Genealogy Chat Friends' Minnesota Research
State Flower: Ladyslipper		State Bird: Loon

Special thank you to Applepie_43 who did the original GCF Minnesota Genealogy Research Page

French fur traders came to Minnesota by way of the Great Lakes in about 1658. Little was known of this region until Jesuit Missionaries came in 1680. Father Hennepin traveled up the Mississippi River in that year and discovered the Falls of St. Anthony, which he named. This is present day Minneapolis. The French claimed the land east of the Mississippi River but gave it to England in 1763. In 1763 the United States acquired part of this land and the remainder of the future state was acquired as a part of the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. Zebulon Pike traced the source of the Mississippi River to the to Cass Lake and Henry Schoolcraft traced the great Mississipi to its source in 1832 to Lake Itasca.

The first settlement was made in 1819 at Fort Saint Anthony which is now called Fort Snelling which was renamed in 1824. The eastern Minnesota became a part of the Northwest Territory, set up by Congress in 1787. Minnesota then became a part of Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and finally Wisconsin territories. Western Minnesota was acquired in 1803 which was a part of the Louisiana then Missouri, Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa Territories. In 1849 the two sections combined to form the Minnesota Territory. Minnesota became the 32nd state in the year 1858.

During the Civil War, the Souix Indians started a war of their own. Almost succeeded in driving out all white people out of Southern Minnesota. 500 white settlers died in the Sioux War and damaged range into the millions of dollars. The war ended with the defeat of the Indians at Wood Lake in 1862.--by Applepie_43

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