Ripples from La Prairie Voyageur Canoes: CHAPTER 8.5: THE PACIFIC PATHFINDER — FRANÇOIS RIVET & THERESA TÊTE PLATTE (1754

SECTION I: ST. LOUIS & THE CORPS OF DISCOVERY (1804–1805)

While the Pinsonneau and Bourassa lines anchored the south shore of the St. Lawrence and pioneered northern New York, another branch of our family tree was forging trails across the American West: the Rivet line.

Born on June 7, 1754, in St-Sulpice, L'Assomption, Québec, François Rivet (1754–1852) was the son of Nicolas-Pierre Rivet and Marie-Madeleine Gauthier. Like many young French-Canadians of his era, François headed west into the Mississippi and Missouri river basins as an independent voyageur and trapper.

FRANÇOIS RIVET & THE WESTERN TRADE

François Rivet (1754–1852)

m. Theresa TÊTE PLATTE (Flathead)

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[1804–1805: Lewis & Clark] [1807–1811: Manuel Lisa &] [1810s–1830s: NWC / HBC]

(St. Louis to Mandan) (David Thompson at Salish House) (Ogden Brigades & Oregon)

In the spring of 1804, near St. Louis, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark recruited François Rivet as a French-Canadian engagé and interpreter for their Corps of Discovery. Rivet paddled the heavy keelboats up the Missouri River, helping navigate treacherous sandbars and establish diplomatic councils with Native nations along the route.

Rivet remained with Lewis and Clark at Fort Mandan (North Dakota) through the harsh winter of 1804–1805. Upon the expedition’s departure from the Mandan villages in the spring of 1805 as they pushed onward toward the Pacific, François Rivet was honorably discharged, choosing to stay in the upper Missouri country to pursue the mountain trade.

SECTION II: MANUEL LISA, DAVID THOMPSON, & THE COLUMBIA RIVER TRADE

Rather than returning east, François Rivet plunged into the golden age of the mountain fur trade:

Manuel Lisa’s Fur Company: By 1807–1809, Rivet joined Manuel Lisa’s St. Louis Missouri Fur Company, trapping the headwaters of the Missouri River and establishing early outposts near the mouth of the Yellowstone.
David Thompson & Salish House: Crossing the Continental Divide into the Rocky Mountain interior, Rivet joined the legendary North West Company (NWC) mapmaker David Thompson—the "Stargazer". In 1809, Rivet helped Thompson construct Salish House (Flathead Post) near present-day Libby, Montana, serving as a clerk, interpreter, and trader among the Salish people.
Clerking for NWC and HBC: Following the 1821 corporate merger of the North West Company and Hudson's Bay Company, Rivet clerked and trapped for the HBC, riding in the Snake River expeditions led by Peter Skene Ogden.

During his years in the northern Rockies, François Rivet married Theresa TÊTE PLATTE (c. 1760–1852) of the Flathead First Nation (Salish). Together, they raised three sons—François Jr. (1809–1830), Antoine (1811–1886), and Joseph (1813–1852)—who carried both French-Canadian and Salish heritage.

SECTION III: FRENCH PRAIRIE & THE OREGON PIONEERS

In the 1830s, after decades on the trail, François Rivet, Theresa Tête Platte, and their sons settled at French Prairie in the Willamette Valley of Oregon—the first permanent non-Native agricultural community in the Pacific Northwest.

In the Willamette Valley, their son Antoine Rivet (1811–1886) married Marie Catherine Tête-Jaune (Yellowhead), daughter of the famous Métis-Iroquois guide Pierre Tête-Jaune, who explored Yellowhead Pass.

Both François Rivet and his wife Theresa Tête Platte lived to ninety-eight years of age, passing away in 1852 in Marion County, Oregon. François was buried beneath the altar floor of the historic St. Paul Roman Catholic Church, leaving a legacy spanning from colonial Québec to the Pacific shores.

