Les Habitants d'Olde Poste Vincennes

11/27/2022

My cousin, Charles (dit St.) Antoine (Vachér), a pioneer of Minnesota, was born in Maquillage, province of Quebec, Canada, on the 3rd of November, 1794. He was brought up by his brother on a farm, and when ten years old traveled to Ft. Detroit joined the English army, serving only six months.

He then went to La Baye, Wisconsin, where he was employed by an Indian trader; worked there three years and then went to Milwaukee, where he spent the winter, there being no white men in the place at that time.

From there he went to Mackinaw, and again engaged in trading. Wisconsin State Historical Society has a copy of an 1812 contract between Charles dit St. Antoine Vacher and the Michelamacinac Trading company to trap for beaver.

One of the last acts of the Mackinac Company was Charles' contract made through its Montreal agent with Charles St. Antoine dit Vacher of Maskinonge in the Province of Lower Canada, to make the voyage in a Company batteau and winter for three years in the dependencies of St. Joseph's, Mackinac, the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers and return at the end of the three years. His uncle, Joseph Saint Antoine de Vacher went his surety. The compensation was to be one 3-point blanket, three ells of cotton, one pair of shoes, one collar, and 48 livres in advance besides 24 livres upon completion of contract.

His time expiring at this point, he entered the employ of another trader, Louis Provansalle Cabonneau, whose thirteen year old daughter he afterward married. He remained during the winter where St. Peter now stands, and in the spring went to Prairie du Chien, where he was employed by the Sbatto & Roulette Fur Company of St. Louis.

In 1820, he went to the Red River country in company with an English lord, Duncan Graham, and Laidlow, carrying with them the first wheat to that section, and selling it at a profit of $2 per bushel on three hundred bushels. Mr. Antoine returned to Prairie Du Chien after three months, and worked in different parts of the country several years.

In September, 1824, he married Margaret Provansalle, who was educated in Illinois and a daughter of his former employer Provencale. Her mother was a full-blooded Sioux. In October of the same year he engaged as a scout to an Infantry company under command of Major Alexander, which was soon ordered from Fort Crawford to Fort Snelling.

He then returned to Prairie Du Chien and purchased a farm which was his home several years; thence to Dubuque, and a year later returned to the former place. In 1847, they came to Minnesota, stopped in Mendota three weeks and then to Faribault, where he was engaged by Alexande Faribault to take charge of his farm, his wife teaching the Sioux children in the meantime.

A year later he returned to Mendota, bought a tract of land which he improved, giving his two sons a farm from the same. His wife died in 1871, at the age of sixty-six years. Mr. Antoine now makes his home with his daughter, Mrs. Johnville. Of five sons and three daughters, but one son and two daughters are living; Margaret, the eldest, married Fred Faribault, youngest son of Jean Baptist Faribault, by whom she had four children; Agnes, Sterne, Libbie, and Antoinette. Her husband died in 1867, and she married, three years later, Jean Baptist Johnville. The result of this union is one child, Freddie, now living in this city. The second daughter, Frezine, married George Faribault, a son of Alexander Faribault, and now lives at Fort Yates, Dakota. Antoine, the son, married Adelle Johnville, and has five children.

Charles dit St. Antoine died at the age of 92 having lived a full and eventful life.

History of Rice County, including explorers and pioneers of Minnesota and outline history of the state of Minnesota, pp 362-363
By Neill, Edward D. (Edward Duffield), 1823-1893. 1n; Bryant, Charles S., 1808-1885. cn
Publication date: 1882
http://www.myheritage.com/research/collection-69266/collections-the-state-historical-society-wisconsin-volume-19-part-1?itemId=396&action=showRecord

01/13/2022

When I was a boy, one of my favorite subjects was history. I loved reading,particularly biographies or auto-biographies of famous historical figures; Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Theodore Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, etc. I also loved the sweeping family stories as written by James A. Michener. However, unbeknownst to me I was myself born and raised in a place of great historical significance, and into a family that played a stunning role in that history. Our story was not unlike those portrayed in James A. Michener’s novels like “Centennial”, which was a favorite of mine

Local history was not taught in my small Catholic grade school, and was not a focus of attention in the community. I was vaguely aware my neighborhood Catholic Church, St. Francis Xavier, or the “Old Cathedral” as it was known locally, had some historical significance. And then there was the impressive George Rogers Clark Memorial, located on the site of Ft. Sackville a short walk from our home. I was vaguely aware our family had French origins, though I knew nothing of our history. This though my father’s parents often whispered quietly to one other in French while at home. However they forbade their children; my father, William Francois Vachér, his brothers Edward Maurice Vachér and Jean Norman Vachér, and their sister, Mary Francois Vachér, to speak any other language than English.

Despite those efforts to downplay or hide our heritage, my grandmother often prepared French dishes, and the family celebrated regular traditions and holidays, except in ways that were traditionally French. My father was proudly known to be the chef de jour for preparing his very traditional French Fricassee for all church picnics, as well as happily providing the annual batch of elderberry wine, fermented using the recipe passed down through every man of our family, using berries picked from those bushes found on the nearby Cathlinette Prairie.

As I became older, and followiing retirement in 2019, I made a decision to investigate the story of our family. So, beginning with a box of newspaper clippings, certificates, and old photos, I began the process of learning the art and science of geneaological research. Gratefully, in my career I had developed considerable skills leveraging technology for the purposes of complex research.

Before very much time had passed I had 3,000 family members in my Ancestry database. In time the numbers increased exponentially. I passed 7,000, and then made a decision to expand my search to include indirect ancestors. I also began to push the envelope into the Middle Ages, where I confirmed my family were French-Norman, a composite of French and Norsemen. They were Knights who Crusaded, and fought alongside William The First of England and France, and William Wallace of Scotland.

