Amy Johnson Crow at No Story Too Small has issued herself and her readers a challenge for 2014. It’s called “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks”, and as Amy explains, the challenge is to “have one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on one ancestor”.
For the 22nd week of this challenge, I chose Louise Drouin (1835-1890).
Louise Drouin is my paternal great-great-grandmother and is number 19 in my ancestor list.
She was the fifth of ten children of Pierre Drouin, a day laborer, and his wife Marie Reine Poirier. Louise was the eldest surviving daughter of her parents, her two elder sisters (both named Marie Louise) having predeceased her in 1831 and 1834, respectively.
Louise, sometimes known as Eloise, was baptized on 16 August 1836 in St-Benoît (now Mirabel, a little to the north of Montreal) in Deux-Montagnes County, Quebec. According to her baptism record, she was born in July 1835. It’s possible that she was born in Cornwall, Ontario, where her father Pierre resided and worked at the time of her baptism.
I haven’t been able to trace where her parents and siblings lived in the 1840s, but the family lived somewhere in the southwestern part of the province of Quebec. By the 1851 census, the Drouin family, including 17-year-old “Leuesia”, is enumerated in Ste-Cécile-de-Masham in Gatineau County.
It was here in Masham that Louise met and married her fourth cousin Ménésippe Meunier, who I wrote about last week for 52 Ancestors; see his story here. The couple, who wed on 4 October 1853, had eleven children between 1855 and 1874, including my great-grandmother Angélina Meunier (1855-1896), whose story I wrote last February for 52 Ancestors.
After Ménésippe’s death in January 1883, Louise married widower Joseph Poliquin on 14 September 1884 in Masham. Louise and Joseph, a voyageur and later a day laborer, didn’t have children.
Louise died on 13 March 1890 in Masham; she was 53 years old, according to her burial record. Two days later, her funeral took place in the parish cemetery, with her younger son Gédéon Meunier in attendance.
Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.
Friday, May 30, 2014
Friday, May 23, 2014
52 Ancestors: #21 Ménésippe Meunier
Amy Johnson Crow at No Story Too Small has issued herself and her readers a challenge for 2014. It’s called “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks”, and as Amy explains, the challenge is to “have one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on one ancestor”.
For the 21st week of this challenge, I chose Ménésippe Meunier (1829-1883).
Ménésippe Meunier is my paternal great-great-grandfather and is number 18 in my ancestor list.
He was born on 26 February 1829 in Ste-Anne-des-Plaines, northwest of Montreal, in Terrebonne County, Quebec and baptized there that day in Ste-Anne parish church.
Ménésippe was the seventh child of Jean-Baptiste Meunier and his wife Adélaïde Larose. He had seven brothers (four died as children) and three sisters.
During my search for records about my 2x great-grandfather, I encountered interesting spelling variations of his name. Examples include:
• Ménazime (at his baptism in 1829)
• Ménésippe (at his daughter Angélina’s baptism in 1855 and at his children Angélina, Léocadie and Ménésippe’s marriages in 1879, 1880 and 1882)
• Menazipe (on the 1861 and 1871 censuses)
• Ménazipe (on the 1881 census)
• Ménézique (at his burial in 1883).
His surname is usually spelled Meunier, but occasionally appears as Munier (at his marriage in 1853) and Munié (on the 1881 census).
In my files, I standardize his name as Ménésippe Meunier, but include a note about the variations.
If Ménésippe’s name isn’t a mystery, his presence on the 1851 Census of Canada is. (I’ve found him on the 1861, 1871 and 1881 censuses.) He’s not living in Ste-Anne-des-Plaines with his parents or his married brothers Jean-Baptiste and Moïse. He’s also not residing with his married sister Adélaïde in the town of Terrebonne. I even checked Ste-Cécile-de-Masham in Gatineau County to see if had relocated there, where his future wife lived, but no luck.
I estimate that Ménésippe moved from home in Ste-Anne-des-Plaines in the mid- to late-1840s. He probably settled in Ste-Cécile-de-Masham in the early 1850s, presumably after the 1851 census. Here he made the acquaintance of Pierre Drouin (Derouin) and his family, who were also recent arrivals to Masham.
I wonder if Ménésippe was aware that he and Louise (Eloise), Pierre’s younger daughter, shared common ancestors and were fourth cousins when they courted. It doesn’t look like a dispensation due to consanguinity was required when they wed on 4 October 1853 in Masham, because the priest did not record this fact in the sacramental register.
