French Canadian Voyageurs — Red Sash

Perhaps the most treasured possession of the French Canadian Voyageur was his iconic sash belt or ceinture fléchée (arrowhead sash).

Most voyageurs wore colorful sashes woven from worsted wool, from which their knives, smoking-bags, and canoe cups were suspended.

The ceinture fléchée had many uses, but was primarily used as a tump line and support on the portage.  Arrowhead sashes helped prevent back injuries and hernias for voyageurs as they acted as ergonomic back belts.

It was a badge of distinction and oft times identified a voyageurs place of origin. Sash colors and patterns were distinctive of different regions. 

Probably the most famous of all sashes were those from the L’Assomption area of Lower Canada, which had multiple multi-colored lightning-bolts (éclairs) flanking a central red core.

Originally, ceintures fléchées were three to four meters long and were woven by hand using a technique called 'finger weaving'.

Narrower garters for stockings were also finger woven in simpler designs.

Coupled with the red toque (hat) and the capote (blanket coat), arrowhead sashes became an essential component of traditional French Canadian clothing.

As French-speaking voyageurs travelled throughout North America during the fur trade era, arrowhead sashes found their way into the hands of First Nations and Métis peoples, who then adapted their own version of the sash and made their own.

To French Canadians these sashes have become a major part of their cultural heritage and national identity. 

When Henri Julien painted an arrowhead sash on his famous illustration of a Patriote (Le Vieux de 1837) in the early 20th century, the sash was forever linked with French Canadian nationalism.

One of my heroes, Charles M. Russell, the famous Western artist,often wore a red sash that he used in his paintings to help identify Métis (1), trappers and voyageurs.

(1) Métis (especially in western Canada) a person of mixed indigenous and Euro-American ancestry, in particular one of a group of such people who in the 19th century constituted the so-called Métis nation in the areas around the Red and Saskatchewan rivers.

SORTING OUT CHARLES BOYER — VOYAGEUR ANCESTOR

• CHARLES BOYER 1631–1698 9TH GREAT-GRANDFATHER

Son of Pierre Boyer 1610–1711 and Denise Refence 1600–1666

BIRTH 1631 • Vançais, Deux-Sevres, Poitou-Charentes, France

DEATH 10 FEB 1698 • La Prairie, Quebec, Canada

Marriage (1) 24 Novembre 1659 • Montréal, to Louise Therese Marie Lebreuil DuBreul (1636–1727)

Children with Louise Therese Marie Lebreuil DuBreul (1):

i. Louise Boyer

ii. Marie Marguerite Boyer –1749

iii. Marie Catherine Boyer

Marie Catherine Boyer

Marriage (2) 23 Nov 1666 • Montréal, to Marguerite Ténard (1645–1678) [ Filles du Roi ]

Children with Marguerite Ténard (2):

i. Joseph Boyer 1669–

ii. +Antoine Jacques Boyer 1671–1747

iii. Jean Baptiste Boyer 1673–1733; m. Marie Anne Caillé dit Biscornet 1675–

ANTOINE JACQUES BOYER 1671–1747 8TH GREAT-GRANDFATHER

Son of Charles Boyer 1631–1698 and Marguerite Ténard 1645–1678

BIRTH 10 APR 1671 • Laprairie, Quebec, Canada

DEATH 27 MARS 1747 • La Prairie, Québec, Canada

Marriage (1) 04 Feb 1692 • La Prairie, to Marie Perras (1673–1736)

Children with Marie Perras (1):

i. Marie Boyer 1692–1766

ii. +Jeanne Boyer 1694–1730

iii. Jean Antoine Boyer 1697–1768

iv. Pierre Boyer 1704–1747

v. • Charles Boyer 1713–1801; 8th great-uncle; m. 8 Oct 1742 • La Prairie, to Jeanne Suprenant (1718–1770)

vi. Joseph Boyer 1714–1797

Marriage (2) 9 sept 1737 • La Prairie, to Catherine Suprenant 1686–Aft. 1737

SEE: Antoine Jacques Boyer — Voyageur Grandfather

( https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2019/03/antoine-jacques-boyer-voyageur.html )

• CHARLES BOYER 1713–1801 8TH GREAT-UNCLE

Son of Antoine Jacques Boyer 1671–1747 and Marie Perras 1673–1736

BIRTH 21 JAN 1713 • La Prairie, Quebec, Canada

DEATH 14 JAN 1801 • La Prairie, Quebec, Canada

Marriage 8 Oct 1742 • La Prairie, to Jeanne Suprenant (1718–1770)

Father of Charles Boyer 1744–_ 1st cousin 8x removed [ Nor’Wester Clerk ]

The following engagements are most likely my 8th great-uncle…

• 1734, May 16, Charles Boyer Engagement to P?—Notary Francois Lepailleur de Laferte

• 1742, Feb 20,  Charles Boyer Engagement to LaDeraute to go to unknown—Notary Gervais Hodiesne

• 1744, 25 may, Engagement de Joseph Pierre Roy dit Dejardins au sr Charles Boyer et Compagnie pour aller au poste du lac de La Pluye—Étude Blanzy.

• 1754, 30 mars, Engagement de Charles Boyer à Mons' Raimbault S'-Blain pour aller au poste de Nepigon—Étude Adhémar.

• 1760, Jul 12, Charles Boyer Engagement to Pierre Lerlande pour aller au poste de Michilimakinac—Étude Simonnet.

• 1761, Jun 8, Engagement de Charle Boyer au 8r Ignace Hubert La Croix pour aller au poste de Michelimakinac—Étude Simonnet.

