On This Day: des Groseilliers reaches Rupert River in 1668

Rupert River

It was 350 years ago today, on 29 September 1668 that Médard Chouart, sieur des Groseilliers and the crew of the Nonsuch reached Rupert River on James Bay, in present-day Quebec, Canada. [1]

The Nonsuch and the Eaglet, on which Chouart’s business partner Pierre-Esprit Radisson travelled, left London a few months earlier in June. [2] Bad weather forced the Eaglet to return to England, but Chouart’s ship, under Captain Zachariah Gillam, continued to its destination. [3]

Chouart, the French explorer and fur trader, and the ship’s crew made camp at Rupert River and settled in for the winter. The following spring, “almost 300 peaceful Cree” arrived to trade beaver pelts. [4]

The success of this trip led to the creation of the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1670. [5]

Photo credit:

Wikipedia contributors, "Rupert River", Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupert_River : accessed 26 September 2018).

Sources:

1. HBC Heritage (http://www.hbcheritage.ca/things/technology/the-nonsuch : accessed 25 September 2018), “Nonsuch”.

2. Peter C. Newman, Company of Adventurers: The Story of the Hudson’s Bay Company, 2 vols., (Markham, Ontario: Penguin Books, 1985), I: 107.

3. Newman, Company of Adventurers, I: 108.

4. HBC Heritage (http://www.hbcheritage.ca/things/technology/the-nonsuch : accessed 25 September 2018), “Nonsuch”.

5. Newman, Company of Adventurers, I: 110.

Copyright © 2018, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Médard Chouart, sieur des Groseilliers – Baptised 400 Years Ago

Today – July 31, 2018 – marks the 400th anniversary of the baptism of Médard Chouart, sieur des Groseilliers.

Médard is my 8x maternal great-grandfather. My mother Jacqueline, née Desgroseilliers, descends from Marie-Antoinette Chouart (1661-1731), youngest daughter of Médard by his second wife Marguerite Hayet.

The future explorer and fur trader was the fourth son of Médard Chouart by his wife Marie Poirier. Infant Médard was baptised on 31 July 1618 in St-Martin parish church in Charly (now Charly-sur-Marne), 81 km (50 miles) east of Paris. [1] Unfortunately, the priest omitted Médard’s date of birth in his baptism record, but the child likely received the Sacrament within a day or two of his birth.

Charly église St-Martin 1280.jpg [2]

I originally wrote about Médard’s baptism two years ago in Church Record Sunday: Médard Chouart, sieur des Groseilliers’ 1618 Baptism Record. At that time, I tried to decipher the Latin text, but couldn’t quite manage it. Since then, I came across an article that included both the Latin and the French texts. [3]

Médard Chouart's baptism record* [Archives Départementales de l’Aisne]

* I circled Médard’s name (seen here as Medardus) in yellow.

The Latin transcription of Médard’s baptism record by author Roland-Yves Gagné [4]:

Ultima die mensis & anni ejusdem baptizatus fuit Medardus filius Medardi Chouart & Maria Poirier coniugis cujus patrinus fuit Anthoinis Cheron maxima autrus Illium Catharina LeRoy

Gagné’s French translation of Médard’s baptism record [5]:

Le dernier jour du même mois et année fut baptisé Médard fils de Médard Chouart et Marie Poirier son épouse le parrain fut Antoine Cheron l’ainé l’autre parrain Catherine LeRoy

Here is my English translation of Gagné’s French text:

The last day of the same month and year was baptised Médard son of Médard Chouart and Marie Poirier his spouse the godfather was Antoine Cheron the elder the other [godparent] Catherine LeRoy

I’m pleased that I found Roland-Yves Gagné’s article. His Latin transcription was just what I needed to understand my ancestor’s baptism record.

Sources:

1. Saint-Martin parish (Charly-sur-Marne, France), Registres paroissiaux et d’état civil, Baptêmes 1600-1645, vue: 126/364, poste: 242; baptême, Medardus Souar [sic], 31 juillet 1618; digital image, Archives Départementales de l’Aisne (www.archives.aisne/fr : accessed 8 September 2012).

2. "File:Charly église St-Martin 1280.jpg", Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository (https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Charly_%C3%A9glise_St-Martin_1280.jpg&oldid=223390728 : accessed 29 July 2018).

3. Roland-Yves Gagné, “Charly, Médard Chouart des Groseilliers et Jeanne Godard”, Mémoires de la Société généalogique canadienne-française (MSGCF) 57 (été 2006): 109-114, specifically 112; DVD edition (Montreal, QC: SGCF, 2013).

4. Gagné, “Charly, Médard Chouart des Groseilliers et Jeanne Godard”, 112.

5. Gagné, “Charly, Médard Chouart des Groseilliers et Jeanne Godard”, 112.

Copyright © 2018, Yvonne Demoskoff.

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.

Follow Friday: Voyageurs Contracts Database

While doing background research for a post I’m preparing about my Métis ancestry, I came across a very interesting website. It’s the Voyageurs Contracts Database, which is part of the Centre du patrimoine [Heritage Centre] located in Saint-Boniface, Manitoba, