[ R ] - Pig's Eye's Notepad - [ R ]
RAMSEY, ALEXANDER - Born in 1815 in Pennsylvania. The first Governor of Minnesota. His real estate holdings were valued at $2,500 in 1850. He and his wife Anna E. (1827 PA) had at least one child: Alexander (1846 - 28 Jul 1850 St. Paul). [MPv2#15, MN50]
RAMSEY, JUSTUS C. - Born in 1824 in Pennsylvania. A St. Paul merchant who arrived in 1849, he was a charter member of the Odd Fellows, and first Treasurer of the Masonic Lodge. In 1850, he was elected a Territorial Representative, and was reelected in 1852 and in 1856, when he ran as a Republican in the 1st House District. His real estate holdings were valued at $2,500 in 1850. [WM235, 246, 263, 277, 331, 366, MN50]
RANDALL, A. - The Stillwater Convention had called for a survey of the region, and Dr. A. Randall, of Cincinnati, OH,
was hired for the task. Dr. Randall soon observed the need for a newspaper in the territory, and in August of 1848, he went to Cincinnati to procure a printing press and other equipment and supplies needed to publish a paper. Because of delays due to weather and political debate, Randall set up his press in Cincinnati, and in partnership with John Owens, a young printer with an interest in the new territory, and printed the first issue of the "Minnesota Register", the next month moving his press and supplies to St. Paul. Randall, however, was of a roving nature, and soon had caught the "California fever", and sold his interest in the paper to Nathaniel McLean. [WM208-9]
RANDALL, E. D. K. - The son of William Randall Sr., he was a St. Paul merchant. He also served as Senior First Lieutenant with the 1st Regt of Minnesota Heavy Artillery in 1865. This was the last body of troops raised from Minnesota to fight in the American Civil War. [WM157,416]
RANDALL, JOHN - The brother of William Randall Sr., and participated with him in William Hartshorn's Company, which, by 1849 was listed in the Business Directory as John Randall & Company. [WM132-3, 246]
RANDALL, JOHN H. - John H. Randall Esq. was the son of William Randall Sr.. He was the General Ticket Agent for the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, 1862-1875. [WM157]
RANDALL, WILLIAM - Born in 1816 in Wisconsin. A stonemason in St. Paul in 1850. [MN50]
RANDALL, WILLIAM JR. - William was the eldest son of William Randall Sr. He was born in 1829 at Roxbury, MA, and came to St. Paul with his father in 1846. He was an artist of no common ability, and was a very skilled caricaturist. Some of the political caricatures he made during the early days of the Territory are spoken of as being brim full of sarcasm. Unfortunately, he died in October of 1851, at age 22, cutting short a promising career. [WM157]
RANDALL, WILLIAM H. SR. - Born in Roxbury, MA, in 1806 (the 1850 census says NY), he was in business with his brother, John, when William Hartshorn went there to purchase goods. Randall became quite interested in St. Paul, made a number of inquiries regarding it, and the following year, he and his brother accompanied Hartshorn back, resolved to settle there. Soon after arriving, he and his brother, along with Auguste Larpenteur, Augustus Freeman, and David Freeman, succeeded to Hartshorn's business, and became owner of a great deal of immensely valuable land in the center of St. Paul.
Randall built the stone warehouse, later used by the Milwaukee Railroad, in 1848, and for its time it was a remarkable building. He also graded the levee, and improved many streets at his own expense. Just prior to the crash of 1857, Randall was considered a millionaire, but the financial panic ruined him, when real estate values dropped to prcariously low levels, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans were defaulted upon. On 30 July 1861, Randall died of heart disease, and was buried by the Masonic Fraternity and the Old Settlers of St. Paul. His real estate holdings in 1850 were valued at $5,000. He had at least 3 sons: John H., E.D.K., and William Randall Jr. [WM156-7, MN50]
RANDOLPH, S. R. - A resident in St. Paul in 1850. [WM269]
RATH, GEORGE - Born in 1829 in Germany. He was a laborer in St. Paul in 1850. He was married to Elizabeth (1829 Switzerland). [MN50]
RAVOUX, AUGUSTIN - Ravoux was born in Langeac, Auvergne, France, in 1815. He was a student at the Petit Seminaire and Grand Seminaire of Puy, about 20 miles from his home. Early in the Spring of 1838, Bishop Loras visited the seminary, and persuaded
him to join with Joseph Cretin, Augustin Ravoux, and Joseph Pelamourgues to follow him into the wilds of western America. They landed in New York in 1838. Galtier and Ravoux, who had not completed their studies, proceeded to Emmetsburg College in Maryland, and were ordained Catholic Priests in 1840.
