In this post I am going to kick off a series sharing research I have done regarding the incredible history of Mahala Felton – the first white woman settler in what became Hastings, Minnesota, USA.

I became interested in researching the historical account of Mahala Felton as part of a winter endeavor to create posts for one of the local historic cemetery sites. It is the historic cemetery site I have shared so much about in my garden blog posts. It is the first cemetery that was established in our area and it is the final resting place of many of our area’s old settlers. Mahala Felton and her husband William are buried there, along with family who followed. Their story is amazing, and I just couldn’t stop researching, for months.

In these posts I will focus primarily on Mahala, but there is no way to not share all of the historical work William did, as well.

Now my disclaimer; I am only as good as my sources, and many of those sources are well over 100 years old. What I am hoping to do is get all of my findings out in one place, this blog, and I am also hoping others may add, adjust, correct with what they have found. I married a historian oh so many years ago, but I have never had so much interest in historical research as I have found in Mahala’s story. Interesting, and very engaging, but I am also aware that some of what I have found may have need of updates. I hope you will enjoy and, if so inclined, engage. Let’s go.

A person’s name can be very interesting. I had never heard the name Mahala before, and I was curious as to the meaning. Some words I found were tenderness, and even weak. After months of research, from what I can tell, Mahala Felton was kind and hospitable, but from every account I have read, we can cross off weak as a descriptor.

At 47 years young, after raising six children, Mahala Felton and her husband William headed out on a new adventure. genealogy trails.com citing History of Dakota County and the City of Hastings, by Edward D. Neill, North Star Publishing Co. Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1882, recounts, “In 1852 the Felton’s took a boat from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, for Minnesota. The name of their craft was the Ben Campbell, and this was its first trip.” They were leaving Pennsylvania, and heading west.

Now, my historian husband will cringe at this, but we are going to go “human interest”. Can you imagine this? They had grown children. They could have stayed rooted, started to enjoy grandbabies … But they headed out, west. On a craft on its first trip. To Minnesota.

So far we already know William and Mahala are, for sure, pioneers.
Now we move on to settlers, original old settlers.

Enter Alexis Bailly. The account explains Alexis Bailly, “watchful of the signs of the times”, that the territory was soon to be made available for claims as a result of treaties, in this case with the Sioux, had established (licensed) a trading post in Olive Grove (that later became Hastings, MN). This was the only way to legally occupy the area. Alexis established a trading post in Olive Grove, but his son Henry, by and large, ran it for his father Alexis. (More details on that below.). Alexis did spend a lot of time in the area and was quite familiar with it, but he was primarily based out of Wabasha, and in charge of the trading post there for the American Fur Company. Wabasha was where the Feltons disembarked and that is where they drew the attention and approval of Alexis Bailly. The account states, “Alexis Bailly, as principal proprietor and general head, had seen, from his home at Wabasha, some slow but sure development of his plans. His son Henry had been faithful, constant and denying to a degree that challenges our admiration. He was growing weary of the solitude, the inaction and the humdrum of life alone, when William Felton, Mahala D. his wife and their son Elias left Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in June of 1852 for the west.”

William, Mahala, and their son stayed with Alexis Bailly upon disembarking. What happened next was pivotal to where the Feltons settled. The account explains that, Alexis Bailly “pleased with the appearance of his guests, and still hopeful of a future for Olive Grove”, offered the Feltons a deal to help his son Henry run the trading post (which became the hotel and eventually the meeting place for churches as well as the general meeting place for legal matters and city planning, but that is another post). After a few days journey of William and Elias being given a tour to and of the area of Olive Grove, it was decided. They would have not only a place to live, at the “Buckhorn”, but all the supplies they needed for themselves and for the trading post, and to run the hotel.

The Dakota County Historical  Society explains that H. G. Bailly’s trading post was a small log cabin at the corner of what is now Vermillion and 2nd St.  It “became the city’s first hotel and tavern, the Buckhorn”. https://www.dakotahistory.org/images/HistoryMaps/Hastings-History-Map.pdf

And Mahala Felton became the first white woman settler in what was to become Hastings, Minnesota, USA

In the next few weeks we will begin a deep dive of what I have found about the early years, but here is a sneak peak.

An article in the Star Tribune states, “Considered the first white woman settler in the Mississippi River town of Hastings, Felton ran a boardinghouse in the pre-statehood 1850s – feeding and housing as many as 43 people a night in a cramped log cabin.”https://www.startribune.com/1850s-hastings-pioneer-handed-down-the-hospitality-gene/417095093

Mahala’s husband, William, operated a rope ferry, was an elected justice of the peace in the area, and was the long time coroner. He was as busy as she was.

Mahala was often alone in the cabin while her husband was out, and there are accounts Sioux would stop in to visit while her husband was away. We will dive deep on those accounts, and also other notable visits when her husband was there.

Despite Mahala’s well documented contributions, it seems she was not considered as among the “Old” Settlers. In February of 1868, Mahala wrote a very polite but pointed protest letter at having been overlooked as an “Old Settler” of the area.  In addition to describing her and her husbands’s date of arrival, working conditions, a shortage of food for hotel guests, and her need to kill a hog after “old man Bailly” missed in his attempt and the wounded pig went running off, she also wrote, “Some may think it queer that I had to do all the work alone, but the reason was I left my girls all behind.”

And that is where we will end this week. There is so much more. And yes, her family did follow, and some are still in original homestead land. Oh, those maps were fun! But we will continue next week. Til then, happy trails, and of course, happy gardening! OK, yes, William was one of the original farmers on the dedicated farm land. But that really is all for now 😊