Charles Joseph Bottineau, Sr., Techomehgood and Their Descendants
Compiled by James W. Chesebro, Ph.D., Sep 1, 1990, and contributed Robert Baker
Charles Joseph Bottineau Charles Joseph Bottineau date and place of birth are unverified. Some have suggested that he was born in LaRochelle, France at an unknown date. In other accounts, Charles Joseph Bottineau is identified as a French Canadian. In other views, he was born in Boston, MA, circa 1750, the grandson of Stephen Bottineau and Marie Bowdoin and the son of James Bottineau and Susannah Faneuil.
Charles Joseph Bottineau died in 1824, in East Grand Forks, MN. Libby has reported that he died after five years of sickness brought on by exposure during the winters. He was still working for the Hudson's Bay Co. when he died and he was buried in the old cemetery at Grand Forks. This cemetery was located on the north bank of the coulee that still shows under the track of the Northern Pacific Railroad just south of the depot.
Charles Joseph Bottineau origins are as controverted as the date and place of his birth. He was, in the words of Healy and Kankel, born in France of Huguenot ancestry, came to this country with his parents to enjoy religious freedom. After living in Boston for a time, he journeyed into the wilderness, and it was there that he met the Indian girl whom he married.
The Compendium of Biography of Central and Northern Minnesota reported that, Charles Joseph Bottineau, 'father of Pierre, went into the wilderness of the great Northwest in the early part of the century' (p.144; also, see: Illustrated American, p. 7).
Mr. Henry (in Lounsberry, p. 149) described Charles Joseph Bottineau and his family at the beginning of one of the first Red River cart train drives in 1802. He noted that, 'Charles[Joseph] Bottineau [Sr.], with two horses, and a cart loaded with 1 1/2 packs, his own baggage, and two young children, with kettles and other trash on the cart. Madame Bottineau with a young child on her back, was scolding and tossing it about.'
In a letter dated June 9, 1937, Marie Louise Bottineau Baldwin (grand-daughter of Pierre Bottineau, daughter of Jean Baptiste Bottineau who maintained the Bottineau family records until his death in 1911, and a careful and precise genealogist in her own right) has reported, 'It is my belief that Charles [Joseph] Bottineau [Sr.] was with the Lewis and Clark expedition [1803-1806]... That information was given to me by an employee in the Indian Office who promised to furnish me with data to that effect but died before furnishing it to me.'
Charles lived in Dakota Territory settlements at Red River (now in the southern area of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada), Pembina (now in northeastern North Dakota, near the Canadian border), Fort Garry (now in the Winnipeg area, Manitoba, Canada), and Lord Selkirk (now approximately 40 miles northeast of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada).
In 1787, Charles Joseph Bottineau came into the Northwest Territory Chippewa country with other French fur traders. Between 1803-1808, he was a voyageur and hunter with Alexander Henry in the Pembina area.
On October 3, 1803, Henry (Vol. I, p.226) described 'the bustle and noise which attended the transportation of five pieces of goods to the place where the houses were built in 1801-02.' He specifically recalled 'Charles Bottineau, with two horses and a cart loaded with kettles and other trash hanging on to it. Madame Bottineau with a squally infant on her back, scolding and tossing it about.'
On February 22, 1806, Henry (Vol.I, p.274) reported that Charles Joseph Bottineau and Ambrose Allard had left camp to secure four horses stolen by the Cree Indians. 'Allard and Bottineau returned with their stolen horses, after a narrow escape from being killed by the Crees.'
On June 1, 1808, Henry (Vol. I, p. 443) itemized the people and inventory loaded into his various boats for his final departure from Pembina which included: 'L.L. Canoe. -- Charles Bottineau; Jervis [Gervais]; Assiniboines--22 kegs of grease; 1 bag of potatoes; 10 bags of potatoes; Bas de la Riviere; 32 pieces; 1 buffalo' (also, see: Lounsberry, pp. 51-52).Charles Joseph Bottineau [Sr.] was 'engaged' with the North West Company (also known as the North-western Fur Company) from as early as 1808 through at least 1816. Alfred C. Farrell (in Collections of the State Historical Society of North Dakota, p. 294) has noted that the 'Northwest Fur-Trade company' was 'formed' in '1763.' Wallace (p. 4) has suggested that while the 'orginal nucleus of the North West Company' is 'almost impossible to determine,' he has argued that 'Certainly, by 1775, the signs of concentration were clear to behold.' Lounsberry (p.18) has reported that, 'In 1783 the rival Montreal traders consolidated under the name of the `North-West Company.''
