Alexis Coquillard (September 28, 1795 - January 8, 1855) was an American

fur trader The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the mos ...

explorer Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

, and the founder of

South Bend, Indiana South Bend is a city in and the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, St. Joseph County, Indiana, on the St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan), St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2020 United S ...

Early life

Alexis Coquillard was born on September 28, 1795, in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

. He fought in the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...

under

William Henry Harrison William Henry Harrison (February 9, 1773April 4, 1841) was an American military officer and politician who served as the ninth president of the United States. Harrison died just 31 days after his inauguration in 1841, and had the shortest pres ...

. His parents, Alexis Cerat (Serat) dit Coquillard and Cecile Tremblay, were born in Montreal, as were his paternal grandparents, Jean-Baptiste Cerat dit Coquillard (1716-1771) and Marie-Madeleine Jourdain (1719-1791).

Career

After the war, Coquillard moved to the St. Joseph River valley in 1823. Coquillard was involved in the treaties with the Tippecanoe and Chicago after the 1814 peace. Coquillard was a friend to Father

Edward Sorin Edward Frederick Sorin (French: Édouard Sorin), C.S.C. (February 6, 1814October 31, 1893) was a French-born priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross and the founder of the University of Notre Dame in Indiana and of St. Edward's University in Aus ...

, and was instrumental in the founding of the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...

in 1842. His nephew, Alexis T. Coquillard, was one of the first students of the university. Coquillard had been a

, an industry heavily dependent on

Native Native may refer to: People * Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Native Americans (disambiguation) In arts and entert ...

labor. In the period after

Indian removal Indian removal was the United States government policy of forced displacement of self-governing tribes of Native Americans from their ancestral homelands in the eastern United States to lands west of the Mississippi Riverspecifically, to a de ...

, he became a removal contractor, known as a “conductor,” capturing individuals who had evaded removal. In 1839, Coquillard built the first mill in South Bend with John A. Hendricks and John Rush. He also built a second flour mill called the Merchant's Mill. He established the Kankakee Race. In 1840, Coquillard was appointed to assist with the Indian removal of the

Potawatomi The Potawatomi , also spelled Pottawatomi and Pottawatomie (among many variations), are a Native American people of the western Great Lakes region, upper Mississippi River and Great Plains. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a m ...

. Coquillard and Lathrop M. Taylor gifted land for the

South Bend City Cemetery The South Bend City Cemetery is a historic cemetery in South Bend, Indiana. History The South Bend City Cemetery was established in 1831, when Lathrop Taylor and Alexis Coquillard donated the land upon which it was built. Jacob Roof was the firs ...

Personal life

Coquillard married Frances C. Comparet of Detroit. They had one child, Alexis T. Coquillard died following a head injury from a beam falling during a fire at his mill on January 6, 1855. He died on January 8, 1855, at the age of 59. He was buried at Cedar Grove Cemetery on the Notre Dame campus.

References

External links

*
Encyclopædia Britannica

Alexis Coquillard Papers - Indiana State Library

South Bend History Museum
{{Authority control 1795 births 1855 deaths People from Detroit United States Army personnel of the War of 1812 American fur traders History of South Bend, Indiana Deaths from head injury