You may or may not be aware of the fact that branches of our family were present in Minnesota previous to it becoming a state in 1858. These early settlers were Minnesota territorial pioneers and we are descendants of those pioneers.
On May 11, 1897 the Minnesota Territorial Pioneers (MTP) organization was formed when 100 territorial pioneers gathered at the Merchants Hotel in St. Paul. By 1899 the organization had more than 1000 members. One hundred twenty five years later, the organization’s current headquarters is in the log cabin on the Minnesota State Fair grounds. Their mission is “To preserve and promote awareness of the heritage and history of territorial Minnesota through educational outreach.” To join, one must be a “descendant and/or spouse and children whose ancestors settled in Minnesota prior to Statehood on May 11, 1858.”
I always thought that our family might qualify to be members of the organization, but I was unsure if I could gather all of the necessary documentation they required. A few months ago I decided to start the process. You never know until you try!
I chose Charles Peltier, my 2nd great-grandfather on the Peltier side of the family because I already had census papers that showed him living in Minnesota in 1850. The application, which includes me and my siblings, was lengthy and there was a lot of documentation to chronologically list and include. It took about 4 days to compile the 52-page packet for the approval committee. Even then, I wasn’t sure if I had provided them with enough documentation for approval.
To make a short story even shorter, Charles Peltier was approved and is now a documented Minnesota territorial pioneer. We have other ancestors that should also be included on this list, but it will take some research and work to come up with all the necessary documents. I next plan to work on the Vadnais branch. My hope is that Francois Vadnais is also a Minnesota territorial pioneer.
With the approval of Charles Peltier, any descendant of his can become a member of the Minnesota Territorial Pioneers (MTP). If you are interested in doing so, I will be happy to assist you in putting together the necessary paperwork (mostly filled out) and let you know which of your documents you’ll need to copy for them. MTP will use what I provided from Charles through Ellen Lucy (Peltier) Vadnais and then you will only need a few more documents that connect you back to Ellen Lucy. You and your siblings can use one application to apply for the recognition, but each of you needs to provide copies of your own documentation; birth certificate, baptismal certificate, marriage license/certificate, etc. Not all of these may be necessary. Feel free to contact me with any questions you may have.
Thanks for visiting, come back soon,
Cindy
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Yes! I’d be interested, after October. (-: The MTP log cabin on the State Fair grounds is by the Ramburg Senior Center. very interesting!!!!
Thanks so much, Cynthia. oxox