Truman A. Warren.
Truman A. Warren was born at La Pointe, Madeline Island, Lake Superior, April 19th, 1827, and was the second son of Lyman M. Warren, the first permanent American settler on Lake Superior. The father was for many years connected in business with the American Fur Company, making his residence on Madeline Island, its most westerly headquarters along the
chain of the Great Lakes. He was a direct descendant of Richard Warren, one of the Pilgrim Fathers of the Mayflower. Gen. Joseph Warren who fell at Bunker Hill, was also a member of a collateral branch of this same family.
The mother of Truman Warren was Mary Cadotte, the daughter of Michel Cadotte, an old time fur trader of Lake Superior and the great Northwest and was himself the son of Jean Baptiste Cadotte, who was in partnership with Alexander Henry, the Englishman, noted for his journeys and writings. The wife of Michel Cadotte, and mother of Mary Cadotte was an Ojibwa woman, daughter of Waub-ije-Jauk (White Crane) hereditary chief of the La Pointe band of Ojibwas, which was closely related to the bands of the Mississippi. Truman Warren was the younger brother of W.W. Warren, the historian of the Ojibwa nation.
In the summer of 1836 their grandfather, Lyman Warren, Sr., of New York, visited La Pointe, and on his return took home the two boys with him to Clarkson, New York, where they attended school for two years. Afterwards, from 1838 to 1841, they attended the Oneida Institute at
Whitesborough, near Utica, New York, where they acquired a good scholastic training.
Truman remained at Clarkson until 1843, when he returned to La Pointe, Madeline Island. He was of a fine personal appearance, gentlemanly, somewhat reserved in manner, studious and practical. Having acquired an excellent penmanship, he very readily found employment in the office of James P. Hays, U.S. Indian Agent, and from that period he was connected with the Indian service nearly all his life. He became identified with the Mississippi Chippewas in 1851, at the time when an effort was made to remove the Lake Superior Chippewas to Crow Wing and Gull Lake. He made his home at the Chippewa Agency near Crow Wing and resided there
for years, engaged in trade and also in the government service at times, always on good terms and in friendship with the head chief, Hole-in-the-day.
Mr. Warren took a lively interest and an active part in the removal of the Indians to the White Earth Reservation, and it can be truly said that it was greatly through his advice and wise counsel that they were at last prevailed upon to leave their old home and country where they had roamed and lived for generations back. He was one of the party who accompanied the chief, Hole-in-the-day, on his trip to make a selection of the lands and to locate the White Earth Reservation. On his return from his trip he carried in his own conveyance a goodly specimen of the rich black soil as a proof of the richness of the "promised land"; and
the Indians who came to see were greatly pleased. They laughed heartily and said it was only "Makoukes" (or Little Bear, Mr. Warren's Indian name) who would take the trouble of doing this.
After twenty years of constant employment in the Indian service, during which time he opened up a thriving farm, Mr. Warren left his home at White Earth, and commenced a new home on the Red Lake Reservation. Though never intended for a permanent residence, it was here that he met
his death after a few days of severe illness. He died October 31st, 1888, aged sixty-one years. leaving a wife, two sons and two daughters. His remains were brought to White Earth for interment at St. Benedict Cemetery.
The following is copied from a letter written by J.B. Bassett, Feb. 25th, 1895, who was United States Indian agent at the time of the first removal:
Your favor of the 15th inst, received. I gladly answer your inquiries as well as I can, but the lapse of twenty-seven years has blotted much of that history from my memory. There are some of the persons with whom I was associated that I shall never forget, and among them is your
brother, Truman A. Warren. A truer and nobler man I have never met. It was through his influence and help that I persuaded the Indians to remove to their present reservation. Your brother T.A. Warren had charge of collecting the Indians that first went to White Earth.
