Ripples from La Prairie Voyageur Canoes: Ripples: Chapter Three

Bourassa Family

"Fathers of the Fur Trade"

Francois Bourassa (1659-1708) (7th great-grandfather)

son of Francois Bourassa (1630-1684) and Marguerite Dugas (1635-1698)

Birth 1659 • Luçon, Eure-et-Loir, Centre, France

Death 9 MAY 1708 • La Prairie (Notre-Dame-de-La Prairie-de-la-Madeleine), Montréal, PQ, Canada

Marriage 1668 to Marie Le Ber (1666-1756)

• 1686, François Bourassa made a voyage to Hudson Bay for the Compagnie du Nord.

• 1688, René Legardeur, sieur de Beauvais, hired François Bourassa and Joachim Jacques Leber to make a voyage des 8ta8ats (Ottawa Indians).

• 1690 René Legardeur hired Pierre Bourdeau, André Babeu, François Bourassa, and Joachim Leber for a voyage to Michilimackinac.

• 1690, Pierre Bourdeau consented to a debt for merchandise from André Babeau, Joachim Leber, and François Bourassa, voyageurs, for their voyage to the Ottawa.

Francois Bourassa and his sons: Rene Bourassa dit LaRonde (1688-1778), Francois Joachim Bourassa (1698-1775), and Antoine Bourassa (1705-1780), were known as "the fathers of the fur trade."

Marie Le Ber (1666-1756) (7th great-grandmother)

daughter of Francois Leber (Lebert) (1626-1694) and Jeanne Testard (1642-1723)

Birth 6 DEC 1666 • Montréal, Quebec, Canada

Death 23 DEC 1756 • La Prairie, Quebec, Canada

Marriage 1668 to Francois Bourassa (1659-1708)

• her father Francois Leber was active in the fur trade.

• her uncle Jacques Leber (Lebert) dit Larose was a partner in Lachine's first Fur Trading Post (1669-1687).

• her grand-uncle, Jean Godefroy de Linctot, Sieur (1607-1678) arrived in New France with Samuel de Champlain, and served in the capacity of interpreter.

Rene Bourassa dit LaRonde (1688-1778) (6th great great-uncle)

son of Francois Bourassa (1659-1708) and Marie Le Ber (1666-1756)

Birth 21 DEC 1688 • La Prairie, Quebec, Canada

Death 7 SEP 1778 • Mackinac Island, Mackinac, Michigan, USA

Marriage 1710 to Agnes Gagne (Gagnier) (1692-1719)

• Engaged in the fur trade with his brothers.

• 1726, Apr 16, Engagement of Jacques Gervais to Madame Duplessis and René Bourassa to make the journey to the Pays d'en Haut (Upper Country). Notary Adhémar. Pays d'en Haut (pronounced: [pɛˈi dɑ̃ o]; Upper Country) a vast territory west of Montreal, covering the whole of the Great Lakes north and south, and stretching as far into the North American continent as the French had explored.

• 1735, A Coureurs Des Bois, he hired engages to go to Pierre Gaultier de La Verendrye's posts at Fort St. Charles on Lake of the Woods and Fort Maurepas near the mouth of the Red River.

• 1737, Rene constructed a post and wintered at Vermillion, Minnesota, to trade with the Ojibwa. After that, most of his trade was around Michilimackinac, where he was selling goods to the Indians.

• 1738, May 16, Engagement of Antoine Cusson to René Bourassa to go to Michilimakinac. Notary Lepallieur.

Rene Bourassa was A Coureurs Des Bois...

Francois Bourassa’s eldest son, Rene Bourassa, our 6th great great-uncle, is a good example of the younger men of La Prairie at the beginning of the 18th century. In the early decades of that century, the merchants of the English colonies were paying twice as much as the French price for furs. La Prairie, located on the south shore of the St. Lawrence, gave easy access to the English markets.

Tempted by these profits, Rene was carrying on illicit trade with the merchants in Albany and was fined 500 livres when he was caught in 1722. He was dispatching canoes to the west by 1726. In 1729 Rene carried letters to New England, a trip which was often a cover for the illegal trade.

In 1735 he hired engages to go to Pierre Gaultier de La Verendrye's posts at Fort St. Charles on Lake of the Woods and Fort Maurepas near the mouth of the Red River.

He wintered with Pierre Gaultier de La Verendrye at Fort St. Charles. In June, 1736 Rene set out from Fort St. Charles with four others for Michilimachinac. They were captured by Sioux warriors, who claimed the French were arming their enemies, a truth because La Verendrye was trading guns to the Assinabois who were fighting the Sioux.

Map of La Verendrye Explorations 1731-1743

The Sioux were preparing to burn Bourassa at the stake when his Sioux girl (wife?) pleaded for his life and he and his men were released. He had narrowly missed death when other Sioux on Lake of the Woods ambushed and massacred a party of 21 following close behind Rene’s party, including Jean Baptiste de La Vérendrye, La Verendrye’s son, and Father Jean-Pierre Aulneau de la Touche, for crimes against their people.

In 1637, Rene constructed a post and wintered at Vermillion, Minnesota, to trade with the Ojibwa. After that, most of his trade was around Michilimackinac, where he was selling goods to the Indians. His family had joined him there.

The Ojibwas captured the fort at Michilimackinac in 1763 and, because they disliked Rene, they killed all his cattle and horses. Soon afterwards, Rene settled in Montreal as a merchant in the fur trade.

More Bourassa Fur Traders...

