Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1916-12-22
EARLY RESIDENT Of THIS CITY |
REV. G. n. BEAULIEU WRITES IN
TERESTNGLY OF THE LATE
PETER Roy

ticle. taken from the White Earth
Tomahawk, and written by Rev. G. II.
Beanlieu, which will be interesting
to many of our readers VINO still re-
member. the late Peter Roy. He was
resident Of Little Falls in the early
days, and passed away at thise place
many years ago, the family at the
time of his death, living in the build
ing later known as the Palace hotel.
In the early days Mr.. Roy conduct
ed at different times, The. Northern
Hotel, later known as the :Vasaly
House and later the Merchants Hotel
which was located where the Realty
block now stands and lAe hotel later
known as The Palace, which was To-
Gated on tn; site of E. A. Berg & Co.
Garage and Ferrell Plumbing shop.
John Roy, for many years chief-of
police Of Little Falls, was a son Of the
subject of the article, which reads as
follows:
Pierre, or Peter as shall hereafter
call him since he is better known. bv
the English form, must have betrayed
while young some yearning and apti-
tude for learning, for he was the
only one of the family to my knowl-
edge who acquired "book larnip'
How, and where, I do not# know,
but always within my ken he was a
reader and writer. And within this
zen is the fact that while yet at La
Fointe he had become associated with
the United States agency as interpret
er and assistant otherwise.
This was due to his knowledge Of
the English language and his ABILITY
to read and write. &
Peter, however, spoke it well and
fuently, in fact it became to him
aside from the Chippewa the readier
language, for though he spoke french
it was with less fuency than the Eng
lish. ="
I have said that he became better
known as Peter, but this statement
needs qualifications. In the Indian
country he was known both as Pier
rish and Pienish, according as the
tongue speaking the name had the
French or the Chippewa twist.
The Chippewa tongue has no capa-
city to sound the letter R, in: words
containing this sound the nasal tone
comes into play, hence Pienish.
It will be observed here that, the
Chippewa tried to follow the French
and that Perish is only an effort at
Pienish.
To get back to Peter ne came to
Minnesota about 1850, perhaps ear
lier. When Chippewa annuity; pay
ments began to be made in Minneso-
ia (and this was before the treaty
Of 1854, Peter became a local fixture
at the agency on the Crow Wing river
at "a point west of where Brainerd
now stands = s. sSS4sss1; -
He belonged to the agency staff and
with him were associated Truman
Warren and later on Paul 81. Beau
lieu as government farmer.
When the agency was established,
of course a blacksmith was necessary
and Agent Watrous brought with him
from La Pointe a Mr.. Chonnard, who
there.
Mr.. Chonnard was possessed of an
interesting family, there we're several
stalwart sons and two charming
daughters.
Peter looked upon the charms Of
one and lost his heart to her but
gained hers, and in a short time Peter
Roy and Philomene Chonnard agreed
to summons the priest and then they
set up housekeeping.
A large group of sons and daughters
resulted from this marriage and at
this time are and have been associated
with White Earth, Mimi, history.
Peters descendants unto several
generations are living upon the reser
walton or near by, ~and many scarcely
showing connection in physical appear
ance with the tribe with which they
are politically joined.
Peter himself never came to the re-
servation. After leaving the govern
ment service he came to Crow Wing
and became associated with Mr..
Bailey as a partner in the firm Of
Bailey & Co.
Mr.. Bailey had long been engaged
in trade with the Sioux of Minnesota
and desired to extend his business in
to the Chippewa country, and desir-
ing partner Peter Roy was offered
an interest which he accepted and
thus became merchant at Grow
Wing, and trader throughout the
Minnesota Chippewa country. From
SOuc cause VI duOLueT Cne venture u1u
not prosper, so the business was clos
ed up and Mr.. Roy removed to Little
Falls, Mimi, where the Chonnards had
already taken residence.
There he engaged in the hotel busi-
ness, one maintained, 1 believe until
his death.
While at Crow Wing he became in.
terested in politics. As a democrat
he was elected to the house of repre-
sentatives of the territory of Mime
sofa,
I will not venture to be accurate,
but will state in general way that
Benton county extended from sauk
Rapids northward to the boundary
line between this country and the
Hudson Bay territory. I suppose but
for the old royal grant to the Hudson
Bay Co., Uncle Sam when he had wig
gled out Of the clutches of England,
would have claimed jurisdiction in
definitely towards the frozen waters
of the north, perhaps to the Pole and
q little way around on the other side.
Assuming this what a vast territory