tabernacle. Francis I (1494-1547), who was king of
France from 1515 to 1547, issued an edict to all Frenchmen that they should repair to their parish churches and
register. This inaugurated the keeping of records.
Pierre DeSautels, born about 1550 and married to
Renee Lebrun, registered at the church in MalicorneSur-Sarthe. The church was built in the 11th century at
the time that William, Duke of Normandy, crossed the
English Channel and became the king of England. The
first DeSautel mentioned was Guillaume DeSautels.
Some of the records were destroyed by fire. Pierre
DeSautels was a tailor of men's clothes, a member of the
guild that made men look like men, not serfs wearing
sacks bound to the lands of their lords.
The sons followed in the trade, designing clothes
worn by men. Thomas DeSautel was born in 1590, died in
1663. He married Marie Marthe Buisson in 1628. Thenson, Pierre born 1708, joined Compagnie des Associes
Amis de Montreal for the campaign to convert the
savages in New France which was Quebec in the new
world. WhUe in Quebec, he met a relative, Madame
Marie Gayard Martin, a widow who had applied for
permission to join the missionaries to New France. She
was the first Superior of the Ursulines of Quebec. She
was known as Mere l'lncarnation, the Mother of the
Incarnation.
.
Pierre married Marie Remy in 1966 at Montreal, in a
second marriage he married Catherine Lorion, bom 1636
in Aniou and died in 1720. A son, Gilbert (1729-1755)
married Marie Charlotte Etienne (1690-1771). Their 14th
child, Etienne DeSautel married Marie Catherine
Prudhomme on June 17, 1748, their son, Amable
DeSautel, married Marie Margurite David on Nov. 5,
1792. They were the parents of Francois Xavier
DeSautel, also Amable, Jr., Joseph, and Benjamin. Joseph's son, Jacque PhUomen DeSautel, left
Montreal in the year of 1858 and setUed in Detroit,
Michigan. A grandson, Fredwood DeSautel, a retired
teacher and historian for Redford Township in Detroit,
Mich., is writing a book on the DeSautels. The name
DeSautel is being spelled many different ways.
FRANCES AND EUPHEMIE DESAUTEL
Frances Xavier DeSautel was born in Quebec (in a
community of Hemmingford and LacoUe). From the two
neighboring communities of LacoUe and Hemmingford,
there came to the place on the map that would later
become Farmington Township, the DeSautels, Donnelys,
Kingsbury, Ledwiches and Archers. Back in Hemmingford, two Kingsburys were married to two Ledwiches.
Frances Xavier DeSautel married Euphemie M.
David. They had ten children: Euphemie, Frances,
Marie, Andrew, MathUda, DeSelda, Bartholomew,
Stanislaus. Mary and the twins, Joseph and David.
Frances Xavier came to Dakota Territory in 1878,
the same year that Joseph Scharpentier drove up to a
clump of oak trees in a covered wagon with his family
and founded the community of Oakwood. Also on May 1,
1878, two covered wagons drove into the settlement along
the Park River, and Martin Holt, Arne Holt, Ole Aas, Ole
Knutson, John Kopperud and Iver Dahl paused to check
their bearings and survey the scene. They Uked what
they saw; they selected sites for their log cabins and
staked out their claims. They remained. This was the
beginning of the Grafton community. A year later in 1879,
John Donnelly, also from the community of LacoUe,
shipped a team of horses to the end of the railroad at
Crookston and drove to the settlement along the Park
River.
Frances Xavier DeSautel paused in Oakwood settlement, then pushed westward along the north branch of
the Park River. John Donnelly also pushed westward and
staked a claim about a half mile north and west of the
DeSautel claim. Then John Donnelly returned to Quebec
for his wedding with Mary, the daughter of Xavier and
Euphemie DeSautel. In the meantime, Euphemie
DeSautel had been living in a state of anxiety and prayer
because her husband was in the Dakota wilderness
among the Indians and Norwegians. The family of
Frances Xavier joined him in his log cabin on his claim in
the timber along the north branch of the Park River. For
neighbors they had the Donnellys, Kingsburys, Ledwiches, Dikes, Dowds, Moores and Perrys.
Before the trading posts were established in Grafton
and Sweden, Frances Xavier walked to Acton and
boarded a riverboat to Grand Forks to buy supplies.
Euphemie DeSautel died in 1896; Frances Xavier
DeSautel died in 1898. They are at rest in St. John's
Cemetery in Grafton, far from their native Quebec.
DAVID DESAUTEL
David DeSautel, one of the early settiers of Farmington Township, arrived with his parents, Francis
Xavier and Euphemia (David) DeSautel, in 1878 and
settled on a claim six mUes northwest of Grafton, along
what is known as the north branch of the Park River.
As far as records of a plat book dated 1893 show, the
father, Francis, once lived on the old farmstead just
south of his son, David. After David's father died in 1898,
Joseph, another son of Francis, and David's twin
brother, moved to his father's farm. Records show that
David and Joseph filed claims in 1881. It also shows that
their father fUed claim on the land on which he settied in
1885. Francis Xavier was 66 years old when they came to
Dakota Territory. David Desautel was born May 8, 1858,
at Hemmingsford, Quebec, Canada, and was 19 when he
accompanied his father to Dakota Territory.
Taken from an early local press clipping is the
following quotation referring to Francis DeSautel:
"Grandpa DeSautel walked to Acton and then took the
boat to Grand Forks for all provisions used. The walk to
Acton being a distance of 18 mUes."
David DeSautel married SeUna RobUlard, who was
born Nov. 9, 1869, at JolUet, Canada. It was in the early
1880's when her family moved to Michigan and later
came to Dakota Territory to settle in the Turtle Mountain
district. SeUna and David were married June 19,1884, at
Tarsus, Bottineau County. Their honeymoon was spent in
a covered wagon drawn by a yoke of oxen in an overland
trip from the Turtle Mountains to the DeSautel
homestead in Farmington township.
Also, according to an early newspaper clipping, the
couple is beUeved to have made their home for about
eight years foUowing their marriage on a homestead in
Farmington Township on property that eventually
passed to Jan Ebert and later to his son, Ernest Ebert,
who still resides there. Other than his early youth and
these eight years, David spent his entire Ufe on the
family homestead.
Both Mr. and Mrs. DeSautel were active in affairs of
the community and church. David, along with J . L.