Bruce A. Kohn of Edina, author of "Dakota Child, Governor's Daughter: The Life of Helen Hastings Sibley," was the program speaker for the Keewaydin Chapter of the DAR's annual holiday luncheon held on December 6th at the Medakota County Club. Mr. Kohn spent over twenty years researching the life of Helen, who was the first child of the first Governor of Minnesota, fur trader Henry Hastings Sibley, and a Dakota woman, commonly referred to as Red Blanket Woman. The author’s newly published book is the second book about the Sibley family the Friends of the Sibley Historic Site has published.
Members of the chapter were delighted to listen to Mr. Kohn’s description of Helen Hastings Sibley’s life as well as how he came to research and uncover the facts surrounding her that were woven together to make his book an enlightening look at an age gone by. As the back jacket of the book states, “She began her life among her mother’s Dakota people, then came of age in her father’s society.” After Mr. Kohn’s program, Keewaydin Chapter Regent, Barbara Januscheitis of Brooklyn Park and Historian, Nancy Meister of Plymouth presented him with a DAR certificate for Outstanding Work in American History.
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The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution was founded in 1890 to promote patriotism, preserve American history, and support better education for our nation's children. Its members are descended from the patriots who won American independence during the Revolutionary War. With more than 165,000 members in approximately 3,000 chapters worldwide, DAR is one of the world's largest and most active service organizations. To learn more about the work of today's DAR, visit www.DAR.org.