Ménésippe and Louise were the parents of eleven children, seven sons and four daughters. The eldest child was my great-grandmother Angélina. I’ve written about her for 52 Ancestors; see her story here.
After twenty-nine years of marriage, Ménésippe died on 24 January 1883 in Masham; he was not quite 54 years old. He was buried there two days later in the parish cemetery.
Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.
For the 21st week of this challenge, I chose Ménésippe Meunier (1829-1883).
Ménésippe Meunier is my paternal great-great-grandfather and is number 18 in my ancestor list.
He was born on 26 February 1829 in Ste-Anne-des-Plaines, northwest of Montreal, in Terrebonne County, Quebec and baptized there that day in Ste-Anne parish church.
Ménésippe was the seventh child of Jean-Baptiste Meunier and his wife Adélaïde Larose. He had seven brothers (four died as children) and three sisters.
During my search for records about my 2x great-grandfather, I encountered interesting spelling variations of his name. Examples include:
• Ménazime (at his baptism in 1829)
• Ménésippe (at his daughter Angélina’s baptism in 1855 and at his children Angélina, Léocadie and Ménésippe’s marriages in 1879, 1880 and 1882)
• Menazipe (on the 1861 and 1871 censuses)
• Ménazipe (on the 1881 census)
• Ménézique (at his burial in 1883).
His surname is usually spelled Meunier, but occasionally appears as Munier (at his marriage in 1853) and Munié (on the 1881 census).
In my files, I standardize his name as Ménésippe Meunier, but include a note about the variations.
If Ménésippe’s name isn’t a mystery, his presence on the 1851 Census of Canada is. (I’ve found him on the 1861, 1871 and 1881 censuses.) He’s not living in Ste-Anne-des-Plaines with his parents or his married brothers Jean-Baptiste and Moïse. He’s also not residing with his married sister Adélaïde in the town of Terrebonne. I even checked Ste-Cécile-de-Masham in Gatineau County to see if had relocated there, where his future wife lived, but no luck.
I estimate that Ménésippe moved from home in Ste-Anne-des-Plaines in the mid- to late-1840s. He probably settled in Ste-Cécile-de-Masham in the early 1850s, presumably after the 1851 census. Here he made the acquaintance of Pierre Drouin (Derouin) and his family, who were also recent arrivals to Masham.
I wonder if Ménésippe was aware that he and Louise (Eloise), Pierre’s younger daughter, shared common ancestors and were fourth cousins when they courted. It doesn’t look like a dispensation due to consanguinity was required when they wed on 4 October 1853 in Masham, because the priest did not record this fact in the sacramental register.
Ménésippe and Louise were the parents of eleven children, seven sons and four daughters. The eldest child was my great-grandmother Angélina. I’ve written about her for 52 Ancestors; see her story here.
After twenty-nine years of marriage, Ménésippe died on 24 January 1883 in Masham; he was not quite 54 years old. He was buried there two days later in the parish cemetery.
Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.
Friday, May 16, 2014
52 Ancestors: #20 Angélique Lalonde, a bride at 27 years old
Amy Johnson Crow at No Story Too Small has issued herself and her readers a challenge for 2014. It’s called “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks”, and as Amy explains, the challenge is to “have one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on one ancestor”.
For the 20th week of this challenge, I chose Angélique Lalonde (1818-1900).
Angélique is my paternal great-great-grandmother and is number 17 in my ancestor list.
She was born on 5 February 1818 in Les Cèdres, Soulanges County, Quebec and received the name Angélique at her baptism the next day. She was known as Angèle on at least three occasions: on the 1851 census, at her son Pierre’s baptism in 1852, and at her son Paul’s marriage in 1887.
Angélique was the second youngest among the twelve children of Jean-Baptiste Lalonde and his wife Angélique Bray. Through her father, Angélique is a descendant of Sarah Allen (Madeleine Hélène), who was brought to New France in 1704 as a Deerfield captive.
Angélique’s parents were born and married in Les Cèdres; it’s also where all but their last child was born. When Angélique was a young girl, the Lalonde family moved a little to the west to Côteau-du-Lac. Located in southwestern Quebec, these small rural communities are located on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River.
In June 1842, Angélique’s mother died aged 66 in Côteau-du-Lac. By now, all of Angélique's surviving brothers and sisters were married. She was 24 years old and unmarried. Angélique must have wondered what her prospects were like for a marriage and a family of her own.
I don’t know what prompted my 2x great-grandmother to leave her family and widowed father in Côteau-du-Lac, but by the summer of 1845, she was living in Hull, a logging town on the Ottawa River across the future city of Ottawa, capital of Canada.