• 1763, Feb 20, Engagement de Charles Boyer dit Ladéroute au sr Dubois Larejouissance pour le voyage à Toronto—Étude Hodiesne.

• CHARLES BOYER 1744–_ 1ST COUSIN 8X REMOVED [ NOR’WESTER CLERK ]

Son of Charles Boyer (8th great-uncle) 1713–1801 and Jeanne Suprenant (Supernant) 1718–1770

BIRTH 20 SEP 1744 • Laprairie, Quebec, Canada

DEATH Unknown

1768, Pine Fort was established in the Assiniboine Valley by Thomas Correy, Forrest Oakes and Charles Boyer.

• 1780-1787, Charles Boyer—Assiniboine River, SOURCE: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Volume 19

• 1788, Charles Boyer built Fort Vermilion near the junction of the Boyer and Peace rivers 

WHO IS CHARLES BOYER…

(ABOVE) From: “THE ENGLISH RIVER BOOK - A NORTH WEST COMPANY JOURNAL AND ACCOUNT BOOK OF 1786”

From: THE IMPACT OF JONATHAN CARVER’S JOURNAL AND MAPS

( https://allthingsliberty.com/2015/03/the-impact-of-jonathan-carvers-journal-and-maps/ )

Veteran French voyageur-trader, Charles Boyer, traded for furs in the Rainy Lake / Lake of the Woods area in the 1740’s. He is likely ‘Mr. Boyce’ referenced in Major Robert Rogers’ letter dated 10 June 1767 (Parker, The Journals, 197). MOST LIKELY CHARLES BOYER 1713–1801 8TH GREAT-UNCLE

James Goddard’s journal reference to ‘Monsr. Boyiz’, was likely the same Charles Boyer (Parker, The Journals, 191). 

Boyer was in a partnership with Forrest Oakes in 1767, and later with his brother Michel Boyer, established a trading settlement at Rainy Lake. 

For the Rainy Lake 1771 Boyer settlement, see Glyndwr Williams, ed., Andrew Graham’s Observations on Hudson’s Bay 1767-1791, (Hudson’s Bay Record Society, London, 1969), 289.  See also Merv Ahrens, Fort Lac la Pluie of the North West Company 177?-1821, (Fort Frances, ON: Fort Frances Times Ltd., 2006): 4, 5, 29.

From: ASP HOUSE (Wikipedia) a minor Hudson's Bay Company post on the Rainy River. It was built at the time when the HBC was pushing inland to regain the trade that had been diverted to Montreal by the Northwest Company.

In 1793 John McKay (fur trader) of the Hudson's Bay Company left Fort Albany, Ontario on James Bay and went south to compete with the Northwest Company. In September he went up the Rainy River and built an unnamed post below Manitou Falls and 12 miles below the NWC post at Fort Lac la Pluie. It was supplied from Fort Albany but needed supplements from local hunting and fishing. Trade produced only 18 packs of fur.

In 1794 he built a second post upstream from the mouth of Rainy River since the Indians of Lake of the Woods did not wish to travel upriver. It was called Asp House. In October of that year Charles Boyer came down from Lac la Pluie and built a competing house 200 yards away. Boyer had a difficult time had closed his post next April. In 1797 it was left unoccupied and was pillaged and burned by rivals from Montreal. In 1825 the Hudson's Bay Company built Hungry Hall close to the former Asp House. The site is at the current Oak Grove Camp. There is a historical marker on the riverbank. COULD BE EITHER CHARLES BOYER 1713–1801 8TH GREAT-UNCLE OR CHARLES BOYER 1744–_ 1ST COUSIN 8X REMOVED?

From: THE ENVIRONMENT AND THE FUR TRADE EXPERIENCE IN VOYAGEURS NATIONAL PARK, 1730-1870

( https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/voya/futr/ch1c.htm )

During his four years in the Rainy Lake Region, McKay recorded day-to-day events in the post journal. 

His narrative has been summarized both by Grace Lee Nute in Rainy River Country and by A. M. Johnson in "Hudson's Bay Company on Rainy River, 1793-95."

McKay and his men struggled through two winters as they learned where to fish, traded with the Indians for moose and deer meat, and made a modest start in cultivating a garden. A friendly but insistent rivalry developed between McKay and the North West Company trader, Charles Boyer, whose own fort was located only a short distance away. Their men played football, celebrated Christmas and New Years, and occasionally extended a helping hand to each other. 

Meanwhile, Boyer tried to deceive McKay about where to find Indians, and McKay attempted a ruse to get Boyer to build his new post behind his own on the path most often used by trading Indians, but neither man was able to fool the other. This quaint interaction by two unusually civilized traders belied the vicious competition that would develop over the next two decades. COULD BE EITHER CHARLES BOYER 1713–1801 8TH GREAT-UNCLE OR CHARLES BOYER 1744–_ 1ST COUSIN 8X REMOVED?

• 1797, Dec 29, engagement of Charles Boyer to Mc Tavish, Frobisher & Co., Agents De La Compagnie Da Nord Ouest—Notary Louis Chaboillez

(3 year contract) North West Company as CLERK — the author of  “THE ENGLISH RIVER BOOK - A NORTH WEST COMPANY JOURNAL AND ACCOUNT BOOK OF 1786” says the contract was cancelled 11 days later, and Charles never returned to Indian Country. If that’s true… did he die or have a falling out with the NWCo? Maybe he did go to the Nord Ouest and died there. We’ll never know.

