Ridgely Refugees List

24 Responses to Ridgely Refugees List

1. Roger Carroll Breckenridge says:

   July 7, 2012 at 5:03 am

   You have compiled a good list of names; however, I believe that one of them should be dropped from the list and his name is John Murray Kerlinger. He enlisted in Co I, 9th Minn Regiment on August 15, 1862 at Shakopee, three days before the Dakota Conflict. As I see it, he could not have been at the Lower Agency to escape to Fort Ridgely nor could he have been a defender of Fort Ridgely. He was stationed at Fort Ridgely after the Siege, tho.

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   • Carrie says:

     July 7, 2012 at 9:23 am

     Roger, Thank you for noting this! This is an “every name” database, meaning I established it exactly so people can do what you are doing here: testing a reference against other references. His name does not appear on any of the official lists. But my database from which I extracted this report notes John Murray Kerlinger was: “Making tin types at LSA on August 16-17; spent night of August 17 at FtR en route to St. Peter; news of the outbreak arrived at FtR the morning of the 18th and Kerlinger stayed through the siege” and the citation I noted for that is Mary Huggins Kerlinger’s reminiscences in the Alexander G. Huggins Family Papers at MHS, vol. 1, p.259-281. MHS recently digitized this volume and the text is available via the MHS Library website by scrolling through the electronic finding aide to the Alexander G. Huggins Papers. I am re-reading that volume myself, preparing for a trip to Ohio to do further research on the Huggins family. So when I get to that section of Mary’s story, I’ll read that passage carefully in light of your note and see if perhaps I misinterpreted what she wrote.

     I am not a military expert by a long shot but understand that it was fairly common during the Civil War that when men enlisted in a regiment that was not close to being full, they were often given leave for a few weeks and told to report –in his case, probably to Fort Snelling –at a certain date, when training would begin. I do not know for a fact that is true in John Murray Kerlinger’s case, but it might explain the anomaly you note. Please let me know if you find more information commenting on whether he was, or was not, at Fort Ridgely during the siege of 1862!–Carrie

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2. Mary Bakeman says:

   October 13, 2012 at 7:01 pm

   The Buerry family from LaCroix Creek (Renville County) is shown here under the name ‘Perry,’ just another variation on the name in various records!

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   • Carrie says:

     October 13, 2012 at 7:55 pm

     Thanks for identifying them, Mary! This makes me wonder if the families surnamed “Buerho” and “Pereau” on Culver’s list may be related to the Buerry (Perry) family? Culver wrote the settlers’ names down phonetically, as they sounded to him. So there may be more families like the Buerrys here in hiding under a “sounds like” version of their name.

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3. Glenn Vogtman says:

   October 15, 2012 at 4:16 am

   Just a minor name correction: The ‘Perry’ family name is actually Buery. Buerry is another variation found primarily in the /History of the Minnesota Valley… by Edward D. Neill/ along with the correct spelling of Buery.

   There is no familial relationship between the Buery family and the ‘Buerho’ or ‘Pereau’ (Perreault)famililies.

   However, ‘Sally Perry’ (Buery) and ‘Mary Kumro” were sisters.

   ‘C. Perry’ (Catherine Buery) married John Vogtman in 1865 and are my great-grandparents.

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   • Carrie Zeman says:

     October 15, 2012 at 7:04 am

     Thank you very much, Glenn! Was Catherine’s future husband, John Vogtman, in the area in 1862? The Adjutant General list (which I collated here with Culver’s since there is considerable overlap in the names listed) lists a “John Voltin” (alt. spelling “Vollin”) with no other information. His name appears on none of the lists that provide more detailed identity information so my question is purely a guess based on the possibility that someone mis-recorded his name as “Voltin.”

     I’ll gladly correct “Buerry” to your family’s preferred “Buery.” Unfortunately I need to leave the main entry as “Perry” here because that is how Culver recorded it. However, a significant amount of new information like this has come out thanks to people like you in the 14 years since I began this database. In the future I think it might be more useful if I reconfigure it to allow accepted spellings as the main entry. I’ll work on that!