He brought them together at the old agency, organized the outfit, had charge of it and accompanied them on their journey. As you truly say they had perfect confidence in him, and well they might, for he never deceived them. Your memory of the removal is quite correct. Your brother was my interpreter from the time that I assumed the agency until I left. I always found him a truthful and remarkably bright and intelligent gentleman although his life spent on the frontier, where he was surrounded by all the temptations that lead astray and have ruined so
many. He always maintained his manhood and purity of character while associated with the Indians.
The Beaulieus were a remarkably bright family. Paul Beaulieu was an exceptional man, of a vivid imagination and good hear, and gifted with plenty of brain power. He was an orator and had mastered the English, French and Ojibway languages perfectly.
Three sisters of T. A. Warren survive him, all residents of White Earth. The oldest is Mrs. Julia A. Spears, born September 3, 1832, at La Pointe, Madeline Island, Wis. She was educated at Clarkson, Monroe County, New York and was employed as government day teacher for several
years in the early settlement of White Earth. Her family consists of two daughters and a son, Mrs. Alice J. Mee, Mrs. Mary Lambert, who with their families reside at White Earth; and William R. Spears who with his family lives at Red Lake, where he has been engaged in trade for
several years. The next sister, Mrs. Mary English was born in 1835 at La Pointe, Wis., and educated at Hudson, Ohio. When eighteen years old she returned home and taught government school at Odahnah, Wis., for a number of years, and also at Red Cliff, Wis. She removed to White Earth in 1874, and was principal of the government boarding school there for two years. She was transferred to Red Lake as principal of the first government school at that place for five years. She was married to John English at Red Lake and taught school for ten years longer, when her health failed and she resigned, returning to White Earth. Mrs. Sophia Warren, third sister, was born in 1837, at La Pointe, Madeline Island. She was married when quite young to Mr. James Warren, a white man of the same family name and one of the earliest settlers who came to White Earth as a government employee two years before his family joined him. He died in 1882 leaving a widow, seven sons and four daughters, most of whom are married and have families. Edward L. Warren, one of the sons, resides at Cass Lake, Minnesota; Henry Warren, another son, resides at Bena, Minn., being superintendent of the government boarding school there. The rest have homes in White Earth.
Mr. Paul Beaulieu was one of the first settlers, and was government farmer during the first two years of the settlement of White Earth Reservation. He ploughed and made the first garden in White Earth. During his life he was always a very prominent man. He died in 1897, leaving a widow, two sons and two daughters, all married and with families: Mrs. A. A. Ledeboer, Mrs. Elizabeth Mackintosh and Truman Beaulieu having their homes at White Earth, and Clement Beaulieu, the younger, who resides at Red Lake.
William Whipple Warren.
William Whipple Warren, the historian of the Chippewa Nation, was born on Madeline Island in Lake Superior the 27th of May, 1825. He was the father of the late Tyler Warren and Mrs. George Uran, of White Earth. He was a member of the second Minnesota Territorial Legislature in 1857,
and was then residing at Gull Lake. He died of consumption in May, 1853, at the age of twenty-eight years.
Elliot Coues, editor of Alexander Henry's journal, has this to say of the
Cadotte family:
Jean Baptiste Cadotte, Sr., (the great grandfather of W.W. and Truman Warren and also of Mrs. Spears, Mrs. English and Mrs. James Warren,) came to Michilimackinac in Oct., 1756, with his wife, a Nipissing woman. This wife died in 1767. That same year he married Marie Monet by whom Marie Cadotte was born and baptism registered as of July 28th, 1768. J.B. Cadotte founded a trading post on the American side of Sault Ste. Marie in 1760 and was found there May 19th, 1762, by Alexander Henry, St., with whom he went in partnership. He went with him in 1775 to the Saskatchewan River and separated from him at the Cumberland House to go to Fort des Prairies in October.
J.B. Cadotte crossed the Rocky Mountains near the National Boundary, more than one hundred years ago, and the famous Cadotte's Pass, the oldest pass in those mountains south of the Boundary Line, was so named for him.
