Echoes of the Birchbark Brigade: A Family's Thread in the Canadian Fur Trade
In the shadow of the Laurentian mountains, where the St. Lawrence River carved its silver path through untamed forests, the fur trade of New France was born not from grand decrees, but from the sweat of paddles and the whispered bargains of birchbark canoes. From the early 1600s, when French explorers like Samuel de Champlain first bartered with the Innu and Algonquin for beaver pelts—prized in Europe for their waterproof felt in fashionable hats—the trade swelled into a riverine empire. Indigenous nations, from the Huron-Wendat to the Ottawa, became vital partners, guiding French traders through labyrinthine waterways in exchange for axes, cloth, and guns. Yet this commerce was as perilous as it was profitable, fueling wars between European rivals and drawing young men from colonial outposts like Quebec, Trois-Rivières, and La Prairie into the pays d'en haut—the "upper country" of endless lakes and hostile winters.
By the mid-17th century, the unlicensed coureurs de bois ("runners of the woods") had emerged as the trade's daring vanguard, defying royal edicts to venture deep into Indigenous territories. In 1681, French authorities imposed licenses, birthing the professional voyageur—hired hands who transported goods to forts like Michilimackinac and Detroit, their songs echoing over portages. But the line blurred; many, like our ancestors, wore both hats, their lives a tapestry of kinship, risk, and resilience. Through marriages to filles du roi (King's Daughters sent to bolster the colony) and alliances with Indigenous families, they wove French bloodlines into the continent's fabric. This is their story—a cohesive chronicle drawn from baptismal records, notarial contracts, and expedition logs—tracing our lineage's indelible mark on that epic.
The Dawn of the Trade: Pioneers from Champlain's Shadow (1620s–1650s)
The Godefroy brothers (9th great-granduncles)—Thomas de Normanville and Jean de Lintot—were among the first threads, arriving around 1626 with Champlain himself. As interpreters, they bridged French ambitions and Algonquin realities, facilitating early fur exchanges at Tadoussac, where Innu hunters traded pelts for European wares. Their sister, Anne Godefroy (1615–1678), our 9th great-grandmother, followed in 1652, marrying Jean Testard dit Lafontaine in 1630 and anchoring a lineage that would multiply in the trade's folds. Anne's arrival coincided with the fur trade's infancy, when beaver pelts flowed eastward, sustaining fragile settlements against Iroquois raids.
Echoing this legacy, Denis Duquet (1605–1675), our 8th great-grandfather, joined the Traite de Tadoussac in 1659—a pivotal St. Lawrence hub where French merchants bartered with Montagnais and Algonquin bands. Born in France and wed to Catherine Gautier in 1638, Denis's voyages helped formalize the colony's economic spine, as the Compagnie des Habitants monopolized exports. Meanwhile kin like Philippe Foubert (1616–1661), our 10th great-grandfather, likely paddled for that same company in 1649, hauling trade goods upriver amid the era's unchecked coureurs de bois boom.
From Trois-Rivières' stockades, Philippe Amiot dit Villeneuve (1602–1639), our 9th great-grandfather, a coureur, scouted near the town in 1636, his son Mathieu Amiot (Amyot) Sieur de Villeneuve (1628–1688) soon eclipsing him. Mathieu, baptized in France and married to Marie Catherine Miville in 1650, served as interpreter and trader for Jesuits in the Huron country during the 1640s. His fluency in Indigenous tongues aided missionary-fur trade hybrids, even as the Beaver Wars—sparked by Haudenosaunee blockades of Huron supply lines—threatened supply chains. Mathieu's work foreshadowed the trade's militarization, blending evangelism with commerce.
Jean Mignault dit Chatillon (1622–1680), our 9th great-grandfather, carried this torch in 1648, dispatched by Governor Charles Huault de Montmagny to the Huron lands. Wed to Louise Cloutier in 1648, Jean's diplomatic overtures invited Huron allies to French trading posts, countering Dutch influence via the Mohawk. His contemporary, Jean Cusson (1630–1718), another 9th great-grandfather, arrived from France around 1656, marrying Marie Foubert (daughter to Philippe) and later trading with Ottawa bands in 1690 and 1704. These early forays, amid the 1649 Iroquois destruction of Huronia, scattered survivors and pelts alike, reshaping routes westward.
