Collection: 1952 - Frank Bennett Fiske
Folder: 0000
Item: 01932
Title: Lucille Zoe Van Solen
Date: Undated
Creator: Fiske, Frank Bennett,--1883-1952
Inscription/Marks: [in pencil on negative emulsion] Lucille Van Solen [scratched into emulsion] 237 237 [Obituary Van Solen, Lucille dies Bismarck Tribune_ Sat_ Aug_ 24, 1929_p01, 09] Lucille Van Solen Obituary. Lucille Van Solen, Cannon Ball, Dies in Mandan Hospital. Paralysis Fatal to Descendant of First Americans and French Fur Trader. Was Born at Fort Yates. Grandmother Was Most Famous Woman in Sioux History, Heroine of Whites. Death has claimed a native of the Missouri Slope and a descendant of North Dakota’s first Americans. Miss Lucille Van Solen, 47, school teacher on the Standing Rock reservation, ranch operator and peacemaker of the Indians and white people, died Friday morning in a Mandan hospital after an illness of three months. Miss Van Solen was stricken with paralysis on May 21 at her home on the old Parkin ranch at Cannon Ball. She had failed steadily since. Funeral services will be held from the Catholic church at Cannon Ball at 10 a.m. Sunday and burial will be made in the demetery there. Here 100 Years Ago Miss Van Solen’s forebears were among the first white people to explore and trade in the area that is now North Dakota. They lived along the Missouri river trading with the Indians more than 100 years ago. The daughter of Charles L. Van Solen and Marie Louise Picotte, Miss Lucille Van Solen was born at Fort Yates, January 28, 1882. She was one of the three grandchildren of Honore Picotte, French fur trader, and the famous Sioux woman, Wambdiautapiwin, “Eagle Woman Whom All Loo At.” Cousins of Miss Van Solen who are left: Richard Harmon, Sioux County auditor, Fort Yates, and Leo C. Harmon, Hearst Corporation, New York City. Another cousin, Miss Edith Van Solen of St. Paul, is to attend the funeral Sunday. Reared on Ranch. Miss Van Solen was reared on the Cannon Ball or old Parkin ranch on the Cannon Ball River. She attended the St. Benedict Academy at Little Falls, Minnesota and later taught in the Indian boarding school at Fort Yates. She had of late made her home on the ranch. Each year, also, she took charge of the Indian exhibits at the Missouri Slope Fair. Information taken from historical notes collected by Major A. B. Welch shows that Honore Picotte was one of the early explorers and Indian traders ,coming to the upper Missouri River about 1825. He married the Siuox woman, “Eagle Woman Whom All Look At.” This woman was the most famous Sioux woman of tribal history. She accompanied Father DeSmet to the hostile camp in the Bad Lands, after all told her that the band would kill anyone they met; she brought the band, led by Sitting Bull, into Fort Rice to the ceremonies of the Treaty of 1863. She also discovered the savage band of Inkpaduta and his women captives near Lake Chetak, and, although fired upon, she escaped and took the news to the camp of the Fool Soldiers Society (Sioux) who took the women survivors of that raid back to the whites. She influenced the Teton Sioux of seven tribes to keep out of the Minnesota Maasacre in the 60’s. Her son was seargeant-at-arms of the first territorial convention at Yankton. First Teacher of Sioux. Her daughter, Mrs. Charles L. Van Solen (Lucille Van Solen’s mother) was the first school teacher among the Sioux. The schoolhouse is on the banks of the river about 12 miles south of Cannon Ball. The Van Solens always maintained a ranch and traders’ store at the mouth of the historic Cannon Ball, and at that place at different times had entertained Generals Crook, Miles, Liggitt, Godfrey, Custer and others, as it was a half way point between Fort Abraham Lincoln and forts at the mouth of the Grand River and Yates. Miss Solen was known among the Indians by the name of her famous grandmother. She had hosts of friends among both races. Honore Picotte, Miss Van Solen’s colorful ancestor, befriended Maximilian, Prince of Weld, during his winter encampment among the Sioux in 1833-1834. Picotte, who maintained a fur trading post at the Cannon Ball, sent the prince some meat and a five gallon keg of wine for Christmas cheer. A sister of Mrs. Charles Van Solen married Captain William H. Harmon, who is buried at Miles City. He was the father of the present Sioux County auditor, Richard Harmon and of Leo C. Harmon.
Summary: Vignetted head and shoulders, full face studio portrait of Lucille Van Solen. She is wearing a high-necked lace collar whte dress with jeweled broach and pin. A chain around her neck may hold a pair of glasses.
Red ID: PH_I_14266 Image ID: 145850 Image Notes: 1952-01932