He is said to have prevented the Lake Superior Indians from joining Pontiac. He remained in trade and agriculture until 1796, when, on the 24th of May that year, he gave his property to his two legitimate sons J. B. Cadotte, Jr., and Michel Cadotte at Sault Ste. Marie. The date of
his death is somewhat conjectural, but was somewhere between 1803 and 1810, at a very advanced age.
Michel Cadotte, Sr., son of J. B. Cadotte, Sr., and grandfather of Truman Warren was on the south side of Lake Superior in May, 1798. His house was on the bay between Sand River and Bad River. His wife was an Indian woman, and one of his daughters married Leon St. Germain.
Michel Cadotte, Jr., is listed as a voyageur in the Northwest Fur company on the Chippewa river in 1804, and took part in the capture of Michilimackinac in the War of 1812. He was a brother to Mrs. Lyman Warren and an uncle to Truman Warren.
Louis Cadotte, thought to be a brother of the last (?) was taken to London, by George Catlin as chief of a band of Indians he exhibited there. Louis Cadotte married an English girl and brought her to Sault Ste. Marie where she died. He was living there in Sept. 1853. See Wm.
Kingston's "Western Wanderings."
Bealieu Family.
Alexander Henry in his journal says:
Oct. 2d, 1805. We set off for Pembina River with Le Sueur, Huneau and wife. Fire on the plains in every direction; burned our horses' feet passing through smoldering turf. We slept at night in Beaulieu's tent on Sale River.
Elliott Coues, editor of the above work, has the following to say with reference to the Beaulieu family:
Beaulieu is a very old name in these annals. A half-breed family of that name was found on Slave River when the Northwest Fur Company first reached it in or about 1778, showing prior presence of the French so far as this. Francois Beaulieu, one of the family born in the region, was one of the six voyageurs who accompanied Sire Alexander McKenzie on his exploring expedition across the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific coast, in 1793, from the place where they had wintered on Peace River. He was baptized by Bishop Tache in 1848. He died in 1872 almost a centenarian. The Beaulieu of whom Henry speaks is Joseph Beaulieu, listed as a voyageur in the Northwest Fur Company on Red River in 1804.
Bazil Beaulieu from Montreal, was a voyageur of the Northwest Fur Company in 1804 and 1805, at Flambeau, Minn. He was the father of Clement H. and Paul Beaulieu of White Earth.
PAUL H. BEAULIEU.
Paul H. Beaulieu was born at Mackinac in 1820. He was of French and Indian descent and took an active part in the early development of the territory and state of Minnesota, especially in all matters relating to the Chippewa Indians, and in their several treaties with the government.
He possessed the attributes of a splendid education, was a master of the English and French languages, a born diplomat, a brilliant orator, and a Chesterfield in manner and address, and was reputed to be the most fluent interpreter of the Chippewa dialect that the nation ever
produced. He was largely instrumental in bringing about the measure which secured to the Chippewas their present home, the White Earth Reservation, and he, too, led the van when they removed hither, and turned the first furrow and planted the first crop, and took the
initiatory steps in the paths of a new civilization. Mr. Beaulieu never sought the uncertain allurements of the political works, although grandly qualified to honor and administer the duties of its most intricate branches; he chose, rather, to humiliate himself to his humble
surroundings and to the elevation of his kindred, the Chippewas of Minnesota. He belonged to that lofty school of individualism that is fast passing away, and who, "along the cool, sequestered vale of life, they keep the 'morseless tenor of their way" and whose noble deeds of self-sacrifice are buried with them. Mr. Beaulieu had been in failing health for some time, and the sudden and tragic death of his beloved son, John H. Beaulieu, a few weeks ago, undoubtedly hastened his demise which occurred on the 9th of February, 1897. He leaves a wife and two daughters and two sons, Mrs. Jennie Ledeboer, Mrs. A. J. McIntosh, and Truman and C. A. H.. Beaulieu. He was a brother of the late lamented Col. C. H. Beaulieu, and at the time of his death he was employed as interpreter on the Chippewa commission. In respect to his memory Maj.
