French-Canadians to Dayton MN – New book

Three years in preparation, a new book is now available on Amazon, Dayton Minnesota Reflections of French-Canadian Roots.  This is a major family history production, 483 pages in English, about over 100 Dayton area families identified with French-Canada antecedents beginning in the early 1850s.  More information about the book is accessible at the above link.  The book is the first listing on the page.

[August 10, 2025]: I purchased and received my copy of the book on August 2.  It is a keepsake, particularly for any French-Canadian family with any roots in Dayton or greater twin cities area.

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I have a personal investment in this story, as some of the 102 French-speaking families identified in the volume are in my line.

My first French-Canadian ancestors, Simon Blondeau and Adelaide LaCroix and four of their children arrived at the Mississippi River location in the early 1850s.  They were my great-great grandparents in the Collette family line.  Their daughter Clotilde, born in Canada in about 1849,  was my great grandmother.  She married great-grandfather Octave Collette at St. Anthony in 1869.  (According to the 1857 Minnesota census, Clotilde was one of 7 Blondeau children born in Canada. She would have been about 6 years old when they arrived at Dayton.  One other sister, Delima, was about two years younger.  What stories they could tell.  As best I know they started their migration to the U.S. from far eastern Ontario.)

The first Collette to Minnesota, Samuel, came to the Centreville (Anoka County) area in 1857.

Octave’s brother Philippe, married Julie Boutin at Dayton about 1877.  Julie died shortly after giving birth to her fifth child and is buried in Oakwood.  Philippe’s second wife, Amelia Samson, grew up in Osseo, ‘next door’ to Dayton.  Alfred married Celina Deschenes at Dayton, and initially moved to Oakwood.

Virtually all of the Collette family migrated to what became Minnesota beginning in 1857, most settling in St. Anthony (later Minneapolis).  In 1875 they all moved to Dayton, and beginning in 1878, nearly all moved to Oakwood ND (near Grafton).  From that migration, one Collette, Alfred and his wife and family, moved back to Dayton area; several of the families moved to other places including to southern Manitoba in the early 1900s.

Every family story is unique of course, as one will find among the over 100 families identified in this brand new book which is, to my knowledge, one of the first such document relating specifically to a French-Canadian settlement in Minnesota.

While I have not yet seen the final copy of the book, I would enthusiastically recommend it as a family keepsake, and maybe a starting point for your own history investigation.  At bare minimum, check it out.

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Two Collette family histories are on line at fahfminn.org.  Click on Library, then on Books, and scroll down to Roy-Collette, the most recent book (2025), and Bernard-Collette, which was my contribution in 2010.

In April, 2012, I did a blog about the Collette’s at St. Anthony (later to be Minneapolis).  The post is here.  Most of the migrating Quebec family was in St. Anthony from about 1865-75, and from there moved to Dayton, thence to ND, thence some to Manitoba and elsewhere.

I still maintain a general website related to the French-Canadians of my history.  It is here.  Included there is a pdf of the 1981 Oakwood Sacred Heart Centennial book published in 1981.

For those unfamiliar with Dayton MN, it is a town on the Mississippi River about 25 miles northwest of downtown Minneapolis.  Here’s a map reference.  The township is outlined in red, the town itself is at the Mississippi River in the northwest corner of the town.

I would strongly encourage considering to becoming a member of FAHF’s 100 Associates – a group seeking $1,000 membership to help assure that future of keeping memories alive of the French in Minnesota and the midwest area.  I am one of the founding members of this group, which was founded in 2013.  100 Associates is a specific initiative to keep memories alive into the future.

Cover of the new book