From wikipedia:
In New France, French interpreters (interprète) learned indigenous languages, with the aim of establishing links with aboriginal peoples, living with them and understanding their customs in order to act as intermediaries.
1610–1630: EARLY EXPLORERS AND INTERPRETERS
Shortly after founding a permanent settlement at Quebec City in 1608, Samuel de Champlain sought to ally himself with the local native peoples or First Nations. He decided to send French boys to live among them to learn their languages in order to serve as interpreters, in the hope of persuading the natives to trade with the French rather than with the Dutch, who were active along the Hudson River and Atlantic coast.
The boys learned native languages, customs, and skills, and tended to assimilate quickly to their new environments. A year after leaving Étienne Brûlé in 1610, with a Huron tribe, Champlain visited him, and was surprised to find the young man attired completely in native clothing and able to converse fluently in the Huron language.
Early explorers such as Brûlé educated the French colonists on the complex trading networks of the natives, served as interpreters, and encouraged the burgeoning fur trade. Between 1610 and 1629, dozens of Frenchmen spent months at a time living among the natives. Over time, these early explorers and interpreters played an increasingly active role in the fur trade, paving the way for the emergence of the coureurs des bois proper in the mid-17th century.
Jean Nicolet (Nicollet) de Belleborne (Ca. 1598 – 1 November 1642) was a French coureur des bois noted for exploring Green Bay in what is now the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Nicolet was born in Normandy, France in the late 1590s and moved to New France in 1618. In that same year, he was recruited by Samuel de Champlain, who arranged for him to live with a group of Algonquians, designated as the "Nation of the Isle", to learn native languages and later serve as an interpreter. The natives quickly adopted Nicolet as one of their own, even allowing him to attend councils and negotiate treaties. In 1620, Nicolet was sent to make contact with the Nipissing, a group of natives who played an important role in the growing fur trade. After having established a good reputation for himself, Nicolet was sent on an expedition to Green Bay to settle a peace agreement with the natives of that area.
Pierre-Esprit Radisson (1636–1710) was a French-Canadian fur trader and explorer. His life as explorer and trader is crucially intertwined with that of his brother-in-law, Médard des Groseilliers. Radisson came to New France in 1651, settling in Trois-Rivières. That same year, he was captured by the Mohawks while duck hunting. Although two of his companions were killed during this exchange, the natives spared Radisson's life and adopted him. Through this adoption, Radisson learned native languages that would later serve him well as an interpreter. He worked throughout the 1660s and 1670s with his brother-in-law, des Groseilliers, on various trade and exploration voyages into the west of the continent. Much of Radisson's life during this period is wrapped up in the story of des Groseilliers. Together they are credited with the establishment and shaping of the Hudson's Bay Company.
NEW FRANCE INTERPRETERS IN OUR FAMILY TREE
Jean Godefroy sieur de Linctot (1607–1678) 10th great-uncle
BIRTH 1607 • Rouen, Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, France
DEATH 26 MAR 1678 • Trois Rivires, Quebec, Canada
• 1626, arrived in New France with Samuel de Champlain, and served in the capacity of interpreter.
• After 1629, and the capture of Quebec by the Kirkes (England), he stayed on in the colony, living in the woods with the Indians.
Thomas Godefroy de Normanville (1610–1652) 10th great-uncle
BIRTH ABOUT 1610 • France
DEATH 1652 • Iroquois country (Huronia?), Canada
• 1626, arrived in New France with Samuel de Champlain, and served in the capacity of interpreter.
• After 1629, and the capture of Quebec by the Kirkes (England), he stayed on in the colony, living in the woods with the Indians.
• 1630s Furs were regularly leaving New France for Europe. These furs were mainly supplied by Indian traders, especially the Huron and Ottawa tribes. In Wisconsin the Winnebago tribes blocked the fur trade routes. They were attacked and defeated by the Ottawa and Huron. New tribes such as the Sauk, Fox, Potawatomi, and Ojibwe began moving into the area that is now Wisconsin.
Mathieu Amiot (Amyot) Sieur de Villeneuve (1628–1688) 8th great-grandfather
BIRTH 23 MAY 1628 • Estrees, Soissons, Ile-de-France, France
DEATH 18 DEC 1688 • Québec, Quebec, Canada
• 1640s, Interpreter and fur trader for the Jesuits in the Huron country.
Jean Amiot (Amyot) (1632–1708) 9th great-uncle
BIRTH 02 NOV 1632 • Vineuil, Blois, Loir-et-Cher, Centre, France
DEATH 16 APR 1708 • Québec, Quebec, Canada
• 1640s, Interpreter and indentured employee of the Jesuits he spent several years in the Huron country.
Charles Amiot (Amyot) (1636–1669) 9th great-uncle
BIRTH 26 AUG 1636 • Quebec, Canada
DEATH 10 DEC 1669 • Cap-Saint-Ignace, Quebec, Canada
• 1640s, Interpreter and indentured employee of the Jesuits he spent several years in the Huron country. He was educated at the Jesuit college and when he was barely 14 years old he accompanied Father Bressani as a servant on a trip to the Huron country.
