| Notes |
- Allan Morrison, Sr.
Posted by Dick Campbell on Fri, 18 Jun 1999
>From the 1907 book by Alvin H. Wilcox, "A Pioneer History of Becker
County
Minnesota" chapter XVIII, pages 266-267:
Allan Morrison, a younger brother of William Morrison, was born at
Teerebonne, near Montreal, Canada, June 3rd, 1803, and received a
common school education in his native village, which prepared him for
a clerkship in a country store.
Being a lad of uncommon physical development and activity, he did not
take kindly to indoor life, and his brother William having made his
first return visit to Canada in 1820, he was easily induced to
accompany him to what the French Canadians called "Les pays d'en
Haut" or The Upper Countries.
The delays incidental to the settlement of their father's estate
prevented them from starting with the returning boats and canoes, and
they were compelled to start much later; so late in fact, that winter
overtook them before the journey to the far north was half over.
After staying some days at one of the trading posts, to give time for
the ice to thicken, they started on afoot and it was not long before
they had to use snow shoes, traveling being made so much easier with
them after the snow got to be six or eight inches deep.
Their route from Montreal, was up the Ottawa River to a portage into
Lake Nipissing, and thence via Georgian Bay to Saulte Ste. Marie, via
Manitou Island, and thence on the ice of Lake Superior to old
Superior, Wisconsin, which they reached in February, 1821. There he
signed articles of engagement with the American Fur Company, for a
five years' apprenticeship and in due course of time was given a
small outpost to manage, and later on was placed in charge of the
trading post at Red Lake, Minnesota.
About 1825 he married Charlotte Louisa Chabrille, a mixed blood
Chippewa born at Old Fort William, on Lake Superior; by her he had
several children, the only ones now surviving being Mrs. Mary A.
Sloan of St. Cloud, Mrs. Caroline Grandelmyer and Miss Rachel
Morrison of Brainerd, and John George and Allan Morrison of White
Earth. All have allotments of land on the White Earth Indian
Reservation, where John, George and Allan built substantial homes on
their farms.
During the many years he was engaged in the fur trade, Allan Morrison
was successively in charge of nearly all the American Fur Company's
trading posts in Northern Minnesota, and finally he settled down at
Crow Wing, on the Mississippi, an important post, where he
represented the interests of the late Henry M. Rice, during the
period that gentleman engaged in the fur trade in the upper
Mississippi country.
He was a member of the Territorial Legislature of Minnesota, and
Morrison County was named for him; was also postmaster at Crow Wing,
Minnesota, for several years.
Leaving Crow Wing in the fall of 1874, he removed to White Earth,
Becker County, where he resided to the time of his death, November
21, 1876, and where he was buried in the Catholic cemetery.
GEO. A. MORISON
Allan Morrison was one of a family of seven boys and five girls. He
was born in Canada to which his father emigrated from Scotland.
William Morrison, Allan's elder brother, explored Northern Minnesota
territory "as early as 1800, and was probably one of the first white
men to discover Lake Itasca, the source of the Mississippi River,"
but it does not appear that he identified it as the source of that
River.
"Allan's first visit to this region was in 1820, when he came to Fon
du Lac, as a trader in what was then known as the 'Northern Outfit.'
For several years he was associated with his brother William in the
Fond du Lac department, during which time he was stationed at Sandy
Lake, Leech Lake, Red Lake, Mille Lacs, and Crow Wing."9
According to his account of the early traders in the area of Crow
Wing, Allan Morrison declares that in 1823, as an employee of the
American Fur Company, he was sent to oppose a trader who had come up
the Mississippi to its confluence with the Crow Wing River. He
writes: "on my arrival to where Fort Ripley now stands, I learned
where he was building his establishment. My instructions were that I
should build close by him, but being posative [sic] I could do better
a short distance above, I built my house and store on the island." 10
This statement has called forth much controversy. Many people who
know the region well, believe it would not have been feasible to
build the post on the island, even if conditions were as they are
today. At present, it is unundated with water in the spring of the
year. However, if the trading post was used only a great part of the
year, it could have been a protective spot for trading. Our evidence
is, Stanchfield who states. "Crow Island was occupied by 500
Indians."
According to his granddaughter, Rose Parker, formerly of Crow Wing
Historical Society, Allan Morrison married Louise Chaboulier in 1820.
The WPA Crow Wing County Research Collection says that the year 1943
is an important date in the history of the Crow Wing settlement, for
in this year Allan Morrison settled opposite the south mouth of the
Crow Wing River. He was the first white person to settle permanently
in Crow Wing.
"Allan Morrison was the postmaster, farmer, trader, hotel keeper, and
agent for a line of stage coaches. He had lived in the vicinity
sixteen years and spoke English, Cree, and Chippewa." 22
At the April (1850) meeting of that year, the commissioners appointed
Allan Morrison, Jonathan Stately (Statelar), and William Warren, as
judges of election for the county and Truman Warren, brother of
William Warren, temporary assessor. They ordered that the necessary
bridges and crossings be place between Sauk Rapids and Crow Wing. 47
9. Folson, W. H. C. Fifty Years in Northwest, Pioneer Press, 1888,
St. Paul, pp 480, 481.
10. Morrison, Allan. "Indian trade and Its Progress, from the
Discover of the St. Lawrence River by the French", in the History of
Central Minnesota-- A Survey of unpublished Sources by Mary E.
Wheelhouse in Minnesota History, 9:248, 1928.
11. Interview with Rose Parker at Crow Wing County Historical Society
Museum, Brainerd, Minnesota, August 19, 1934.
22. Harper's Magazine, New York, V. XIX p. 47.
47. Brainerd Dispatch, April 18 1918.
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1803 - Abt 1876 (73 years)