THE DEROIN OF NEBRASKA
The information below is part of larger page from the Nemaha County Nebraska on the St Deroin village.
The village of St. Deroin was the first town site in Nemaha County. St. Deroin was located on the Missouri River in the Half-breed tract of land set aside by the Treaty of Prairie du Chien in 1830. In the early 1840's, an Otoe half-breed chief named Joseph Deroin moved to the area, opening a trading post and serving the population of 232. St. Deroin School House, now at Indian Cave State Park
The town site was laid out by Joseph Deroin, Robert Hawke and others in 1853. In 1865, the town was resurveyed by E.W. Pierce and Co. Judge Andrew J. Ritter who opened a general merchandise store in 1859. The store was run with his son, Andrew, Jr.
Today, St. Deroin "lives" as part of the history at Indian Cave State Park.
St Deroin has indicated above is now history, rather than a place still populated. But it certainly is interesting to find that it actually is part of the Nebraska history, and that an ancestor of ours was involved in its creation. The purpose of adding this history to our page on the Drouin of North America, is obvious, it is part of our history. But, there are several links missing on this particular branch, it is my intention to put together several bit of information received from a few correspondents on the subject. That is why the subtitle of this page indicate the links between these Deroin of Nebraska and the St Louis Branch.
Maybe with this publication more information will be forthcoming to clarify the missing links.
Before I embark on my search for this branch, I would like to take the opportunity to thank one of my correspondents who has contributed to most of this research on the background of the family. Virginia K. Wills with her research on Jeffrey DeRoin born in Saint Louis Co., Missouri whose line ended up in Nebraska.
I would like to first clarify the founding and the Deroin relations to St Deroin. In the history of the present Nebraska Game and Parks' Commission's Indian Cave State Park, it indicates that one can find the remnants of a mid-19th century river settlement known at St Deroin. It is listed as the first townsite in Nemaha County, and that the village was laid out in 1853 by a half-breed named Joseph Deroin. It also has a pretty accurate history on Joseph Deroin and his family. In a travel web page on ghost towns, St Deroin is listed as having been founded in 1854 by Joseph Deroin, an Indian trader. Among the pictures in the Ioway native photos site there are pictures of the Deroin family. The first being Joseph Deroin, founder of St Deroin. It indicates that he was the son of Amable Drouin, a French fur trade married to an OTOE woman. In this series of pictures we see, the three Deroin brothers circa 1880, Balon, William and Emile three sons of Joseph; Maggie his daughter (with mother listed as Susee Baskette, circa 1900; and Amable II Deroin with his wife Mary Didier and family.
Because of the relation listed in of the picture, the one with Maggie Deroin, which list her mother as being Susee Baskette, it would certainly appear that Joseph is the same Joseph listed in the history put together by my correspondent Virginia Wills. She list a Jeffrey Deroin a slave of Joseph Robidoux founder of St Joseph, MO. has having been married to a Susee (Soula) Baskette (in 1835) daughter of Chief Balone Baskette. She indicate that the marriage only lasted for a short period and Susee left him with her daughter. However, in the above web page on Nebraska game and parks commission, it says that: Joseph married an Omaha Indian woman, Meek-Ka-Ahu-Me, and their only child, Mary, was born about 1841 near Council Bluffs, IA. In 1842, the family moved to the tract in Nemaha-Richardson counties, created by the Treaty of Prairie du Chien. They were among the first to claim land on the tract. Later that year, Joseph took two more wives -- sisters Julie and Soula (Su-See) Baskette, the daughters of a Frenchman, Balone Baskette, and also involved with an Iowa Indian woman. He had 8 children by the Baskette sisters. Susee Baskette left In 1862, Soula and the children moved to the Iowa Reserve in northeast Kansas, and the children attended the Kickapoo Training School at Horton, KS.
Certainly by now we can safely say that many of the descendants of Joseph were very mixed, we can then assume that any descendants who listed their father as being Joseph Deroin from the St Deroin area are his descendants. I leave the work of tracing individual lines to my correspondents.
Another riddle is that in the above history by Virginia Wills, we have Jeffrey (likely also named Joseph) as a slave of Joseph Robidoux, founder of St Joseph, MO. Certainly, Joseph (Jeffrey) Deroin was involved with Joseph Robidoux, taking into account the proximity of St Joseph, MO. with St Deroin of Nebraska is certainly no coincidence. Robidoux was a noted trader in the Indian country, and likely taught young Joseph all he knew. Joseph Deroin taught himself many of Indian tongues and became quite proficient as an interpreter. It is said that he bought his freedom by 1835, which would coincide with his marriage with Susee Baskette in 1835.
Within Joseph Deroin history we came across someone named Amable Drouin an Indian fur trader who had married an OTOE woman (in the present St Joseph city area)...again the link to St Deroin, which is close by and quite possibly Amable would have known Joseph Robidoux who was also a noted Indian trader. Could our Joseph (Jeffrey) have been the son of Amable with a Negro woman, and given or sold to Joseph Robidoux, who freed him in 1835. In Virginia Wills story, Joseph (Jeffrey) is listed as a "fine looking mulatto, with a benevolent, intelligent countenance, stout figure, most respectful demeanor, and was an honest and faithful man". The other link to the Amable name is in the pictures ioway native photos listed above. In it, Joseph is listed as the son of Amable Drouin, a French fur trader. In a later picture we see a person listed as Amable II with wife Mary Didier and family....again the name from the same family continues. Amable II possibly the son of Joseph (Jeffrey) or one of his sons.
As we can see from the above, the story is a bit confusing, but somehow a lot of it seem to fit in the overall view of that line of Drouin. Most of the persons are inter connected, live close by to each other and we are able to confirms many of the marriages. Some of first names changed, but that is understandable in the circumstances of the time. This is my first attempt at putting together that side of our family. I have no doubt that these Deroin are descendants of our family. If we ever can trace Amable Drouin's background we can then for certain close the gap that presently exist.
Amable possibly came by way of Detroit and St Louis which was the usual route for Indian traders, used by all the French coming in originally from Montreal. So at this time, I will leave this and hopefully we will get the link that need with time.
MARIE-LOUISE DEROUIN (Quenoche) (St Louis/Iowa)
Following the trail of one of my correspondent, Sandy Neil, I insert the following information put together by her, on a Marie-Louise Derouin who was born in St Louis on 15 October 1803. We have no information on her father or mother, but the QUENOCHE in her surname maybe from her father who possibly was called "Quenoche Derouin". Quenoche is a name of a community in France, a town or township in Haute Saone District. In any event it appears that through her life this particular "surname" was used alternately with her major surname of "Derouin". Her second husband George W Ames was the son of David Ames and his wife Rebecca Johnson. David was the son Captain John Ames, Revolutionary War soldier. This particular record item has been used by a number of Marie's (Mary) descendants to join the DAR. Mary is buried at the St Joseph's cemetery, DeWitt, Clinton, Co. Iowa.
Because of the possibility of the link to other Deroin of Iowa I am inserting this on this page, as well as the St Louis page.
Ray Drouin
27 Janauary 2002
RETURN TO FAMILY HISTORY INDEX