Our April Fools story was not all fake, or maybe it all was…
Our April Fools Day story created a few comments, but not as many as usual. A couple of folks thought it was good. A couple thought it was funny. Several others did not say for sure but I suspected they thought it was dumb.
What? You didn’t see an April Fools story in the Register last week? Well, the truth is that the story on page 3 about the possible name change for Faribault County was false.
No one in Rice County or Faribault County has been discussing anything about renaming Rice County to Faribault County and Faribault County to…well, something other than Faribault. At least, so far as we are aware of.
That part was fake news. And, at the end of the story, it clearly identified itself as fake.
The rest of the story, all the parts about how Faribault the City and Faribault the County got their names, was true.
At least, as true as we knew at the time the story was written. As it turns out, maybe it was wrong. Or, at the very least, there is more to the story –
another whole theory as to how our beloved Faribault County got its name.
I received an anonymous letter this week pointing out several things about the naming of Faribault County.
I had trouble trying to find out who named it Faribault County and why. The anonymous letter writer, who signed the letter “A Concerned Resident,” pointed out that even back in 1872, no one seemed to know who named the county Faribault and who it was named after.
Nor did they know, for sure, that it had been named for Jean Baptiste Faribault, or his son, Alexander.
It seems J.A. Kiester, an early Faribault County historian, wrote to Gen. Henry H. Sibley and asked him what he knew about who named this county and who was it named for. And “A Concerned Resident” included a copy of that letter.
Gen. Sibley wrote back on May 13, 1872, and said, in part, “while I have no positive information on that point (Faribault County was named for who) my strong impression is, that your county was named for Jean Baptiste Faribault, he having been one of our oldest pioneers, and reference to the fact being the basis upon which some of our counties were designated. You are right in the statement that the city of Faribault was named for his son, Alexander. I think you will not go wrong in assuming that Faribault County was named for the senior of that name.”
J. A. Kiester also tried to learn more by writing to J. F. Williams, the secretary of the Minnesota Historical Society, also asking him if he knew who named the county and who was it named for.
On Dec. 26, 1872, Williams responded, and “A Concerned Resident” enclosed a copy of that letter to me, as well.
It reads in part, “I am still unable to ascertain anything definite, or satisfactory, relative to the naming of Faribault County. I have talked with several who I thought ought to know, but strange to say, they cannot tell any more than we can. I have written to others with even less success.
“What I can learn, however, leads me to conclude that Faribault County was named for Jean Baptiste Faribault. It would seem natural, reasoning on general principles, that it should be named for him. He was a man of fine education, good abilities, considerable means and great influence, both among whites and Indians, at an early day.
“If as was done frequently, counties were named after pioneers and early explorers, he would be the one selected. I am perfectly satisfied as much as if I knew it, that Faribault County was named for Jean Baptiste Faribault.”
That seems to settle it, doesn’t it? While no one even back in 1872 knew for sure, the consensus was that it was Jean Baptiste.
Or was it?
“A Concerned Resident” continued their anonymous letter by saying that I should check out a book called “Birding a Cornfield County” which was written by Faribault County resident Wayne Feder and published in 2019.
The letter writer specified reading two paragraphs on pages three and four and suggested that the naming of the county, long in doubt, may have been resolved.
And not in a way we all have been led to believe.
Here are the two paragraphs from the book in total:
“A squat rectangle 30 miles wide and 24 miles tall, Faribault County is exactly halfway between Wisconsin and South Dakota and lies on top of the Iowa state line. There is some contention as to who this new county is named after. Some claim it was for the prominent fur trader and state legislator, Jean Baptiste Faribault. Others have suggested the county’s namesake may have been Jean Baptiste’s eldest son, Alexander. In light of this controversy, I would like to put forth the name of a third Faribault.
Joseph Nicollet, a French explorer and cartographer working for the United States government, passed through what is now Faribault County in the summer of 1838. On Oct. 6 and 7, Nicollet’s entourage, which included as its guide and interpreter a certain David Faribault, another of Jean Baptiste’s sons, camped at the junction of the Blue Earth River and its East Fork. This is the site where the town of Blue Earth, the county seat of Faribault County, is now located. Since David was a member of the first group of Europeans to set foot in our county, and since he was the only Faribault to ever do so, I claim him as my champion.”
I think Wayne Feder made a very valid case for having it official that Faribault County should be designated as having been named after David Faribault, son of Jean Baptiste Faribault.
It makes so much sense, as he was the only one of the Faribault family to ever set foot in the county. Plus, since no one seems to really know whom it was named after, it might as well be the Faribault who was once here.
I want to thank “A Concerned Resident” for sending me the letter and even dropping off a copy of his book so I could see it for myself.
Oh, you mean you had not yet guessed that “A Concerned Resident” was actually Wayne Feder himself?
Oh, oh. Spoiler alert!
Sorry about that, Wayne. You are anonymous no more.