A Litigious Man: Select Court Cases of Stephen Desnoyer

By Drew M. Ross

Early St. Paulite Stephen Desnoyer slipped through the cracks of history. For years, we knew little about him. Even now, we have yet to find a photograph of him and know of only two descriptions of his appearance: short, rotund, jovial, fat (a total of four adjectives; two of which are redundant). So, who was he?

Searches in old newspapers highlighted occasional anecdotes, but, most often, his name appeared in legal announcements—small clues that led to an investigation through Ramsey County Second District Court cases archived at the Minnesota Historical Society.

The files of lawsuits in the Second District Court and the early Territorial Supreme Court provide an unforgettable archival experience. The cases exist as mostly trifolded papers wrapped in a light cardboard envelope and tied with ribbon or elastic bands. Stuffed vertically into boxes, they had been preserved in a coal storage area before being transferred to the historical society. It’s apparent when you are the first person to open a lawsuit simply because of the undisturbed coal dust coating the envelope—­and, soon, your own hands. The folded papers are permanently bent into themselves; it is sometimes impossible to straighten them for reading. And until the 1880s, the cases were handwritten. Initially, they read like code. Without a legal background, I had to learn the formality of each case, which renders long paragraphs of language. I eventually homed in on each complaint and decision in a case, and I came to relish the testimonies and cross-examinations.

It’s evident Desnoyer tried to secure justice through the courts—although such attempts did not always benefit him. His intent sometimes fits more with unsavory characteristics than a grievance or seeking retribution of harm.

In the case of Paschal St. Martin v. Stephen Desnoyer, the respondent and appellant were extremely angry with one another. The case stemmed from a December 1850 incident at Desnoyer’s Halfway House when St. Martin stopped in as a customer. Desnoyer accused St. Martin of wearing a belt that belonged to Desnoyer. An argument ensued. Desnoyer secured and kept the belt, which was valued at $5 but somehow appreciated to $10, and, later, even more. Another public altercation followed in a crowded mill house. This led to an accusation of slander against Desnoyer in a separate case. Over the course of related lawsuits, Desnoyer lost a jury trial and had to pay $212.50 to St. Martin. He also earned a reprover from the Minnesota Supreme Court. What seemed to be fueling Desnoyer’s anger was his belief that St. Martin had gone through his personal trunks where he kept important papers, although we never learn why Desnoyer believed this.¹

In a different case, a lawsuit brought by fourth wife, Sally (Sarah) Johnson, we gain insight into how Desnoyer, who was illiterate, managed his affairs. After he died, she was unsatisfied with her share of the estate and sued the other inheritors for more. In trying to determine Desnoyer’s intent, lawyers brought forth an employee who had helped Desnoyer with his papers. This man reported that he often read papers to Desnoyer, and then the documents were either destroyed or filed in trunks.²

At the heart of Mrs. Desnoyer’s case was the question: What had her husband intended to give her when he died? Searching for an answer required affidavits from people who knew him. In one case, Father Augustine Ravoux—a longtime confidant of Desnoyer’s—stated that he urged his friend to write a will. Though resistant, Desnoyer said he would take care of it. He never did. The pair likely met in Dubuque about 1838 when Ravoux arrived from France. Ravoux preceded Desnoyer to St. Paul in 1842, but, through records, we know he conducted Desnoyer’s marriage to third wife Letitia in 1845 in Dubuque.³ As an aside, this union led to more legal battles.

Letitia Desnoyer was an Irish woman. The Desnoyers’ marriage was tumultuous, with alcohol-­fueled verbal sparring and accusations of domestic abuse. She left him at least twice—in 1851 and 1855. Following the second separation, Desnoyer filed for divorce, though he withdrew the suit. Still, she lived with him until her death on May 22, 1867, as they are listed at the same address in the 1860 census.⁴

Father Ravoux also conducted Desnoyer’s fourth wedding to Johnson in 1873 after she had worked for him about seven years. Because Johnson Desnoyer’s cases involved her husband’s probate records, we are treated to an inventory of possessions in the house and on the farm—from the mundane: mirrors, lamps, and a spittoon—to the interesting: a wolf robe, a buffalo robe, and the two trunks.⁵

Mrs. Desnoyer did not fare well in the lawsuits she brought forward, even when she applied one of her husband’s standard practices: when she lost her case at the district level, she twice appealed the decisions to the Minnesota Supreme Court.⁶

As for Desnoyer, himself, appeals sometimes worked, and he hired good lawyers: Williams Hollinshead and Edmund Rice were partners in Rice, Hollinshead and Becker—a prominent firm in the 1850s. Hollinshead is remembered as “an accomplished appellate lawyer” by The Minnesota Legal History Project. Later, Desnoyer hired Reuben Barney Galusha, who worked as general attorney for James J. Hill’s St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Manitoba Railway.⁷ From these relationships, we know that Desnoyer was engaged with many community leaders, yet he doesn’t show up in significant detail in the local history profiles.