Soon after, Loras assigned Ravoux to the church at Prairie du Chien where he served until September 1841, when he was commissioned to visit the Sioux in the northern part of the diocese to see if there was a chance of setting up a mission among them. He stopped at St. Paul to visit his old friend, Fr. Galtier, then to Traverse de Sioux, where he spent some months studying the Sioux language, at which he became very proficient. After spending time at "Little Rock" and Lac Qui Parle, he returned in the Spring of 1842 to Mendota, where he spent the summer in residence. He was convinced by local residents to set up a mission
in Little Prairie, now Chaska, and he remained there for more than a year.
In the Spring of 1844, when Fr. Galtier was reassigned to Keokuk, IA, Fr. Ravoux preached alternate Sundays at Mendota and St. Paul, and soon, as St. Paul was growing at a very fast rate, he was assigned fulltime to St. Paul, where he served until his death. [WM113-5]
RECHE, SUZANNE - She was the daughter of Joseph Reche and Suzanne Legrand of St. Anthony. In 1845, she married in St. Paul to William Dugas. [LR2598]
RED ROCK - Some six miles below St. Paul is a large boulder called Red Rock because it was formerly painted by the Indians .... Major Long's party found it painted with vermillion and strewn with roots, an eagle's feather and other offerings. Just above this place there used to be an Indian cemetery and at a little distance from this .... Carver's Cave. [MN Pioneer Nov 28, 1849] This location is on the east side of the Mississippi River between Cottage Grove and Battle Creek Park.
REED, CHARLES - Reed was a young Canadian Englishman, a carpenter by trade, who moved to St. Paul from Prairie du Chein in 1843. In March of 1844, he was helping to build the new house of Gerou, the butcher, and had come back into town to visit. Although the weather was threatening, he started back late in the afternoon, and was caught in a violent snowstorm by the time he was a mile away from St. Paul. He never arrived at his destination. Several days later, a young girl and her dog were walking along the Lake Como Road, on the edge of the swamp, and the dog discovered Reed's head. A partridge hunter in the swamp came upon the rest of the body, with its head gnawed off by animals, a day or so later.
REED, J. W. - Born in 1817 in Ohio. A laborer in St. Paul in 1850. His real estate holdings were valued at $300 in 1850. He and his wife Mary (1820 PA) had at least one child: Catharine (Jun 1850 MN). [MN50]
REED, THOMAS P. - Born in 1825 in Pennsylvania. A clerk in St. Paul in 1850. His real estate holdings were valued at $5,000 in 1850. He married 8 Oct 1850 to Margaret Bates. [MN50, RCM]
RENFRO, WILLIAM C. -Renfro, a native of Virginia, was a cousin of Henry Jackson and William Gibson Carter, who came to St. Paul in 1847. He was a young man of good education, had studied to be a physician, and may have even graduated but never practiced the profession except for occasionally pulling teeth or giving free advice to the poor. He was, unfortunately, a heavy drinker, and this led to his death. He was staying at the home of his cousin, Carter, in January of 1848, and arose in the night still in an intoxicated state, and wandered toward town. Being missed, a search was made, and two days later, his body was found under a tree near the present St. Mary's Catholic Church. He was clad only in his shirt and underwear. [WM177]
RENVILLE, JOSEPH - A fur trader who lived on the Fort Snelling military reservation in 1830, he was said to have owned the largest herd of cattle in the area. [KZ6]
RHODES, HENRY C. - Rhodes was born about 1820, and came from Logansport, IN. He was in business for Ewing & Ewing in Iowa, representing the company in the Winnebago trade. In 1847, Rhodes and fellow employee, David Olmsted, purchased the business from the Ewings', and continued there in Iowa until the Winnebago removal to Long Prairie in 1848. At that point, they moved their business to St. Paul. In 1849, the partnership dissolved, and Rhodes returned to Logansport with his wife and child, and soon thereafter, leaving his family in Indiana, he went to California where he died about 1870. [WM192, MN49]
RICE, EDMUND - Born in Waitsfield, VT, in 1819, he moved to Kalamazoo, MI, in 1838, studied law, and was admitted to practice in 1842. He was Master in Chancery, Register of the Court of Chancery for the Third Circuit, and Clerk of the Supreme Court of Michigan. He was commissioned as a 1st Lieutenant in the 1st Michigan Volunteers, 1847-8.