Length of Contract: 3

Hivernant Yes

Parish: MONTREAL

Destinations: PAYS D'EN HAUT, NORD OUEST, Métier [job]

Functions: COMMIS [English]: CLERK

Function Notes: partir de cette ville pour les Païs d’en haut connu sous le nom du nord ouest pour y servir la dite Société pour L’Espace de trois années consecutives a commencer et etre compté du Jour de son depart de cette ville comme Commis a etre Libre a son retour a Montreal dans l’automne de l’année mil sept cent quatre vingt dix neuf

[English]: from this city for the Païs from above known as the North West to serve the so-called Society for Space for three consecutive years to begin and be counted from the day of his departure from that city as Clerk to be Free on his return to Montreal in the autumn of the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety-nine

Merchant Company: Société du Nord Ouest

Company Representative: William McGillivnay

Notary Name: John Gerbrand Beek

Wages: 3000 LIVRES

Contract Notes: moyennant la Somme de trois mille Livres anciens Chellings de cette Province de vingt (coppres?) par ans pour chacques année pendant le dit terme de trois années qui finiront a son arrivée audit montreal que les dits Sr Mc Tavish Frobisher & Company comme agents susdits promettent et s’obligent de Bailler et payer audit Commis a son Retour en cette ville ainsi que le nourrir et vetir pendant ledit tems comme sont les autres commis dans ladite Société du nord ouest et comme de coutume au dit Lieux

[English]: by means of the sum of three thousand old books Chellings of this Province of twenty (coppers?) a year for each year during the said term of three years that will finish at its arrival to this Montreal that the said Sr. Mc Tavish Frobisher & Company as aforesaid agents promise and oblige of Bailler and to pay said Clerk to his Return in this city as well as to feed it and to clothe during said time like are the other clerks in the said Society of the northwest and as usually to the said Places

Source d'archives: BANQ, Greffes de notaires, No du microfilm M620/0067

The following engagements are most likely another, younger Charles Boyer…

• 1801, Jul 13, Engagement de Charles Boyer, de la Rivière St-Pierre,Louis Buisson pour aller au poste de Michelimakinac—Étude Ls Chaboillez.

• 1802, Aug 14, Alexis Boyer Engagement to Charles Boyer Pére

• 1807, Feb 21, Engagement de Charles Boyé, de la Prairie, ft Messrs de la Qe de Michilimakinac pour aller ft Michelimakinac-Étude Ls Chaboillez.

• 1812, Aug 13, Engagement de Charles Boyé, de St-Constant, a La Cie de Michilimakinac pour aller a Michilimakinac-Étude Ls Chaboillez.

LINKS:

Cousin Charles Boyer Was a Nor'Wester

( https://a-drifting-cowboy.blogspot.com/2016/06/cousin-charles-boyer-was-norwester.html )

Ripples: Chapter Three - Boyer Family

( http://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2017/03/ripples-from-la-prairie-voyageur-canoes_62.html )

There are still lots of unanswered questions, so feel free to offer new information and comments.

Index Voyageur Grandfathers — La Prairie, Trois-Rivières and Quebec

Honoring my French-Canadian Voyageur Grandfathers

🛶 Mathieu Amiot (Amyot) Sieur de Villeneuve (1628-1688) (8th great-grandfather)

son of Philippe Amiot (Amyot) dit Villeneuve (1602-1639) and Anne Convent (1605-1675) Marriage 1650 to Marie Catherine Miville (1632-1702)

• 1640s, Interpreter and fur trader for the Jesuits in the Huron country.

🛶 Pierre Barette dit Courville (1748-1794) (5th great-grandfather)

https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2019/03/pierre-barette-dit-courville-voyageur.html

son of Louis Courville Barrette (Baret) (1717-1753) and Marie Josephe Poupart (1725-1799) Marriage 1772 to Marie Anne Dupuis (Dupuy) (1753-1807)

• 1778, Fort Michilimackinac

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

https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2019/03/francois-bourassa-voyageur-grandfather.html

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

 Marriage 1668 to Marie Le Ber (1666-1756)

• 1686, Hudson Bay • 1688, Ottawa Indians • 1690 Michilimackinac • 1690, Ottawa Indians

🛶 Antoine Jacques Boyer (1671-1747) (8th great-grandfather)

https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2019/03/antoine-jacques-boyer-voyageur.html

son of Charles Boyer (1631-1698) and Marguerite Ténard (1645-1678)

Marriage 1690 to Marie Perras (1673-1736)

• 1694, Ottawa Indians

🛶 Jean Mignault dit Chatillon (1622-1680) (9th great-grandfather)

son of Nicolas Mignault (1600-1648) and Madeleine DeBrie (1600-1648)

Marriage 1648 to Louise Cloutier (1632-1699)

• 1648, Governor Montmagny sent Jean Mignault to the (le pays des Hurons) "Huron's Country" to invite them to the fur trade. 

🛶 Jean Cusson (1630-1718) (9th great-grandfather)

https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2019/03/jean-cusson-voyageur-grandfather.html

son of Jean Cusson (1605-1656) and Jacqueline Pepin (1606-1663)

Marriage 1656 to Marie Foubert (1640-1715)

• 1690, Ottawa Indians

• 1704, Ottawa Indians

My homage to my 'fur trade' grandfathers

🛶 Jacques Deneau (Deniau) dit Destaillis (1660-1720) (7th great-grandfather)

https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2019/03/jacques-deneau-dit-destaillis-voyageur.html

son of Marin Deneau dit Destaillis (1621-1678) and Louise Therese LeBreuil (1634-1727)

Marriage 1690 to Marie Rivet (1673-1705)

• 1685, Sault Ste. Marie • 1688, Ottawa Indians

🛶 Jean Baptiste Desroches (1621-1684) (8th great-grandfather)

https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2019/04/jean-baptiste-desroches-voyageur.html

son of Jean Antoine Desroches (1585-1652) and Antoinette Unknown (1585-_)

Marriage 1647 to Francoise Godé (Gaudet) (1631-1715)

• 1667, formed a trading company with Nicolas Perrot, Toussaint Baudry, and Isaac Nafrechoux. Together they traveled west to Ottawa Country, and to Green Bay in 1668.

