In the windswept ports of 17th-century France, François Bourassa was born in 1659 in Luçon, Eure-et-Loir, to François Bourassa Sr. and Marguerite Dugas. Drawn by the siren call of New France's untamed wilderness and its lucrative fur trade, he crossed the Atlantic as a young man, settling into the colony's vibrant yet volatile frontier life. By 1684, at age 25, he married Marie Le Ber, then 18, at Fort Saint-Louis in Chambly (or Contrecœur, depending on records), forging a union that blended two families deeply entrenched in commerce and exploration. Marie, daughter of voyageur François Le Ber and Jeanne Testard, brought ties to influential fur trade networks, including her uncle Jacques Le Ber dit Larose, a prominent merchant and partner in the Le Ber-Le Moyne House—a stone fur trading post built in Lachine between 1669 and 1671, which controlled key routes to Lake Saint-Louis and served as a hub for pelts until the mid-1680s. This marriage not only solidified François's position in the trade but also produced a dynasty of adventurers, including sons René (1688-1778), François Joachim (1698-1775), Antoine (1705-1780), and daughter Marie Elisabeth (1695-1766), all rooted in La Prairie de la Magdeleine .
François's career as a voyageur thrust him into the heart of New France's imperial ambitions, where beaver pelts were currency and waterways were battlegrounds against British rivals. His most audacious exploit came in 1686, when he joined the Chevalier de Troyes Expedition to Hudson Bay, funded by the Compagnie du Nord, which held the northern fur monopoly. Prompted by British encroachments and the betrayal of Pierre Radisson, Governor Brisay de Denonville dispatched de Troyes, along with officers Pierre, Paul, and Jacques Le Moyne, to lead 96 men in over 30 canoes from Montreal. Departing amid Ottawa River ice on March 20, the party battled harsh conditions—portaging through snow and navigating frozen lakes—for three grueling months, reaching James Bay by June 20. They swiftly captured three British forts: Monsipi (Moose Factory), Rupert (Charles), and Albany, with minimal resistance and only three French casualties—two drownings and one from exposure. Pierre Le Moyne garrisoned the posts, while de Troyes returned the force to Quebec by October, securing a military triumph that bolstered French claims and enriched the Compagnie du Nord with seized pelts.
Building on this success, François deepened his family ties to the trade. On March 8, 1687, he transported goods—likely pelts from the Hudson venture—to his brother-in-law Jacques Le Ber, a key figure in the Lachine post, which by then was a linchpin for exporting furs to Europe. The following year, on June 27, 1688, René Legardeur, sieur de Beauvais, hired François alongside his brother-in-law Joachim Jacques Le Ber for a voyage to the Outaouais (Ottawa Indians), navigating the intricate alliances and rivers of the Great Lakes region. In 1690, Legardeur engaged him again on May 11, this time with Pierre Bourdeau, André Babeu, and Joachim Le Ber, for a trip to Michilimackinac—a bustling trading nexus at the straits of Lakes Huron and Michigan. The next day, May 12, François consented to a debt for merchandise to outfit their Ottawa voyage, underscoring the financial risks voyageurs bore for potential riches in beaver skins.
The Bourassa clan's legacy extended far beyond François, earning them the moniker "fathers of the fur trade" through their sons' exploits. René, a coureur des bois, ventured to the Pays d'en Haut in 1726, aided La Vérendrye's western posts in 1735 (enduring Sioux capture), traded with Ojibwa at Vermillion in 1737, and navigated illicit dealings, including a 1722 fine for Albany trades and 1729 covert missions to New England. François Joachim hired on for Detroit in 1757, while Antoine secured a 1740 license to Philadelphia and joined a 1745 Michilimackinac expedition, all departing from La Prairie. These brothers embodied the intergenerational grit that propelled French expansion westward, often as unlicensed runners evading monopolies for greater freedom and profit.
François's life ended prematurely on May 9, 1708, in La Prairie, where he had built a home amid the community's voyageur heritage—residents like the Le Bers and Godefroys, including Marie's grand-uncle Jean Godefroy de Linctot, an interpreter who arrived with Champlain. Widowed Marie remarried in 1714 and lived until 1756, overseeing a family that spanned continents and conflicts. His lineage persevered through daughter Marie Elisabeth, who bore Joseph Pinsonneau (1733-1784), leading to Gabriel Pinsonneau (1770-1807), his son Gabriel (1803-1877), and ultimately Lucy Pinsonneau (1836-1917), a 2nd great-grandmother whose roots trace back to François's daring paddles through ice and ambition. In an era of empires clashing over furs, François Bourassa charted a course of conquest and kinship, leaving an indelible mark on the rivers of history.
Earlier files & documents:
François Bourassa — Voyageur Grandfather
https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2019/03/francois-bourassa-voyageur-grandfather.html
Francois Bourassa's 1686, voyage to Hudson Bay for the Compagnie du Nord
https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2017/06/francois-bourassas-1686-voyage-to.html
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