While watching the PBS special The American Buffalo, I made a discovery that stopped me in my tracks. According to family research and records, I am related to Frederick Dupuis (also spelled Dupree or Dupris, 1819–1898)—a French-Canadian trader and South Dakota rancher often called “the man who saved the buffalo.” He is my 3rd cousin 4x removed, connected through the Dupuis line that runs from voyageurs and early settlers down to my more recent ancestors.
Frederick was born near Montreal, made his way into the upper Missouri fur trade by 1838, and eventually settled along the Cheyenne River in what is now South Dakota. There he married Good Elk Woman (Mary Ann), a Miniconjou Lakota woman. Together they raised a large family in a communal camp that blended cultures—French, Lakota, and the emerging cattle ranching world of the plains. He prospered as a trader and stock grower, but he also witnessed the near-total destruction of the vast buffalo herds that had once defined the region.
In 1883, when only scattered remnants remained, Frederick, his sons, and ranch hands captured a small number of buffalo calves (most accounts say five) from a remnant herd. Influenced in important ways by Mary’s Lakota perspective and the cultural importance of the Buffalo Nation, the family raised them on their ranch. From that tiny start the herd grew. After Frederick’s death in 1898 the animals were sold to Scotty Philip, whose much larger herd later supplied stock to Custer State Park and many other places. Descendants of those original Dupree calves still roam South Dakota prairies and beyond.
It is a powerful reminder that individual and family choices—rooted in both practical sense and cultural values—can change the course of a species’ history. The buffalo’s recovery is one of North America’s great conservation success stories, and my distant cousin’s family played an early, quiet, and essential part in it. Learning this connection makes the story feel personal. The same Dupuis bloodline that includes voyageurs and plains settlers also includes people who looked at vanishing herds and decided they were worth saving for the generations to come.
Our Family Tree Lineage:
Frederick Dupuis Dupuis (Dupuy) The South Dakota Cattleman & Buffalo Conservationist 1819-1898 3rd cousin 4x removed
Andrew (André) Dupuis (Dupuy) 1792-1850
Father of Frederick Dupuis Dupuis (Dupuy) The South Dakota Cattleman & Buffalo Conservationist
René Dupuis (Dupuy) 1764-1827
Father of Andrew (André) Dupuis (Dupuy)
François Dupuis (Dupuy) 1734-
Father of René Dupuis (Dupuy)
Francois Moise ( François) Dupuis (Dupuy) - Voyageur 1709-1764
Father of François Dupuis (Dupuy)
Marie Anne Dupuis (Dupuy) DNA match 1753-1807
Daughter of Francois Moise ( François) Dupuis (Dupuy) - Voyageur
Marie Angelique Baret (Barette) dit Courville DNA match 1779-1851
Daughter of Marie Anne Dupuis (Dupuy) DNA match
Marie Emélie Meunier dit Lagacé (Lagassé) 1808-1883
Daughter of Marie Angelique Baret (Barette) dit Courville DNA match
Lucy Passino (Pinsonneau) GD of two Voyageurs 1836-1917
Daughter of Marie Emélie Meunier dit Lagacé (Lagassé) -- 2nd great-grandmother
This draws from primary secondary sources such as the detailed South Dakota Magazine profile, Hall of Fame biographies, Find a Grave summaries, academic discussions of early private herds, and recent family/tribal recognitions. Minor discrepancies in dates or exact counts are normal for 19th-century frontier records; the overall historical role is well-supported.
More about Good Elk Woman
Good Elk Woman (also known as Mary Ann Dupree/Dupuis, Umpa Waste Win, or Hehake-waste-win) was a Miniconjou Lakota woman and the wife of French-Canadian trader and rancher Frederick Dupuis/Dupree.
She is increasingly recognized as a key influence—and in some family and historical accounts, the primary visionary—behind the family’s effort to capture and raise bison calves in the early 1880s, which helped seed important modern herds.