At the rather advanced age of 27, Angélique married Paul Janvry dit Belair on 2 September 1845 in Aylmer, near Hull. Her husband was four years younger than she was. (I recently wrote about Paul for 52 Ancestors. You can read his story here.)
The couple’s first child Paul was born in August 1846. He died three months short of his eighth birthday when he drowned in May 1854. Angélique’s third child, daughter Delphine, died when she was only five weeks old, in January 1850.
Angélique and Paul’s other children, most of whom were born in Ste-Cécile-de-Masham, not far from Hull, lived to maturity.
• Joseph, born in 1848, eventually moved to Ontario, where he married and had seven children.
• Pierre, born in 1851, my great-grandfather. He married three times and had 16 children.
• Lucie, born in 1853, also married and had a family.
• Emilien, born in 1855, married a local girl and had 12 children.
• Jean-Baptiste, born in 1856, also married a local girl, and had a family. He followed his elder brother’s example and moved to Ontario.
• Paul, born in 1858, married, had a family and went to live in nearby Hull.
• Youngest child Adélaïde (Adèle), born in 1861, remained in Masham, where she married and had six children.
At about the same time as the Belair family arrived in Masham, Angélique elder sister Geneviève left Soulanges County with her husband Joseph Onézime Legros and their children and established themselves in the same community. It is through this couple, Geneviève and Joseph, that I am a fourth cousin of the Dionne quintuplets, whom I’ve written about in Famous Relatives: The Dionne Quintuplets.
Angélique died on 16 January 1900 in Ste-Cécile-de-Masham. She was buried there two days later in the presence of a large number of family and friends, including her sons Pierre and Emilien.
Image credit: Bibliothèque et Archives Canada, no d'acc 1931-218-1.
Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.
For the 20th week of this challenge, I chose Angélique Lalonde (1818-1900).
Angélique is my paternal great-great-grandmother and is number 17 in my ancestor list.
She was born on 5 February 1818 in Les Cèdres, Soulanges County, Quebec and received the name Angélique at her baptism the next day. She was known as Angèle on at least three occasions: on the 1851 census, at her son Pierre’s baptism in 1852, and at her son Paul’s marriage in 1887.
Angélique was the second youngest among the twelve children of Jean-Baptiste Lalonde and his wife Angélique Bray. Through her father, Angélique is a descendant of Sarah Allen (Madeleine Hélène), who was brought to New France in 1704 as a Deerfield captive.
 |
| Les Cèdres, ca 1840 |
Angélique’s parents were born and married in Les Cèdres; it’s also where all but their last child was born. When Angélique was a young girl, the Lalonde family moved a little to the west to Côteau-du-Lac. Located in southwestern Quebec, these small rural communities are located on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River.
In June 1842, Angélique’s mother died aged 66 in Côteau-du-Lac. By now, all of Angélique's surviving brothers and sisters were married. She was 24 years old and unmarried. Angélique must have wondered what her prospects were like for a marriage and a family of her own.
I don’t know what prompted my 2x great-grandmother to leave her family and widowed father in Côteau-du-Lac, but by the summer of 1845, she was living in Hull, a logging town on the Ottawa River across the future city of Ottawa, capital of Canada.
At the rather advanced age of 27, Angélique married Paul Janvry dit Belair on 2 September 1845 in Aylmer, near Hull. Her husband was four years younger than she was. (I recently wrote about Paul for 52 Ancestors. You can read his story here.)
The couple’s first child Paul was born in August 1846. He died three months short of his eighth birthday when he drowned in May 1854. Angélique’s third child, daughter Delphine, died when she was only five weeks old, in January 1850.
Angélique and Paul’s other children, most of whom were born in Ste-Cécile-de-Masham, not far from Hull, lived to maturity.
• Joseph, born in 1848, eventually moved to Ontario, where he married and had seven children.
• Pierre, born in 1851, my great-grandfather. He married three times and had 16 children.
• Lucie, born in 1853, also married and had a family.
• Emilien, born in 1855, married a local girl and had 12 children.
• Jean-Baptiste, born in 1856, also married a local girl, and had a family. He followed his elder brother’s example and moved to Ontario.
• Paul, born in 1858, married, had a family and went to live in nearby Hull.
• Youngest child Adélaïde (Adèle), born in 1861, remained in Masham, where she married and had six children.
