->Connect with the past
->Stay in the present
->Go to Images home
->Go to ForeFolk home
->Sign the guestbook
familyimages
>
keywords
>
emma
(most recent) •
most popular
keyword pages:
1
2
3
>
<
1 of 23
>
Frank Sachs and Emma Cordes, 6 February 1890
Frank Sachs and Emma Cordes, 6 February 1890
See photo in
gallery
Other sizes:
Small
•
M
•
L
•
O
•
save photo
|
Keywords:
frank
emma
sachs
cordes
keyword pages:
1
2
3
>
<
1 of 23
>
->Connect with the past
->Stay in the present
->Go to Images home
->Go to ForeFolk home
->Sign the guestbook
![familyimages > A narrative assembled and transcribed from what appear to be drafts of an unfinished memoir or narrative written by Mary Robinette Rose. The drafts are found in the manuscript collections of the Minnesota Historical Society (catalog no. P1957, Rose and Borden Family Papers). Notes added to the narrative are in brackets.
Joseph Robinette born Montreal Canada. Came to Minnesota about 1831. Settled in Mendota 1834. Cecile Turpin born in Prairie du Chien [at Lac des Esclaves] 1814. They were married 1840 [1842]. Their children were Harriet, Mary Rose, Louis and Emma. Jane Murray [Kilcool Robert Coursolle] was Cecile Robinette's daugher by a former marriage. Left Mendota in 1849 [after 1850] to open a trading post and blacksmith shop in Redwood Falls. He learned to speak the Sioux language and was well liked by the Indians.
It was on the 18th of August 1862 that two Indian women rushed into our home and told Mother their people/the Sioux were on the warpath and were killing all the white people. They urged her to go to our sister Jane who was expecting her first [third or fourth] child and was alone. They promised to take care of my sister Harriet and me and that my little sister Emma and brother Louis had been picked up outside by friendly squaws who would hide them. They had been out playing, and we didn't know they were gone.
Mother had been gone but a few minutes when Chief Little Crow came in. Harriet and I were glad/overjoyed to see him for he was Father's friend and we were sure he wouldn't let any harm come to us. The table was set and breakfast was on the stove in readiness for Father and the two men who boarded with us. Father was an early riser and always went to the blacksmith shop while Mother was preparing breakast. Little Crow had often been a dinner guest in our home so I asked him if would like something to eat. He shook his head and asked for a tomahawk Father had made/promised him. Father was a blacksmith but could make hunting knives and tomahawks which the Indians used for dressing big game. I went to the chest where these things were kept and handed him the tomahawk. Placing the hand that held the tomahawk over his heart, he bowed his head and said in English, "My heart is sad." He then spoke rapidly in Sioux to the Indian women. Harriet could understand some, so I went over to her and asked her what he said. She said she thought we were to be taken care of/to their village. I turned back to Little Crow to ask him if he had seen Father and was astonished for like a phantom he had vanished. We never saw him again.
One of the women looked out the door/window and then motioned us to go upstairs where one of the boarders had taken refuge. He was terrified with no chance of escape. It seemed a couple of minutes had passed when we heard the scuffing of moccasined feet and knew that Indians had entered the house. The Indian women were talking and we heard Chief Little Crow's name mentioned. We thought they were giving them Little Crow's message. I was anxious to know if we knew any of them so I crawled on hands and knees to an opening in the floor which was used in winter for a pipe and drum to to heat the upstairs. I peered into the room below, and I gave a gasp of horror. Four pairs of eyes in hideously painted face stared upward, and for the moment, I was paralized with fear and would only stare back. We were told to come down. Harriet was never strong and halfway down the stairs she sat down, and I sat on the step before. They were sitting at the table now and were going eat. One of the squaws told me to help serve them. Harriet kept her place on the stairs while I poured coffee. They ate ravenously. As soon as they were. . . [There is a gap in the narrative.]
