The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1910-05-19
HaIfbreed Woman Famous Fur
Trader Early in Century.
Aided by Indians She Successfully
Fought the American Fur Company
and Broke Its MonopoIy-Her
Life Ended In Sorrow.

Menominee, Mich.-Nestled snugly
in the heart of the primeval forest.
one of the few bits Of woodland In
Marinette county that has not been
sacrificed to the ak of the woodsman,
is a little log cabin, plaster chinked
and rickety. but a cabin within whose
shadows Is buried history.
In this little house William Farms
worth lived: in this last left relic OF
discovery days Queen Marinette was
born.
Had not that wonderful woman come
into the world 1t is very probable that
neither Menominee nor Marinette
would exist to-day. Her history Is
Marinette's history; her birth marked
the birth Of the greatest numbering
community in Wisconsin; her growth
marked the development Of a district
that has made millions for many. The
blood of a proud Indian chief and OF
an indomitable English coloniziig
agent flowed in the veins of Queen
Marinette. Throughout her life she
was literally w~orshiped by the red
skins and honored by the whites.
And now, buried for years in an un-
known, unmarked grave, there Is left
but one relic of her girl and woman
hood days-her cottage. Less than six
miles from the city to which she gave
her name, visited by hundreds every
month, and still far less known than
many other northwestern landmarks,
1t stands unrepaired and unchanged,
the same cottage In which Queen
Marinette first saw the light of day,
Marinette's earliest authentic his
tory is marked by the arrival of an In
dian trader, Louis Cheppee or Cha
pieu. who padded up the shore of
Green bay and reached 1.-The head of
the Menominee river" in 1896. He es-
tablished a post across the stream
from where the sun rises" as history
which now is the Wisconsin side
of the river. The post was several
miles from an Indian settlement. ruled
by Wabashish. a Menominee chief. In
1879 his daughter was married to a
white man, Bartholomew Shevalier.
and In 1898, in the chiefs great white
house." their first child was born. In
dian tribes living within a radius OF
so miles attended the memorable
christening, and with due ceremony
the child was called Marinette.
Thus when Chappee-most histori-
ans spell his name In that manner. al
there Is a slight dispute
reached the head waters of the Me-
nominee. Marinette was a child. a bit
over three years Of age Chappee
a treaty with the Indians and
organized the American Fur Company.
He was a bold, energetic man, a col
der by spirit, a trader by instinct.
and for a number of years retained a
monopoly of the fur trade. And he
ruled with a scepter of iron.
AS Marinette budded into girlhood
her beauty. her knowledge Of wood
craft and her inherent instict for trad
Ing began to attract ~Chappee's atten-
ton. In 1909 the trader asked Chief
for his granddaughter's
bapd Chappee was refused and, IN
gered by his defeat. managed to have
captured and taken to Fort
(now Green Bay. Wis.,.
When the aged chief was taken
bis daughter became queen. took
40 his household and began to con-
iuct q fur business OF her own. Friend.
with surrounding Indian tribes, she
soon made great inroads into Chap
,ee's neld and her white house," the