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3 <br />Pierre Navarre <br />Pierre Freischutz (or Freschette) Navarre was <br />the first person of European descent to settle <br />in St. Joseph County. He was an educated man <br />of French ancestry, born in 1787 in Michigan <br />Territory near Detroit. Navarre came to this <br />area as an agent for John Jacob Astor’s American <br />Fur Company. In 1820, he built a cabin and <br />established a trading post on the north bank of <br />the St. Joseph River, with the intent to trade for <br />furs with the area’s native population. <br />Navarre married a woman named Keshewaquay, <br />the daughter of a well-respected local leader <br />and warrior named Wabaunsee. Keshewaquay <br />adopted the name Angelique, and she and Pierre <br />lived with their large family in this cabin on the <br />north side of the St. Joseph River, gaining title <br />in 1831 to the 62.6 acres surrounding the site. <br />When the local Potawatomi, including many <br />of Navarre’s family, were forcibly removed to <br />Kansas in 1835, Pierre Navarre joined them. <br />After Angelique passed away, he returned to the <br />area, working as a farmer and trader and selling <br />goods along the Kankakee River. Pierre Navarre <br />passed away in 1864 and is buried in Cedar Grove <br />Cemetery at the University of Notre Dame. <br />Pierre Navarre <br />Wabaunsee, by Charles Bird King, 1835 <br />Pierre Navarre’s headstone