Bio of COUILLARD, Cornelius (b.1813), Hennepin Co., MN
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EXTRACTED FROM: History of Minneapolis, Gateway to the Northwest; 
Chicago-Minneapolis, The S J Clarke Publishing Co, 1923; Edited by: Rev. 
Marion Daniel Shutter, D.D., LL.D.; Volume I - Shutter (Historical); 
volume II - Biographical; volume III - Biographical
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CORNELIUS COUILLARD - Vol II, pg 490-493
With the records of Minnesota and its early settlement and development the name
of Cornelius Couillard is inseparably associated, as he was one of the early
pioneers of this region and was active in promoting the agricultural and
industrial development of this section of the state. He was a native son of New
England, his birth having occurred at Frankfort, Maine, October 30, 1813. His
father was a farmer and he was reared to the pursuits of agricultural life, but
between the ages of twenty and twenty-five years he was engaged in the tanning
business in New England. He then turned his attention to the carpenter's trade
and was thus employed in connection with the building and repairing of vessels.
He continued in that occupation for more than twenty years, at the end of which
time he deter­mined to leave the Atlantic seaboard and try his fortune in the
middle west, then, however, a frontier region.
Accordingly.Mr. Couillard removed to St. Anthony and immediately afterward
rented the Calvin Tuttle farm near the present location of the University of
Min­nesota. Here he not only became identified with the agricultural development
of the region but was also employed on the building of the first suspension
bridge that was swung across the Mississippi river, and in company with another
gentleman, now deceased, was the first person to cross the "Father of Waters" at
this point on any bridge.
In the fall of 1854 Mr. Couillard secured a claim in Richfield township and his
two eldest children occupied the place until the following spring or late in the
winter, when the entire family took up their abode on that tract of land. For
the first few years there were but few neighbors and all of the hardships and
trials of frontier life had to be borne. St. Paul was their produce market and
the most farsighted could scarcely have dreamed of the wonderful changes which
were to take place within a comparatively short time. Mr. Couillard had to
depend upon his own labors for his blacksmithing, wagon making and other manual
work neces­sary in connection with the cultivation and improvement of his
property. He was a very resourceful man, however, handy with the use of tools,
and his labors proved adequate to every demand. Under his guidance the farm was
developed into a rich and productive tract of land and in this and many other
ways Mr. Couillard con­tributed to the progress and upbuilding of the section in
which he lived.
On the 11th of September, 1834, Mr. Couillard was married to Miss Nancy J.
Couillard, a most estimable young lady, and they became the parents of nine
children, as follows: Helen M., Ellery A., Amanda, Annie Norah, Malonah,
Adelbert Howard, Emma D., Charlie A. and Fred Leslie.
In his political belief Mr. Couillard was a republican and gave stalwart
allegiance to the party. His religious faith was that of the Universalist church
and he was ever a broad-minded man of charitable spirit and kindly disposition
who com­manded and enjoyed the respect, confidence and goodwill of all who knew
him. As a pioneer settler his name is closely associated with the development
and upbuild­ing of this part of the state. Representatives of his family have
lived to witness the remarkable changes which time and man have wrought. His
daughter, Miss Emma D. Couillard, yet makes her home in Minneapolis, a city that
has come into existence and reached its present metropolitan proportions since
her father first took up his abode in this region.