My family evemtually sailed to New France with Champlain, explored the whole of the Northwest Territories, including the Mississipi River valley, and trapped, traded, and intermarried with indigenous peoples. Eventually they established a home in a French trading settlement in now Southern Indiana where we lived for nearly 300 years.

I now have over 20,000 family members iin my geneaology and counting. I am so very proud of them all. I love reading about their lives, their struggles, and their accomplishments in the face of adversity. But there came a point when I began to reflect back to my childhood, and how my family seemed so eager to hide their iidentities. And I began to turn attention to finding the answer to solving that mystery.

This book, which will shortly be available on Amazon Bookstore, explains just how, with considrable dilligence I found the answer to the mystery. I am happy to be able to share my story, and that of my family. I hope it inspires someone who reads this book to find the story, behind the story of their own family.

12/17/2021

I ran across this great article regarding one of my ancestor families, Charles Diel.

Voyageurs were French-Canadian engages, hired men, who travelled the lakes and rivers in bark canoes from Montreal to Lake Huron, Detroi...

11/29/2021

I'm writing about what happened to the Old French of Vincennes. This article is timely as Maine now forbids the speaking of French in schools. In Vincennes the Old French and their customs faded away gradually. First, following the Revolutionary War the area was overrun by those speaking other languages, particularly German, which became dominant. Then their land which they earned was stolen from them by swindlers like Francis Vigo that paid pennies on the acre - $40/400 acres, and then resold them to land speculators out east. Finally, the French were looked down upon as second class citizens, relegated to low paying, jobs. As they lost their pride they changed the pronunciation of their names, and finally forbid their children to speak the language.

NEWS CENTER Maine's Hannah Dineen visits Frenchville, Maine, to investigate the declining prominence of the French language in the state. (Live Report)

10/18/2021

As my ancestral work has progressed, I have been focusing on a topic of interest - what happened to all the Old French. Bob Dora and I inquired to one of the Sisters about this, and her answer was, "well they are all just gone away."

My research demonstrates the answer isn't that simple. In fact, there are a number of factors that came together that severely impacted the French way of life. And I am writing, what I hope to become a book, on the subject.

The single fact that was revealed the French were clearly swindled out of their donation lands. There are several authors who have written on this subject. The following quote is common across every source I've found.

“Francois Vigo, who was all things to all men, and then a bachelor, was doing a vigorous business with the British at Detroit, dealing in New York currency. In October of 1787 he began to buy these 400-acre tracts on a futurity. That is, he bought the assignment to be made to the heads of the families at his own risk of the particular grant not being made by the Congress.

“Within a few years of 1790, Vigo had purchased over one hundred such 400-acre tracts; he was by far the largest landlord in property holdings in the town, now holding 101 of the of 158, 400-acre plots under the 1788 act. Francis Vigo ran the single largest scheme to swindle the French out of their donation lands.

"Of the 40,400 total acres, sold to Vigo, the French had received 12.5 cents per acre, a total of $5,050, all of that amount in Continental specie which became worthless by 1778. However, Vigo sold his newly acquired land for an average $1.00/acre to eastern settlers and speculators.”

A listing exists in the Francis Vigo Papers that shows all the original French holders of the 400-acre lots Vigo purchased. I was disheartened to read on the fourth page, fourth to the last, is my 4th Great Grandfather's name. He took the pledge, joined Clark, and this was his thank you from the man whose statue is overlooking the place where all those others put their lives at risk for the cause of freedom.

09/23/2021

Surprised to see this today. It's an article published by the St. Mary of the Woods College where I had the honor to make a donation of a rare book authored by Bishop Brute and Mother Elizabeth Anne Seaton.

08/13/2021

Ten years from now, in 2032, Vincennes, Indiana will celebrate its Tricentennial – 300 years since its founding by Francois-Marie Bissot, Sieur de Vincennes. I have the goal of being present for the festivities, representing my family which were one of the first French to arrive, and who have been an active part of the history of the community since its founding. I am determined the focus of the festivities remain where it should, squarely on the French who did not just found the Old Post, but who suffered, toiled, and shed blood to ensure their investment was successful.

From the time of its inception, Vincennes and its inhabitants were looked down upon. The English General Gage described the French as “strollers and vagabonds”. And then, when in the early to middle 1800’s the hordes of immigrants poured into the area, they were met by a strange populace which spoke only French, and which held tightly to the French customs they brought with them from the Old World.

In the decades that followed, the French stayed insulated, and tried desperately to hold on to a way of life and those traditions they cherished. My grandparents still respected and maintained certain customs well into the mid-20th century. But the pressure of others, the non-French, was overwhelming. The newcomers positioned themselves to become the upper class – opening businesses, running for political positions, and looking down upon the inhabitants of Frenchtown. They were the laborers and tradesmen who did the hard, dirty work, Until they drifted away into the past and became no more.

Vincennes has an obligation long overdue, to honor, demonstrate respect, and show gratitude to those hard men and women whom if it were not for their efforts, Vincennes would not exist. I am founding this page to provide an online environment for those who are the ancestors of the Vincennes French, and who appreciate “they” are truly the “First Families”, who built the Old Post long before William Henry Harrison built his big home.
I am hoping to attract French descendants. To place a point of reference, I would encourage anyone whose ancestor signed the Vincennes Oath to visit. I love talking about history relating to Vincennes founding, and have amassed a genealogy on Ancestry.com with over 20,000 individuals, including members of many Vincennes families.

I hope you will join me here and help each other to create an appropriate overdue celebration for our ancestors like my great grandfather Charles Pierre Vacher whose grandfather was the "Duck Hunter" captured by Clark.