VAN SOLEN FAMILY

GEORGE L. VAN SOLEN

There are some records showing G. C. L. as his initials with some records indicating the C. is for Charles. Not to be confused with his brother Charles. George was born 12 May 1835 in Massachusetts the son of Jared and Maria Van Solen. In 1850 he and the family were in Worcester, Massachusetts and by 1860 in St. Paul, Minnesota before he settled at the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. His siblings included; Elizabeth (1840), Sarah (1841), Eugene (1846), Anne (1848), Charles (1849), and Alice (1852).
He enlisted in Company C, 1st Minnesota Voluntary Infantry Regiment as a Private on 9 September 1861 and was discharged with disability on 18 April 1862. He enlisted again as a Private in Company G, 6th Minnesota Voluntary Infantry Regiment on 13 August 1862, promoted to Full Private on 1 October 1864 and discharged on 29 May 1865. He started receiving his pension in North Dakota on 25 August 1890.
George for a period of time resided in Sioux County with his wife and daughter and was a prominent sawmill engineer at Fort Yates. Prior to Fort Yates, in 1875 and 1876, he is a Machinist in St. Paul Minnesota.
George married Maria Louisa Picotte (see below) in April 1879 at Standing Rock Indian Reservation, at that time a part of Morton County. In 1880 George is married but living alone in Boreman (now South Dakota), Dakota. A daughter and lifelong resident of Sioux County is Lucille Zoe (see below).
Mary Ann Barnes Williams, author of Origins of North Dakota Place Names credits the townsite of Solen as being named after Mr. and Mrs. Van Solen. The internet has extensive information on both the older and younger generations of the Van Solen and Picotte families. This website will document just the primary information as it relates to the county as the internet information is large and sometimes confusing and contradictory.
George died 28 December 1896 and is buried in Bismarck,

MARIA LOUISA PICOTTE VAN SOLEN

As with her husband George, the internet has extensive information on the older and younger generations of the Van Solen and Picotte families. This website will document just the primary information as it relates to the county as the internet information is large and sometimes confusing and contradictory.
Maria was born 21 December 1839 in the part of Louisiana Territory which later would become Dakota Territory. Her parents were Honore Picotte and Eagle Woman. There are two articles and more information located on this website at Maria's half-sister, Alma Jane Galpin's, biography data. Included are two articles, with links, written by John S. Gray which have extensive information on Eagle Woman and her two husbands; Maria's father, step-father, family, and especially the early life of Maria along with some pictures. It is located here.
Maria first married widower Charles DeGrey. They had three known children; Theresa, Antonie, and Charles "Eddy" Edward (10 May 1861-20 April 1885). The town of DeGrey in Hughes County, South Dakota is named after him. Charles died in 1877.
In April 1879 Maria married George L. Van Solen at the Standing Rock Indian Reservation and is assumed she is there teaching while in 1880 George is in Boreman, Dakota Territory.
Maria taught on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation for many years and was the teacher of the first probable school there. There is a picture of her and students, circa 1875, located here.
Maria died in March 1920 and is buried at Saint Peters Catholic Church Cemetery.
Maria's obituary from the Towner County, North Dakota, Hansboro News, March 19, 1920: "Bismarck - Mrs. Marie Louis Van Solen, a half-breed woman, born in 1831 in what later became Dakotah [sic] Territory, died here recently. Mrs. Van Solen occupies a prominent part in the history of the pioneer days of the northwest. In her early womanhood, she married C. G. L. Van Solen, a frontiersman of the early days and lived with him on the famous Parkin Ranch. At the Parkin Ranch, Mrs. Van Solen received Miles, Custer, Sherman, Sheridan, Grant and other great warriors of the early sixties and seventies". Note that the date of birth 1831 is incorrect/a typo. Should be 1839. Her mother, Eagle Woman Who All Look At/Mrs. Galpin was born in 1820."
There is a more extensive obituary from the 11 March 1920 Jamestown Weekly Alert located here and a similar one in the Bismarck Tribune of 9 March 1920, but not a good copy, located here, and an interesting follow-on article in the 10 October 1920 Bismarck Tribune located here.
Maria was reinterred at Saint Peter's Catholic Cemetery during the 1963 flooding scare of the Oahe Dam Reservoir. She was originally buried at her ranch home property.

LUCILLE ZOE VAN SOLEN

Lucille was born 28 January 1882 at Fort Yates, Sioux County to George and Maria Picotte Van Solen. She lived in Sioux County all her life as a teacher, rancher, and peacemaker.
Lucille's ranch was located in Section 28, Township 134, Range 79 which is just directly west of Cannon Ball.
Lucille became very sick in May 1929 and died in a Mandan, Morton County hospital on 23 August 1929. She is buried at Saint Peter's Catholic Cemetery. Lucille was reinterred at Saint Peter's Catholic Cemetery during the 1963 flooding scare of the Oahe Dam Reservoir. Her original burial location is unknown.
An obituary from the Bismarck Tribune on 24 August 1929 is is located here. The obituary indicates her father is Charles L. Van Solen instead of George L. Van Solen.

Surnames mentioned in the above newspaper links: DeSmet, Eagle Woman Who All Look At, Galpin, Harmon, Inkpaduta, Parkin, Parkins, Picotte, Van Solen, Wambdiautapiwin.