At about the same time as the Belair family arrived in Masham, Angélique elder sister Geneviève left Soulanges County with her husband Joseph Onézime Legros and their children and established themselves in the same community. It is through this couple, Geneviève and Joseph, that I am a fourth cousin of the Dionne quintuplets, whom I’ve written about in Famous Relatives: The Dionne Quintuplets.
Angélique died on 16 January 1900 in Ste-Cécile-de-Masham. She was buried there two days later in the presence of a large number of family and friends, including her sons Pierre and Emilien.
Image credit: Bibliothèque et Archives Canada, no d'acc 1931-218-1.
Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.
Friday, May 09, 2014
52 Ancestors: #19 Paul Janvry dit Belair
Amy Johnson Crow at No Story Too Small has issued herself and her readers a challenge for 2014. It’s called “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks”, and as Amy explains, the challenge is to “have one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on one ancestor”.
For the 19th week of this challenge, I chose Paul Janvry dit Belair (1822-1902).
Paul is my paternal great-great-grandfather and is number 16 in my ancestor list.
He was born on 13 May 1822 in Ste-Geneviève (later Pierrefonds, and now part of the City of Montreal) on the Island of Montreal, Lower Canada (now the province of Quebec), and baptized there the following day.
Paul was the third child, but second surviving son of Pierre Janvry dit Belair and his second wife Scholastique St-Michel. By his first wife, the late Marguerite Campeau, Pierre had 14 children, 10 sons and 4 daughters.
Throughout his life, Paul’s surname alternated between his patronym Janvry (and its spelling variations like Janvril) and its dit name Belair (with its spelling variations like Bellaire).
Paul’s parents moved frequently when he was younger. The family lived in Ste-Geneviève, then a little to the north in Ste-Anne-des-Plaines, then at some distance west in the Hull-Gatineau area (across from the future city of Ottawa, later capital of Canada), where Paul’s youngest siblings were born.
When Paul was 23 years old, he married Angélique Lalonde on 2 September 1845. Although the bride and groom each resided in Hull, the wedding ceremony took place in a mission church attached to St-Paul RC church in Aylmer, just to the west of Hull.* Missionary priest J. Desautels blessed their union, which was witnessed by Paul’s father Pierre, his younger brother Toussaint, and his sister’s husband Louis Poulin.
* A mission church is a church that does not have a resident priest. It is served by a missionary priest, who travels from the home church to outlying areas to serve the faithful.
Paul and Angélique settled on lot 55 in range 4 of Ste-Cécile-de-Masham Township (now La Pêche), about 30 kilometres (19 miles) north of Hull, between 1849 and 1851.
The couple had nine children, most of who were born in Masham: Paul, Joseph, Delphine, Pierre (my great-grandfather), Lucie, Emilien, Jean-Baptiste, Paul, and Adélaïde (Adèle). Paul père supported his large brood as a farmer on his own land of about 123 acres.
Paul died in Masham on 17 July 1902; he was 80 years old. He was predeceased by Angélique and three of their children. Paul’s funeral took place three days later in Ste-Cécile parish church. It was well attended by family, including his sons Pierre and Emilien, and by members of the Ligue du Sacré-Coeur (a lay brotherhood devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus), to which Paul belonged.
Image credit: Library and Archives Canada (MIKAN no. 4126897).
Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.
For the 19th week of this challenge, I chose Paul Janvry dit Belair (1822-1902).
Paul is my paternal great-great-grandfather and is number 16 in my ancestor list.
He was born on 13 May 1822 in Ste-Geneviève (later Pierrefonds, and now part of the City of Montreal) on the Island of Montreal, Lower Canada (now the province of Quebec), and baptized there the following day.
Paul was the third child, but second surviving son of Pierre Janvry dit Belair and his second wife Scholastique St-Michel. By his first wife, the late Marguerite Campeau, Pierre had 14 children, 10 sons and 4 daughters.
Throughout his life, Paul’s surname alternated between his patronym Janvry (and its spelling variations like Janvril) and its dit name Belair (with its spelling variations like Bellaire).
Paul’s parents moved frequently when he was younger. The family lived in Ste-Geneviève, then a little to the north in Ste-Anne-des-Plaines, then at some distance west in the Hull-Gatineau area (across from the future city of Ottawa, later capital of Canada), where Paul’s youngest siblings were born.
When Paul was 23 years old, he married Angélique Lalonde on 2 September 1845. Although the bride and groom each resided in Hull, the wedding ceremony took place in a mission church attached to St-Paul RC church in Aylmer, just to the west of Hull.* Missionary priest J. Desautels blessed their union, which was witnessed by Paul’s father Pierre, his younger brother Toussaint, and his sister’s husband Louis Poulin.