⚜️Charles Diel dit Le Petit Breton (1652-1702) (8th great-grandfather)

https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2019/04/charles-diel-dit-le-petit-breton_6.html

son of Philippe Diel (1618-1676) and Marie Anquetin (Hanquetin) (1630-_)

Marriage 1676 to Marie Anne Picard (1663-1697)

• 1665, arrived with La Fouille Company of the Carignan-Salières Regiment.

• 1677 Sep 7, Fort Frontenac

🛶 Charles Diel (1688-1734) (7th great-grandfather)

https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2019/04/charles-diel-fils-voyageur-grandfather.html

son of Charles Diel dit Le Petit Breton (1652-1702) and Marie Anne Picard (1663-1697)

Marriage 1716 to Jeanne Boyer (1694-1730) (7th great-grandmother) (2) 1732 to Marguerite Robert (1683-1766)

• 1713, Détroit • 1718, Détroit

🛶 Moïse Dupuis (Depuis) (1673-1750) (7th great-grandfather)

https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2019/04/moise-dupuis-voyageur-grandfather.html

son of Francois Dupuis (Dupays) (1634-1681) and Georgette Richer (1647-1799) 👑filles du roi

Marriage 1699 to Marie Anne Christiansen (1676-1750)

• 1692, courier de bois and trader at Schenectady, NY -- from "Narratives and ldentities in the Saint Lawrence Valley, 1667-1720"

🛶 Francois Moise Dupuis (1709-1764) (6th great-grandfather)

https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2019/04/francois-moise-dupuis-voyageur.html

son of Moise Dupuis (Depuis) (1673-1750) and Marie Anne Christiansen (1676-1750)

Marriage 1733 to Marie Anne Roy (1712-1750)

• 1752, Michilimackinac

🛶 Denis Duquet (1605-1675) (8th great-grandfather)

son of Joseph Duquet and Jeanne Barbie

Marriage 1638 to Catherine Gautier (1625-1702)

• 1659, member of the "Traite de Tadoussac"

🛶 Etienne Duquet dit Desrochers (1694-1762) (6th great-grandfather) 

https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2019/04/etienne-duquet-dit-desrochers-voyageur.html

son of Jean Duquet dit Desrochers (1651-1710) and Catherine-Ursule Amiot (1664-1715)

Marriage 1722 to Marie-Françoise Deneau dit Destaillis (1698-1737)

• 1751, Michilimackinac • 1752, Michilimackinac • 1753, Michilimackinac

🛶 Pierre Gagne (Gagnier) (1645-1726) (8th great-grandfather)

son of Pierre Gagne (Gasnier) (1610-1656) and Marguerite Roset (Rouzee) (1615-1685)

Marriage 1670 to Catherine Daubigeon (1653-1712)

• La Prairie's Captain of Militia and very likely a Coureur des Bois.

Anne Godefroy (1615-1678) (9th great grandmother) daughter of Pierre Godefroy de Linctot (1585-1666) and Perrette Cavalier (1590-1636) • 1652 Arrival at Quebec, Canada

Marriage 1630 to Jean Testard dit Lafontaine (1612-1705)

🛶 Two brothers of Anne Godefroy, 9th great grandmother: Thomas Godefroy de Normanville and Jean Godefroy de Lintot arrived in New France with Samuel de Champlain about 1626. They both served under Champlain in the capacity of interpreters. 

🛶 Francois Leber (Lebert) (1626-1694) (8th great-grandfather)

https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2019/04/francois-leber-voyageur-grandfather.html

son of Robert LeBer (1601-1625) and Colette Cavelier (1605-1694)

Marriage (1) to BEF 1656 to Marguerite Leseur (1628-1662) (2) 1662 to Jeanne Testard (1642-1723) (8th great-grandmother) 

• 1688, Ottawa Country

🛶 Gabriel Lemieux (1663-1739) (8th great-grandfather)

https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2019/04/gabriel-lemieux-voyageur-grandfather_9.html

son of Gabriel Lemieux (1626-1700) and Marguerite Leboeuf (1636-1671)

Marriage 1690 to Jeanne Robidoux (1673-1736)

• 1690, Michilimackinac • 1692, Ottawa Indians • 1737, Détroit

⚜️André Meunier (Mignier) dit Lagacé (1641-1727) (8th great-grandfather)

son of Michel Mignier Lagace (1602-1678) and Catherine Masson (1620-1669)

Marriage 1668 to Jacquette Michel (1630-1710) (a King's Daughter - 👑filles du roi)

• 1665, a French Sharpshooter in the Berthier Company of the Carignan-Salières Regiment, arrived on the ship Le Brézé 30 June 1665.

