Perriche Grignon (1770 - 1840)

Born 1770 in Green Bay, Province of Quebec

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 1840 at about age 70 in Portage, Wisconsin Territory, USA

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Biography

Name

The unusual name "Perriche" is found in France as a surname. It alternates with "Perruche", of which it is an older variant, both words meaning "parakeet."

Life

"The Old Decorah also had a sister called Ee-chah-wau-kah [Hičawaka, or Čawaka for short], who married Perrish Grignon, and had a son Amable ..." (Jipson, 226)

Francis Roy testified that, "... the mother of the said Mary Bellair Sr. was the daughter of a Winnebago Squa or Woman by the name Mary Dekorree and that Mary Dekorre [or Dekorri] was Sister of Chief Dekorre [or Dekorri] of the Winnebago Tribe of Indians; that this affiant has seen said Mary Dekorree Bellair nursed & taken care of by Mary Dekorre [or Dekorri] when an infant in the arms; and that she the said Mary Bellair is about the age of Thirty years old; that the Father of Mrs. Mary Bellair was Pierish Grignon; that this affiant also knows that Mrs. Bellair has a daughter now living with her — by the name of Mary of the age of about fifteen or sixteen, that the Father of the said Mary Bellair Jr was a French man by the name of Lewis Bellair now dead. (Waggoner, 41b)

During the War of 1812, the Grignons sided with the British. During the campaign against Ft. Meigs, Perriche acted as an interpreter for the Menominees. (Grignon, Recollections, 269-270)

Reuben Gold Thwaites gives a sketch of him: "Perische Grignon was a son of Pierre the elder, by a Winnebago mother. He was brought up with the Grignon family, and during the War of 1812-15 acted as interpreter, accompanying the Indian contingent that went to the siege of Fort Meigs. He had a homestead on the west side of Fox River, which in 1823 was confirmed to him by the federal land commissioners. Later he removed to the Fox-Wlsconsin portage, where he married a daughter of a Winnebago chief." (Thwaites, 386 nt)

“A half brother of this energetic crew was Perriche, only surviving child of Pierre Sr. by a pre-de Langlade marriage. Perriche worked for the family at Green Bay for several years, then moved to Portage where he added a number of names to the growing Grignon roster.” (Rudolph, 6)

Residence

Perriche Gignon's birth was listed as Green Bay, Wisconsin; however the United States did not exist at the time of his birth in 1770. At that date, the area encompassing Wisconsin was part of the Province of Quebec in New France (Canada).

"Perische Grignon ... had a homestead on the Fox River in 1823." (UWDC)

"At the western end of the Portage [in 1828], there was a warehouse built; and three houses where Perrish Grignon and his wife, sister of the chief De-kau-ry, were living; the second one was occupied by his son, Lavoin Grignon; the other one by J. B. L’Ecuyer." (de la Ronde, 347)

"He was living at the portage as late as 1836." (Thwaites, 386 nt)

Sources

• Norton William Jipson, Story of the Winnebagoes (Chicago: The Chicago Historical Society, 1923).
• Linda M. Waggoner (ed.), “Neither White Men Nor Indians: Affidavits from the Winnebago Mixed-blood Claim Commissions, Prairie Du Chien, Wisconsin, 1838-1839” (Roseville, Minnesota: Park Genealogical Books, 2002). Extracted from Territorial Papers of the United States, Wisconsin, 1836-1848. M236. “Special Files of the Office of Indian Affairs,” 1836-46. “Special File 161” (Roll 41). “Special File 190” (Roll 42). National Archives, Washington D.C., Documents on Microfilm, Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (Record Group 75).
• Augustin Grignon, "Seventy-two Years' Recollections of Wisconsin," Wisconsin Historical Collections, 3 (1857) 197-295.
• Reuben Gold Thwaites, The Fur-Trade on the Upper Lakes, Wisconsin Historical Collections, XIX (1910): 234-374.
• John T. de la Ronde, "Personal Narrative," Wisconsin Historical Collections, 7 (1876): 345-365.
• Jack Rudolph, "Grignon Brothers First Settlers in Many Areas," The Post-Crescent, Appleton, Wisconsin, 19 Sep 1959, Page 6.
• [UWDC] University of Wisconsin Digital Collections > Archival Resources in Wisconsin: Descriptive Finding Aids > Grignon, Lawe and Porlier Papers, 1712-1884 (Biography/History). http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi/f/findaid/findaid-idx?c=wiarchives;view=reslist;subview=standard;didno=uw-whs-wis0000b;focusrgn=bioghist;cc=wiarchives;byte=462242224

See also:

• FamilySearch Tree
• Ancestry Family Trees

Acknowledgments

• WikiTree profile Grignon-25 created through the import of The Sammons Family Tree.ged on Jun 9, 2011 by Steve Sammons.