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     • Carrie says:

       October 15, 2012 at 8:40 am

       Glenn and Mary,

       Word Press barely supports tables and I need to recreate the Ridgley Refugees list to make the correction to the “Buery” reference appear correctly. Please excuse the temporarily muddled entry while I work on fixing the problem. Thanks!
     • Glenn Vogtman says:

       October 15, 2012 at 1:23 pm

       There is no family history or documentation placing John Vogtman in Renville county at the time of the Uprising. I believe he was in Mankato, Minnesota at that time. In the 1860 US Census he was recorded in Mankato Township, Blue Earth County in his parents household. He served in Company E, Minnesota 1st Regiment Cavalry “Mounted Rangers” from Nov. 3, 1862 untill Nov. 24, 1863 for frontier duty against Indians. He and Catherine Buery were married in Mankato in January 1865. Sometime later that year, Catherine’s father George Buery and his family returned to his claim at Birch Coolie, Renville county from where they had fled during the Uprising. John and Catherine Vogtman accompanied them and established an adjoining claim.

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5. Jon & Candy Severson says:

   May 8, 2013 at 10:38 am

   Two names on the Fort Ridgely refugee list, we believe, are a couple we have heen tracking – Baptiste & Susan Buhrman. Baptiste would be Jean Baptiste Beauchemin, a French-Canadian, born 30 Jul 1818 in Lower Canada (from his Declaration of Intention document of 1848). He said he came to the US in 1837, working in the fur trade, one of the early settlers of Pig’s Eye. In 1846 he married Susan Bourcier (age 14), daughter of a French-Canadian, Joseph Bourcier, and a Sisseton woman, Henaskina. Susan is the half-sister of Joseph Coursolle (also on the refugee list) – same mother, different fathers.

   Since they were not literate, the spelling of their name has always been at the discretion of someone else. The 1850 census for Pig’s Eye – Baptise & Susan Bouchemin, 1855 Sioux Affidavits (#81, at Mendota) – John Baptiste Boshman & Susan Boassia, 1857 census for Rice Co. – John B. & Susan Bushman, 1865 census for Mendota – B. & Susan Bushman.

   After 1865, we lose track of them, they did not have children.

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   • Carrie Zeman says:

     May 8, 2013 at 10:49 am

     Jon, I’m glad you could recognize them by that spelling. Thank you for filling in some more details! I know a great researcher-descendant working on the Coursolle family and will let her know about your comment. Is it okay if I share your contact info. with her?

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     • Jon & Candy Severson says:

       May 8, 2013 at 4:58 pm

       Carrie – feel free to share our contact info. I am a decendant of Joseph Bourcier & Margaret McCoy (Joseph R Brown’s second wife). There is some overlap with the Coursolle family that we are tracking.
       –Jon
6. Glenn Vogtman says:

   May 8, 2013 at 3:51 pm

   Carrie,
   If you wish to expand or correct names on the Refugee List, here are some [in brackets] that I am familiar with:
   Kumro, F. [Ferdinand]
   Kumro, L. [Louvisa/Louisa]
   Perry, C. [Buery, Catherine]
   Perry, M. [Buery, Margaret]

   Also, all Perry entries are actually [Buery] as noted in the October 15, 2012 reply above.
   Kumro, Mary and Perry[Buery], Sally were sisters, née Kauffmann/Kaufman, born in France.

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   • Carrie Zeman says:

     May 8, 2013 at 4:27 pm

     Thanks, Glenn. The list I published here reproduces the list Culver wrote –errors and all. That’s a historical choice –to reproduce a primary source without ‘cleaning it up.’ If I did, it would not be a primary source anymore; it would be a secondary source (mine).

     I am grateful for the clarifications you and others have provided and have placed them in the database on my computer. But WordPress does not have the ability to host a living database –one that is updated every time someone finds new information so anyone viewing it can see the most up-to-date version. The best I can do for now is leave all these comments publicly visible so others can read the information you and others have supplied.

     When I’m at Fort Ridgely in June I plan to ask their opinion on the best way to make the full database public.

