave them fuel and shelter and they could raise such vegetables and grains as they desired, and live in comfort. Here they brought the trophies of the chase, prepared them for market and exchanged them for needed supplies.

Mr Renville was a practical as well as a honorable man. He realized that the great need of the Indians was civilization and education along practical lines. He carried on farming operations to a considerable extent, raised horses, cattle, sheep and poultry and also raised grain, potatoes and other vegetables. He lived with the Indians, but set up a better standard of living not wholly out of their reach, and because he was honest and just in his dealings he had great influence over them. It is said that for this, the mission would have been a failure from the start as the Indians did not take kindly to the religion of the missionaries, so different from their own belief. However a native Christian church was established, which was greatly strengthened later on, when Dr Riggs and other missionaries arrived there later in 1837.

Renville's greatest work perhaps was in assisting Dr.s Williamson and Riggs to translate the Bible and other books, hymns, etc into the Sioux or Dakota language. He had a bible of his own of great antiquity. It was printed in 1588 at Geneva and had a preface written by John Calvin, in his own handwriting. Most unfortunately this bible was destroyed when the mission house, where it was kept, was burned. In translating the bible it was the practice to read a verse at a time from Renville's French Bible and have him give the translation in Sioux, which was carefully noted down. These notes helped make the basis of the Sioux written language. The Missionary Herald, published in Boston in 1846, said "Mr. Renville was remarkable for the energy with which he pursued such objects as he deemed of most importance. His power of observing and remembering facts and things was extraordinary. In translating he seldom took a book into his hand, choosing to depend on hearing rather than on sight, and in giving the intended meaning and impression. He had few if any equals." (file comment by Tom Edworthy: Very little credit is actually given to Mr. Renville for his efforts in helping to create the first Sioux-English and Sioux-French dictionaries and hymns, without whose efforts they would not exist. By todays standards he would have been given equal credit as Riggs and Williamson are currently given)

Years before there was a Christian minister of any kind in Minnesota, Renville took his Indian wife (file comment: Tonkanne, daughter of Little Crow aka Petit Carboneau) to Prairie du Chein where they were married by a Catholic priest, his wife having previously renounced the religion of her people and adopted Christianity. (file comment: he actually married her twice. Once about 1804 in an Indian ceremony and then June 12 1829 by the priest) They both lived the life of devoted Christians and both joined and were honored members of the little Mission Church at Lac Qui Parle as long as they lived. His wife died first, rejoicing in the faith, and he died peacefully one Sunday morning in March 1846, in a happy and trusting faith. Their children were also worthy descendants of such worthy parentage and some of them have been strong active workers in the church and missionary field.

No one can tell what would have been the awful consequences of the terrible Sioux Indian outbreak of 1862 had it not been for the restraining influence of a large class of so called "friendly Indians". It was terrible as it was, but we are told that very few indeed of those who had come under the influence of the mission schools and churches took any part in that unholy uprising, and most of those who were in any way under the influence of those missions, were strongly opposed to the outbreak and zealous in protecting and defending whites. The great uprising was soon crushed, and very largely through the efforts of the friendly Indians, many of whom were civilized and Christianized in large measure through the faithful efforts of Joseph Renville, our first great citizen,

H.E. Hoard

[DarkWolfe]

Misc notes gathered by Dr. Anna Amrud, researcher for the Minnesota Historical Society.
Copy acquired by Thomas Edworthy in 1978.

On what is generally known as the Sisseton Indian Reservation, which extends along the west shores of Big Stone and Traverse lake and extending west well into the Coteau Hills, there is well known family who have had a prominent part in the development of the country for not less than one hundred and fifty years. I have a reference to the descendents of a Frenchman by the name of Renville.

The following facts and near facts have been gleaned from various passages in old histories and accounts given by early explorers, fur traders, missionaries and some statements from the present living descendants. There is some conflict as to actual dates and places, but we trust there is nothing very far wrong.

The older Renville, was born in France, was thought to be a well educated man and came to America in search of fortune and adventure.(file note: Many people have researched this and all have concluded there was only one Rainville coming to the new world. It was Paul DeRainville's family) He was first heard of at the head of Lake Superior, near where Duluth is located. He came by canoe from the St. Lawrence River, and the Great Lakes. This was about the year 1775. We next hear of him as portaging from the St. Louis River of the upper branches of the Mississippi and coming down from this stream to the Indian village known as Kaposia. This is just below St. Paul near where the Minnesota River joins the Mississippi. He located there temporarily as a trader and took for his wife one of the daughters of a chief known as Little Crow (Petit Carboneau). This chief was the first of three leaders by the same name. The third Little Crow being the leader in the uprising in the Minnesota valley in 1862 (?).

