First Bride's Grave

When I was a youngster I used to love to picnic at South Ravine Park in Sioux City. While the adults conversed around the picnic tables and lawn chairs, the young people would play games and explore the bluffs behind the picnic area. The hills were steep, the trails were just ruts in the dirt, but the view from the top of the bluffs was spectacular with its view of the Missouri River valley. While following the trails we would nearly always pass the grave of Sioux City’s “first bride.”

This lone grave sitting high on the bluff is the resting place of Rosalie Menard Leonais who is believed to be the bride of a non-Native American in the Sioux City area. Rosalie was the daughter of a French Canadian fur trader and Native American mother. Rosalie married Joseph Leonais, a French Canadian fur trapper, in 1853. They had four children together before her death in 1865 at the age of 27.(1)

The 1856 Iowa census shows Joseph, Rosanna (sp, should be Rosalie), a son Joseph, and a daughter Josephine living near Sergeant Bluff in Woodbury County.(2) They would have two more children, Rosalie and William,  before her death.(1)

A few years ago I hiked up the old dirt trails with my grandsons. The grave site is still a bit difficult to access, but the view was just as beautiful as it was in my youth. Every time I visit the site I wonder how this remote spot was chosen as her final resting place. Was it a favorite place the couple shared? Was it her final wish? Did Joseph visit the site often? For me these unanswered questions add to the charm of the place.

As today’s generation of children play on the old trails I hope they still take the time to read the markers and wonder at what would motivate someone to bury their bride high on a bluff overlooking the river.

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1  “First Brides Grave”www.siouxcityhistory.org/historic-sites/101/first-brides-grave/  . Referenced September 25, 2013.

2 “Iowa, State Census Collection, 1836-1925 Record for Joseph Lawis”, Ancestry.com, Iowa census 1856, Woodbry county, Sergeant Bluff, image 4 of 10, http://search.ancestry.com/iexec?htx=View&r=an&dbid=1084&iid=IA_68-0543&fn=Joseph&ln=Lawis&st=r&ssrc=&pid=5070305