In July of 1849, he settled in St. Paul, and soon founded the law firm in partnership with Ellis Whitall and George Becker. The following year, Whitall withdrew, and William Hollinshead replaced him. The firm, for several years, was the leading law firm in Minnesota. He practiced until 1855. In 1857, he became President of the Minnesota and Pacific Railroad, and its successors, the St. Paul and Pacific, and the St. Paul and Chicago, a position he held until 1872.
Rice was a member of the Territorial Legislature (1851); the State Senate (1864-5, 1873-4); the State House (1867). His real estate holdings were valued at $1,500 in 1850. He and his wife Maria (1829 NY) had at least one child: Ellen (1849 MN). Also living in his household in 1850 were Ellen (1826 VT) and Orrin (1830 VT), Orrin being his brother and Ellen either their sister or the wife of Orrin.[WM255-6, MN50]
RICE, ELLEN - On 27 Oct 1851, she married St. Paul attorney William Hollinshead. Edmund Rice was a witness. [RCM]
RICE, HENRY MOWER - Born in Waitsfield, VT, in 1816, he attended academy in Burlington, then studied law privately for two years. In 1835, Rice emigrated to Detroit, MI, with Elon Farnsworth, and in 1837, he was appointed Assistant Engineer of the State of Michigan, and hired to locate the Sault Ste. Marie canal and other works.
In 1839, Rice came to Fort Snelling where he remained in the sutler department for a year and a half before he was appointed sutler at Fort Atkinson in Iowa. He soon thereafter became associated with P. Chouteau & Co. and had charge of trade with the Winnebagoes and Chippewas, and supervised a large number of trading posts in the upper midwest and Lake Superior area. Because of his familiarity with the tribes in that region, he was instrumental in the negotiation and consummation of several important treaties, that, for the most part, opened most of the territories of the Sioux, Chippewa, and Winnebago to white settlement. His efforts for the company often required him to travel to St. Paul, and in 1848, he purchased a townsite, realizing the value of St. Paul as a port city, and as the future capital of the Territory.
Rice immediately poured his enthusiasm, energy, and capital into building St. Paul. He built warehouses, erected hotels, and developed business blocks in his addition. He also used his substantial influence to divert trade and commerce from other areas, and to convince other businessmen to invest in St. Paul. He also travelled to Washington as an unpaid lobbyist in support of the bill organizing the Minnesota Territory. Throughout his life, he donated many acres of land for public use, including Rice Park in downtown St. Paul, donated specifically as a park for public use. He also donated the documentary portion of his extensive private library to institutions in Rice County (which had been named in his honor in 1853).
