St. Joseph County Biography Ref. Page

In 1820 Pierre F. Navarre, in the employ of the American Fur Company, came here, and in the vicinity of the present city of South Bend married a squaw of the Pottawatomie tribe of Indians, and here made a permanent home, raising a family of some half dozen children, who are now scattered throughout the West, one of whom became a preacher of the Morman faith. Pierre F. Navarre was a man about six feet in height, slimly built, dark complexion, with a very intelligent countenance. He was as well educated as the majority of frontiersman, and gave his children as good an education as the country afforded at that early day. No one ever impeached his honesty, and he was always regarded as an upright man. Shortly after the Pottawatomie Indians were removed to their reservation in the West, Navarre followed them remaining but a short time, and then returning to South Bend, where he died at the residence of one of his daughters, on the 27th day of December, 1864.

History of St. Joseph County, Indiana
Chicago, Chas. C. Chapman & Co.
published in 1880
History of Saint Joseph County

The second white man to effect a settlement was Alexis Coquillard, who, in the employ of the American Fur Company, established an agency here in 1823, and with his wife, made it his home the following year. Mr. Coquillard at this time was a young man of fine personal appearance, energetic, and the right kind of a man to build up a new place. To him more than any other one man, is due the excellent start made by the county, and especially the city of South Bend. Coquillard was of French parentage and born in Detroit. He spent much of his time among the Indians, and being a man of large frame and powerful muscle, weighing about two hundred and fifty pounds, he was held in high esteem, and was greatly feared by them. Many incidents are yet remembered by the early settlers of the remarkable influence wielded by him over these people. They talked, at one time, of electing him chief, and his trading post on the banks of the St. Joseph river was a favority resort for all the tribes in Northen Indiana and Southern Michigan.

History of St. Joseph County, Indiana
Chicago, Chas. C. Chapman & Co.
published in 1880
History of Saint Joseph County

“Honor to whom honor is due.” One deserving special mention in the History of St. Joseph County is the subject of this sketch, the first man to settle in the county with the intention of making it a permanent abiding place.

Alexis Coquillard was born in Detroit, Sept. 28, 1795. Detroit at this time was but a mere frontier settlement, and fortress life in garrison had much to do with the morale of its society. There were here no schools of importance for the training of its youth, and beyond the limits of the village and garrison the unbroken wilderness stretched miles away – its solitary paths known only to the savage and the trapper, no ax of the pioneer making civilizing music among the forest echoes; in short, Detroit of that day was not the grand emporium of commerce and refinement it is today, and so the early boyhood of young Coquillard was passed among scenes and events all too exciting and present to admit of that system of mental culture out of which the men of today are fashioned. He was emphatically a child of nature, and through her teachings, and his own God-endowed instincts, became what he was – a great and good man.

When about 17 years of age, the ardent spirit of Alexis longed for active and manly employment, and the fortunes of the period favored him. The army of occupation, under General Harrison, was in a state of defense at Fort Stephenson. Shut out from direct communication with their friends, in consequence of the vigilance of the English enemy, and the wily savage allies of Great Britain, with whom this country was at war, their messengers generally captured, their stronghold being menaced by the enemy, that degree of gloom that even infects the bravest when doomed for a time to inactivity, hung over the minds of all. At this crisis, young Coquillard arrived at the camp, and proffered his services as mail carrier. His uncouth originality, his French accent and his youth made him at first a butt for ridicule of the soldiers; but that earnest, impressive demeanor that so marked him as a boy and man soon won a more serious consideration of his proposition. He was employed, passed through all the privations and dangers of a formidable journey, and returned successful, bearing back information of great importance to the beleaguered. So valuable were his services considered, that the commander personally thanked and complimented him, and the officers made up a purse of $50 and gave it to him in addition to the compensation promised. He continued in the employ of the Americans during the war, discharging his arduous duties in a satisfactory manner.