Two sons were born to them. One was known as Joseph Renville and the other was Victor Renville. Joseph was the older, named after his grandfather, and was born in 1779 at or near Kaposia. Victor was a year or so younger. Soon after his birth Mrs. Renville left the family and went back to her people.

Before ten years of age, Joseph Renville was taken to Canada to receive an education. He was accompanied by his father. He returned to Kaposia at the age of about sixteen or seventeen. His father died very soon after his return. Joseph Renville was apparently in considerable demand as an interpreter even at this age. Later in his life he became quite famous.

In 1797 at the age of 18 he is mentioned as trapping and wintering in a cabin near Sauk Rapids and was with a Frenchman named Perlier. He was married in 1804. No mention is made as to who his wife might have been until years later when she is often mentioned as being one of the first Christian Indians.

In the year 1805, September 10, he was engaged to guide and act as interpreter by Zebelon Pike in his quest of the sources of he Mississippi River. He spent the whole winter of 1805 and 1806 with Pike.

About this time he became associated with a Scotch trader of renown known as Colonel Robert Dickson and had much to do with him for many years.

He was made a captain by the British in 1812 and was used in the capacity of getting the Indians to fight the Americans during the war of 1812. He was considered a brave warrior and could be depended upon at all times. After the defeat of the British he traveled to Canada and stayed there for some years, with Colonel Dickson. He was retired on a Captains's pay by the British. He worked for the Hudson Bay Company.

However, in a short time he became desirous of returning to this country and discarded his English rights and returned to the home of his birth. This part of the country had not been surveyed at this time and most of it if not all of the Red River Valley was thought to be Canadian or British territory. Up to 1819 he is frequently mentioned as being connected with various trading posts in or near the Red River Valley.

In 1819 he became connected with Colonel Snelling, the founder of Fort Snelling. However, he continued his fur business. After 1819 the Northwest Company supplied him. He reprtedly flew the British flag at his establishment and supposedly threatened to use whiskey to incite the Indians against the Americans should they interfere in his trade. But after the consolidation of the Hudson's Bay Company and the Northwest company in 1821, Canadian authorities gradually withdrew their support, focing Renville to turn to Kenneth Mckenzie for goods. At about this time, he with the help of four others established, either for themselves or others the Columbia Fur Trading Company. This was a fort-like stockade enclosing several buildings and was built on the east side of Traverse Lake about two miles from the South end, and nearly opposite the well known spring on the west side.

He also established his own post at Lac Qui Parle (the lake that speaks) where he made his home until his death.

The year 1823 found him in the employ of Long and Keating in their expedition to the source of the St. Peters and Red Rivers. He acted as guide and interpreter and served in this capacity with their expedition as far north as the Sioux country which extended at that time which is about as part north as Wahpeton. At this point he left them and returned to his trading post.

In 1824 he sold his interest in trading post at lake Traverse. It seems that Robert Dickson was associated with him at various times during those years.

By 1826 he was firmly established at Lac Qui Parle where he was the first man to begin raising cattle and sheep, this far west. It was said his cattle numbered scores and that his sheep were hundreds. During this time he was associated much of the time with Rev. Willamson. The latter established a mission at Lac Qui Parle and translated a great deal of the bible into the Sioux language, which he could only have done through the great aid given by Joseph Renville.

He maintained a squad of from fifteen to twenty-five guards at all times and these were known as Renville's Soldiers. Later one of his sons would evolve this into the Renville Rangers.

An incident that happened at the Columbia Trading Post in 1836 is mentioned as it has to do with the past history of that part of the country.

Joseph Renville was at the post in the summer of 1836,visiting. As a pass time a shooting match with rifles was underway. When it came Mr. Renville's turn to shoot, just as he pulled the trigger a girl passed in the line of the bullet and it wounded her through the hip. The nearest doctor was Dr. Williamson at Lac Qui Parle. He was sent for and arrived the third day. The wounded girl was a niece of Joseph Renville and a daughter of his brother Victor. Anyway, the girl happily soon recovered, but while recovering she met Joseph R Brown who was in charge of the post at that time and they later were married.

Brown and Renville had been partners in the past for a time before this, but they disagreed and Brown bought Renville's interest. They had many business dealings after this however. The post since 1824 had been sold to the American Fur Trading Company.

Joseph Renville was the father of several children. The names of some of them were Michel and Joseph junior. There were at least three daughters, two of whom were teachers at the Lac Qui Parle mission under Dr. Williamson, another daughter is mentioned as a guide and interpreter to Nicolet to the Pipe stone quarries in 1830.