R. M. Allen, U.S. Indian agent, ordered the agency flags at half mast during Wednesday and Thursday, and that general business about the agency be suspended during the funeral services. He was laid to rest on Thursday, in St. Benedict's mission cemetery; Rev. Father Aloysius,
O. S. B., officiated at the funeral services. --
Detroit Record.
MRS. WEST.
CLEMENT H. BEAULIEU.
Col. Clement H. Beaulieu, Sr., or, as his friends delighted to call him, "Uncle Clem," was born at Lac du Flambeaux, in the then territory of Michigan, which included Wisconsin, Minnesota and a large portion of territory west of the Mississippi, on Sept. 10, 1811. A pioneer, a
statesman and an individual of marked characteristics, being born in a period when the West and Northwest was, comparatively speaking, a howling wilderness and barbaric Eden of the untutored red man, his father, Bazil Hudon de Beaulieu, having emigrated from Canada in the year 1804, and who was actively engaged in the fur trade of the Northwest for many years, and in which business Mr. C. H. Beaulieu, Sr., became early engaged in the Lake Superior region and other points east and west of the headquarters of the Mississippi, especially in the vicinity of La Pointe, Wis., and at Crow Wing, Minn. At the latter place at one time he owned and conducted the most thriving trade and enjoyed the pleasantest home in Minnesota, under the warm hospitality of its roof and from the bounty of its board no friend or stranger ever turned
away hungry, nor felt touched by the chill of discourtesy.
Mr. Beaulieu was of mixed French and Algic Indian blood, being descended on his father's side from the chivalrous de Beaulieus of France, and the most distinguished totem, or clan of the Ojibwa nation, members of whose family have been chiefs and princesses from time immemorial, and the principles and persuasive influences of both races were happily continued in the life and nature of Mr. Beaulieu, and it was owing to the implicit faith that the Indians cherished in his word and wisdom that he was a power amongst them, and true it is, that many serious
collisions have been averted between the Chippewa Indians of Minnesota and their white neighbors, owing to his timely councils, and today, these people not only can thank his aggressive forethought and wisdom for their heritage to homes on the White Earth Reservation, but the further significant fact that no stain of the white man's blood rests on the hands of the Chippewas of Minnesota.
He was married to Miss Elizabeth Farling, a daughter of one of the early Scotch missionaries, in 1840, celebrating midst the surroundings of a large family of children and grandchildren their golden wedding, some three years ago.
THE SEER OF MINNESOTA'S VENERABLE PIONEERS IS DEAD!
Clement Hudon de Beaulieu, more familiarly known as Col. C. H. Beaulieu, of White Earth, this county, died on the morning of Monday, 2d of Jan., 1893, after a short illness of some eight days. Mr. Beaulieu, who was a very active man for one so advanced in years, met with a very serious accident a few days ago, having broken his leg, and which culminated in his death. His wife survives him, and also five sons, Capt. Chas. H., Rev. C. H., Jr., Gus. H., Theo. B., Robt. G. and one daughter, Mrs. Theo. H. Beaulieu. --
Detroit Record
MRS. WEST.
Clement A. Beaulieu came to White Earth in the fall of 1873, and took charge of George A. Morison's trading post, but two years afterwards moved to the new agency and established a store of his own where he was in trade for several years. He took his land on Fish Lake in Norman County, but always had a renter there working his farm, while he and his family resided at the agency in Becker County until the time of his death in 1893. Mr. Beaulieu was a prominent man here, and had great influence with the Indians and chiefs. He took an active part in the treaty made in 1889. He was a close friend of Hon. H. M. Rice.
