Ernie LaPointe

By AARON MUELLER
Niles Daily Star

For the second year in a row, a descendent of a great historical figure will be in Niles.

Ernie LaPointe, a great-grandson of legendary Chief Sitting Bull of the Lakota Native American tribe, will be at the Fort St. Joseph Museum Saturday to sign copies of his book “Sitting Bull: His Life and Legacy.”

Sitting Bull, a Lakota chief and holy man, is famous for his involvement at the Battle of Little Big Horn

LaPointe’s book is unique in that it tells Sitting Bull’s story from the Native American perspective. It’s the only biography of Sitting Bull written by a lineal descendent.

LaPointe, 61, is a sundancer and lives the traditional way of the Lakota in South Dakota, like his great-grandfather.

The Fort St. Joseph Museum has a collection of 12 pictographs by Chief Sitting Bull of battles he fought in.

Annette Morales, education curator at the museum, said the museum was willed the pictographs in the 1930s by Alice Quimby. Quimby’s family lived at Fort Randall in what is now South Dakota in the 1880s. Sitting Bull lived there as well and became friends with Alice’s mother Martha and gave the drawings to her as a gift.

This will be the fifth time LaPointe has made a trip to Niles.

“He’s wonderful to listen to,” Morales said. “He loves to talk about his family history. You will learn a lot about Lakota history.”

His book and his two-part DVD series “The Authorized Biography of Sitting Bull by his Great Grandson” will be available for $20 each.