Descendants of Jean Baptiste "John" Colombe Generation No. 1 1. JEAN BAPTISTE "JOHN"1 COLOMBE1,2,3,4 was born 1830 in Canada5, and died November 1893 in South Dakota. He married JOSETTE/JOSEPHINE DORION6,7,8 Abt. 1860 in near Yankton, Yankton County, Dakota Territory9, daughter of PAUL DORION. She was born in Dakota Territory, and died December 15, 1881 in South Dakota. Notes for JEAN BAPTISTE "JOHN" COLOMBE: John was also called Wasichu Houshah, which means Red Leg White Man. __________________________________________________________ From "The Saga of Sully Flats," by Adeline S. Gnirk, published 1977, by Gregory Times-Advocate, Gregory, South Dakota, pages 133-134. Jean Baptiste Columbe was born in Alsace-Lorraine, France, January 4, 1843. He sailed to Canada when he was a young man. His name was "Americanized" to John Baptiste Colombe after he had migrated to the U.S. He brought a crew of 12 Frenchmen to the Missouri River, along the Gregory County border, to cut wood on the islands and bluffs. Fuel was needed for the steamboats. They navigated the Missouri River which had several ports of landing up the Gregory County coast. These wood choppers were termed "wood chucks". They settled on LaRoche Island which was renamed Colombe Island. Evidently, they worked on up toward Colorado as John was appointed town Marshall in 1862 in Denver, Colorado. John B. had married Josephine Dorion about 1860, near what was later to be Yankton, S.D. She was the daughter of Pierre Dorion, one of the oldest fur traders in the region. John B. and Josephine made their home in Denver, Colorado, where three children were born to them: Jennie, John Jr. and David. In 1871 the Colombe family journeyed on down to the Rosebud Landing at the mouth of the Landing Creek, in the northwest corner of Gregory County. They settled here. Rounding up a caravan of freighter wagons, they went into business hauling freight, mail and supplies which had been brought up the river by steamboat, overland to western Dakota. Eventually John Baptiste and Josephine made their headquarters on Colombe Island, where they occupied a log cabin. The land on the island, plus land in Section 1 and 17 of Turney Twp. became his by right of possession in the 1904 opening of the Rosebud Reservation to homesteaders. One spring the river gorged with ice and the resultant boom projected such a noise, it was feared the log cabin had been struck. While living on the island, David was bitten by a rattlesnake. John B. promptly incised the bite with his knife and bade Chris to quickly mount his horse and find some wild snake root growing on the island. Chris fetched the snake root which John B. chewed into a pulp and laid upon the bite. Josephine was a midwife and delivered many babies to the new homesteaders. Josephine Dorion Colombe died in 1883 when the twins, William and Minnie, were three years old. Jean Baptiste Colombe lived with his daugter Jennie Mullen at Rosebud for the time they were located there. He was eighty years old when he died in 1923. John B. and Josephine Colombe were the parents of 9 children: Jennie (1861), John (1863), David, who were born in Denver; Josephine, Ed, Emily, Chris (1878) and the twins, William and Minnie (1880) were born near Landing Creek and Turney Twp. ____________________________________________________________________ From: "Papers and testimony in the case of W. A. Burleigh vs. M. K. Armstrong, as delegate from Dakota Territory." U. S. Congress: House Miscellaneous Document No. 47, 42nd Congress, 2nd Session, 27 April 1871, pages 136-139. JOHN B. COLOMB, presented on the part of the incumbent, and being first duly sworn, in answer to interrogations testifies as follows: (The attorney for the incumbent here offers in evidence a sworn copy of the poll-list used at the Campbell's Ranch precinct, which is hereto appended and marked Exhibit A, incumbent's testimony.) Question 1. State your name, age, and place of residence -- Answer. My name is John B. Colomb; my age is forty-five; and I live at Whetstone agency. 