Dominique Rousseau was the first white man to settle in what is today
Kosciusko County. His first wife was the daughter of Chief Waubee of the
Miami - his chief trading partners for his post on the edge of Bone Prairie
NE of Leesburg.
The following is extracted from: "Alexis Coquillard - His Time. A Stroy of
the Founding of South Bend, Indiana" by Mary Clarke Coquillard (No.IND.
Hist. Soc; Pub. #4)
Page 17: "Early in their married life, though we do not know the exact
time, Mr. Coquillard realized the loneliness of his young wife. Nadin, wife
of Dominic Rousseau, having died at the birth of her little daughter,
Matilda, and her father being at a loss to know how to have his little girl
reared as he would desire, gave her into the keeping of Alexis Coquillard
and his wife. Dominic Rousseau, in company with another French fur trader
from Montreal, came to the vicinity of Warsaw, Leesburg, and Goshen,
Indiana, when that country was still a wilderness. These two Frenchmen are
said to have been the first white men to take up a permanent abode in that
locality. As frequently happened, they went to live with the Indians and in
time Dominic Rousseau married an Indian maiden called Nadin. She embraced
the Roman Catholic faith of her husband and adopted his mode of life. We
know that the Rousseaus were personal friends of the Coquillards for we
find that Madam Nadin Rousseau on January 17th, 1832, is recorded as acting
as Godmother for Frances Coquillard, in the baptismal records at Notre Dame
(St. Joseph Co.).
. . . Matilda Rousseau (describes her growing up in the Coquillard home
until all three Coquillards died and the estate was broken up) returned to
Warsaw where she made her home for some years, later moving to Los Angeles,
CA where she died in 1918.
(details about Matilda were supplied by J.E. Graves of Los Angeles, her
half siter's son, but almost everything above has been additionally
confirmed by Brian Hogan's research). Alexis Coquillard also named South
Bend, IN.
If anyone has anything on the above folks or events please let us know.
Dominique Rousseau was my third great grandfather. His son, John H.H.
Rousseau had a daughter, Mayme Rousseau Hogan who married Orville Eugene
Hogan I. Their son O.E. Hogan II had a son, O.E. Hogan III, my father. I
have him to thank that I am not Orville Eugene Hogan IV, but your servant,
Brian Patrick Hogan <hogan(a)writeme.com>
Brian Hogan
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