Jean Mignault dit Chatillon (1622–1680) 9th great-grandfather
BIRTH 20 APR 1622 • Nanterre, Hauts-de-Seine, Ile-de-France, France
DEATH 1680 • Montmorency, Quebec, Canada
• 1648, Governor Montmagny sent Jean Mignault to the (le pays des Hurons) "Huron's Country" to invite them to the fur trade.
BEYOND NEW FRANCE — TO THE FORESTS OF CANADA AND THE PLAINS OF THE UNITED STATES
Daniel Joseph Amiot (Amyot) Dit Villeneuve (1665–1725) 8th great-uncle
BIRTH 4 OCT 1665 • Québec, Quebec, Canada
DEATH 1725 • Michillimackinac, Michigan, USA
• 1686, took part in Henri de Tonti’s search for La Salle and descended the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico.
• 1690, François Garconnes de Boisrondel/t, acting for François Daupin sieur de LaForest, hired Daniel Joseph Amiot, Joseph Bénard, Joseph Fafard, Louis Fafard frères, and Jean Lat for a voyage to the Illinois. Notary Antoine Adhémar.
• Many more voyageur trips thru 1710. Marriage 1719 • Mackinac Island, Mackinac, Michigan to Domithilde Oukabe Nepveuouikabe LaFourche (1690-1782) daughter of an Ottawa chief. Death 1725 • Michillimackinac, Michigan, United States.
Rene Bourassa dit LaRonde (1688–1778) 7th great-uncle
BIRTH 21 DEC 1688 • Laprairie, Quebec, Canada
DEATH 7 SEP 1778 • Mackinac Island, Mackinac, Michigan, USA
• 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.
François Rivet (1754–1852) 2nd cousin 7x removed
BIRTH 7 JUN 1754 • St-Sulpice, l'Assomption, Quebec, Canada
DEATH 27 SEP 1852 • Marion County, Oregon, USA
Marriage 1839 to Theresa Tete Platte (of Flathead First Nation) (1755-1852)
• 1791, Jacques Giasson hired François Rivet voyageur de L’Assomption to go to Chaque fois que nécessaire (Wherever required) Nord excluded, 3 years, Notary Louis Chaboillez.
• 1803-04, Winter - St. Louis entrepreneur Auguste Chouteau obliged Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark by engaging eight voyageurs to paddle a cargo pirogue. Three others were hired to assist the soldiers in working a keelboat. Pierre Cruzatte le borgne (one-eye) would be the bowman while François Labiche set the stroke as the first oar. The third, François Rivet, joined the expedition at St. Charles, but agreed to go only as far as the Mandans. The Corps of Discovery wintered at the Mandan/Hidatsa villages that year.
• Spent the rest of his live in service of the NWCo and HBCo.
Charles Michel De Langlade (1729–1801) husband of 1st cousin 7x removed
BIRTH 7 MAY 1729 • Mackinac Island, Michigan, United States
DEATH 26 JULY 1801 • Green Bay, Wisconsin, United States
• 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.
Andre Lagasse (Mignier) dit Lagace (1775–_) 1st cousin 6x removed
BIRTH 19 AUG 1775 • La Pocatière, Quebec, Canada
DEATH Unknown
• 1803, Apr 19 signs 4 year contract to act as a guide and interpreter for the North West Company, and to go to the Red River, Swan River and Lake Winnipeg. Andre Lagasse was an Interpreter for David Thompson.
Paschal Pinsonneau (1796–1884) 2nd cousin 5x removed)
BIRTH 17 APR 1796 • Cahokia, Illinois
DEATH MAR 1884 • Indian Territory, USA
Marriage 1839 • Kansas
Spouse Shikina Pensoneau b. ABT. 1820 • Kickapoo, Nation, Atchison County, Kansas, USA
• Fur-trader, and interpreter with the Kickapoo Indian Nation.
Laurent Pinsonneau (1807–1848) 2nd cousin 5x removed
BIRTH ABT. 1807 • Cahokia, Illinois
DEATH 18 JUL 1848 • Cahokia, St. Clair County, Illinois, USA
Marriage 11 May 1829 • Cahokia, Illinois
Spouse Elisabeth Hayes (1810–1895)
• Fur trader for the American Fur Company. He established a trading post to trade with the Kickapoo Nation of the State of Illinois from present-day Wisconsin State.
Louis C Robidoux (Roubideau) Interpreter (1846–1913) 6th cousin 4x removed
BIRTH ABT 1846 • Wyoming
DEATH 14 JAN 1913 • Rosebud Indian Reservation, South Dakota, USA
• the official Rosebud Agency (Sioux of the Rosebud) interpreter in 1889
Many of our early Voyageur ancestors were also Coureur Des Bois.
SEE: https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2019/04/index-voyageur-grandfathers-la-prairie.html
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