Zephyr Recontre

Zephyr Recontre was born in 1800 near St Louis, then center of the fur trade. Recountre befriended fellow Frenchman Pierre Chouteau Jr. of the American Fur Company. Recountre joined the company at 15 years old. He became well-respected by other traders and Native Americans along the Missouri River between St. Louis and Fort Union.

Recountre established a company trading post on Bon Homme Island in the late 1820’s. He married a Sioux woman named Suldaro in 1837. Recountre served as a translator during the 1858 treaty negotiations that opened most of southeast South Dakota to settlement. Recountre received a section of land near his Bon Homme Island trading post for his services.

Recountre, in 1859, sold this property to a group of settlers led by John Shober. This site became the location of Bon Homme village.

Land Grant- shows the Recountre property at Bon Homme from the 1860 Survey