* A mission church is a church that does not have a resident priest. It is served by a missionary priest, who travels from the home church to outlying areas to serve the faithful.
 |
| Masham, comté d'Ottawa [Masham, county of Ottawa] |
Paul and Angélique settled on lot 55 in range 4 of Ste-Cécile-de-Masham Township (now La Pêche), about 30 kilometres (19 miles) north of Hull, between 1849 and 1851.
The couple had nine children, most of who were born in Masham: Paul, Joseph, Delphine, Pierre (my great-grandfather), Lucie, Emilien, Jean-Baptiste, Paul, and Adélaïde (Adèle). Paul père supported his large brood as a farmer on his own land of about 123 acres.
Paul died in Masham on 17 July 1902; he was 80 years old. He was predeceased by Angélique and three of their children. Paul’s funeral took place three days later in Ste-Cécile parish church. It was well attended by family, including his sons Pierre and Emilien, and by members of the Ligue du Sacré-Coeur (a lay brotherhood devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus), to which Paul belonged.
Image credit: Library and Archives Canada (MIKAN no. 4126897).
Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.
Sunday, May 04, 2014
Census Sunday: The Belair Family and the 1891 Census
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| 1891 census of Canada (Masham, Quebec) [1] |
My great-grandfather Pierre Janvry dit Belair, his wife Angélina and their children were enumerated on the 1891 census of Canada. [2]
Pierre’s son Fred, my grandfather, was born in late 1889, so this census marks his first appearance on a federal Canadian census return.
 |
| Cropped version of 1891 Masham census |
The Belair family, as seen in the above cropped image version of the Masham 1891 census, consisted of head of family Pierre (39), his wife Angélina (35), and their children Pierre (10), Paul (9), Angélina (7), Marie (5) [usually known as Délia], and Jean Bte (1) [my grandfather Fred].
The enumerator did not sign his name nor did he date the return. Enumerators were instructed to gather information “as it applied at midnight, when April 5 turned into April 6”. [3]
The Belair family home, described in Column 4 as “B1/3 “, was a one-story wooden house with three rooms. [4] Other details include the family members’ place of birth (Q, for the province of Quebec), religion (C.R., for Catholique Romain [Roman Catholic]), and that only mother Angélina and elder sons Pierre and Paul could read and write.
Sources:
1. 1891 census of Canada, Masham, Ottawa, Quebec, population schedule, subdistrict BB, p. 31, family 113, Pierre Jeanvry [sic] household; digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 30 July 2007); citing Library and Archives Canada microfilm T-6412.
2. 1891 census of Canada, Masham, Ottawa, Quebec, pop. sched., subdist. BB, p. 31, fam. 113, Pierre Jeanvry [sic] household.
3. Dave Obee, Counting Canada: A Genealogical Guide to the Canadian Census (Victoria, BC: Dave Obee, 2012), 135.
4. Census of 1891, Library and Archives Canada (http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/census/1891/Pages/about-census.aspx : accessed 1 May 2014), “About the 1891 Census: Common Abbreviations – Other”. Some of the abbreviations found on the 1891 census forms, including those for residential buildings, are explained on the LAC website. The unnamed enumerator wrote in French, thus the B in “B1/3” stands for bois (wooden).
Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.
Friday, May 02, 2014
52 Ancestors: #18 Des Groseilliers and the Royal Charter
Amy Johnson Crow at No Story Too Small has issued herself and her readers a challenge for 2014. It’s called “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks”, and as Amy explains, the challenge is to “have one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on one ancestor”.
For the 18th week of this challenge, I chose Médard Chouart, sieur des Groseilliers (1618-1696?).
Today – 2 May 2014 – is the 344th anniversary of the Royal Charter granted to "the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England, trading into Hudson Bay" by King Charles II. [1]
The Charter is a five-page parchment document, with each page measuring 31” x 25”, according to the HBC website. Images of the original Charter, including its specially designed case, are available at Corporate Collections: Artefacts: Restoring the Royal Charter.