Among Mrs. West's papers I cam across the following clipping from the Detroit Record of January 27th, 1893:
Mr. Basil H. Beaulieu, an old and respected pioneer of Wisconsin and Minnesota, has been commissioned by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs a judge of the court of Indian offenses at this agency. Mr. Beaulieu was tendered his commission and officially notified of his appointment by Agent C. A. Ruffee on Monday. He is the proud possessor of a document sear and yellow with age, it being one of the three justice of peace commissions issued by the first territorial governor of Wisconsin, Mr. Beaulieu being one of the three persons appointed to execute the duties of that then honorable position, his field being Brown County, in 1836.
As the name, Bazil H. Beaulieu, was identical with that of the Bazil H. Beaulieu who came from Montreal in 1804, and believing that in 1836 he would be too young a man for the Bazil H. Beaulieu of 1804, I wrote to Theodore H. Beaulieu of White Earth for information, and received the following reply:
White Earth, Minn., Oct. 23, 1905.
HON. A. H. WILCOX
FRAZEE, MINN.,
My Dear Sir:
Replying to yours of the 16th inst., concerning the identity of Bazil H. Beaulieu, who came from Montreal, Canada, and settled at Lac du Flambeau, Wis., the then territory of Michigan, in 1804, etc., you are respectfully informed that this person was my father's uncle and a
granduncle of mine. There were two brothers, Paul and Bazil Hudon de Beaulieu. Paul was my father's father and my grandfather; Bazil Hudon de Beaulieu was the father of the late Col. Clement H., Paul H., Henry H. Beaulieu, and was also the father of Mrs. Catherine Beaulieu
Fairbanks (Mrs. Robert Fairbanks), Mrs. Margaret Beaulieu Bisson (Mrs. Martin Bisson), Mrs. Gustave Borup, deceased, and Mrs. Julia Beaulieu Oakes; the latter being the only surviving child of the said Bazil Hudon de Beaulieu. She is at present at this agency and is now 94 years of age, and still hale and hearty. My father, the late Bazil H. Beaulieu, the second, was the only son of Paul Hudon de Beaulieu, and is the person referred to in the
Record clipping. My grand uncle Bazil was stationed at Lac du Flambeau as an Indian trader, and my grandfather Paul was at Vermillion Lake and also Red Cedar (now Cass Lake), some time between 1830 or 1840 (I am not clear as to date.) My grandfather removed to Navareno (now Green Bay, Wis.), and settled there. Later on he purchased large tracts of land, as also the old Stockbridge agency sawmill and grist-mill from the Government on the south side of the Fox
River and where is now built the flourishing city of Kaukauna, Wis. Sometime about 1848 my father also removed to Green Bay, and on the death of my grandfather he fell heir to all of the property, he being the only child. Our family removed from Kaukauna, Wis., about 26 years
ago and settled at White Earth, Minn. Both my grandfather and grandmother are buried at the old French or mission cemetery at Green Bay, Wis. My mother and father sleep in St. Benedict's mission cemetery, White Earth, Minn.
Appreciating the interest you manifest in the history of the sturdy pioneers, who braved the wild and woolly days of your, and helped to carve the crude paths of this grand commonwealth, I have the honor, dear sir, to remain,
Very respectfully,
Theo H. Beaulieu
Outpost at White Earth.
Alexander Henry in his journal says:
Sept. 20th, 1802
I sent Michel Langlois with a clerk and five Indians to build at Red Lake. This is an overland post, and required horses to transport the property. We have enough for all purposes, and a new sort of cart which facilitates transportation. They are about four feet high and perfectly
straight; the spokes are perpendicular, without the least bending outward, and only four to each wheel.
Oct. 15th, 1802
Duford followed Langlois to Red Lake River, high water over the plains prevented their reaching Red Lake and they built at White Earth.
Rev. John Johnson or Enmegahbowh.
In 1851, the Rev. Dr. Breck, a great missionary, whose name must be known to every reader of the
Soldier, began a mission at Leech Lake, among the Ojibwa Indians of Minnesota. This mission, from various circumstances, had only a partial success, and in the winter of 1855-56 troubles with the government agents roused the Indians to such madness that Dr. Breck was forced to leave, and the mission buildings were burned.
