Bottineau County
NDGenWeb
Bottineau County NDGenWeb is a free genealogical site about the history
of the county. We hope you find helpful clues for your research of
ancestors and relatives of Bottineau county.
Are you familiar with the area? Do you have a family tree connection to the area? Volunteers are always needed! Please consider contributing your pieces of Bottineau County family history. Corrections, updates, and additions to this site are always welcome. If you are interested in helping, please contact the State Coordinator.
County Coordinator: YOU? Bottineau County NDGenWeb is AVAILABLE FOR ADOPTION.
Bottineau County History
Established by the 1872-1873 territorial
legislature from unorganized territory, it was named for Pierre Bottineau
(1817-1895), a guide, scout, frontiersman, and businessman. He was born to a
family of French voyageurs associated with the fur companies then trading with
the Indians at all points in North Dakota where furs were caught or accumulated,
engaging often with the Indians on the buffalo hunts. Charles Bottineau, a
brother of Pierre, was the first considerable farmer in North Dakota, and as
early as 1870 had a farm of about one hundred acres under cultivation at Neche,
where he had been engaged in farming long before any particular attention had
been attracted to the Red River Valley. Indeed the first settlement in the
valley for agricultural purposes was in the fall of 1870 and spring of 1871,
while the census of 1870 shows about 1,200 halfbloods in North Dakota. They
practically all originated from the voyageurs and traders connected with the
Hudson's Bay Company, occupying the lower Red River country, and the American
Fur Company, occupying the upper Missouri River and its tributaries as well as
the James. Both classes occupied the Pembina and Turtle mountains and became
associated with what is known as the Turtle Mountain band of Indians now
numbering about three thousand. Some of these were of Canadian origin and some
of American, but whether American or Canadian they roamed over the prairies
hunting, now selling their catch to traders in the field or taking them to Fort
Garry, now Winnipeg, where churches and schools were built and they were taught
in the ways of civilization. Government organized
17 July 1884. County Seat: Bottineau, 1884-present Area 1669 square miles. 2000
population -- 7,149.
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This page was last updated 09/11/2023