The one went over to the trap door that led to the cellar and pulled it up. Two went down to see if anyone was hidden there. They soon came up and the four went outside. No sooner had left when one of the squaws pulled open the cellar door again and motioned Harriet to get our boarder. ?It didn't? take him a minute to ?get to the? cellar. The trap door shut, and Harriet was told to resume her place on the stairs. Then the most repulsive one came in. His face was so painted that his eyes looked like a snake's. He walked over to Harriet and said in broken English, "Who hide," and pointed up. She shook her head and made no offer to get up. He seized her roughly by the arm and pulled her down and dashed up the steps.](http://familyimages.smugmug.com/Connect-with-the-past/sheppard-coursolle-ancestors/Coursolle-Kilcool-Turpin/RoseAndBordenFamilyPapers/214523560_fbYxQ-Ti.jpg "familyimages > A narrative assembled and transcribed from what appear to be drafts of an unfinished memoir or narrative written by Mary Robinette Rose. The drafts are found in the manuscript collections of the Minnesota Historical Society (catalog no. P1957, Rose and Borden Family Papers). Notes added to the narrative are in brackets.
Joseph Robinette born Montreal Canada. Came to Minnesota about 1831. Settled in Mendota 1834. Cecile Turpin born in Prairie du Chien [at Lac des Esclaves] 1814. They were married 1840 [1842]. Their children were Harriet, Mary Rose, Louis and Emma. Jane Murray [Kilcool Robert Coursolle] was Cecile Robinette's daugher by a former marriage. Left Mendota in 1849 [after 1850] to open a trading post and blacksmith shop in Redwood Falls. He learned to speak the Sioux language and was well liked by the Indians.
It was on the 18th of August 1862 that two Indian women rushed into our home and told Mother their people/the Sioux were on the warpath and were killing all the white people. They urged her to go to our sister Jane who was expecting her first [third or fourth] child and was alone. They promised to take care of my sister Harriet and me and that my little sister Emma and brother Louis had been picked up outside by friendly squaws who would hide them. They had been out playing, and we didn't know they were gone.
Mother had been gone but a few minutes when Chief Little Crow came in. Harriet and I were glad/overjoyed to see him for he was Father's friend and we were sure he wouldn't let any harm come to us. The table was set and breakfast was on the stove in readiness for Father and the two men who boarded with us. Father was an early riser and always went to the blacksmith shop while Mother was preparing breakast. Little Crow had often been a dinner guest in our home so I asked him if would like something to eat. He shook his head and asked for a tomahawk Father had made/promised him. Father was a blacksmith but could make hunting knives and tomahawks which the Indians used for dressing big game. I went to the chest where these things were kept and handed him the tomahawk. Placing the hand that held the tomahawk over his heart, he bowed his head and said in English, \"My heart is sad.\" He then spoke rapidly in Sioux to the Indian women. Harriet could understand some, so I went over to her and asked her what he said. She said she thought we were to be taken care of/to their village. I turned back to Little Crow to ask him if he had seen Father and was astonished for like a phantom he had vanished. We never saw him again.
One of the women looked out the door/window and then motioned us to go upstairs where one of the boarders had taken refuge. He was terrified with no chance of escape. It seemed a couple of minutes had passed when we heard the scuffing of moccasined feet and knew that Indians had entered the house. The Indian women were talking and we heard Chief Little Crow's name mentioned. We thought they were giving them Little Crow's message. I was anxious to know if we knew any of them so I crawled on hands and knees to an opening in the floor which was used in winter for a pipe and drum to to heat the upstairs. I peered into the room below, and I gave a gasp of horror. Four pairs of eyes in hideously painted face stared upward, and for the moment, I was paralized with fear and would only stare back. We were told to come down. Harriet was never strong and halfway down the stairs she sat down, and I sat on the step before. They were sitting at the table now and were going eat. One of the squaws told me to help serve them. Harriet kept her place on the stairs while I poured coffee. They ate ravenously. As soon as they were. . . [There is a gap in the narrative.]
The one went over to the trap door that led to the cellar and pulled it up. Two went down to see if anyone was hidden there. They soon came up and the four went outside. No sooner had left when one of the squaws pulled open the cellar door again and motioned Harriet to get our boarder. ?It didn't? take him a minute to ?get to the? cellar. The trap door shut, and Harriet was told to resume her place on the stairs. Then the most repulsive one came in. His face was so painted that his eyes looked like a snake's. He walked over to Harriet and said in broken English, \"Who hide,\" and pointed up. She shook her head and made no offer to get up. He seized her roughly by the arm and pulled her down and dashed up the steps.")