🛶 Jean-Baptiste Meunier (Mignier) Lagasse (Lagace) (1749-1828) (5th great-grandfather)

https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2019/04/jean-baptiste-meunier-dit-lagace-pere.html

son of Joseph Mignier (Meunier) Lagasse (Lagace) (1706-1778) and Felicite Caouette (Cahouet) (1709-1783)

Marriage 1775 to Marie Judith Gravel Brindeliere (1757-1779)

• 1778, Ezechiel Solomon - Mississippi • 1794, Ponca Indians - Missouri River.   

🛶 Jean-Baptiste Meunier (Mignier, Minier) Lagasse (Lagace) (1776-1835) (4th great-grandfather)

https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2019/04/jean-baptiste-meunier-lagace-voyageur.html

son of Jean-Baptiste Mignier (Meunier) Lagasse (Lagace) (1749-1828) and Marie Judith Gravel Brindeliere (1757-1779)

Marriage 1799 to Marie Angelique Baret (Barette) dit Courville (1779-1815)

• 1800, James & Andrew McGill - Mississippi • 1803, Oct 6, McTavish, Frobisher & Co. (North West Company) - Lac De La Pluie (Rainy Lake)

🛶 Jean Baptiste Moreau (1657-1727) (8th great-grandfather)

https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2019/04/jean-baptiste-moreau-voyageur.html

son of Jean Moreau (1635-1710) and Catherine Leroux (1635-1689)

Marriage 1692 to Marie Anne Rodrigue (1673-1720)

• 1703, Detroit via Lake Erie • 1704, Fort Le pont Chartrain du lac Êrié • 1705, Fort Le pont Chartrain du lac Êrié • 1716, Michilimackinac • 1717, Michilimackinac • 1718, Michilimackinac

🛶 Jacques Hugues Picard (1618-1707) (9th great-grandfather)

https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2019/04/jacques-hugues-picard-dit-lafortune.html

son of Gabriel Picard dit LaFortune (1590-1660) and Michelle Clavier (1598-1660)

Marriage 1660 to Antoinette Liercourt (1634-1707)

• 1693, Ottawa Indians

⚜️François Pinsonneau dit Lafleur (1646-1731) (7th great-grandfather) parents unknown

Birth 1646 • Saintogne, Charente-Maritime, Poitou-Charentes, France

Death 26 JAN 1731 • La Prairie (Notre-Dame-de-La Prairie-de-la-Madeleine), Québec

Marriage 1673 to Anne LeBer (Leper) (1647-1732) (a King's Daughter - 👑filles du roi)

• a soldier in the Saint-Ours Company of the Carignan-Salières Regiment, arrived on the ship La Justice 14 September 1665.

🛶 Joseph Pinsonneau (Pinsono) (1733-1779) (5th great-grandfather)

https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2019/04/joseph-pinsonneau-voyageur-grandfather.html

son of Jacques Pinsonneau dit Lafleur (1682-1773) and Marie Elisabeth Bourassa (1695-1766)

Marriage 1761 to Marie Madeleine Duquet (1734-1791)

• 1763, Detroit

🛶 Gabriel Pinsonneau (1770-1807) (4th great-grandfather)

https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2019/04/gabriel-pinsonneau-voyageur-grandfather.html

son of Joseph Pinsonneau (Pinsono) (1733-1779) and Marie Madeleine Duquet (1734-1791)

Marriage 1802 to Marie-Louise Vielle (1780-1813)

• 1797 Detroit

🛶 Pierre Poupart (1653-1699) (8th great-grandfather) 

https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2019/04/pierre-poupart-voyageur-grandfather.html

son of Jean Poupart (1625-1682) and Marguerite Frichet (1625-1682)

Marriage 1682 to Marguerite Perras dit La Fontaine (1665-1708)

• 1667, Nicolas Perrot - Lake Superior • 1670, Voyageur for Daumont de Saint-Lusson and Nicolas Perrot when they claimed the Great Lakes for France.

🛶 Joseph Poupart (1696-1726) (7th great-grandfather)

https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2019/04/joseph-poupart-voyageur-grandfather.html

son of Pierre Poupart (1653-1699) and Marguerite Perras dit La Fontaine (1665-1708)

Marriage 1724 to Marie Anne Lemieux (1706-1777)

• 1715, Michilimackinac • 1723, Détroit

In future blog posts I hope to be posting documents for other relatives such as François Rivet Sr. (2nd cousin 7x removed), who traveled with Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark (The Corps of Discovery) and David Thompson, map maker of the NWCo. François died at French Prairie, Oregon 1852, at age 96.

https://a-drifting-cowboy.blogspot.com/2016/08/cousin-francois-rivet-mountain-man.html

Lots more in my blog...
http://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2017/10/ripples-from-la-prairie-voyageur-canoes.html

Jean-Baptiste Meunier Lagacé — Voyageur Grandfather

Jean-Baptiste Meunier (Mignier, Minier) Lagasse (Lagacé) (1776-1835) (4th great-grandfather)

son of Jean-Baptiste Mignier (Meunier) Lagasse (Lagace) (1749-1828) and Marie Judith Gravel Brindeliere (1757-1779)

Birth 24 APR 1776 • Terrebonne, Quebec, Canada

Death BEFORE 1835 • St-Laurent (St-Laurent), Québec

Marriage 1799 to Marie Angelique Baret (Barette) dit Courville (1779-1815)

• 1800, Feb 14, James & Andrew McGill hired Jean-Baptiste Meunier voyageur de Chambly to go to Mississippi, and spend the winter, notary Louis Chaboillez.