1 Question 2. How long have you resided in the Territory of Dakota? -- Answer. Three years, going on four; but I have been in this upper country since 1847. Question 3. Have you occupied any official position at the Whetstone agency; and if so, what, and for what length of time? -- Answer. I have. I was boss farmer for a year and a half. Question 4. During what years did you act in the capacity of boss farmer at that agency? -- Answer. During parts of the years 1868 and 1869. Question 5. Are you well acquainted with the persons living at the Whetstone agency, and in its vicinity? -- Answer. I am. Question 6. (The witness is here asked to designate from the copy of the poll-list used at the Campbell Ranch precinct at the October election, 1870, now in evidence in the case, marked "Incumbent's testimony, Exhibit A," the names of all persons he may recognize as residing at that agency, or in its vicinity, on the Great Sioux Indian reservation at the time of said election?) -- Answer. I recognize J. W. Smith, No. 2; No. 6, John Wright; No. 10, W. H. Harrison; No. 18, John Bordeaux; No. 19 Ed. Fletcher; No. 21, R. Rogers; No. 22, M. McDonald; No. 25, Frank Marshall; No. 33, A. G. Shaw; No. 35; Lester Pratt; No. 37, T. Randall; No. 38, John Sissons; No.40, C. Du Bray; No. 41, John Davidson; No. 43, S. Garough; No. 50, A. Joanies; No. 52, E. Swallow; No. 53, S. F. Estis; No. 54, C. Bernard; No. 55, L. Moran; No. 63, J. H. Bigelow; No. 64, James Prue; No. 67, M. Duvol; No. 69, N. Joanies; No. 70, John Dion; No. 72, S. Wilson; No. 74, James McKewen; No. 75, D. R. Rodgers; No. 76, William Huston; No. 78, L. Rebeidu; No. 79, C. Joanies; No. 80, C. Harvey; No. 81, John G. Jangrass; No. 82, James Jackson; No. 83, William Smidt; No. 84, L. Bordeaux; No. 87, Buttis Jewitt; No. 88, J. H. McClaine; No. 90, L. Jangraw; No. 92, A. Bordeaux; No. 93, Jule Seminole; No. 94, Emanuel Romero; No. 95, James Swagerman; No. 98, William Jooas; and No. 104, H. Rudeau, as the names of persons who were residing on the Great Sioux Indian reservation, at the Whetstone agency and its vicinity, at the time of the last October election. Question 7. (The witness is here asked to designate from the same list the names of all persons he recognizes as half-breed Indians, and to state which ones were under the age of twenty-one years, and which ones were living on the Great Sioux Indian reservation at the time of said election.) -- Answer. I know No. 18, John Bordeaux; No. 22, M. McDonald; No. 23, C. Peacotte; No. 24, Leon Connoyer; No. 27, P. Le Point; No. 51, D. Gallineau; No. 55, L. Moran; No. 67, M. Duvall; No. 78, L. Rebeidu; No. 79, C. Joanies; No. 80, C. Harvey; No. 81, John G. Jangrass; No. 82, James Jackson; No. 84, L. Bordeaux; No. 87, Batis Jewitt; No. 90, L. Gangraw; No. 92, A. Bordeaux; and No. 93, Jule Seminole, to be half-breed Indians, of whom No. 23, C. Peacotte; No. 24, Leon Connoyer; No. 27, L. Le Point; No. 55, L. Moran; No. 78, L. Rebeidu; No. 80, C. Harvey; No. 81, John G. Jangrass; No. 82, James Jackson; No. 87, Batis Jewitt, and No. 90, L. Gangraw, I know to have been under the age of twenty-one years at the time of the election, and some of them were not over sixteen years old. No. 18, John Bordeaux; No. 55, L. Moran; No. 67, M. Duvall; No. 78, L. Rebeidu; No. 79, C. Joanies; No. 80, C. Harvey; No. 81, John G. Jangrass; No. 82, James Jackson; No. 84, L. Bordeaux; No. 87, Batis Jewitt; No. 90, L. Jangraw; and No. 93, Jule Seminole, were living on the Great Sioux Indian reservation at the time of the election. Question 8. Where were the other half-breeds residing whom you have designated at the time of the election? -- Answer. Along the river on this side, in the vicinity of the agency. Question 9. Did any of these half-breeds that you have enumerated draw rations and annuities at the time of said election? -- Answer. They all of them drew rations and annuities at that time. Question 10. Were they recognized as belonging to any Indian tribe, and if so to what tribe? -- Answer. They were; they belonged to Spotted Tail's tribe. Question 11. How long have these half-breeds you have designated been at the Whetstone agency? -- Answer. They came over from the Platte with Spotted Tail's band in the summer of 1867. Question 12. For how long a time have you been acquainted with these half-breeds? -- Answer. Since 1854; I knew them on the Platte. Question 13. Have they ever resided at any place in Dakota Territory, except upon the Great Sioux Indian reservation, save those only who were on this side of the river a the time of the election? -- Answer. No, sir. Question 14. Did not all, or nearly all, of the white men you have enumerated as residing at the Whetstone agency at the time of the election come over from the Platte with Spotted Tail's band? -- Answer. They did, all of them. Question 15. Have those men ever resided anywhere in Dakota Territory, except upon the Great Sioux Indian reservation? -- Answer.