Nicholas Boilvin
| Nicholas Boilvin | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | 1761 Quebec, Canada |
| Died | 1827 Mississippi River near St. Louis, Missouri |
| Cause of death | Drowning |
| Nationality | French-American |
| Other names | Nicholas Boivin |
| Known for | Early Wisconsin frontiersman, pioneer and trader; first appointed U.S. Indian Agent to the Winnebago. |
| Title | U.S. Indian Agent to the Winnebago |
| Term | 1811-1827 |
| Successor | Joseph M. Street |
| Partner(s) | Miss St. Cyr of St. Louis |
| Children | 5 children |
Nicholas Boilvin (1761–1827) was a 19th-century American frontiersman, fur trader and U.S. Indian Agent. He was the first appointed agent to the Winnebagos, as well as the Sauk and Fox, and one of the earliest pioneers to settle in present-day Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. His sons Nicholas Boilvin, Jr. and William C. Boilvin both became successful businessmen in Wisconsin during the mid- to late 19th century.
His wife was formerly a Miss St. Cyr of St. Louis. (WHC v.10, p. 222)
His daughter Catherine Boilvin Myott—also Métis, by her father's marriage to a Ho-Chunk woman, became prominent as a cultural mediator with early settlers in the next wave in the American era in Wisconsin, such as Henry and Susan Hempstead Gratiot of the founding family of St. Louis.
Boilvin was born to a soldier residing in Quebec during the Seven Years' War. His father had gained "a good record by great kindness to a wounded American surgeon" who was held as a prisoner-of-war after his capture in the failed invasion of Canada in 1775. Boilvin traveled to the Northwest Territory after the signing of the Second Treaty of Paris in 1783 and, after settling in the Illinois Territory, he began trading with the local tribes in the Prairie du Chien area around February 1810. He was also a justice of the peace, being appointed in St. Clair County on May 3, 1809 and in Madison County on June 12, 1814.
In a chance meeting while in St. Louis, he met with the American surgeon whom his father had befriended in Quebec. The surgeon was able to arrange for Boilvin to be appointed the principal Indian agent for the Prairie du Chien region on March 14, 1811. Observing the lead mining activity in the area by the Iowas, the Sauk and Fox as well as Canadians during this time, he communicated the future importance of the lead mining region to Secretary of War William Eustis. He also reported the growing unrest and militantism among the Winnebago and other local tribes prior to Tecumseh's War and was told to him that the nations would:
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