Forging Westward: Soldiers, Syndicates, and the Great Lakes Push (1660s–1680s)
The 1665 arrival of the Carignan-Salières Regiment—1,200 soldiers to quell Iroquois threats—infused the trade with martial grit. François Pinsonneau dit Lafleur (1646–1731), our 7th great-grandfather, landed with the Saint-Ours Company aboard La Justice, marrying fille du roi Anne LeBer in 1673. From La Prairie's militia outpost, he transitioned to unlicensed runs, his descendants perpetuating the line. André Meunier (Mignier) dit Lagacé (1641–1727), our 8th great-grandfather, another Berthier Company sharpshooter on Le Brézé, wed fille du roi Jacquette Michel in 1668, his marksmanship guarding convoys bound for the interior.
Charles Diel dit Le Petit Breton (1652–1702), our 8th great-grandfather, arrived with La Fouille Company, marrying Marie Anne Picard in 1676. By 1677, he manned Fort Frontenac (modern Kingston), LaSalle's Lake Ontario gateway, where birchbark fleets launched amid Anglo-French rivalries. His son, Charles Diel fils (1688–1734), pushed to Detroit in 1713 and 1718, settling the 1701 outpost amid Fox Wars that disrupted supply lines.
Pierre Poupart (1653–1699), our 8th great-grandfather, wed to Marguerite Perras dit La Fontaine in 1682, epitomized the syndicate era. In 1667, he joined Nicolas Perrot—legendary explorer—on Lake Superior runs; by 1670, he canoed for Simon-François Daumont de Saint-Lusson, who claimed the Great Lakes for France at Sault Ste. Marie. Pierre's father-in-law, Pierre Peras dit La Fontaine (1616–1684), and sons likely freelanced as coureurs in the 1670s, their family ledger logging 31 official trips by decade's end.
Gabriel Lemieux (1626–1700), our 9th great-grandfather, and son Gabriel Lemieux (1663–1739) dominated these waters: the elder to Michilimackinac and Sault Ste. Marie in 1690, the younger to the same post in 1690, Ottawa in 1692, and Detroit in 1737. Wed to Marguerite Leboeuf and Jeanne Robidoux respectively, they navigated the 1680s licensing crackdown, when Intendant Duchesneau tallied 500 coureurs evading patrols. Charles Boyer (1631–1698), our 7th great-grandfather, and son Antoine Jacques Boyer (1671–1747) logged those 31 Boyer family voyages in the 1660s, Antoine trading with Ottawa in 1694 after marrying Marie Perras in 1690—linking Boyer and Peras lines.
Jean Baptiste Desroches (1621–1684), our 8th great-grandfather, formalized such ventures in 1667, partnering with Perrot, Toussaint Baudry, and Isaac Nafrechoux to reach Green Bay and Ottawa lands by 1668. Married to Françoise Godé in 1647, his Green Bay push predated LaSalle's 1669 descent of the Ohio, opening western taps. Jacques Deneau (Deniau) dit Destaillis (1660–1720), son of Marin Deneau, another 8th great-grandfather, reached Sault Ste. Marie in 1685 and Ottawa in 1688, marrying Marie Rivet in 1690—tying to François Rivet kin. Jean Duquet dit Desrochers (1651–1710 bourgeois), our 7th great-grandfather, wed to Catherine-Ursule Amiot (Mathieu's granddaughter), led brigades in the 1680s.
From Quebec's merchant class, François Bourassa (1659–1708), our 7th great-grandfather, son of an earlier François, married Marie Le Ber in 1668 and raided Hudson Bay in 1686—challenging the 1670 Hudson's Bay Company (Nonsuch voyage) foothold—before Ottawa and Michilimackinac runs in 1688–1690. François Leber (1626–1694), our 8th great-grandfather, his kin via Le Ber marriages, hit Ottawa in 1688 after wedding Jeanne Testard (Anne Godefroy's daughter-in-law). Pierre Gagne (Gagnier) (1645–1726), another 8th great-grandfather, La Prairie's militia captain, likely freelanced as a coureur, marrying Catherine Daubigeon in 1670. Jacques Hugues Picard (1618–1707), our 9th great-grandfather, wed to Antoinette Liercourt in 1660, traded Ottawa pelts in 1693. André Robidou dit Lespagnol (1643–1678), another 9th great-grandfather, sailed for merchant Eustache Lambert in 1666. Jean Baptiste Moreau (1657–1727), our 8th great-grandfather, canoed to Detroit via Lake Erie in 1703–1705, then Michilimackinac in 1716–1718, marrying Marie Anne Rodrigue in 1692.