Mrs. Renville was a full-blooded Sioux. Married Joseph in 1804 and died of pulmonary trouble in 1838 at Lac Qui Parle. There were at least eight of their children at the fort, some of whom died in infancy. They were or had been married thirty six years at the time of her death.

Victor Renville (Ohiya) - not as much can be found concerning Victor. Fragmentary records would indicate that he was born about 1780 near Kaposia. He was a noted warrior and was killed by the Chippewa in the year 1834. He was shot from ambush while ascending the Mississippi River near Sauk Rapids. Some say this was in the river near where Sauk Center is now located.

He was the second husband of Winona Crawford, a mixed blood, who was the mother of a daughter by her first husband, who was Joseph R. Brown's wife.

Victor had a son who became one of the most noted of his people in this country. He was called Gabriel. A full account of him has been well written by Sam Brown of Browns Valley. So I will merely touch on the high points of his eventful career.


He was born at the Sweet Corn village on the west shore of Big Stone Lake in April 1825, and this was really his home throughout his life. He died at the cabin of Sam Brown on August 26 1892. He never learned he English language but is said to have perfect control of the Sioux language than any other Indian in this vicinity. He was of the utmost aid to the whites during several Indian out-breaks in the fifties and sixties. He had considerable property which was lost through his help to the whites. He was never recompensed by the Government for his great help during these troublesome times. He made several trips to Washington to aid his people. He acted as guide to General Sibley on his expedition to Devils Lake. He was named chief of the Sisseton Sioux by recommendation of General Sibley, and was the last Indian known as "chief" of this band.

He had a son called Victor, who was the father of Alex Renville now living four miles west of Peever, South Dakota. This acquaintance with Alex is the reason for the gathering together of the facts concerning this noted family.

Gabriel Renville's sons, besides Victor, were John, Moses, Eli, Peter, Samson, James, Amos, Herman and Harry.

These and their posterity are widely distributed throughout the State of South Dakota and many of them are well known in the ministry.

Victor Renville's sons were as follows: Alex, David, Sam, and Lucas.
Alex lives four miles west of Peever, South Dakota on a well improved farm, and his family are held in the highest esteem. He has two well educated daughters. One is trained as a nurse and the other one a teacher. His son's names are George, Everett, Arnold, Cyril and Mac.

The Renvilles are and always have been a credit to their race.

A county and town bear the name of Renville

A.A.

[my notes:
There are a few errors here, but for the most part correct. In speaking of the Immigrant Paul De Rainville, he was born in June 1619 Lisieux, Touques, Normandy, France, to Jean De Rainville and Jeanne Brechet. I believe they remained in France. Paul was married to Pauline Poete in 1633, and they had about eight cjildren, 4 dying early on. The parents and remaining four children came to Canada in 1655. Paul De Rainville died 10 dec 1686 in Beauport, Ile Orleans, Quebec, Canada, as did his wife in 1666. He had married second to Marie Michel (widow of Louis Gasnier) in 1669. She died in 1678 in Beaupre, they had no children.]

DarkWolfe

[DarkWolfe]

"Kinsmen of Another Kind" by Gary Clayton Anderson, pg 66-67,70:
Joseph Renville had purchased a woman (Miniyue) from Red Wing's Mdewakanton village in 1779. The union produced a son who 18 years later becane a trader and married a Mdewakanton(Tonkane) of the Little Crow Band. In 1785, when Charles Pattersen, agent for the Mackinac Company, organized his Sioux outfit in 1785, he selected no fewer than 6 wintering stations. Pattersen himself built a stockade well up the Minnesota River among the Sissetons and Whapetons. Murdock Cameron and Joseph Renville took brigades beyond Patterson to the Tetons and Yanktons on the plains.

In 1787 Joseph Renville failed to collect one thousand beaver pelts the Dakotas owed him. The Sioux and Chippewas had been fighting that fall, and Joseph Hains (Ainse) had called many of them to council at a time when they should have been hunting. Renville also claimed that Ainse had illegally used government presents to lure pelts from Indians.

DarkWolfe

[DarkWolfe]

In 1838, French explorer Joseph N. Nicollet recorded Victor Renville as the younger brother of Joseph Renville, Jr., who was the sons of French Canadian Joseph Renville Sr. According to Nicollet, Joseph Renville Sr married a "metis of the Mdewakantonwans" in Canada. By this we know that Joseph Renville Jr, and his younger brother Victor Renville were 1/2 Mdewakanton. Victor Renville married Winona Crawford, who was ½ Sisseton. Their son Gabriel Renville was 1/4 Mdewakanton Sioux and 1/4 Sisseton.

