Post by gregor on Nov 25, 2015 7:28:34 GMT -5
John Baptiste Richard Senior
aka Owasakala, Richaud, Reshaw
(1810 – 1875 / father)
John Baptiste Richard was born about 1810 at St. Charles (Missouri). He was of French ancestry; only little is known about his life before 1840. He went west long before 1840 and worked as trapper, trader and entrepreneur. His trading activities extended at a number of trading posts from the Southern Platte River to the Tongue River in the North and the surrounding western Plains. One trading Post, eight miles south-east of Fort Laramie, was called Fort Bernard.
About 1841 Richard married Mary Gardiner (1827 - ?), the mixed-blood daughter of Trapper William Gardiner and the Oglala White Thunder Women of Red Clouds later band. White Thunder Women was married before and had two sons, the later well-known Rocky Bear (Inyan Mato) and a boy called Black Tiger. Richards’s wife was member of a famous family. She was a sister of chief Smoke and of Walks-as-She-Thinks, Red Clouds mother. Part of her life Mary was raised in St. Charles, where she visited a school. Together with John Baptiste she had four sons and two daughters.
“Those wild Reshaw boys” were Louis, John Junior (known among the Oglalas as Wasicun Tamaheca or Lean White Man), Peter and Charles. The daughters were named Josephine and Rose. Baptiste Pourier, a close friend of John Junior, later married Josephine.
About 1845 Richard (and his partner Bissonette) set up an own new post, Fort Bernhard on the North Platte River. In 1856 (according to other sources 1866, which seems to be far to late) the Fort burned down mysteriously. At that time Richard was away on a business trip to Mexico to purchase liquor for his Indian business. Unimpressed Richard established a number of trading posts in the North Platte and Ft. Laramie area. About 1851 Richard built his first toll bridge over the North Platte River near Deer Creek and todays Glenrock (Wyoming), which was washed away a year later. But Richard did not give up. In 1853 he built a solid toll bridge near todays Casper (Evansville) in Wyoming. These bridges became the basis of his wealth.
Francis Parkman, who met John Baptiste in 1846, described him as a “little, swarthy, black-eyed Frenchman”… “his black curling Hair…parted in the middle of his head, fell below his shoulders” … “he wore a frock of smoked deerskin, gaily ornamented with porcupine quills” and “leggings with long fringes down their sides”. “The small frame of Richard … was in the highest degree athletic and vigorous”. (see Parkman, The Oregon Trail, Dover Publications, New York, 2002, p.93).
And Louis L. Simonin, a French mining engineer and mineralogist, met him 1867. At that time Richard lived in a Tipi next to Fort Laramie. He wrote on “Père Richard” that Richard’s family emigrated to America after the first Revolution (1789 - 1799) in France (see Simonin, The Rocky Mountain West in 1867, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, 1994, p. 80 f., internet PDF-Document).
In 1858 gold was found in the Cherry Creek area near todays Denver in Colorado and Richard briefly tried his luck in the gold fields. But without much profit. Later Richard returned to the gold fields and established the first trading post. In the next years he would start more trading posts, but finally he would end up on a ranch near Bordeaux (Wyoming), raising horses and cattle. In the winter of 1875 “old man” John Baptiste Richard – and according to George W. Colhoff with him “am man called Pallady” (Leon!?) - was killed by white outlaws or Cheyenne. He was on a business trip. The murder case was never solved.
Married to Mary Gardiner (1827 – after 1877)
Children:
Louis Francis Richard (1842/46 – 1897 or 1904 ?), married to Antoine Renault’s daughter Jennie (1855 - aft. 1896), Louis worked as scout and interpreter
John Baptiste Richard Jun. (1842/44 - 1872 aka Wasicun Tamaheca)
Peter Richard (1848 - after 1909), married to Red Clouds 2nd daughter Louise
Josephine Richard (1853 – 1936), married to “Big Bat” Pourier
Charles Richard (1853 – 1868), shot in a dispute on the Ecoffee and Cuny Ranch
Rosalie Richard (1857 – after 1896), married to Charles Giroux (Gueru?), for Gueru see here: amertribes.proboards.com/thread/609/gardner-fort-laramie-1868?page=5
What else do we know? Photos?
aka Owasakala, Richaud, Reshaw
(1810 – 1875 / father)
John Baptiste Richard was born about 1810 at St. Charles (Missouri). He was of French ancestry; only little is known about his life before 1840. He went west long before 1840 and worked as trapper, trader and entrepreneur. His trading activities extended at a number of trading posts from the Southern Platte River to the Tongue River in the North and the surrounding western Plains. One trading Post, eight miles south-east of Fort Laramie, was called Fort Bernard.