How does my 8x great-grandfather Médard Chouart tie in with the anniversary of this “extraordinary document”? [2]
Médard and his fellow explorer and fur trader Pierre-Esprit Radisson, those “two men [who] stood out among the rest”, were instrumental in the establishment of the Hudson’s Bay Company, which received its charter on 2 May 1670. [3]
Two years previously, Chouart and Radisson sailed from England for Hudson Bay in June 1668. Radisson, his ship the Eaglet and its crew were forced to turn back part way on their ‘exploratory journey’, but Chouart and the Nonsuch made it safely to their destination. He and his men wintered at James Bay (south of Hudson Bay), where they built themselves accommodations and other structures, and, importantly, traded for beaver pelts with “nearly three hundred James Bay Indians” the following spring. [4]
Chouart and the Nonsuch were back in England in October 1669 with a “considerable quantity of Beaver”. [5] Although the voyage did not make much money due to expenses, it proved to the financiers that Chouart and Radisson knew what they were talking about, that is, able to “sail into Hudson Bay, winter on its shores and return with a profitable cargo of fur”. [6] The private investors at the English court were satisfied they could make long-term gains, and thus, the HBC, “history’s oldest continuing capitalist company”, came into existence. [7]
Médard, from whom my mother Jacqueline Desgroseilliers descends, has already been featured in my blog; you can read about him in Médard Chouart, sieur des Groseilliers.
Sources:
1. Corporate Collections: Reference: The Charter, HBC (http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/collections/archival/charter/ : accessed 26 April 2014), “Text of Royal Charter”.
2. Peter C. Newman, Company of Adventurers: The Story of the Hudson’s Bay Company, 2 vols., (Markham, Ontario: Penguin Books, 1985), I: 110.
3. Newman, Company of Adventurers, I: 82.
4. Newman, Company of Adventurers, I: 108.
5. Grace Lee Nute, Caesars of the Wilderness: Médard Chouart, Sieur Des Groseilliers and Pierre Esprit Radisson, 1618-1710 (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, reprint, 1978), 123. Nute quotes the London Gazette of 14 October 1669.
6. Newman, Company of Adventurers, I: 109.
7. Newman, Company of Adventurers, I: 110.
Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.
For the 18th week of this challenge, I chose Médard Chouart, sieur des Groseilliers (1618-1696?).
Today – 2 May 2014 – is the 344th anniversary of the Royal Charter granted to "the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England, trading into Hudson Bay" by King Charles II. [1]
The Charter is a five-page parchment document, with each page measuring 31” x 25”, according to the HBC website. Images of the original Charter, including its specially designed case, are available at Corporate Collections: Artefacts: Restoring the Royal Charter.
How does my 8x great-grandfather Médard Chouart tie in with the anniversary of this “extraordinary document”? [2]
Médard and his fellow explorer and fur trader Pierre-Esprit Radisson, those “two men [who] stood out among the rest”, were instrumental in the establishment of the Hudson’s Bay Company, which received its charter on 2 May 1670. [3]
Two years previously, Chouart and Radisson sailed from England for Hudson Bay in June 1668. Radisson, his ship the Eaglet and its crew were forced to turn back part way on their ‘exploratory journey’, but Chouart and the Nonsuch made it safely to their destination. He and his men wintered at James Bay (south of Hudson Bay), where they built themselves accommodations and other structures, and, importantly, traded for beaver pelts with “nearly three hundred James Bay Indians” the following spring. [4]
Chouart and the Nonsuch were back in England in October 1669 with a “considerable quantity of Beaver”. [5] Although the voyage did not make much money due to expenses, it proved to the financiers that Chouart and Radisson knew what they were talking about, that is, able to “sail into Hudson Bay, winter on its shores and return with a profitable cargo of fur”. [6] The private investors at the English court were satisfied they could make long-term gains, and thus, the HBC, “history’s oldest continuing capitalist company”, came into existence. [7]
Médard, from whom my mother Jacqueline Desgroseilliers descends, has already been featured in my blog; you can read about him in Médard Chouart, sieur des Groseilliers.
Sources:
1. Corporate Collections: Reference: The Charter, HBC (http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/collections/archival/charter/ : accessed 26 April 2014), “Text of Royal Charter”.
2. Peter C. Newman, Company of Adventurers: The Story of the Hudson’s Bay Company, 2 vols., (Markham, Ontario: Penguin Books, 1985), I: 110.
3. Newman, Company of Adventurers, I: 82.
4. Newman, Company of Adventurers, I: 108.
5. Grace Lee Nute, Caesars of the Wilderness: Médard Chouart, Sieur Des Groseilliers and Pierre Esprit Radisson, 1618-1710 (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, reprint, 1978), 123. Nute quotes the London Gazette of 14 October 1669.
6. Newman, Company of Adventurers, I: 109.
7. Newman, Company of Adventurers, I: 110.
Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.
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