When about 20 years of age he made an application to Hunt, Brewster & Co., of Detroit, who were then extensive dealers in Indian goods, for so much of a stock as would enable him to traffic with the tribes of the peninsula and the country of St. Joseph river. He told the circumstances of the case with that clear, unvarnished, natural rhetoric that ever distinguished him conversationally, and so won upon the confidence of the merchants to whom he applied, that without a friend to recommend him, and personally unknown to the firm, they let him have the desired assortment of articles, and he started forth a trader. From the day he left Detroit his course was upward and onward. Fortune favored him in a special manner. With a Herculean form, an open countenance with truth stamped indelibly upon it, always joyous and fearless in its every lineament, by his natural shrewdness and skilled by contact, he was enabled to properly appreciate character, whether of the French trapper and trader, or the aborigines. He mingled with all in a frank and cheerful manner more markedly conspicuous in Alexis Coquillard than in any other man who ever roughed it in the wilderness, or sought an exchange of notions for pelfries in the lodges of the natives of our American forests.

His promptness in his dealings soon made him extensively known, and his name became a synonym with all for honesty, sagacity and truth. His reputation was such that he was, in a short time after beginning business for himself, appointed agent for the American Fur Company, established by John Jacob Astor, which connection necessarily extended the theater of his business territory, and multiplied his already ample resources.

In the year 1822, in connection with Francis Comparet, of Fort Wayne, he purchased the extensive agency of the American Fur Company for all of the region of the upper lakes. Subsequently he and Mr. Comparet bought the exclusive control (including the property and debts due the post), for which they paid about one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars. Mr. Coquillard established a post at South Bend which he operated alone, while Mr. Comparet remained in charge of the Fort Wayne post. The former was soon known as the Big St. Joseph station, and the latter as the Little St. Joseph. These posts were the grand rendezvous of all who traded with the Indians in Indiana and Michigan.

During all this time Alexis Coquillard was considered the pioneer introducer of civilized customs among the Indians in Northern Indiana. It is true that the missionary efforts of the French had effected something in “blazing the way” of the path of white settlement; but in such a man as the subject of this sketch, cause was only the lever to direct effect; his enthusiastic energy breasted and threw aside every obstacle as a boy lashes away a summer ripple, and immediately after constructing his cabin for trading purposes on the waters of the St. Joseph, his mark became perceptible upon the surrounding region. This building was the first one erected by a white man in this section of Indiana, and his nearest civilized neighbors were residents at Bertrand, of Cary’s Mission. He next constructed a log residence, which remained for some time the only evidence of the abode of white men, and this where now stands the busy, thriving city of South Bend.

By a charter granted by the Legislature in the session of 1835-’36, opportunities were offered for the establishment of flouring mills, in and along the water courses of the north part of the States. In 1839 Mr. Coquillard, in connection with John A. Hendricks and John Rush, built the first flouring mill in South Bend. It was known as the Kankakee Mill. He had previously constructed a saw-mill on the same water-power. In addition, he subsequently built a second large flouring mill, which was afterward removed and converted into a woolen factory. These were the first flouring mills (aside from those built for custom work) which were started in Northern Indiana. But this was not all. He built extensively in other parts of the town, both for residence and business, and it may be said, without doing discredit to the enterprise of others, that mainly to his efforts and to his inducements and material aid is South Bend indebted for its good start, which has resulted in such a satisfactory manner.

His regard for the advancement of this townsmen was one of the noblest of his many noble characteristics. To see South Bend proper and enlarge was the prompting motive for which he toiled; so that buildings went up and a wholesome population gathered here, it mattered not to him materially whether his personal fortunes remained intact or depressed. He ever welcomed, and was ready to assist, the incomer who brought intelligence and industry wherewith to make himself a useful citizen. All the improvements of the place were the result of his counsel, for all knew that his advice was to be relied on, that he would counsel nothing that he did not thing was for the best. To notice the advance made by his neighbor was as much a source of satisfaction to him as if he were the immediate gainer. If a general evil afflicted the business interests of his neighbors, no one felt it more acutely than he did. If his own affairs became embarrassed – and such proved to be the case at times, owing to the financial revolutions of the country – his stock of philosophy enabled him to bear his reverses unmoved.

His thorough knowledge of the Indian character, his perfect understanding of the several languages spoken by the different tribes, combined with the unlimited confidence in his honor and good faith, made him admirably fitted to discharge the duties of interpreter and Government agent in adjusting the difficulties and carrying into effect the various treaties made with the Pottawatomies, Ottowas, Chippewas, Miamis, Chicagos and Sandusks. He acted prominently in conducting the treaties at Tippecanoe, Chicago and other places subsequent to the peace of 1814, and was in high favor with Governor Cass, Agwnt for Indian Affairs, Commissioner McCoy and George Crawford, Secretary of the Indian Agency.