Length of Contract: 1

Parish (Standardized): Chambly

Destinations: DEPENDANCES DU MISSISSIPPI (LE NORD EXCEPTÉ)

Functions: MILIEU

Company Representative: JAMES & ANDREW MCGILL [aka North West Company]

Notary Name: Louis Chaboillez

Wages: 500 LIVRES

Advance at Signing: 30

Contract Notes:  DEUX COUVERTES DE 2 1/2 POINTS & DE TROIS POINTS, 6 AUNE DE COTTON, 2 PR. DE SOULIER, 1 COLLIER - S’OBLIGE DE CONTRIBUER AU FOND DES VOYAGEURS

[English]: TWO COVERS OF 2 1/2 POINTS & THREE POINTS, 6 COTTON AUNE, 2 PR. OF SOULIER, 1 NECKLACE - OBLIGATES TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE BACKGROUND OF TRAVELERS. The translation doesn’t make sense, maybe they are blankets and trade beads for his own trade? Perhaps he had been to this area at an earlier date with his father?

Archive Source: BANQ, Greffes de notaires, Microfilm Number: M620/1200

• 1803, Oct 6, McTavish, Frobisher & Co. (North West Company) hired Jean-Baptiste Meunier voyageur de St-André-d’Argenteuil to go to Lac De La Pluie (Rainy Lake), notary Louis Chaboillez). From the Archives of Quebec. 

CONTRACT NOTES (ABOVE):

Last Name Standardized: MEUNIER

Given Names: Jean-Baptiste

Contract Date: 1803, Oct 6

Contract Place: Montréal

Parish: Eboulies

Parish (Standardized): St-André-d’Argenteuil

Destinations: LAC DE LA PLUIE  [aka Rainy Lake]

Functions: MILIEU

Function Notes: passer par Michilimakinac s’il en est requis, faire deux voyages du Fort de Kamanatiguià au Portage de la Montagne, et donner six jours de corvée - et aider à porter les Canots à trois dans les terres

[English]: go through Michilimakinac if required, make two trips from Kamanatiguia Fort to Portage de la Montagne, and give six days of drudgery, and help carry the three canoes in the land.

Merchant Company: MCTAVISH, FROBISHER & CO. [aka North West Company]

Notary Name: Chaboillez, Louis

Wages: 450 LIVRES

Advance at Signing: 150 LIVRES

Contract Notes: équipement ordinaire - s’oblige de contribuer d’un par cent sur ses gages pour le Fonds des Voyageurs - payer au dit engagé un mois après son retour à Montréal, de laquelle somme cent cinquante livres est pour le voyage de Kamanitiguiâ au Lac de la Pluie - aura trente livres dans le mois de Decembre

[English]: ordinary equipment - undertakes to contribute one per cent on his wages for the Voyageurs Fund - to pay to the said hired one month after his return to Montreal, of which one hundred and fifty pounds is for the trip from Kamanitiguia to Lac de la Rain - will have thirty pounds in the month of December.

Archive Source: BANQ, Greffes de notaires, Microfilm Number: M620/1201

.• 1803, 6 octobre—Engagement de Jean-Bte Meunier, des Eboulies, A McTavlsh Froblsher G Co. pour aller au Lac de la Pluie.—Étude Ls Chaboillez.

• 1816, Feb 21, Jean Mignier Engagement to Jean Bte Cadieu. I’m not 100% sure this is our grandfather.

This original notary page predates the Notary Records published later, and I could not locate this file in the (1945-46) Archives of Quebec (1805-1821) pages 227-340.

NOTES:

Name Jn Mignier

Record Date 21 Févr 1816

Record Place Beauharnois, Québec, Canada

Notary François-Georges Lepailleur

Notarial Act Number 1432

Record Description Engagement

Others Name: Jean Bte Cadieu

LINEAGE:

Jean-Baptiste Meunier Lagacé (1776 - 1840) -- 4th great-grandfather

Marie Emélie Meunier Lagacé (1808 - 1883) -- Daughter of Jean-Baptiste Meunier Lagacé

Lucy Pinsonneau (aka Passino) (1836 - 1917) -- Daughter of Marie Emélie Meunier Lagacé -- 2nd great-grandmother

Gabriel Pinsonneau — Voyageur Grandfather

Gabriel Pinsonneau (1770-1807) 4th great-grandfather

son of Joseph Pinsonneau (Pinsono) (1733-1779) and Marie Madeleine Duquet (1734-1791)

Birth 5 AUG 1770 • La Prairie-de-la-Madeleine (St Philippe), Quebec, Canada

Death 19 AUG 1807 • La Prairie-de-la-Madeleine (Notre-Dame), Québec

Marriage 1802 to Marie-Louise Vielle (1780-1813)

• 1797, August 11, Engagement of Gabriel Pinsonneau, of La Prairie, to Jacques & François Lasette to go to Detroit. Notary Louis Chaboillez.

(ABOVE) DETAILS OF 1797, AUG 11, VOYAGEUR CONTRACT FOR GABRIEL PINSONEAU

From: (https://archivesshsb.mb.ca/en/list?q=Pinsoneau&p=1&ps=20&src_facet=Voyageurs)

Last Name: PINSONEAU

Last Name Standardized: PINSONNEAULT

Given Name: GABRIEL

Contract Date: 1797, août 11

Notary Location: MONTREAL

Length of Contract: 1 year

Parish: LAPRAIRIE

Last Name Standardized: Laprairie

Destinations: Détroit

Functions: MILIEU

Company Representative: JACQUES & FRANÇOIS LASSELLE

Notary Name: Louis Chaboillez

Wages: 500 LIVRES

Advance at Signing: 24

Contract Notes: UEN COVERED 3-DR, AUNES SIX OF COTTON, A PR SHOES BEEF

[English]: Must mean… 3 pair of pants, 6 cotton shirts, and a pair of cowhide shoes.

