Antoine Blanc Gingras

Antoine Blanc Gingras (c. 1821 – September 26, 1877) sometimes called Frederick Gingras in some sources,^[1] was a Métis fur trader, Bison hunter, business tycoon, and politician who founded the settlement of Walhalla, North Dakota, previously known as St. Joseph in the Dakota Territory. Gingras was a foundational figure for the Métis located in the Red River Valley in western Minnesota and the southern Red River Colony. Gingras served a total of two terms in both the 3rd Minnesota Territorial Legislature and the 4th Minnesota Territorial Legislature in 1852 and 1853. Gingras was a business partner with fellow fur traders Pascal Breland, Norman Kittson, Joe Rolette, and Alexander Ramsey among others.

Gingras was born in 1821 in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, he was the son of a voyageur of the North West Company Antoine Cuthbert Gingras (1771–1840) and Marguerite Madeleine Trottier (1796–1879), a Métis woman. Gingras himself was of mixed Québécois and Ojibwe descent and spoke a combination of Ojibwe, French, Michif, and English.^[2][3] According to the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana, Gingras received annuity payments as the descendant of an Ojibwe mother.^[4]

Métis people (French: mixed) are a multiracial people, typically mixed between French or Scottish fathers and Indigenous mothers of Métis, Ojibwe, Dakota, Cree, Menominee, Potawatomi, Meskwaki, Sauk, Ho-Chunk, Odawa, and Assiniboine ancestry, typically due to the practice of Marriage à la façon du pays during the North American fur trade.^[5]

Gringas established his own trading post in 1844 in Pembina, at the time part of the Minnesota Territory. In 1844, the Gingras family was one of four total fur trading families in St. Joseph.^[2][3] According to the State Historical Society of North Dakota:

"St. Joseph was the ideal location for Gingras’s business. He served as a middle man for Metis buffalo hunters who produced buffalo robes and pemmican which they traded for manufactured goods, tobacco, liquor and grocery staples. Gingras acquired these items at St. Paul or Mendota, Minnesota. The robes were shipped east, and the pemmican was traded to Hudson’s Bay and other fur trade companies for consumption by their employees".^[2]

Although a free trader, Gingras worked under contracts for the Hudson's Bay Companyin which he lost his trade license multiple times due to smuggling furs. Eventually in 1851 Gingras joined the Red River and Pembina Outfit, a fur trading coalition of free traders organized by fellow fur trader Norman Kittson. In 1851 Gingras campaigned for political office with the Minnesota Territorial Legislature as a representative of District 7.^[2]

Gingras owned several trading stores and dwellings in both Pembina and St. Joseph and near the Souris River. Gingras's personal assets were estimated to be worth $60,000 (approximately $1.7 million today), according to the Dakota Territory census of 1861.^[6] Gingras’s trading relations grew through the years. In 1863 alone Gingras and Pascal Breland made $15,000 off of fur trading in the region.^[2] With trading posts established from Fort Garry in the Red River Colony southward to St. Joseph and Pembina, Gingras transported goods from western Minnesota and the Dakota Territory to Saint Paul, Minnesota with the now-famous Red River cart and eventually helped to pioneer the Red River Trails.^[3]

In 1852 Gingras had a short-lived political career as a territorial representative for the Minnesota Territorial Legislature. Gingras represented District 7 of the Territorial House as an Independent politician with no affiliation to either the Democratic Party, Whig Party, or Republican Party. Gingras would serve a total of two terms in the Territorial House from 1852-1853 in both the 3rd Minnesota Territorial Legislature and the 4th Minnesota Territorial Legislature.^[2][1]

During the North-West Rebellion or Métis Resistance of 1869-1870, Gingras was a supporter of Louis Riel. When Canadian Lieutenant Governor designate William McDougall travelled to St. Joseph from Pembina on December 11, 1869, he was informed by Antoine Gingras on the evening of December 10 that he had “agreed to raise a party of 150 “Half-Breeds” and with a portion of them, to drive Governor McDougall away from his house at Pembina.” McDougall also commented “These Half-Breeds” at St. Joe are principally connected with those at Red River Settlement, and many of them are inclined to fall in with Mr. Gingras’s plan.”^[7] Following the rebellion Louis Riel sought Gingras' protection in North Dakota and often lodged with his son Normand/ Norman.^[8][9] In 1873 Gingras helped to charter the city of Winnipeg, previously known as Fort Garry.^[6]

Gingras died on September 28, 1877, at the age of 55-56, he is buried at the Saint Boniface Cemetery in Walhalla, North Dakota along with his wife and several of his children. Gingras listed the Archbishop of Saint Boniface, Alexandre-Antonin Taché, in his will and testament as the legal guardian of his children who had not reached the age of 21, throughout his life Gingras was known as a charitable parishioner to the St. Boniface Cathedral.^[2]

Gingras married Scholastique (Scholastic) Trottier, a fellow Métis woman in 1837, in total they had 15 children; Francis Marie, Francois, Angelic, Gustus, Antoine, William, Eustine, Norman, Elise, Octavia, John, Charles, Clement, and Pauline. According to the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library Gingras is noted as being Catholic.^[1] Gingras's grandson Tony Gingras, the son of François Gingras, became a famous right winger and top goal scorer for the Winnipeg Victorias.^[10][11] Gingras scored a total of 25 goals, 26 assists, 51 points, 52 Penalty Minutes (PIM) in 37 games.^[12] Gingras later coached for both the Union Canadienne of St. Boniface, Winnipeg as well as at Université de Saint-Boniface.^[13][14][15] Tony Gingras is noted as being the first French Canadian to be listed on a Stanley Cup winning team.^[12]

The Gingras Trading Post State Historic Site still exists today and is located in Walhalla, North Dakota. The site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1955 and consists of both the trading post and home of Gingras.^[16] Likewise, Gingras County in North Dakota was named after Gingras in 1874, the name was later changed to Wells County, North Dakota just 10 years later.^[3][17][18] Each year the city of Walhalla, North Dakota honors Gingras by celebrating "Gingras Days" on July 5 and 6.^[19][20]

• Tony Gingras
• Gingras Trading Post State Historic Site
• Walhalla, North Dakota
• Louis Riel
• Pascal Breland
• Norman Kittson
• Joe Rolette
• List of Métis people