Having been appointed in 1840 to carry through a Pottawatomie emigration, he established, he established a rendezvous at Potato creek, and succeeded in effecting his object at a very heavy outlay. He was to have received $40,000, the drafts for which amount were forwarded by the Government, but these fell into the hands of one Alverson, who converted over $40,000 to his own use, leaving Coquillard not only to suffer the consequence of the whole defalcation, but with heavy and crushing liabilities, crippling and jeopardizing his personal estate. This Alverson was with him when he effected the removal of the Indians to their reservation, which had been agreed upon, west of the Mississippi. The Government had received the required assurance of the completion of all conditions by Mr. Coquillard, but Alverson pocketed the “promise to pay,” and also retained certain sums held subject to terms of former treaties. For a time these misfortunes and this breach of integrity weighed sorely on the spirits of the “Pottawatomie Chief,” as Mr. Coquillard was frequently called, - but only for a limited season, when he was again at work repairing damages with his usual indomitable energy.

In the year 1824 Mr. Coquillard married Miss Frances C. Comparet, at Fort Wayne, Indiana. One child, Alexis Theodore, was born unto them, a sketch of whom will be found elsewhere in this work. The union of Mr. Coquillard and Miss Comparet, founded by strong mutual regard, was in all respects a happy one, lasting unchanged through all the vicissitudes of life, and growing more affectionately interblended as time told of the coming on of the autumn and winter of life. One of the most painfully effecting incidents connected with the death and burial of the departed was the ebullition of wild sorrow with which he aged consort clung to his form, strikingly manly in its last sleep, - “the sleep that knows no waking,” – and the heart cries that told her soul’s deep agony, as that form was shut forever from the gaze of one who had so long shared in his confidence and confided in his unspeakable tenderness. Bitter, indeed, was the parting to the wife of his youth and age; for no man was ever better qualified, by the excellent traits of hs heart, more truly to win, or more permanently to retain the love of woman.

On Monday afternoon, January 8, 1855, Mr. Coquillard was examining the ruins of his flouring-mill, which had burned the Saturday previous and accidentally fell from a beam on which he was walking some 16 or 18 feet below, striking with his whole weight on the front part of his skull, crushing it in, so that he lived but about one hour. He did not speak after his fall, or give any evidence of being sensible. The funeral concourse which followed his remains to the chapel of Notre Dame showed how extensively he was respected when living, and how sincerely all mourned for him in death. All classes of citizens left all other duties to be in attendance on the sad occasion. The friends of his business life, the intimates of his conversational hours, the hundreds whom he had aided to commercial positions, the poor whose necessities he had ever unsparingly relieved, and to whom he was an almoner and father, all were in the throng that lined the roads leading to Notre Dame; and all hearts were touched with sentiments of woe, as the sacred melody filled the building from done to architrave, wherein the servants of Christ pronounced over his bier the last solemn rites of the Holy Catholic Church, of which through all his life he had been a sincere and unwavering member – squaring his conduct in accordance with its purest and most charitable teachings. The funeral service was performed in a fervent maner by Rev. Father Shortess, and was in every way worthy of the officiating clergyman and the marked virtues of the deceased. During the day the places of business in South Bend remained closed, and in all respects those tokens of mourning were exhibited that are bestowed when a good and great man dies.

