In the waning years of New France's golden era of exploration, where the fur trade's siren call still echoed across the St. Lawrence's tributaries, Étienne Duquet dit Desrochers emerged as a seasoned pillar of the voyageur tradition. Born on March 15, 1694 (baptized the following day), in Pointe-Lévy (Lauzon), Quebec, to Jean Baptiste Duquet dit Desrochers (1651-1718) and Catherine Ursule Amiot dit Villeneuve (1664-1715), Étienne hailed from a lineage of resilient settlers. His father, Jean Baptiste, was the son of Denis Duquet (1605-1660), an early Norman immigrant who arrived in Quebec around 1636 as a notary and judge's clerk, establishing the family in the colony's administrative and landowning circles before transitioning to farming. Catherine, daughter of Mathieu Amiot (1628-1688), a sieur and interpreter who fought in early Iroquois conflicts, brought ties to frontier diplomacy and survival. Growing up in the shadow of Quebec's fortifications, Étienne likely absorbed the rhythms of river life early, as the Duquets settled in areas like Lauzon and later La Prairie-de-la-Madeleine, a voyageur stronghold where families interwove with the fur trade's web.
By his twenties, Étienne had rooted himself in La Prairie, marrying Marie Françoise Deniau dit Destaillis (1698-1737) on November 9, 1722, at Notre-Dame-de-La-Prairie-de-la-Madeleine. Daughter of Jacques Deniau dit Destaillis (1660-1720)—a voyageur accused of illegal brandy sales in 1719—and Marie Rivet (1673-1705), Marie Françoise connected Étienne to a network of frontier traders plagued by the trade's shadowy temptations. Together, they raised children, including daughter Marie Madeleine Duquet (1734-1791), amid the community's cycle of seasonal departures and returns. Marie Françoise's early death in 1737 left Étienne to navigate family life alone, but his enduring presence in La Prairie suggests he balanced domestic duties with the pull of the wilderness. Though no early records survive of his exploits, his later designation as a "gouvernail" (steersman)—the elite position at a canoe's stern, requiring years of expertise to command amid rapids and winds—implies decades of undocumented voyages as a coureur des bois, those unlicensed runners who traded illicitly in the pays d'en haut, evading monopolies for personal gain.
Étienne's documented career resurfaced in his fifties, a testament to his reliability in an industry favoring the hardy. On June 4, 1751, at age 57, he was engaged by Ignace François Bourassa—a merchant from the storied Bourassa clan, whose relatives like René Bourassa dit La Ronde (1688-1778) had built fortunes through western posts and illicit Albany trades—for a voyage to Michilimackinac. Notarized by Antoine Adhémar, the contract paid 200 livres, plus a pair of mitasses (leggings) and a cotton chemise, for duties including loading canoes with merchandise and pelts, safeguarding provisions, obeying canoe leaders, and abstaining from private trades. Ignace, likely a kinsman of the Bourassas who financed Green Bay operations in the 1720s, represented the interconnected merchant-voyageur networks sustaining New France's economy amid British pressures. Departing from Montreal, the journey to Michilimackinac—a vital fur entrepôt at the Mackinac Straits, bridging Lakes Huron and Michigan—spanned over 800 miles via the Ottawa River, Lake Nipissing, and French River, involving grueling portages and alliances with Odawa and Ojibwe traders.
The following year, on June 9, 1752, Étienne signed with François Daguillet (often spelled Daguilhe), a Montreal merchant active in the mid-18th-century trade, for another Michilimackinac run, earning 210 livres to guide a merchandise-laden canoe. Notarized by Danré de Blanzy, this contract highlighted Étienne's growing value, as wages rose with his proven skill. Daguillet, like many bourgeois, outfitted expeditions to exchange European goods for beaver pelts, bolstering the colony's exports amid fluctuating markets. By April 13, 1753, Étienne's expertise earned him the gouvernail role under Toussaint Pothier, a Montreal merchant involved in pre-Conquest fur ventures, for 230 livres plus an aune (ell) of Beaufort cloth. As steersman, he governed the canoe's ascent and descent, a position reserved for veterans who could read currents and command crews of 8-10 men through treacherous waters. Pothier, whose family later dominated the North West Company, exemplified the merchant class financing these twilight expeditions as the Seven Years' War (French and Indian War) loomed in 1754, threatening French dominance.
These late-career voyages occurred against a backdrop of escalating tensions: Michilimackinac, rebuilt in 1715, served as a diplomatic and commercial nexus, where French commandants like Charles de Langlade negotiated with Indigenous allies amid British encroachments. Étienne's routes carried risks of ambush, disease, and exhaustion, but also the thrill of frontier autonomy. After 1753, records fade, suggesting retirement in La Prairie, where he passed around 1762 at age 68, just as the British Conquest reshaped the colony.
Étienne's legacy rippled through descendants attuned to the trade's call. Daughter Marie Madeleine married Joseph Pinsonneau (1733-1784) in 1754, bearing Gabriel Pinsonneau (1770-1807), whose son Gabriel (1803-1877) continued the line to Lucy Pinsonneau (1836-1917), a 2nd great-grandmother whose story mirrors her ancestor's steadfast navigation of uncertain waters. In an age of empires clashing over pelts, Étienne Duquet dit Desrochers embodied the voyageur's enduring grit—steering through twilight toward horizons unknown. Updated information courtesy of Grok xAL, thank you.
Earlier file: Etienne Duquet dit Desrochers (1694-1762) (6th great-grandfather)
https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2019/04/etienne-duquet-dit-desrochers-voyageur.html
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