The report referred to did not have the element of fact, for it is certain that Fontenelle was alive as late as 1852, when my father met him at Fort Mitchell.

Lucien Fontenelle had a remarkable history. He was of direct royal lineage, and his parents, Francois and Moreonise Fontenelle. came from Marseilles. France, and Lucien and his sister were born in the early part of the century at New Orleans. His parents perished in a storm, and the children were made orphans about 1820. They lived with relatives and at the age of fifteen, Lucien ran away.

Some six or seven years after he was supposed to have committed suicide, or in 1842, lie returned to his old home. His sister had married well, (or wealthy), and she refused to own the weather-beaten mountaineer, al-

HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA

though he was recognized by an old nurse, who also identified him by a birthmark.

He returned to the wilderness life and was married by Father Peter DeSmet to a woman of the Omaha tribe. Logan Fontenelle and others of the name in Nebraska history are among the descendants of the famous trapper.

Thus it transpired that Lucien Fontenelle, having for so many years braved the dangers of the wilderness, being a veteran of the mountains, now that he had attained the age of about forty-five years, should be relieved of some of the activities and -stress of a hunter, the new fort at Scotts Bluff offered the retreat.

For a time it was called Fort Fontenelle, but the partizan's native modesty, and his friendship for David D. Mitchell, caused him to change its name.