Background and family
She was born around 1824–1826 (sources vary slightly; one places it near Cherry Creek). She was the daughter of One Iron Horn and Red Dressing. As a Miniconjou Lakota, she belonged to one of the seven council fires of the Lakota (Teton Sioux) people, whose traditional territory centered on the Cheyenne River and surrounding plains in what is now South Dakota.
She married Frederick Dupuis (who arrived in the Fort Pierre area around 1838) circa the mid-1840s. He adopted her son from a previous relationship (often identified as Henry Makes Room). Together they had about nine children, including sons such as Peter (Pete), Xavier (David Xavier), Edward, and Fred (Chunkagiba), and daughters including Maggie, Esther/Estella, Alma/Armaine, Josephine, and Marcella. The family lived communally on a ranch on the north side of the Cheyenne River (roughly 35 miles west of where it meets the Missouri, near present-day Carlin Bridge/Eagle Butte area). Their household often included relatives in tipis nearby and regularly fed dozens of people; it functioned as a cultural and social hub blending Lakota and French-Canadian/settler ways.
She died on 13 February 1900 in what is now Ziebach County, South Dakota, and is buried in the Dupris Congregational Mission Cemetery near Eagle Butte (alongside Frederick, who died in 1898).
Role in saving the buffalo
By the early 1880s, plains bison had been reduced to scattered remnants through commercial hunting, settlement, and deliberate policy. For Lakota people the buffalo (Pte Oyate, the Buffalo Nation) were not merely animals but central to spiritual, cultural, economic, and physical life—providers of food, shelter, clothing, tools, and teachings. Good Elk Woman’s perspective as a Lakota woman is widely credited with motivating the family’s conservation action.
Family oral history and later accounts (including from descendants) describe her as the driving force. One descendant narrative recounts that she had a dream about saving the buffalo and urged Frederick and their sons to act. Under her influence, Frederick, sons (notably Peter), and others captured several orphaned or young calves (most accounts say five) around 1883 from a remnant herd (locations cited include near the Grand River or farther west toward Montana). The family raised them on the ranch; the small herd grew (reaching roughly nine pureblood animals by 1888 and larger numbers later). After Frederick’s death the animals passed through family/estate hands and were sold to Scotty Philip, whose expanded herd later supplied stock to Custer State Park and many other places.
Sources note that she was not only the visionary but also practical: involved in camp life, family guidance, and the day-to-day work of the ranch and herd. In Lakota cultural terms, her role as matriarch and her connection to the Buffalo Nation align with traditional teachings (including resonances with White Buffalo Calf Woman as a spiritual mediator). Recent commemorations, such as the 2026 Fort Pierre sculpture dedication, explicitly highlight her leadership, Lakota heritage, and commitment, correcting earlier narratives that focused almost exclusively on Frederick or Scotty Philip.
Historical context and legacy
She lived through profound upheaval: the peak and collapse of the buffalo herds, the fur and robe trade, the Black Hills gold rush, military campaigns, the establishment of reservations (including Cheyenne River), and the forced transition from a buffalo-based plains economy. The Dupree ranch itself bridged worlds—French-Canadian trading/ranching and Lakota kinship and hospitality.
Limited contemporary written records exist about her personal life (typical for many Indigenous women of the era, whose stories were often filtered through male or non-Native chroniclers). What survives comes largely through family histories, later historical reconstructions, and descendants’ accounts. Photographs exist (one shows her with Frederick and son Xavier). She is remembered today as an early Indigenous conservationist whose cultural values and determination helped preserve a keystone species for future generations, including tribal herds.
In short, while Frederick is often labeled “the man who saved the buffalo,” Good Elk Woman’s Lakota worldview, dream/vision, and family leadership provided essential purpose and direction. Her story underscores how Indigenous women and knowledge were central to one of the most important early efforts to prevent the extinction of the American bison.
This extraordinary story was discovered 7 Nov. 2026, National Bison Day… to me that’s just one more piece of Ancestral Synchronicity, as I’ve been a huge lover of Buffalo my entire life.
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