The British Shadow and Western Horizons: Forts, Firms, and Frontiers (1700s–Early 1800s)
Post-1701 Treaty of Utrecht, which ceded Acadia and Hudson Bay to Britain, French trade pivoted to the pays d'en haut, but the 1754–1763 Seven Years' War loomed. Moïse Dupuis (1673–1750), son of François Dupuis, our 8th great-grandfather, and fille du roi Georgette Richer, ran courier de bois (woods-running trader) routes to Schenectady in 1692, marrying Marie Anne Christiansen in 1699 amid Franco-Dutch border skirmishes. His son, François Moise Dupuis (1709–1764), hit Michilimackinac in 1752, just before Pontiac's 1763 uprising shuttered the post.
Etienne Duquet dit Desrochers (1694–1762), our 6th great-grandfather, grandson of Denis via Jean, logged three Michilimackinac contracts (1751–1753), marrying Marie-Françoise Deneau in 1722—uniting Duquet and Deneau lines. Joseph Poupart (1696–1726) our 7th great-grandfather, Pierre's son, reached Michilimackinac in 1715 and Detroit in 1723, wedding Marie Anne Lemieux (Gabriel's kin). Jacques Pinsonneau dit Lafleur (1682–1773 coureur via Bourassa ties), our 6th great-grandfather, François's son, bridged generations.
Under British rule after 1763, Montreal firms like McGill and the North West Company (NWC, founded 1779) hired French-Canadian voyageurs en masse. Pierre Barette dit Courville (1748–1794), son of Louis Courville Barrette, our 6th great-grandfather, and Marie Josephe Poupart (Poupart descendant), manned Fort Michilimackinac in 1778, marrying Marie Anne Dupuis (Moïse kin) in 1772. Jean-Baptiste Meunier (Mignier) Lagasse père (1749–1828), our 5th great-grandfather, André's great-grandson, paddled the Mississippi for trader Ezekiel Solomon in 1778 and Missouri for Ponca in 1794, wedding Marie Judith Gravel Brindelire in 1775. His son, Jean-Baptiste Meunier Lagasse fils (1776–1835), our 4th great-grandfather, joined McGill brothers on the Mississippi in 1800 and NWC's McTavish, Frobisher & Co. at Rainy Lake in 1803, marrying Marie Angelique Baret dit Courville (Pierre Barette's kin) in 1799—sealing Meunier-Barette bonds.
Joseph Pinsonneau (1733–1779), our 5th great-grandfather, François's grandson, traded Detroit in 1763—the year Britain seized it—marrying Marie Madeleine Duquet (Etienne kin) in 1761. His son, Gabriel Pinsonneau (1770–1807), our 4th great-grandfather, returned in 1797, wedding Marie-Louise Vielle in 1802.
The Western Tapestry: Cousins on the Frontier
Our 2nd cousin 7x removed, François Rivet Sr. (1754–1852), extends this saga into the 19th century. From a voyageur dynasty—grandfather Pierre to Detroit (1703), father Nicolas-Pierre to Illinois (1738)—François signed NWC contracts in the 1790s, freelancing up the Missouri by 1800. In 1803–1804, he paddled for Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery, wintering at Fort Mandan and descending with return parties. By 1807, he trapped with John McClellan, clashing with Blackfeet and trading at David Thompson's Kootenay outpost. Joining NWC in 1809 at Flathead Post, he interpreted for Thompson's Columbia surveys, partnering with Salish woman Therese Tete Platte and fathering Métis children. Through HBC merger (1821), he led Fort Colville (1832), then retired to Oregon's French Prairie in 1838, dying at 96 amid Willamette settlers—his life a bridge from New France to the Pacific fur empire's twilight.
Legacy on the Lachine Rapids
our ancestors—over 30 strong, from Godefroy interpreters to Meunier NWC paddlers—embodied the fur trade's arc: from Champlain's alliances to Thompson's maps. They endured scurvy-plagued winters, Iroquois ambushes, and British monopolies, their chansons de voyageurs a defiant chorus. Numbering in the hundreds by 1700, such men populated forts from Tadoussac to Rainy Lake, their Métis descendants reshaping the West. Yet their tale warns of exploitation—overhunted beavers, disrupted Indigenous economies—yielding to timber and wheat by the 1800s. In La Prairie's canoes, our blood endures, a paddle's stroke in Canada's wild heart.
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