About 1841 Richard married Mary Gardiner (1827 - ?), the mixed-blood daughter of Trapper William Gardiner and the Oglala White Thunder Women of Red Clouds later band. White Thunder Women was married before and had two sons, the later well-known Rocky Bear (Inyan Mato) and a boy called Black Tiger. Richards’s wife was member of a famous family. She was a sister of chief Smoke and of Walks-as-She-Thinks, Red Clouds mother. Part of her life Mary was raised in St. Charles, where she visited a school. Together with John Baptiste she had four sons and two daughters.
“Those wild Reshaw boys” were Louis, John Junior (known among the Oglalas as Wasicun Tamaheca or Lean White Man), Peter and Charles. The daughters were named Josephine and Rose. Baptiste Pourier, a close friend of John Junior, later married Josephine.
About 1845 Richard (and his partner Bissonette) set up an own new post, Fort Bernhard on the North Platte River. In 1856 (according to other sources 1866, which seems to be far to late) the Fort burned down mysteriously. At that time Richard was away on a business trip to Mexico to purchase liquor for his Indian business. Unimpressed Richard established a number of trading posts in the North Platte and Ft. Laramie area. About 1851 Richard built his first toll bridge over the North Platte River near Deer Creek and todays Glenrock (Wyoming), which was washed away a year later. But Richard did not give up. In 1853 he built a solid toll bridge near todays Casper (Evansville) in Wyoming. These bridges became the basis of his wealth.
Francis Parkman, who met John Baptiste in 1846, described him as a “little, swarthy, black-eyed Frenchman”… “his black curling Hair…parted in the middle of his head, fell below his shoulders” … “he wore a frock of smoked deerskin, gaily ornamented with porcupine quills” and “leggings with long fringes down their sides”. “The small frame of Richard … was in the highest degree athletic and vigorous”. (see Parkman, The Oregon Trail, Dover Publications, New York, 2002, p.93).
And Louis L. Simonin, a French mining engineer and mineralogist, met him 1867. At that time Richard lived in a Tipi next to Fort Laramie. He wrote on “Père Richard” that Richard’s family emigrated to America after the first Revolution (1789 - 1799) in France (see Simonin, The Rocky Mountain West in 1867, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, 1994, p. 80 f., internet PDF-Document).
In 1858 gold was found in the Cherry Creek area near todays Denver in Colorado and Richard briefly tried his luck in the gold fields. But without much profit. Later Richard returned to the gold fields and established the first trading post. In the next years he would start more trading posts, but finally he would end up on a ranch near Bordeaux (Wyoming), raising horses and cattle. In the winter of 1875 “old man” John Baptiste Richard – and according to George W. Colhoff with him “am man called Pallady” (Leon!?) - was killed by white outlaws or Cheyenne. He was on a business trip. The murder case was never solved.
Married to Mary Gardiner (1827 – after 1877)
Children:
Louis Francis Richard (1842/46 – 1897 or 1904 ?), married to Antoine Renault’s daughter Jennie (1855 - aft. 1896), Louis worked as scout and interpreter
John Baptiste Richard Jun. (1842/44 - 1872 aka Wasicun Tamaheca)
Peter Richard (1848 - after 1909), married to Red Clouds 2nd daughter Louise
Josephine Richard (1853 – 1936), married to “Big Bat” Pourier
Charles Richard (1853 – 1868), shot in a dispute on the Ecoffee and Cuny Ranch
Rosalie Richard (1857 – after 1896), married to Charles Giroux (Gueru?), for Gueru see here: amertribes.proboards.com/thread/609/gardner-fort-laramie-1868?page=5
What else do we know? Photos?
