Mary (Grignon) Bellaire Sr. (1808)

Born 1808 in Portage, Wisconsin, Illinois Territory

Ancestors

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Bruce Bush [send private message]

Biography

As to her date of birth, an affidavit given 28 Sept. 1838 by Mary herself shows that she was born in 1808: "Personally appeared Mary Bellair who being duly sworn according to law deposeth and saith, That she is the daughter of Peirish Grignon and his wife a full blood Winnebago woman that she is aged 30 years." (Waggoner, 42a)

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)

Sources

• 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).