In the verdant settlements along the St. Lawrence River, where the fur trade pulsed as the lifeblood of New France, Joseph Poupart was born on June 8, 1696, in La Prairie-de-la-Madeleine, to Pierre Poupart and Marguerite Perras dit La Fontaine. Orphaned early—his father died in 1699 when Joseph was just three, and his mother followed in 1708 at age 43—Joseph grew up in a community steeped in the voyageur tradition, where young men from La Prairie often signed on for arduous canoe expeditions to distant trading posts. By his late teens, Joseph embraced this perilous path, becoming a voyageur who navigated the vast waterways of the Great Lakes region, hauling goods and furs amid rapids, portages, and the ever-present threats of weather, wildlife, and rival empires.
Joseph's documented forays into the fur trade began at age 18. On March 5, 1715, he was engaged by Charles Le Gardeur—a member of the prominent Legardeur family, known for their military and commercial roles in the colony—to voyage to Michilimackinac. Notarized by Antoine Adhémar, this contract committed Joseph to a grueling journey from Montreal, up the Ottawa River or across Lake Ontario, to the strategic straits between Lakes Huron and Michigan. That very year, French soldiers had just constructed Fort Michilimackinac, transforming it into a bustling hub for the northwestern fur trade, where French traders bartered with Odawa, Ojibwe, and other Indigenous nations for beaver pelts essential to European markets. As a supply depot, the fort facilitated exchanges of European goods like firearms, blankets, and kettles for furs, bolstering French alliances amid competition from British Hudson's Bay Company outposts. Joseph's role likely involved paddling birchbark canoes laden with cargo, enduring months of isolation, and negotiating the cultural intricacies of frontier commerce.
Eight years later, on August 27, 1723, Joseph signed another contract, this time hired by Charles Chesne dit St. Onge—a Montreal-born trader who had established himself in the growing settlement of Detroit—to voyage there as a voyageur from La Prairie. Chesne, son of Pierre Chesne dit Saint-Onge (one of Detroit's early settlers granted land in 1707), was actively involved in the region's fur trade by the 1720s, including marriages and engagements that tied him to the post's economy. Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit, founded in 1701 by Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, had evolved into a key French outpost on the Detroit River, serving as a bulwark against British expansion and a nexus for trading with local Potawatomi, Huron, and other groups. By 1723, amid stable pelt prices fluctuating between 5.0 and 5.5 shillings, the fort's fur trade was thriving, with voyageurs like Joseph transporting goods southward via Lake Erie, contributing to the colony's economic backbone. These trips, often spanning hundreds of miles, demanded physical prowess and resilience, as crews faced portages, storms, and the risks of ambush in contested territories.
Joseph's life beyond the rivers included a brief but fruitful domestic chapter. In 1724, at age 28, he married Marie Anne Lemieux, then 18, in La Prairie, a union that produced their daughter Marie Josephe Poupart in 1725. Tragically, Joseph's adventures were cut short; he died on April 16, 1726, in Montréal at just 29 years old, leaving his young family behind. His widow remarried, but Joseph's legacy persisted through his descendants and the Poupart family's enduring ties to the voyageur life. Brothers, cousins, and nephews like Joseph Poupart (1727-1792), who voyaged to Illinois in 1751; Jacques Poupart (1720-1810), bound for Michilimackinac in 1753; and Jean Baptiste Poupart (1762-1832), who signed multiple contracts from 1797 to 1806, carried on the tradition, with La Prairie residents contributing hundreds of engagements to the fur trade's expansion.
Through daughter Marie Josephe, Joseph's lineage wove onward: to son Pierre Barette dit Courville (1748-1794), granddaughter Marie Angelique Barette dit Courville (1779-1815), great-granddaughter Marie Emélie Meunier Lagacé (1808-1883), and ultimately to Lucy Pinsonneau (1836-1917), our 2nd great-grandmother whose heritage reflects the fleeting yet foundational journeys of her voyageur forebear. In an era of imperial ambitions and untamed wilderness, Joseph Poupart's short life encapsulated the voyageur's essence—paddling toward opportunity, only to be claimed by the frontier's unforgiving tide.
Earlier file & documents: Joseph Poupart — Voyageur Grandfather
https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2019/04/joseph-poupart-voyageur-grandfather.html
Thank you to Grok xAI for updated information and enhancements.
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