Nicholas Boilvin

Who was Nicholas Boilvin?

Nicholas Boilvin 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.

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.