[tamara]

darkwolfe said:

In 1838, French explorer Joseph N. Nicollet recorded Victor Renville as the younger brother of Joseph Renville, Jr., who was the sons of French Canadian Joseph Renville Sr. According to Nicollet, Joseph Renville Sr married a "metis of the Mdewakantonwans" in Canada. By this we know that Joseph Renville Jr, and his younger brother Victor Renville were 1/2 Mdewakanton. Victor Renville married Winona Crawford, who was ½ Sisseton. Their son Gabriel Renville was 1/4 Mdewakanton Sioux and 1/4 Sisseton.

I think in looking at the bloodline of Mr Gabriel Renville it would be important to look at the ancestry of Abagail Crawford and she is said to be descendant of Tatankamani.

[DarkWolfe]

Somewhere in my files it says Gabriel was adopted by his uncle Joseph. I will have to check. Right now I am in midst of getting my mom's files out of storage.

DarkWolfe

[nncy58]

[http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/roadshow/series/highlights/2006/bismarck/fts_hour3_3.html
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Dakota, Lakota, Nakota: Languages of the Sioux
by Dennis Gaffney

This man purchased a Dakota Bible he found in a pile of books at Fort Yates, North Dakota. At the Bismarck ANTIQUES ROADSHOW in the summer of 2005, a man brought in a rare book he bought for spare change at Fort Yates, North Dakota, part of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. It is a Christian Bible with a twist: it was written in the Dakota language. The book was brought to the ROADSHOW about a month after another book called Lahcotah: Dictionary of the Sioux Language, was brought in to the ROADSHOW event in Tampa, Florida. We were curious: The names are clearly similar, but what distinguishes the Dakota and Lakota languages?

Map: The ancestral lands of the Nakota, Dakota, and Lakota people lie within several present-day states of the American Midwest. We began our search for an answer by calling Dixie Thompson, director of the Akta Lakota Museum and Cultural Center, a museum of the Northern Plains Indians in Chamberlain, South Dakota. "That's one of the most frequently asked questions we get at the museum," Thompson said.

Three Related Peoples
Thompson explained that the Lakota and the Dakota, together with the less-known Nakota Nation, formed three geographic and linguistic members of the Oceti Sakowin (pronounced "Oh-SHAY-tee SHAW-ko-ween"), which means "Seven Council Fires." The name refers to seven Indian groups of the northern Great Plains; the groups were collectively called the Sioux by Europeans.

This rare Bible was written in Dakota, a language of the American Plains Indians still spoken today. Prior to European contact, the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota groups lived a principally nomadic life, following the buffalo herds. They inhabited lands that went north to what is now North Dakota, south to Nebraska, east to Wisconsin and west to Wyoming. The Dakota, who lived in the easternmost area of the three, lived between forks of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers in what is today Minnesota. The Lakota, which means "prairie dweller," were the western-most group, and lived in large swaths of South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana. The Nakota lived between the other two, and between the Missouri and James Rivers in what is today Iowa and North and South Dakota. According to their own folk history, the three groups came from the Black Hills, an area that they consider sacred and call Paha Sapa, meaning "the heart of everything that is."

In the late 19th century, after the railroads hired hunters to exterminate the buffalo — which the Oceti Sakowin depended on for food, clothing, and shelter — the Plains Indians were forced on to reservations in the Midwest, where many still live today.

Keeping the Language Alive
To get a better understanding of the Sioux languages, Thompson suggested we speak to Earl Bullhead, the Lakota Language Project director at Lower Brule Community College in Lower Brule, South Dakota. He explained that Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota are actually dialects of the same language — in a similar way as are high and low German, or Irish and American English. The dialects, especially the Dakota and Lakota, are still spoken by many elderly Sioux, but the languages are disappearing as the older generation of speakers continues to age and dies away. At the time of this writing only six Lakota speakers were known to still be living in Lower Brule, according to Bullhead.

But, he goes on to say, there is a growing interest in saving these dialects from extinction. "We're developing a curriculum to teach in the schools, and having students learn to read and write Lakota so they can be certified by the state to teach it," he says, adding, "This is a first step." Bullhead is also leading a project to use compact discs, cassette tapes, and video tapes to record elders speaking the Lakota language so it won't be forever lost.

"If anyone has any spare equipment, such as microphones, editing equipment, monitors, copiers, video cameras, we can use whatever we can get," he says, "if you know any philanthropists ... "



For more information about the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota languages and people, try these resources:


Earl Bullhead, the Lakota Language Project director at Lower Brule Community College in Lower Brule, S.D., can be reached at [e-mail]
A Lakota woman who is descended from Sitting Bull describes a meal she cooks to honor her friends at pbs.org/circleofstories.



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From Bismarck, North Dakota (2006). Read the Highlights.