As showing the estimation in which Mr. Coquillard was held by those who knew him best, the following is extracted form a series of reminiscences of the early times in South Bend, by one who was an active participant: “One of the leading men in South Bend in 1830 was Alexis Coquillard. At that time he had charge of an Indian store, which was successor to the American Fur Company. He was a very remarkable man – large in person, of a commanding presence, magnificent head and piercing eyes. Taking him altogether he impressed me as a man of very great natural endowments, both mental and physical. When he walked he moved as if he was impelled by some irrestible force. In his younger days he was known to have walked eighty miles in a day. The power and rapidity of his movement gave him the name of ‘Old Steamboat.’ He had no book education. He could not read or write except to sign his name, but his association with intelligent business men, and his very retentive memory and keen observation of every thing passing around him made him a very intelligent man in th every day practical affairs of life. When angry he made everything blue around him, and yet when unexcited he was as tender and sympathetic as a child. No man’s heart would melt quicker in the presence of an object of sympathy, but while possessing these tender feelings of compassion he was a man of daring and reckless bravery. He seemed to have no conception of personal danger. In his early life, while engaged in trade among the Indians, he passed through startling and thrilling adventures, such as men of common prudence would have avoided. One of these adventures was related to me by a man who was present and saw the affair take place. It was at an Indian payment more than fifty years ago. There were a great many Indians present, among the rest a noted Miami chief, who had been in debt to Coquillard for a good while. He was regarded as a vain, brutal and murderous savage – feared by both white people and Indians. On public occasions, to impress people with his dignity, he wore suspended from his neck down his breast a broad band of silver ornaments in the shape of quarter moons hung together. After having received his annuity and being fixed up in his best rig, Coquillard came across him and dunned him for his pay. His majesty was not in a paying humor at that time, and gave Coquillard an insulting reply, whereat he sprang at the chief and stripped him of his ornaments and finery in a minute, and strode off with them to his tent. This was done in the presence of hundreds of Indians and a few white men. It was a mortal insult; blood only could atone for it. The Indians were soon in an uproar. The white people present were greatly alarmed for their own safety. They thought Coquillard could not stay and live, but he refused to leave. While at dinner in a log cabin, he was notified that the chief with a party painted up in their war paint were approaching the cabin. Everybody trembled with fear but Coquillard. He got up, opened the door, and stepped behind it, and as the chief entered the room knocked him to the floor senseless, and the followers slunk back as if they had just escaped a stroke of lightning. After the chief came to his senses he went back to camp and gave Coquillard no farther trouble. Coquillard’s early life was full of such scenes of reckless bravery. As a business man, he was always enterprising and liberal, ready to do anything he could to advance the growth of the town.”

Many antedotes might be given illustrating his noble charities and the benevolence of all his impulses. When applied to for aid for some philanthropic enterprise, or to relieve individual distress, he paused not to inquire into the antecedents of the applicant. “I have nothing to do with your religion,” he remarked on one occasion, “I only know that I have the means of assisting you, and of course it is my duty to do so.” The golden rule ever governed his actions.

History of St. Joseph County, Indiana
Chicago, Chas. C. Chapman & Co.
published in 1880
St. Joseph County’s Illustrious Dead

Lathrop M. Taylor came next, in September, 1827. He was likewise an Indian trader and agent for a Fort Wayne firm. He was elected the first Clerk and Recorder, and has held various important positions in the business and civil concerns of the county for half century. He was appointed the first postmaster, June 6, 1829, and held the office for about ten years, being removed in 1839 on account of his failure to indorse the administration then in power.

Lewis San Comb, Job Brookfield, Timothy Smith and family, settled near the trading posts of Coquillard and Taylor, in 1827, and William Brookfield, about two miles down the river, in what is now German township. It was on the farm of William Brookfield that the village of St. Joseph was laid out, and where the county seat was first located by the Commissioners appointed for the purpose.

History of St. Joseph County, Indiana
Chicago, Chas. C. Chapman & Co.
published in 1880
History of Saint Joseph County

In 1828 came Samuel L. Cottrell, and settled at the trading post. Mr. Cottrell afterward became quite influential in the affairs of the county, serving as Sheriff for several terms, besides holding other important offices. During the same year came Henry Painter and Eli Smith, who settled in or near South Bend, while William and Timothy Moat settled in what is now known as Penn township, and Jacob Cripe, Daniel Eiler, and Samuel Cannon took up their residence in Clay township.

History of St. Joseph County, Indiana
Chicago, Chas. C. Chapman & Co.
published in 1880
History of Saint Joseph County

Gustavus A. Everts was born in Virginia in 1792. Came to Indiana at a very early day and read law in Union county. He was a tall, slim and fine-looking man, of liberal education, and one of the wittiest men that ever practiced before an Indiana court. He has been known to hold the judge, jury and audience for three hours, keeping all in continual laughter at his excessive wit. He was a good advocate, and one of the best criminal lawyers in Northern Indiana. On the Bench he was an entirely different man from what he was before a jury, being calm and dignified, quick to decide a point of law, and impartial in all his rulings. He emigrated to Texas some years since and is still living, though past his four-score years.