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7. Jan Klein says:

   January 26, 2014 at 4:05 pm

   Carrie, my ggrandmother, C Clausen and son John are listed in Satterlee’s book as being from Birch Coulie but the chart above shows Lower Agency. We know they were at Birch Coulie when the outbreak began so wonder where the agency info came from. Thanks.

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8. Glenn Vogtman says:

   January 26, 2014 at 4:32 pm

   Birch Coolie, La Croix Creek, and Lower Sioux Agency all seem to be used to describe the same general area depending on the source. May have to do with Lower Sioux Agency being the Post Office for that area – or possibly how the refugees literally reported their residence.

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9. Glenn Vogtman says:

   January 26, 2014 at 4:41 pm

   Carrie – any chance of getting the “muddled” Buery/Buhrman entry straightened out? I think you recognized this problem in your entry of October 15, 2012 at 8:40 am.

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10. Roger Carroll Breckenridge says:

    June 4, 2016 at 8:16 am

    Good stuff. I haven’t had time to check out all of the names, but it sure looks like you have done a very good job. Thanks for all of your hard work and for posting these names. Much appreciated.

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11. Roger Carroll Breckenridge says:

    June 4, 2016 at 8:30 am

    By the way, I know a lot about the Jacob Schmahl family. This family later settled at Redwood Falls.

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12. Roger Carroll Breckenridge says:

    June 4, 2016 at 8:45 am

    I also know something about Joseph B. and Valencia J. Reynolds. I don’t believe that they had any children of their own. However, during their escape to Fort Ridgely they stopped and picked up two of John Nairn’s children and took them to the fort. Valencia J. Reynolds tells this story in her own words which were published in the book History of Redwood County, pgs 160 to 164. She did not name the children nor did she say anything about their ages. Valencia tells a most interesting story of their escape in this book.

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13. Roger Carroll Breckenridge says:

    June 4, 2016 at 10:37 am

    There were five or more men riding escort (shotgun) for the annuity payment: Cyrus G. Wykoff, Justus C. Ramsey, Edwin C. A. Hatch, Andrew J. Van Voorhees and Marvin Averill Dailey.

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14. Roger Carroll Breckenridge says:

    June 4, 2016 at 11:47 am

    John Nairn fled toward Ft. Ridgely with his wife [Magdalene] and four children. The older Nairn children (ten-year-old Cecilia and six-year-old James, went in the wagon of the government schoolmaster [Joseph B. Reynolds]. The others, two and one-half-year-old Maggie and six-week-old William, rode in their parents’ wagon, with Maggie strapped in a kerchief on a neighbor’s back. [The neighbor appears to have been Miss Eliza Frorip]. Information comes from a biography of John Nairn and family.

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    • Kathy Brown says:

      August 26, 2017 at 12:51 pm

      Thanks for adding this Roger. My 3rd Great Aunt was Louisa Frohrip/Frohriep, who worked for the Nairn family and was with them when they escaped to help with the children because Magdalene had a disability. Also her mother Maria Frohrip/Frohriep, my 3rd Great Grandmother, is listed here. She was at their cabin up on the hill around where the City of Morton, MN, now has its city cemetery. The Dakota came into their yard, the dog was barking and they shot him. Maria’s brother, Andreas Bahlke, came out into the yard and they shot him as well. As she tried to get away, the Dakota caught her and nailed her to the wall or doorway and shot her several times in the back and left her for dead. My GG Grandfather, John, was not there at the time or he would have surely been killed but it is told that he brought her to the fort. I do not see his name on the list. Since it was harvest time I am thinking he may have been at a neighbor’s place and was able to get away. I keep looking for neighbor stories of a neighbor helping at the time. So Grandma Maria may have gone to the fort with another neighbor if he didn’t bring her. I have found his name on none of the lists so far….

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15. Roger Carroll Breckenridge says:

    June 4, 2016 at 12:34 pm

    John C. Fenske, a nineteen year old, from New Ulm was shot with an arrow at the Lower Sioux Agency during the first minutes of the Uprising.

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