La Prairie family members documented as working for the North West Company (NWC)

 

La Prairie family members documented as working for the North West Company (NWC) (or its primary Montreal agents McTavish, Frobisher & Co. / related partnerships, which operated as the NWC)

Vielle dit Cossé line 

• Joseph Vielle dit Cossé (b. 1767) — 14 February 1797: Engaged as voyageur (Avant / bowman-guide) for a 3-year term to the Nord-Ouest, Nipigon, and Lac Supérieur. Hired by company representative Alexander Mackenzie for McTavish, Frobisher & Co. (NWC). He traveled at least as far as Grand Portage and is believed to have gone farther west.

• Michel Vielle dit Cossé (1771–1810) — 18 March 1793: Engaged as voyageur (Avant / bowman) to the Nord-Ouest for McTavish, Frobisher & Co. (NWC).

Lagacé / Meunier / Mignier line

• Charles Mignier dit Lagacé (Lagasse) (c. 1744/1775–c. 1819/1823) — 28 March 1792: Hired by McTavish, Frobisher & Co. (NWC) as gouvernail (steersman / second steersman) to the North via Grand Portage. Later served with David Thompson on the Upper Saskatchewan River (c. 1800) and on the Columbia Plateau / Columbia River expeditions (including 1811 south from Astoria and later re-engagements).

• André Lagacé (brother of Charles) — 19 April 1803: 4-year contract with Alexander Mackenzie & Co. (NWC) as guide and interpreter bound for Red River, Swan River, and Lake Winnipeg. Worked with David Thompson and appears in Alexander Henry the Younger’s journals (e.g., Red River brigade).

• Jean-Baptiste Meunier (Mignier) Lagacé (1776–1835) — 6 October 1803: Hired by McTavish, Frobisher & Co. (NWC) as voyageur to Lac de la Pluie (Rainy Lake), with instructions involving Michilimackinac, trips from Kaministiquia (Fort William) to Portage de la Montagne, and related duties.

Pinsonneau / Pinsonnault line

• François Pinsonneau (4th great-granduncle) — Voyageur / engagé for the NWC in the Mackenzie River District under Alexander McKenzie (proprietor). Documented at the Great Bear Lake post in the 1805–1806 season (house construction and support work in extreme conditions).

• Pierre Pinsonneau (b. 1765) — 6 December 1802: Hired by McTavish, Frobisher & Co. (NWC) as gouvernail (steersman) for two voyages to Fort Kaministiquia and Portage de la Montagne.

• Joseph Pinsonneau (c. 1763–1820) — Referenced in family summaries as signing a 1799 contract to Detroit for the North West Company.

Boyer line

• Charles Boyer (b. 1744) — Long-term Nor’Wester. Built NWC Fort Vermilion (near the Boyer and Peace rivers) in 1788. On 29 December 1797 he signed a 3-year contract as clerk with McTavish, Frobisher & Co. (NWC agents) for the Nord-Ouest (wages 3,000 livres); the contract was canceled shortly afterward. Described as connected to the NWC from its early years.

Other documented connections

• Louis Dupuis — Engagements including to the Nord-Ouest (one with McTavish, McGillivrays & Co. / related NWC networks in 1810).

• François Rivet — Engaged with the NWC as a freeman trapper and interpreter in the Columbia and Flathead regions; interacted with David Thompson’s NWC party (c. 1808).

These individuals appear in the blog’s notarial contract transcriptions, family timelines, and supporting historical notes as direct NWC employees or agents’ engagés. Many more men bearing the same La Prairie surnames (Boyer, Pinsonneau, Lagacé/Meunier, Dupuis, etc.) almost certainly worked as anonymous or less-documented voyageurs for the company, but the names above are the ones specifically identified in the available records. The NWC era for these families spans roughly the 1780s–1821 (until the merger with the Hudson’s Bay Company).