FAHF Sponsored Event

Portrait of a Minnesota Pioneer

Presentation by Mark Labine

FAHF Sponsored Event

Cost: Free – Donations welcome for the Washington County Heritage Center.

Mark Labine will tell the tale of an early pioneer, who came to Minnesota via an oxcart, voted in the contested territorial election of 1840, and was involved in the early settlement of St. Paul and Osseo. This book tells the story of a Minnesota 19th century Métis pioneer who came with his family from the Selkirk Colony to become one of the first settlers of St. Paul. This book covers information on: early Quebec; the War of 1812; the migration of Selkirk colonists by canoe from Montreal to present-day Winnipeg on the Voyageur’s Highway; the story of the oxcart trails from Winnipeg to St. Paul; the early settlement of St. Paul; the building of the St. Paul Chapel; the fur trade at Traverse des Sioux; the Battle of Kaposia in 1842; the early settlement of the Como Park area; the early settlement of Osseo; and the U.S.–Dakota War of 1862.

Mark Labine is the descendant of Joseph and Isaac Labissonière, who were two of the eight builders of the St. Paul Chapel. They were some of the first pioneers who settled in Minnesota. Mark is a founding member of the French-American Heritage Foundation.