The North West Company was a fur-trading organization which had engaged in aggressive rivalry with the Hudson Bay Company. This rivalry culminated in violent warfare over the formation of the Red River Settlement (1812-1815) and ultimately resulted in the death of twenty two people in the 1816 massacre of Seven Oaks. On March 26, 1821, a 'co-partnership' or an amalgamation between the North West Company and Hudson Bay Company occurred (for additional details regarding the North West Company, see: A Narrative of Occurrences in the Indian Countries; Amos; Davidson; Documents Relating to the North West Company; Lounsberry, pp. 18, 30, 51-52, 89, 93-98; Narrative Respecting the Destruction of the Earl of Selkirk's Settlement; Innis; A Statement Respecting the Earl of Selkirk's Settlement).
In 1816, Charles Joseph Bottineau encountered the critical clash between the North West Company and Hudson Bay Company. Minnesota historians Edward D. Neill and J. Fletcher Williams (p. 514) reported that: In 1816, one year before the birth of Pierre [Bottineau], hostillities arose between the Hudson Bay Company, the old company established in 1670, under a grant of Charles II, of England, to Pringe Rupert and others, and the North-western Company, whose head-quarters were Canada, traded by way of the lakes, and had virtually pre-empted this territory before the Selkirk colony arrived and did not recognize their claim as a part of the Hudson Bay Company's territory, as this company had never before extended their lines so far south. The Hudson Bay Company transported goods by way of Hudson Bay. After the establishment of the Red River settlement in 1812, petty strife began, which in 1816, culminated in open hostilities. Lord Selkirk had demanded troops from the Governor General for the protection of his colony without avail, but instead, was injoined against repetition of hostilities. In spite of this injunction some more blood was shed, but at last, as neither party received the support of the government, an amalgamation took place, and the united company controlled the country. In consequence of these hostilities, the little colony of Red River was greatly weakened by emigration to the territory of the United States and Canada. Pierre Bottineau's father was commanded by the North-western Company to take part in the struggle but he absented himself on one of his hunting expeditions. On his return he was imprisoned, but owning to his influence with the tribe from which he had taken his wife, he was soon released, as worse troubles were liable to arise' circa 1992.
Techomehgood Techomehgood was an Indian woman of the Kenistino tribe of the Assiniboine (Ah-se-ne-bown) People of the Hair Hills. Kvasnicka 1987 states that Techomehgood is described in existing archive records as a Chippewa woman from the Hair Hills.
A Map of Part of the Indian Territories in North America of June 19, 1816, indicates that the Hair Hill State was a circular area, approximately 40 miles in diameter, with its midpoint slightly west of the intersection of the 49th parallel and the 98th meridian, and roughly fifty miles southwest of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. In terms of contemporary geographic boundaries, the Hair Hill State would now be divided, almost in half, by the international boundary dividing the United States and Canada, with the northern half of the Hair Hill State in lower central region of Manitoba, Canada, and the southern half of the Hair Hill State in the northeast region of North Dakota. Noting that the location and description of the Hair Hills has varied, Coues (in Henry, Vol.I, p.82) observed that, 'the Hair hills or Pembina mts., more properly so called, lie nearly N. and S., mainly in the Dakotan counties of Nelson, Grand Forks, Walsh, Cavlier, and Pembina, and extend thence into the district of Lisgar in Manitoba.'
The origins and characteristics attributed to the Assiniboine Indian tribes have varied tremendously. a. Stevens (1859, p.62) has argued that, 'The word Assiniboine has its origin as follows: They are an offspring of the Sioux. In the war of 1812 a number of these Sioux fought against a number of Chippewas, and took a good many of the latter prisoners. They tied these prisoners to a stake upon a larger rock and burned them to death. Since that time they have been called `Assini Boines,' which, in Chippewa language, means `birnt rock.'' b. The Chippewa Red Lake Tribe (in Cyr, 1933, p.4) has directly denied the kind of analysis provided by Stevens for the word `Assiniboine.' They note that the word used by the Cippewas for this tribe was `Ah-se-ne-bown.' In their view, the word `Ah-se-ne-bown' was 'corrupted by the white people into Assiniboine.' c. Henry's (Vol.II, pp. 516-523) 'ethnographic' description of the Assiniboine tribe, written between September 18, 1808 and September 12, 1809, while he was in Fort Vermilion, Alberta, is provided in Appendix I, 'Historical Documents,' of this document'(James W. Chesebro, PhD.).
The Bottineau Family
My Elusive Ancestors
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