Marie Elisabeth Bourassa (1695-1766) (6th great-grandmother)

daughter of Francois Bourassa (1659-1708) and Marie Le Ber (1666-1756)

Birth 25 FEB 1695 • La Prairie, Quebec, Canada

Death 22 NOV 1766 • La Prairie (Notre-Dame-de-La Prairie-de-la-Madeleine), Québec

Marriage 1712 to Jacques Pinsonneau dit Lafleur (1682-1773)

• sister of, and (most likely) wife of Coureurs Des Bois.

Francois Joachim Bourassa (1698-1775) (7th great-uncle)

son of Francois Bourassa (1659-1708) and Marie Le Ber (1666-1756)

Birth 10 APR 1698 • La Prairie, Quebec, Canada

Death 21 MAR 1775 • La Prairie, Quebec, Canada

Marriage (1) 1721 to Marie-Anne Deneau Destaillis (1704-1733), Marriage (2) 1735 to Marie Susanna Lefebvre (1710-1738)

• Engaged in the fur trade with his brothers.

• 1757, Feb 15, Jacques Porlier LaGroizardiere hired Francois Bourrasa Voyageur from La Prairie, to go to Détroit. Notary François Simonnet.

Antoine Bourassa (1705-1780) (7th great-uncle)

son of Francois Bourassa (1659-1708) and Marie Le Ber (1666-1756)

Birth 22 MAR 1705 • La Prairie, St Jean, PQ, Canada

Death 28 JAN 1780 • La Prairie (Notre-Dame-de-La Prairie-de-la-Madeleine), St Jean, PQ, Canada

Marriage (1) 1729 to Marie Catherine Barette Courville (1707-1729), Marriage (2) 1731 to Marie-Anne Moquin (1713-1743)

• Engaged in the fur trade with his brothers.

• 1740, June 8, License of Beauharnois [Governor New France (1726-1747)] to the appointed Claude and François Bizaillon, Pierre Brosseau and Antoine Bourassa to go to Philadelphia, city of New England, to attend to their affairs. They are being urged to return to Montreal in four months. Will pass through the forts of Chambly and Saint-Frédéric both in going and returning, to represent the present passport, their declaration, Minutes of visit, their effects, etc., etc. Minutes of the visit of a canoe by Claude and François Bizaillon, Pierre Brousseau and Antoine Bourassa, by François Malhiot and Me Jean Bte Adhémar notary; the Said the canoe had to go to Philadelphia (June 13, 1740).

• 1745, June 9, Permission of the Governor of Beauharnois to Sieur Ignace Gamelin to send from Montreal a canoe equipped with seven men under the leadership of Nicolas Volant and Antoine Dubois, a bourgeois, to go to the Michillimakinac post. Defense not to make any trade or commerce with Indians elsewhere than in said post of Michillimakinac and its dependencies. Role of the engaged of the said canoe: Nicolas Volant, bourgeois, of La Prairie; Antoine Dubois, a bourgeois, of St. Francis; Pierre Gaspard, Antoine Bourassa, Joseph Bourassa, Pierre Gagnier and Jacques Saint-Pierre, of La Prairie de la Madeleine.

Rene Bourassa's Son-in-Law: Charles Michel de Langlade -- Fur Trader & War Chief

Charles de Langlade (1729-1801) (husband of Charlotte Ambroisine Bourassa 1st cousin 7x removed) who is the daughter of Rene Bourassa dit LaRonde (1688-1778)

Charles de Langlade was the son of Augustin Mouet De Langlade (1703-1777) and Domithilde Oukabe Nepveuouikabe LaFourche (1690-1782) daughter of Kewinaquot Returning Cloud an Ottawa Indian Chief

Birth ABT 1729 • Mackinac Island, Michigan, United States

Death 26 JULY 1801 • Green Bay, Wisconsin, United States

Marriage 1754 (at Michilimackinac) to Charlotte Ambroisine Bourassa (1735-1817)

• Great Lakes fur trader and war chief who was important to the French in protecting their territory.

Charles Michel de Langlade (born 9 May 1729 - died after 26 July 1801) (Métis) was a Great Lakes fur trader and war chief who was important to the French in protecting their territory. His mother was Ottawa and his father a French Canadian fur trader.

Langlade County Medallion

Fluent in Ottawa and French, Langlade later led First Nations forces in warfare in the region, at various times allied with the French, British and later Americans. Leading French and Indian forces, in 1752 he destroyed Pickawillany, a Miami village and British trading post in present-day Ohio, where the British and French were competing for control.

During the subsequent Seven Years' War, he helped defend Fort Duquesne (Pittsburgh) against the British. He was named second in command at Fort Michilimackinac and a captain in the Indian Department of French Canada.

After the defeat of the French in North America, Langlade became allied with the British, who took control of former French possessions and took the lead in the fur trade.

During the American Revolutionary War, Langlade led Great Lakes Indians for the British against the rebel colonists and their Indian allies. At the end of the war, he retired to his home in present-day Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Due to his having had a trading post at Green Bay since 1745 and later settling there, he is called the "Father of Wisconsin."

Source: Charles Michel de Langlade - Wikipedia

NOTES:

Charles Michel de Langlade's mother was Domitilde (Ottawa) [aka Marie and Domitille]. She was the Ottawa wife of (1st) Daniel Amiot Villeneuve [our 8th great grand uncle]; (2nd), of Augustin Mouet Langlade. She was the sister of Nissowaquet, Ottawa Chief http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/nissowaquet_4E.html.

ALSO SEE: Daniel Joseph Amiot (Amyot) Dit Villeneuve (1665-1725) (8th great-uncle)