CHAPTER 9: THE TRAILS OF BIG SKY & THE CRESTON HOMESTEAD (1880s–1948)

SECTION I: LUCY PASSINO & JOHN GALLOWAY BROWN

Back in Jefferson County, New York, Lucy Passino (1836–1917)—daughter of Gabriel (Gilbert) Passino and Marie Emélie Meunier dit Lagacé—married John Galloway Brown (1833–1915), son of War of 1812 U.S. Dragoon Samuel R. Brown and Maria Weeks.

THE PINSONNEAU / BROWN MONTANA LINEAGE

Gabriel (Gilbert) Passino (1803–1877)

m. Marie Emélie Meunier dit Lagacé

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Lucy Passino (1836–1917)

m. John Galloway Brown (1833–1915)

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Abraham Lincoln Brown (1864–1948)

m. Geneva "Neva" Plympton

[Creston, Montana Homesteaders]

John Galloway Brown and Lucy raised seven children in New York, including their son Abraham Lincoln Brown, born on November 25, 1864, during the height of the Civil War.

SECTION II: ABRAHAM LINCOLN BROWN & GENEVA PLYMPTON IN MONTANA

As the post-Civil War West opened to homesteading, Abraham Lincoln Brown (1864–1948) carried the family line into the American West.

Abraham married Geneva "Neva" Plympton (daughter of a Union Civil War veteran). In the 1890s, Abraham and Geneva moved their young family to northwestern Montana, taking up a permanent homestead at Creston, Montana in the Flathead Valley.

In Creston, Abraham Lincoln Brown established a successful farm beneath the Mission Range, uniting the eastern voyageur heritage of the Pinsonneaus, Bourassas, and Lebers with the Big Sky country of Montana.

Here in the Flathead Valley—where his distant cousin François Rivet had helped David Thompson build Salish House nearly a century earlier—the Pinsonneau-Passino line took firm root in Montana soil.

EPILOGUE: THE UNBROKEN RIVER

When you look back across the multi-generational arc of "Paddles of the St. Lawrence, Trails of Big Sky," you see an unbroken thread of courage, endurance, and frontier leadership:

In New France (1608–1750): Champlain's interpreters (Godefroy), Carignan soldiers (Pinsonneau), Lachine merchants (Leber), and La Prairie brigade commanders (Bourassa) built the river staging grounds.
In the American West (1804–1850): François Rivet rode the keelboats with Lewis & Clark, traded with Manuel Lisa, built Salish House with David Thompson, trapped with Peter Skene Ogden, and clerked for the NWC and HBC before settling in Oregon.
Across the Border & Beyond (1830–1948): Gabriel Passino brought the family line into New York, Lucy Passino bound it to the Brown line, and Abraham Lincoln Brown and Geneva Plympton brought the family home to their Creston, Montana homestead.

The long portage is complete. The canoes are safely ashore, and the river runs unbroken.

NEXT: CHAPTER 9- THE TRAILS OF BIG SKY & THE CRESTON HOMESTEAD (1880s–1948)

https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2026/10/chapter-9-trails-of-big-sky-creston.html

EMPIRES OF THE WILDERNESS- THE VOYAGEUR BLOODLINE OF LA PRAIRIE (1585–1917)

CHAPTER 1- THE VIKING TRAIL, CHAMPLAIN’S TRUCHEMENTS, & THE NORMANDY LINE (890–1678)

https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2026/10/empires-of-wilderness-voyageur.html

CHAPTER 2- THE STAGING GROUND AT LA PRAIRIE & THE LACHINE MONOPOLY (1626–1723)

https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2026/10/chapter-2-staging-ground-at-la-prairie.html

CHAPTER 3- THE FATHERS OF THE FUR TRADE & THE BOURASSA DYNASTY (1659–1756)

https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2026/10/chapter-3-fathers-of-fur-trade-bourassa.html

CHAPTER 4- OUTLAWS, OUTPOSTS, & WILDERNESS SURVIVAL- RENÉ BOURASSA DIT LARONDE (1722–1778)

https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2026/10/chapter-4-outlaws-outposts-wilderness.html