Marie and Joseph Bailly’s daughter Rose Bailly Howe (center) and her daughters Rose Frances (right) and Frances Rose (left), courtesy of the Westchester Township History Museum.

Porter County Historian Serena Ard will present about the history and impact of the women of the family of Joseph Bailly, Porter County’s first European settler. The event will be held at Pines Village Retirement Communities, 3303 Pines Village Circle, Valparaiso, on Thursday, March 26, at 1pm. It is free of charge and open to the public.

“We are delighted to sponsor this event as part of our celebration of the Bailly family which is featured in the current PoCo Muse exhibit From a Bailly Point of View,” said museum Executive Director Kevin Matthew Pazour. “Serena Ard has spent years researching the Bailly family while serving as Curator of Westchester Township History Museum in Chesterton. Her investigations have uncovered a treasure trove of information about the role played by the women of this pioneer family. Serena’s research inspired our current exhibit and served as the basis for a recent article in PoCo Muse Magazine.”

“Joseph Bailly looms large in the history of Porter County,” said Ard. “When he established a trading post on the Little Calumet River around 1822, he became the first non-native settler living in this area, but both his wives were of mixed European and Indigenous heritage. While Joseph may have been the patriarch, it was three generations of mixed-race Bailly women – his wife Marie, her daughters and granddaughters – who truly shaped the family legacy. Their fascinating story is full of gritty truths and romantic mythmaking.”