Rice was elected to Congress in 1853-57, and then to the Senate from 1857-63 where he served on a special committee that was studying ways to avoid what would break out as the American Civil War. He was married to Matilda Whitall (1827 NY) at Richmond, VA, in 1849. His real estate holdings were valued at $15,000 in 1850.[WM186-190, MN50]
RICE, ORRIN W. - Born in 1830 in Vermont. A merchant in St. Paul in 1850. His real estate holdings were valued at $500 in 1850. [WM269, MN50]
RICE HOUSE - A hotel built in St. Paul in 1849. It was one of the largest hotels north of St. Louis when it was built in 10 days, an example of the rapid construction techniques that were being used in this period. It was later known as the "American House". It was opened and operated by Mrs. Rodney Parker. It burned down on December 20, 1863. [WM223-4]
RICHARDSON, CHARLES - Born in 1833 in Massachusetts. A clerk in St. Paul in 1850. [MN50]
RICHARDSON, DAVID - Born in 1819 in Maryland. A carpenter in St. Paul in 1850. He was married to Eliza (1831 IL). [MN50]
ROACHE, WILLIAM - Born in 1804 in England. A teamster in St. Paul in 1850. [MN50]
ROBERGE, FLAVIEN - A resident in St. Paul in 1850. [WM269]
ROBERT, ANGELIQUE - Born in 1828 in Minnesota, she was the wife of St. Paul trader, Antoine Findley, to whom she was married on 8 Jan 1850 by Fr. Ravoux. [WM132, RCM]
ROBERT, FRANCIS - A younger brother of Louis Robert, he was also a native of Missouri, born in 1819. He came to St. Paul in 1845, and worked in the fur trade for his brother. In 1848, while ascending the rapids of the Ste. Croix River in a birchbark canoe, he was thrown from his boat and badly injured on the rocks by a blow on the chest from which he never fully recovered. After months of pain, he died on 27 Sep 1849 in St. Paul. Out of respect, the Legislature adjourned for one day to attend the funeral. Francis had been married to Jane Kilkaul for only a few months when he died. [WM150, MPv1#23]
ROBERT, JEANETTE - Daughter of St. Paul trader, Louis Robert, and wife of Uri Locke Lamprey. [LR2680]
ROBERT, LOUIS - Captain Louis Robert was born in 1811 in Carondelet, MO, of Canadian parentage. His early life was spent in the fur trade of the Upper Missouri River, then coming in 1836/7 to Prairie du Chien, WI. He came to St. Paul in the fall of 1843 with goods to sell, and actually moved here the next year, and became one of the most successful traders of the period. He married in 1839, at Prairie du Chein, to Mary Turpin (1825 MO), and had and had at least three children including: Jeanette (1845 MO), and Louis (1849 - 22 May 1850
St. Paul)..
He was among the original proprietors of St. Paul, took a prominant part in the 'Stillwater Convention' of 1848, and was largely responsible for locating the Capital at St. Paul. In 1849, he was appointed County Commissioner for Ramsey County, and was also elected to the Territorial Board of Building Commissioners.
By 1853, he was engaged in the steamboat trade, and at various times owned 5 different steamers. He was a very generous and liberal person, and donated much money to the public good, and to St. Paul's Catholic Church, where he contributed the bells. Robert Street and the Robert Street Bridge were named after him. He died in 1874. His real estate holdings were valued at $5,000 in 1850.[WM141-3, MN49, MPv2#6, MN50]
ROBERT, NELSON - Born in Missouri in 1830, a nephew of Louis Robert, he arrived in St. Paul in 1848. He was married to Sarah A. Clark in 1860, and served on the St. Paul City Council from 1872-74. [WM200, 464, LR2680]
ROBERTS LANDING - See Lambert's Landing.
ROBERTSON, DANIEL A. - Born in Philadelphia, PA, in 1813, he went to New York to study law at age 18, and was admitted to practice in 1839. He emigrated to Ohio where he broke into journalism, and was editor of the Cincinnati Enquirer, the Mount Vernon Banner, and other papers.
In 1844, he was appointed U.S. Marshall for the state of Ohio, an office which he held for 4 years. He was also a member of the Constitutional Convention of Ohio, but resigned after 3 months to come to Minnesota in the fall of 1850. He soon established the Minnesota Democrat.
Robertson owned a large amount of real estate, but it lost most of its value during the panic of 1857. He also accumulated a collection of several thousand books that he ultimately contributed to the State University. After spending much of 1856-7 studying conditions in Europe, he returned to Minnesota and was a member of the House of Representatives in 1859-60, Mayor of St. Paul in 1860, Sheriff in 1863 for two terms, and a member of the Board of Education for several years. WM283]
ROBESON [ROBINSON], A. B. - A resident in St. Paul in 1849. Living in his household are listed 2 males and 2 females. [MN49]
ROGERS, BARNEY (BERNARD) - Born in 1828 in Ireland. A grocer in St. Paul in 1850. Living with him in 1850 was Mary (1832 Ireland) who was either his wife or sister. [MN50]
ROGERS, JOHN - Born in 1826 in Ireland. A butcher in St. Paul in 1850. His real estate holdings were valued at $200 in 1850. He was married to Ann (1832 England). [MN50]
ROHRER, DANIEL - A resident in St. Paul in 1850. [WM269]
ROIS, XAVIER - Born in 1828 in Canada. A St. Paul resident in 1850. [MN50]
RONDO [RONDEAU], JOSEPH - Rondo was born near Montreal, QC, in 1797. At the age of 17 or 18, he enlisted in the
service of the Hudson's Bay Company as a voyageur, and was sent to the pacific coast, where he spent several years in the westernmost outposts
of the company's dominions. About 1827, he settled at the Red River Colony, near Fort Garry, married Josephine Beauleau (1810 Canada), and established a farm.