Two years later the Rev. Mr. Peake went to Crow Wing to establish another mission, and a young Indian deacon, John Johnson, his Indian name Enmegahbowh, came to assist him. This man had been a catechumen under Dr. Breck, and had been baptized by him. He must have been born to some position in his tribe, as he had been set apart for a "Medicine Man" in his youth, and his Indian name
Enmegahbowh, meant "The man who stands by his people," a significant name, which in time proved to be a true one.
In 1861 Mr. Peake resigned the mission into the hands of Enmegahbowh. Crow Wing was then a settlement of very bad repute on the frontier. In 1862, the year of the Sioux outbreak, Hole-in-the-day, a leading Ojibwa chief, a bad man, full of craft and cunning, collected five hundred warriors, and prepared for a general massacre of the white people, Enmegahbowh, having prevented, by his influence, some other bands from joining these, was made a prisoner, but succeeded in escaping, and, through the midst of great perils, made his way to Fort Ripley, and by his timely information, such measures were taken that bloodshed and a more fearful massacre than that of the Sioux were prevented.
For a few years the mission work seemed at a stand still. From Canada Enmegahbowh received earnest invitations to go where comfort and hopeful work awaited him, but Bishop Whipple encouraged him, standing in the forefront for an unpopular cause and a hated people, and Enmegahbowh would prove the fitness of his name - he would not desert his people.
At last the government made new arrangements, and seven hundred Ojibwas were moved to what is called the White Earth Reservation, a tract thirty-six miles square in northern Minnesota. Of these seven hundred about one hundred and fifty were French half-breeds, or Roman Catholics.
Amongst the remainder Enmegahbowh labored earnestly, the government now aiding in the work by encouraging the Indians in civilized ways. A steam sawmill was built at White Earth Lake, where Indians were taught to run the machinery, and from which lumber was furnished for building
purposes. Eastern churchmen assisted the mission, and a church and parsonage were built.
At the time of the consecration of the church in August, 1872, quite a party of the clergy and laity, through the kindness of Bishop Whipple, were enabled to visit White Earth.
The consecration was on Thursday, Friday morning, the chiefs signified to the bishop their wish to meet him in a council, which was therefore held, that afternoon, on the hillside in front of the church. It was a picturesque scene - the lovely landscape, the sunlight glancing through
the tall oak trees on the bishop and Enmegahbowh, who sat in the center, the chiefs and five or six clergymen grouped around. Behind the bishop three chairs were placed for the ladies of the party - the first time, I think, that the ladies were ever admitted to an Indian council.
The chiefs spoke in turn, as they had themselves arranged, and were interpreted by Enmegahbowh. --
Christian Soldier.
MRS. SPEARS.
The Rev. John Johnson was born in Canada and died at White Earth on the 12th of June, 1902, at the age of 95 years.
Peter Parker.
Peter Parker, the present janitor of the industrial school at Pine Point, a full-blooded Indian and a soldier of the Civil War, says:
I drove one of the ox teams that hauled the baggage belonging to the Indians who comprised the party that arrived at White Earth on the 14th of June, 1868, under the leadership of Truman Warren.
Paul Beaulieu had gone on ahead in charge of another party; government employees who went to open a farm for the Indians and do some plowing.
We first saw Paul Beaulieu at White Earth; there is where his party and ours first met.
James Warren and George Van Valkenberg came in July.
Fred Peake was the first storekeeper at White Earth (he and Joe Wakefield were partners), Robert Fairbanks worked or run the store for him. Peake was a white man. George Fairbanks started a store a little later on and John Beaulieu worked for him. Robert Fairbanks started his own store a little later.
The building where James Whitehead undertook to arrest Boanece at White Earth in Feb., 1873, was the Gaius Johnson building.
My daughter was the first white girl born at White Earth.
Peter Parker
Fred Peake and his brother Giles built the store in Detroit now owned and occupied by Iver Grimsgard, in the spring of 1872.