Basil Gagnier (abt. 1803 - abt. 1878)

Born about 1803 in Prairie du Chien, Crawford, Wisconsin, United States

Ancestors

Died about 13 Oct 1878 at about age 75 in Prairie du Chien, Crawford, Wisconsin, United States

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Biography

Basil Gagnier was the youngest son of Claude Gagnier and Marianne Labuche and born ca 1803, in Prairie du Chien, Crawford,Wisconsin. With the name Basil, the spelling of his name reached new levels of creativity Bazil, Bazile, Baltzel, Bazille. Basil’s mother Marianne or as the residents of Prairie du Chien referred to her as Aunt Mary Anne was a very skilled midwife and healer and was not only the first doctor at Prairie du Chien but she was a mixed blood half black half white and French female. She is well known for saving her granddaughter Marie Louise’s life after she was scalped by Red Bird when she was just 10 months old and left for dead. Marianne pounded out a piece of silver to cover her scalp and brain until the skin grew back over it. A statue was erected in Marianne’s honor and is located in the Mississippi River Statue Park in Prairie du Chien. Periodically throughout the year Father Joseph Marie Dunand traveled to the various towns and performed all the requested baptisms and marriages. In the month of May in 1817, Basile was baptized on May 12th. During that month all of his siblings were also baptized, and his sister and brother Helene and Francois Regis were married. Basile was married twice. He married his first wife Elene Grignon on 10 Sep 1828, and Josephie “Josette” Jalot on 16 Jan 1846. Basile fathered six children, Joseph, Bazil, Sophie, Paschal, Norbert and Ellen. In addition, he took-in Pierre Duchouquette in 1849, after the death of his father Francois Duchouquette who was from Marianne Labuche’s first marriage Francois Duchouquette. Basil served in Captain Thomas McNair’s company of militia in the Winnebago War, 1817. He and his family lived on a farm in Frenchtown which is now the older part of the town of Prairie du Chien. Basil died 13 Oct 1878, in Mill Coulee, Crawford, Wisconsin and is buried in Calvary Cemetery across the road from what is left of the old Frenchtown Cemetery.

Sources

• https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/MGNS-21C • State Historical Society of Wisconsin researched by James L Hansen, Reference Librarian 18 Nov 1998

• Minnesota Genealogical Journal from the baptism and marriage register of Father Joseph Marie Dunand, May 1817, Bazil Gagne, pg ll #131

• 1850 United States Federal Census, Prairie du Chien, Crawford, Wisconsin

• 1860 United States Federal Census, Prairie du Chien, Crawford, Wisconsin

• 1875 Enumeration of the inhabitants of the Town of Prairie du Chien

• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial /177570286/basil-gagnier