After enduring the hardships of that settlement for 8 years, he joined the 60 or so refugees who settled near Fort Snelling. Rondo purchased a house to the west of Joseph Turpin, a house that was burned by the military when the settlers were forced out in May of 1840. Like many of the others, Rondo and his family moved up to St. Paul, where he purchased the property and unfinished cabin of Edward Phelan, then serving in prison for the murder of John Hays. They lived there for a season or two while building a more suitable house.
He attended the Stillwater Convention in 1848. He and Josephine had at least 9 children: Mary Ann, Josephine, Lucien (1836 MN) Pierre (1838 MN), Louis
Alexis, Philemon (1840 MN), Joseph (1842 MN), Benjamin (1845 MN), Eugene (1848 MN), and Julie (Feb 1850 MN), and their descendants are numerous in St.
Paul, Little Canada, White Bear, Centerville, and other northern suburbs. Rondo died in 1895. A very famous street in St. Paul was named for him. His
real estate holdings were valued at $500 in 1850. [WM104ff,LR2709, MN50]
RONION, LOUIS - Born in 1804 in Canada. A laborer in St. Paul in 1850. He and his wife Chetan (1810 MN) had at least three children: Joseph (1838 MN), Antoine (1844 MN), and Louis (1847 MN). [MN50]
ROOT, O. H. - Born in 1805 in New York. A laborer in St. Paul in 1850. [MN50]
ROSE, ISAAC - A resident in St. Paul in 1849. Living in his household are listed 6 males and 3 females. [MN49]
ROSE, MISSOURI - Born in 1836 in Iowa. She was a St. Paul resident in 1850, living in the household of Luther & Caroline Furnell. [MN50]
ROSSEAU, OLIVER - Rosseau came to St. Paul in 1848, and was a member of the Stillwater Convention in that same year. [WM182, 200]
ROUGARD, PETER - A resident in St. Paul in 1850. [WM269]
ROULEAU, CHARLES - Born in Canada in 1807, he arrived in St. Paul in 1846, and was a farmer at either Pig's Eye or Red Rock in 1850. He died on 5 Oct 1885. He and his wife Terese (1824 MN) had at least seven children: Henry (1837 MN), Emerance (1840 MN), Mary (1842 MN), William (1845 MN), Charles (1846 MN), Michel (1847 MN), Amable (1849 MN). [WM199, LR2725, MN49, MN50]
ROWE, LUCINDA - Born in 1826 in Maine. A St. Paul resident in 1850. [MN50]
RUMSEY, MATILDA - Sister-in-law of Christopher Blanchard, she came to St. Paul with the Blanchards, John Irvine, and his family in 1843. When the Blanchards returned to Prairie du Chien, Matilda stayed, and lived with the Irvines. In 1845, she established a small school for children, a log building on the bottom near the upper levee. This was the first school in St. Paul. There were only a handful of students, however, and the school closed within a few months. Although there is disagreement among historians, the school may have reopened in the fall of that same year under the teaching of S. Cowden Jr. Matilda married Alexander Mege later that year. [WM152]
RUSSELL, R. P. - A resident in St. Paul in 1849. Living in his household are listed 7 males and 3 females. [MN49]
RUSSELL, WILLIAM - Born in 1815 in Ireland. A farmer in St. Paul in 1850. He and his wife Mary (1815 Ireland), had at least 2 children: William (1844 Ireland), and James (1848 NY). [MN50]
RUYAN [RUGAN, KUGAN, COOGAN], S. - A resident in St. Paul in 1849. Living in his household are listed 4 males and 1 female. [MN49]
RYAN, CATHARINE - Born in 1820 in Ireland. A St. Paul resident in 1850. [MN50]
RYAN, MARY - Married in 1849 by Fr. Ravoux to Jacques LeFebvre of St. Paul. [LR1846]
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