This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: farwellwalter Surnames: Bernard, Faw-Faw Classification: lookup Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.iowa.counties.fremont/1456.1.1/mb.ashx Message Board Post: 1882 History of Atchison County, Missouri; page 871.--THE PIONEER AND HIS INDIAN PROGENY.-- "Buchanan Township, though not settled to the same extent, at as early a period, as some of the other portions of the county, yet claims a pioneer within its limits, as early as 1839. This settler was a Frenchman, by the name of Joseph Bernard, but almost universally known through this section of the country by the nick-name "Faw-faw". "He built in 1839 the first house within the present limits of Buchnanan Township. This was a log cabin on the Nishnabotna River, at a point known as The Narrows in the neighborhood of the site of old El Paso. Here he established, and for many years after, operated the first ferry within the limits what is now Atchison County. This was a noted crossing of the Nishnebotna River on the great stage and mail route between Saint Joseph and Council Bluffs. "Bernard or "Faw-faw" as he was popularly styled, had a squaw wife by whom he had several children. The eldest of these a son, assisted his father for several years, in operating the ferry. On the death of the old man, however, the Indian instinct preponderating over his white proclivities, he abandoned the ferry, and crossing the Missouri into what is now the Sate of Nebraska, he joined the Otoes. "The intelligence acquired by a life association with the whites, coupled with that peculiar sagacity which in the red man, savors so powerfully of the unerring promptings of instinct, rendered him doubly welcome among his new and barbarous friends, among whom he soon rose to the rank of chief, in which exalted position he afterwards succeeded in achieving the distinction of being the most umitigated scoundrel of any half-breed on the border." N.B.: Here, in a nutshell. we have a look at the hostile attitude with which the Englishman viewed the French and Indians. For many decades during the 16 and 17 hundreds, the two countries had struggled with each other (the Indians often siding with the French) for supremacy in the American colonies. With the French and Indian War, England finally came out on top, only to see in a few short years the American colonies erupt into the Revolutionary War. Then to make matters worse, the victors in the Revolution formed a new, untested, democratically controlled nation populated mostly by Englishmen, who were forced to "play by ear" all the in-and-outs arising from the common man who had just acquired more personal FREEDOM than ever before known. What he did with this, was not always beautiful to behold. With a "Young America" holding the reins, holding sway, during the time from the Revolutionary War up to the Civil War, inventing their very next step and not knowning just wha! t to expect next, the culture of Young Ameica in Fremont county hit the culture of the French and Indian which they found in French Village and in the Half Breed Farms neighborhood HARD.--W.F. Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.