Hypolite Dupuis

Hypolite Dupuis (October 16, 1804July 1879) was known as a "veritable old settler" in the Minnesota River Valley when it was largely inhabited by Native Americans. He was a French Canadian fur trader who eventually settled in Mendota, Minnesota, opened the first general store there, and served as the first treasurer of Dakota County.

Early life, career and family During the early part of his life, Dupuis worked as fur trader with the American Fur Company. He was born in La Prairie de la Madeleine, near present-day Montreal in lower Canada.

By 1831, he had moved to what was then Michigan Territory, but would later become Wisconsin Territory and Minnesota Territory, to work at Joseph Renville’s Lac qui Parle trading post. and was later recorded as a Protestant marriage by Monsignor Augustin Ravoux.

They had eight children,

Business relationship with Henry Sibley Hypolite Dupuis moved to Mendota, Minnesota around 1840 and lived with his family in a small cabin on the property of Henry Hastings Sibley.

Dupuis worked as a bookkeeper and then a business partner of Sibley, who later became the first governor of the state of Minnesota.

In 1848, Dupuis naturalized as an American citizen around the time that Henry Sibley was elected as the at-large Congressional district representative for the Wisconsin Territory.

The fur trade had largely died out by the 1850s, and Sibley and Dupuis liquidated their fur trade interests in 1853.

In 1854, Dupuis built a two-story home made of Wisconsin brick, and operated the first general store and grocery in Mendota from the main floor.

Hypolite's brother Michael Dupuis moved to Mendota in 1854, and served as school clerk for ten years and as deputy sheriff for three years.

After the Dakota War In 1871, Dupuis sold his brick home to Timothy Fee, and moved to the Devil’s Lake Reservation in North Dakota to work as storekeeper for the Fort Totten Indian Agency. He also briefly re-entered the fur trade. The Indian Agent for the reservation was William Henry Forbes, a former employee of Henry Sibley.

By 1879, Dupuis had moved back to Minnesota, where he died at the age of 74.