Archive Source: BANQ, Clerk of notaries

Microfilm Number: M620 / 1199 00054

NOTE: In 1763, his father, Joseph Pinsonneau (Pinsono) (1733-1779) my 5th great-grandfather, had also been a voyageur for the same trading company.

LINEAGE:

Gabriel Pinsonneau (Pinsono) (1770 - 1807) (père) -- 4th great-grandfather

Gabriel Pinsonneau) (aka Gilbert Passino) (1803 - 1877) (fils) -- Son of Gabriel Pinsonneau (Pinsono) (père)

Lucy Pinsonneau (aka Passino) (1836 - 1917) -- Daughter of Gabriel Pinsonneau) (aka Gilbert Passino) (fils) -- 2nd great-grandmother

Jean-Baptiste Meunier dit Lagace (père) — Voyageur Grandfather

Ponca Village on the Missouri River by Karl Bodmer

Jean-Baptiste Meunier dit Lagace (1749-1828) (père) 5th great-grandfather

son of Joseph Mignier (Meunier) Lagace (1706-1778) and Felicite Caouette (Cahouet) (1709-1783)

BIRTH 8 APR 1749 • Kamouraska (Ste-Anne-de-la-Pocatiere), Quebec, Canada

DEATH AFT. 1825 • Probably Chateauguay, Quebec, Canada

Marriage 1775 to Marie Judith Gravel Brindeliere (1757-1779)

Original notary file

(1932-33) Archives de Québec (1758-1778), p. 303

• 1778, Feb 20, Ezechiel Solomon hired Jean-Baptiste Meunier, voyageur de La Prairie-de-la-Madeleine de la Magdeleine to go to Mississippi, and spend the winter, Notary Antoine Foucher.

Overwintered: Yes

Parish: St Philippe prairie de La magdeleine

Destinations: MISSISSIPPI

Occupation: Voyageur

Functions: MILIEU

Function Notes: partir du Port de cette Ville, pour aller jusqu’au Poste du Mississipy hiverner & Limites : aider en montant comme en descendant, place de milieu de Canos, à conduire les Canots, Marchandises & Pelleteries dudit Sieur

[English]: from the Port of this City, to go to the Mississippi Post wintering & Limits: to help going up as downhill, middle place of Canos, to drive the Canoes, Goods & Furs of said Sieur

Merchant Company: Ezechiel Solomon

Wages: 450 Chelins

Contract Notes: moyennant le PRIX de quatre cens cinquante Chelins, ancien cours de la Province, qui lui seront payés par ledit Sieur Bourgeois, sitôt le retour desdits Canots au Port de cette Ville ; & sans diminution de ladite somme, avec promesse de l’équipement ordinaire aux Engagés

[English]: for the PRICE of four hundred and fifty Chelins, former course of the Province, which will be paid to him by said Sieur Bourgeois, as soon as the said Canoes return to the Port of that City; & without decrease of said sum, with promise of the ordinary equipment to Engages

Archive Source: BANQ, Greffes de notaires, Microfilm Number M620/0097

Above: actual 1778, contract between Ezechiel Solomon and voyageur Jean-Baptiste Meunier with signatures. Jean-Baptiste signed with an “X”.

Above: Transliteration of the grant made ​​by Carondelet, governor of Louisiana, to Jean Meunier, giving him the exclusivity of trade with the Poncas nation, at the mouth of the Niobrara, for a four-year period starting in 1794. Source: Before Lewis and Clark: Documents Illustrating the History of the Missouri, 1785-1804, by Abraham Phineas Nasatir, University of Oklahoma Press, 2002, 854 pages

• 1794, Jean-Baptiste Meunier and his partner, Jacques Rolland, established trading house near a village of the Ponca Indians on the Missouri River.

NOTES:

• From: Jean-Baptiste Trudeau on the upper Missouri (1794-1796), his journal

[Translation: Two years later, Jean Meunier reached the Poncas village at the mouth of the Niobrara and may be made by grant Carondelet , governor of Louisiana , the exclusivity of trade with this nation for a four-year period starting in 1794.]

[Translation: Jean-Baptiste Meunier, from Vercheres , settled in St. Louis before 1789 , the year he would have been the first white man to discover the Poncas located 400 miles upstream from Missouri. In 1794 is exclusive holder of license deals with this nation. Trudeau to meet again (see sheets 53, 55, 71 and 76 of the manuscript ) . Meunier was more engaged . In some names are spelled Menier , Monier or Munier.]

• From: French-Canadian Trappers of the American Plains and Rockies.

There were the settlers of French-Canadian origin operating in the Illinois country. They plied the Missouri River and other tributaries of the Mississippi deeper into the South, seeking additional fur-trading opportunities.  

It must also not be forgotten that there were a large number of subordinates, regular employees, from both small and large companies, as well as the self-employed, all of whom worked to assure the day-to-day operation of the fur-trading industry. 

In the last decade of the 18th century, Jacques d'Eglise, Pierre Dorion, Pierre-Antoine Tabeau, Joseph Gravelines, Jean-Baptistes Meunier, Joseph Ladéroute, and Pierre Berger were all involved in operations along the Missouri, as were literally hundreds of others during the decades that would follow. 

These are characters who have all long disappeared without a trace, except for their names written in various ledgers-the only written record left in a world where illiteracy reigned supreme.

