Joe Rolette

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Joseph Rolette (1820–1871) was a well known American fur trader and politician. His father was Jean Joseph Rolette, often referred to as Joe Rolette, the elder, a French-Canadian and a trader himself. Joseph Rolette’s mother was Jane Fisher, and the couple divorced after Joseph was born. Janes relatives took young Joseph to New York. As a sense of adventure developed in him he headed back west in 1840 and by the time he was 21 he was working for his fathers partners in the Red River valley area of Minnesota. Some of the most well known names in Minnesota history (Henry H. Sibley, Ramsey Crooks) were active and running a fur trading company in the area and while in their service Joseph Rolette rebuilt a trading post at Pembina. He was responsible for the building and the defense of the post as well as managing the business being conducted there. The area where the Pembina Trail crossed the Red Lake River is now the county seat for Douglas county.

In 1842 young Rolette put into a place a unique method of transportation between St Paul and Pembina creating a line of carts that ran between the two cities running it with his mothers brother. By this time the trading post had grown and a Canadian native, Norman W. Kittson, was managing it. Kittson adopted the system of carts, growing and adding more lines until it consisted of several thousand vehicles.

During the late 1840’s Joseph also had a hand in defending the posts, both from commercial rivals and unfriendly Native Americans. At one point he burned down a rival post which was trading whisky for furs, a transaction that was illegal during that time. He also was married during this time, in 1845 he married Angelie Jerome. Together they had eleven children. What a player...

In 1851 he was elected to the Minnesota State Legislature and served 4 terms. It was during his time in the legislature that the best known story about him originates from. A bill making St.Peter the capital of Minnesota was about to be enacted and as chairman of the enrollment committee, bills of this nature had to pass through him. Joseph took physical possession of the document and disappeared for the rest of the session, not returning until it was too late to pass any more bills. Unable to make St.Peter the capital, it ended up in St Paul where it remains today. According to the story, he spent the week away from the legislature drinking and playing poker in a hotel room with some friends.

During the Civil War he was unable to get a commission in the Union army and by the end of the war had lost much of his fortune. Throughout the war his health had declined and he died on May 16 1871.

Joe Rolette

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