We also learn interesting details about a house through some of the Desnoyer cases. For example, during the period when the probate court was settling his estate, the court publicly requested that anyone who had outstanding financial grievances with Desnoyer present them to the court. A few people stepped forward, including a carpenter, J. H. Moroug, who was hired to build a new home for Desnoyer in 1873. As construction neared completion, Moroug bought a racehorse from Desnoyer for $1,400 (over $40,000 today). Not only was Desnoyer known for his tavern, he was known for his fast horses. However, Moroug soon discovered the particular animal he purchased was lame. When he demanded his money returned, Desnoyer gave him $100 and a milk cow—hardly much of a reimbursement. Moroug convinced a jury at the probate court of his injury and was compensated $791.83.⁸

Desnoyer might have lost this case, but historians win because Moroug’s claim included descriptions of the home construction, providing an exceptional level of detail, even down to the type of wood used. As difficult as it is to find a person in the past, Desnoyer’s trail in court records reveals quite a bit about his life and who he was.

Desnoyer was also involved in the last attempt to bring regular steamboat service up the Mississippi River gorge to St. Anthony Falls. He invested in the St. Anthony Falls Steamboat Company that contracted the building of the steamboat Falls City. Things went badly from the start, and the company soon reneged on its final payment for boat construction. That debt was bought by another party, which sued the company. Desnoyer skirted his responsibility by claiming never to have owned an interest in the business. In this case—most conveniently, the records detailing that information appear to have been lost.⁹

A final case example provides details about Desnoyer’s personal life. In 1884, a man from York, Nebraska, appeared in St. Paul claiming to be Desnoyer’s son and, thereby, the sole inheritor of his estate. The probate court had settled everything in the years since his death in 1877 and dispersed the estate to inheritors; they had, in turn, sold everything to a real estate investment firm that had grandiose plans to establish the area as the center of one united city. Today, the man’s claim would not be taken seriously, as the claim was asserted years too late. But back then, lawyers at the St. Paul firm of Lightner & Young initiated an intensive biographical investigation: did Desnoyer have a surviving son? The firm interviewed relatives locally and hired attorneys in St. Jean, Quebec, and Troy, New York, to obtain affidavits from friends, colleagues, church officials, and relatives. The latter location was where Desnoyer and his first wife had their child, Jacques George Isaie. When she died, the child was sent to Canada to be raised by an uncle. There, the story either ends or begins. Some people said that the infant died a short time later. That would make this wild claim at inheritance a ruse. But the records were murky on baptism and burials. Furthermore, some evidence suggested the child grew up and that Desnoyer actually sent for his boy, who then lived in St. Paul a short while before moving on to Nebraska. The man eventually lost his case in federal court. But the lawyers did a masterful job of tracking down details about Desnoyer’s life—where he traveled and how, relationships with family, jobs held, and more.¹⁰

Thankfully, someone along the way recognized the value of these records and contributed them to the archives at Minnesota Historical Society for curious historians to explore today and into the future. And, thus, the historical record of Stephen Desnoyer is now a little more complete.

NOTES

1. Paschal St. Martin v. Stephen Desnoyer, 304.A.5.8F, cases 12T and 53T, Minnesota Supreme Court case files, general index, and briefs of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals, Minnesota Historical Society (hereafter MNHS). The case started with a justice of the peace in St. Anthony. It was appealed to the First Territorial District Court as cases 83 and 88 (box 1, 106.K.15.7B). Sometimes, when a district court case is appealed and heard at the Supreme Court, that case is then housed in Supreme Court files. See also: Harvey Officer, Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of the Territory of Minnesota, I (Chicago: E. B. Meyers and Chandler, 1858). A digital copy can be found at http://minnesota
   legalhistoryproject.org.
2. Sally Desnoyer v. Mary Jordan, et al., 304.A.8.10F, case 2894, Minnesota Supreme Court case files, general index, and briefs of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals, MNHS.
3. Lightner & Young Law Firm papers (folder one), BM3.1.L7Y7, MNHS.
4. “Notice,” The Minnesota Pioneer, May 8, 1851, 3; Desnoyer v. Desnoyer, 106.K.16.6F, case 959T Second District Court, territorial case files, MNHS; Mary Hawker Bakeman and Stina B. Green, Calvary Cemetery, St. Paul, Minnesota, Volume 1, 1854-1878 (­Roseville, MN: Park Genealogical Books, 1995).
5. Sally Desnoyer v. Mary Jordan, et al.
6. Sally Desnoyer v. Mary Jordan, et al., 304.A.8.10F, case 2894, Sally Desnoyer v. W. G. Hendrickson, box 189/130.B.17.8F, case 14927, Minnesota Supreme Court case files, general index, and briefs of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals, MNHS.
7. “William M. Hollinshead,” Minnesota Legal History Project, accessed April 9, 2024, http://
   minnesotalegalhistoryproject.org/assets/Hollinshead
   William=hhh.pdf, 2; “R. B. Galusha Dead,” Saint Paul Globe, August 11, 1902, 2.
8. J. H. Moroug v. Estate of Desnoyer, 130.B.15.9B, case 11482, Second District Court, territorial case files, MNHS.
9. McDonald, Geisse & Co. v. Desnoyer, et al, 304.A.6.1B, case 253, Minnesota Supreme Court case files, general index, and briefs of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals, MNHS.
10. Lightner & Young Law Firm papers.