• From: Archaeology at French colonial Cahokia, by Bonnie L. Gums 

1794 to 1809 - Jean Baptiste Meunier (Munier); a records search in the Illinois State Archives and the St. Clair County Archives failed to locate any notice of sale by Meunier after 1809. 

From:  Prologue to Lewis and Clark: The Mackay and Evans Expedition, by W. Raymond Wood

Eight years later, in 1793, the trader Jean Baptiste Meunier (or Monier) claimed that he was the first European to visit and "discover" the Ponca.  He and his partner, Jacques Rolland, nevertheless dealt with them from a trading house they established near the Ponca village.  

• From: Before Lewis and Clark: Documents Illustrating the History of the Missouri, 1785-1804, edited by Abraham Phineas Nasatir

 A letter from Meunier And Rolland to Carondelet, St. Louis, 1794.

LINEAGE:

Jean-Baptiste Meunier Lagacé (1749 - 1825) (père) — 5th great-grandfather

Jean-Baptiste Meunier dit Lagacé (fils) (1776 - 1840) — Son of Jean-Baptiste Meunier Lagacé (père)

Marie Emélie Meunier Lagacé (1808 - 1883) — Daughter of Jean-Baptiste Meunier dit Lagacé (fils)

Lucy Pinsonneau (aka Passino) (1836 - 1917) — Daughter of Marie Emélie Meunier Lagacé — 2nd great-grandmother

Joseph Pinsonneau — Voyageur Grandfather

Joseph Pinsonneau (Pinsono) (1733-1779) (5th great-grandfather)

son of Jacques Pinsonneau dit Lafleur (1682-1773) and Marie Elisabeth Bourassa (1695-1766)

Birth 10 APR 1733 • La Prairie-de-la-Madeleine, Quebec, Canada

Death AFTER 1779 • Longueuil, Quebec, Canada

Marriage 1761 to Marie Madeleine Duquet (1734-1791)

Given the fact that Joseph is identified as a ‘DEVANT’ (aka AVANT) the bowman: the man located in the front (or bow) of the canoe who acted as the guide, he most assuredly was a Coureur des Bois and a highly experienced canoeist.

• 1763, April 29, Engagement of Joseph Pinsonneault dit Lafleur, as a voyageur, to Michel Laselle, a Montreal merchant. Notary Hadiesne.

Destination: LA BAYE (Green Bay)

Function: DEVANT (aka AVANT)

Function Notes: partir de cette dite ville en qualité de devant Dans un canot chargé de marchandises, aider a le mener et conduire jusqu’au poste de La Baye ou limites d’iceluy, et en redescendre cette presente année avec Les convois ordinaires dans un canot chargé de peltries

[English]: From this city as a front In a canoe laden with goods, help to lead and lead to the post of La Baye or limits iceluy, and down this year with ordinary convoys in a canoe loaded with peltries

Company Representative: Jacques LaSelle fils marchand voyageur demeurant en cette dite ville

Wages: 170 LIVRES

Advance at Signing: 1916 Livres et Sols

Contract Notes: moyennant La Somme de Cent Soixante dix Livres Sur laquelle Le dit engagé reconnoit et confesse avoir ce jourd’huy reçû du dit Sr LaSelle La Somme de dix neuf Livres Seize Sols dont & ca quittant & ca reste La Somme de cent cinquante Livres quatre Sols que le dit Sr. LaSelle promet et S’oblige bailler et payer au dit engagé pour [restant?] de Ses gages et Salaires du dit voyage en monnoye ayant cour en ce païs aussitôt Son retour du dit poste en cette dite ville - Et promet et Soblige Ledit Sr. LaSelle de nourrir Le dit engagé pendant deux jours aussitôt Son arrivée au dit detroit et de luy donner la liberté de travailler a Son profit 

jusqu’a huit jours avant Son depart du dit lieu, et luy permet de descendre en les canots ce qu’il aura gagné en peltries au dit lieu - et exempt du portage de niagara

[English]: by means of The Sum of Hundred Seventy Books On which the said committed recognizes and confesses to have this day received from the said Sr. LaSelle The Sum of nineteen Pounds Sixteen Soils from which & leaving it remains The Sum of one hundred and fifty Pounds Four Soils that said Sr. LaSelle promises and obliges to yawn and to pay to the said engaged for [remaining?] of His wages and Salaries of the said journey in money having court in this country immediately His return of the said post in this city - And promises and Solitude Sr. LaSelle to feed the said engaged for two days immediately His arrival at the said detroit and give him the freedom to work at his profit until eight days before His departure from the said place, and allows him to descend in canoes what he will have gained in peltries at the said place - and without the portage of niagara

Archive Source: BANQ, Greffes de notaires, Microfilm Number M620/0112

Note: translations from google sometimes yield less than perfect results.

(Above) Copy of his actual Voyageur Contract

Update: 2019, Oct 28: There is some confusion about the destination and the merchant. The notary record says Detroit, while the contract reads La Baye. The merchant is Jacques, the son of the well known Detroit trader. Perhaps the notary was confused or perhaps he was going to both places.

LINEAGE:

Joseph Pinsonneau (Pinsono) (1733 - 1784) -- 5th great-grandfather

Gabriel Pinsonneau (Pinsono) (1770 - 1807) -- Son of Joseph Pinsonneau (Pinsono)

Gabriel Pinsonneau)(aka Gilbert Passino) (1803 - 1877) -- Son of Gabriel Pinsonneau (Pinsono)

Lucy Pinsonneau (aka Passino) (1836 - 1917) -- Daughter of Gabriel Pinsonneau)(aka Gilbert Passino) -- 2nd great-grandmother