Alexis Bailly (December 14, 1798 – June 3, 1860) was an American politician and fur trader. He was born in Saint Joseph, Upper Canada, to one of the "mixed-blood" families that was active in the

North American fur trade The North American fur trade is the commercial trade in furs in North America. Various Indigenous peoples of the Americas traded furs with other tribes during the pre-Columbian era. Europeans started their participation in the North American fur ...

. His father, Joseph Bailly, came from a

French Canadian French Canadians (referred to as Canadiens mainly before the twentieth century; french: Canadiens français, ; feminine form: , ), or Franco-Canadians (french: Franco-Canadiens), refers to either an ethnic group who trace their ancestry to Fren ...

family. His mother, Angelique McGulpin (Bead-Way-Way or Mecopemequa) was a daughter of

Maketoquit Maketoquit was the leader of a large band of Potawatami in modern Clinton County, Michigan and Shiawassee County, Michigan in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. See also *Joseph Bailly *Alexis Bailly Alexis Bailly (December 14, 1798 &n ...

(Black Cloud), the chief of a large band of Grand River

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

.Joseph Bailly, Trader of Lake Michigan; Chris Light; Fifth Annual George Rogers Clark Trans Appalachian Frontier History Conference; October 3, 1987, Vincennes University, Vincennes, Indiana, Alexis was one of three children. When his parents divorced, his older brother Francis remained with Maketoquit's band, while his younger sister Sophia was adopted by fur trader Magdelaine Laframboise, a close friend of the family. Alexis was sent to boarding school in Montreal. A native French speaker, Alexis Bailly also spoke and wrote flawless English, was fluent in several Native American languages, and had learned Latin. In 1826, he married Lucy Faribault, the "mixed-blood" daughter of fur trader Jean-Baptiste Faribault, who had traded among the Dakota for years. From 1823 to 1835, with a brief hiatus in 1831, Bailly traded for the

American Fur Company The American Fur Company (AFC) was founded in 1808, by John Jacob Astor, a German immigrant to the United States. During the 18th century, furs had become a major commodity in Europe, and North America became a major supplier. Several British co ...

, working with Jean Joseph Rolette. In 1834, as founder John Jacob Astor prepared to retire, the company was reorganized as a partnership with Ramsay Crooks as president and senior partner. Bailly was known as an "energetic and competent trader, whose string of posts along the upper Mississippi and up the Minnesota Valley had grossed some $20,000" in 1833. However, he had quarreled with Rolette and tried to set himself up as a competitor in 1831, causing Rolette and Crooks to mistrust him. Furthermore, Bailly had an ongoing feud with Indian agent

Lawrence Taliaferro Lawrence Taliaferro ( ; February 28, 1794 – January 22, 1871) was a United States Army officer who served as an Indian agent at Fort Snelling, Minnesota from 1820 through 1839. He was also part of the famous African American slave Dred Scott's s ...

, which had culminated in a series of incidents involving confiscated whisky, lawsuits, and a threatened duel between the two men. In October 1834, Ramsay sent 23-year-old Henry Hastings Sibley to the AFC's Western Outfit headquarters in Prairie du Chien, with the intention of having Sibley replace Bailly. Bailly refused to give up his business until his contract expired the following summer, but agreed to take Sibley with him to the mouth of the

Minnesota River The Minnesota River ( dak, Mnísota Wakpá) is a tributary of the Mississippi River, approximately 332 miles (534 km) long, in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It drains a watershed of in Minnesota and about in South Dakota and Iowa. It ris ...

and introduce him to "the people, the country, and the far-flung operations of the Dakota trade." Sibley appreciated Bailly's guidance and later recalled that Bailly had warned him that American Fur Company squeezed its small traders dry, and had left him in financial ruin, despite the fact that he had cleared an estimated $200,000 for the company over ten years. Bailly served in the House of Representatives of the 1st Minnesota Territorial Legislature in 1849. His son

Henry G. Bailly Henry G. Bailly (October 29, 1828 – January 7, 1865) was an American businessman and politician. Bailly was born in the area of Michigan Territory that would later become Minnesota and his father was Alexis Bailly. Bailly had mixed European ...

also served in the Minnesota Territorial Legislature and in the Minnesota Senate.Alexis Bailly, Minnesota Legislators Past and Present
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Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bailly, Alexis 1798 births 1861 deaths People from Algoma District Emigrants from pre-Confederation Ontario to the United States People from Michigan Territory Minnesota Territory officials Members of the Minnesota Territorial Legislature 19th-century American legislators American fur traders Native American state legislators in Minnesota 19th-century Minnesota politicians