| 14. | BISSON Martin was born in 1799 in LaPrairie, Quebec Canada (son of BISSON Antoine and Caille-Biscornet Rosalie); died on 11 May 1890 in White Earth, Becker Co., MN. Notes:
Martin Bisson
Notes
INFORMATION TAKEN FROM THE WORK OF PATRICK E JACOBY - 1983 OF "THE
FAMILY OF THEODORE BELLEFEUILLE"
Section 4 Affiliated Families
Since Martin Bisson, Bazil Beaulieu, and 0-ge-mau-ge-shi-go-guay
played such important roles in shaping the destiny of the
Bellefeuille family, it is of interest to look at their lives and the
family traditions from which they came.
A. Bisson family (This name can be translated to mean 'twins" or
"bush")
Theodore Bellefeuille's wife Sophia was of the family Bisson. Her
father, Martin Bisson was born to Antoine and Rosalie (Caille) Bisson
in 1797 at La Prairie, Quebec, Canada. According to William Joseph
Bisson, Martin, at a very early age, became active with the fur trade
in what is now northern Minnesota. While working as an agent near
Thief River Falls he became acquainted with the Beaulieus (probably
through Paul, brother of Bazil). He later married Margaret Beaulieu
and they resided in Wisconsin at the time of the birth of their first
child Antoine in 1828. Sometime before 1834, however, they moved
back to Canada where Martin took up farming. The other two children
were born there, Archange in 1834 and Sophie in 1836 (who later
married Theodore Bellefeuille). In 1853 after almost twenty years in
Canada Martin and Margaret returned to Minnesota to settle at Belle
Prairie, Margaret's brothers Paul and Clement and her mother
Marguerite Beaulieu had followed the westward flow of migration from
Wisconsin and had settled a few miles north at Crow Wing.
From Clara Fuller's History of Morrison & Todd Counties we get a
brief biography of Martin Bisson:
Martin Bisson is looked upon as the pioneer of the French race in
Morrison County. He was a man universally respected for his honesty
and much sought after for his generous hospitality. I am told that
his modest home was crowded by travelers or prospective settlers whom
he induced to settle in his neighborhood. Mr. Bisson was born in
Maskinonge, Quebec about 1790. As a young man he had engaged in the
fur trade in the Northwest, had married a sister of the Beaulieu, a
people closely associated with the early history of Minnesota, had
returned to his native home, where he purchased a fine farm. But the
fascination of the West was too great to permit him to enjoy the
peaceful life of a farmer in a quiet rural community. He sold out
and came to Belle Prairie, bringing with him two of his neighbors,
John Branchaud and Theodore Bellefeuille, who eventually became his
sons-in-law. He must have lived about thirty years in Belle Prairie,
to which he was really a benefactor, giving forty acres of his farm
for the church. In his old days he followed his children to White
Earth, where he died.
Martin Bisson had a brother Francois, who although he did not leave
Canada, has many descendants in Minnesota. One of those is Ginnor
Bisson, Jr., who was born at La Prairie July 19, 1857. He was a
grandson of Francois. Ginnor married Emma Bellefeuille and after her
death he married her sister, Julia. Their descendants then have two
strains of Bisson blood.
Morrison County land records show a transaction dated November 23,
1860 in which Charles Beaulieu sold land to Martin and Margaret
Bisson (SE 1/4 of Sec 14, T 41, R 32 plus lots 3,4, and 5 in same
section). This may have transpired earlier but With the Military
Bounty Land Act of March 3, 1855, the organization of Morrison County
in 1856 to get legal title to their land.
According to church records Martin's home provided the shelter for
the first Mass said in Morrison County, when in the fall of 1853 the
famous missionary Father Francis Xavier Pierz came to the small
French-Canadian community of Belle Prairie to open a mission. From
this first service evolved the Holy Family parish which was the first
parish in what is now the Diocese of St. Cloud. In July, 1861 Martin
finally received a patent for his land from the U.S. Government. Ms
farnhy gave a portion of the acreage to the church, which became the
site of the Holy Family Church and Cemetery. At the time the little
congregation included sixteen families. Father Pierz remained pastor
there until 1865.
Martin was well established at Belle Prairie at the time of the 1860
Federal Agricultural Census as he was one of the wealthiest men of
the area. He owned 157 acres of land of which 74 were suitable for
cultivation, the cash value of his farm was $2,000, the value of his
implements and equipment was $250, he owned 6 horses, 4 milk cows, I
I other cattle, 16 swine, I I sheep, the total value of his stock was
$735. His crops had done well. He had 100 bushels of wheat, 5
bushels of rye, 40 bushels of Indian corn, and 1000 bushels of oats.
Because of Margaret's affiliation with the Lake Superior Chippewa
(her mother was a full blood) she was able to receive scrip. This
took the form of both cash annuities and land issuances. The parcel
of land that she received pursuant to the treaty of 1854 was located
in Douglas Co., where she had grown up at Lac du Flambeau. The
patent was issued January 18, 1869 and included the N 1/2 of SW 1/4
of Sec 20, Twp 47, R 15 W. This land was sold May 26, 1881 to William
Cranwel.
On July 25, 1877 Martin Bisson ad wife Margaret, gave a Quit claim
Deed to the Western Railroad Company of Minnesota for a tract of land
50 feet on each side of the railroad bed. He was paid $1,877. today
the Burlington Northern Railroad owns this strip of land.
Martin and Margaret moved to Callaway in the late 1880's and lived
the rest of their lives in that area, Martin died on May 11, 1890 and
Margaret on April 27, 1896. Both are buried at Calvary Cemetery, St.
Benedict's Mission, White Earth, Minnesota.
Martin married BEAULIEU Margaret Elizabeth in 1826 in WI. Margaret (daughter of BEAULIEU Bazile Hudon Dit and Skies) Margaret Racine (O-ge-mau-gee-shi-go-quay) (Queen of the) was born in 1808 in WI; died on 27 Apr 1896 in White Earth, Becker Co., MN. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]
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1886 - 1937 (51 years)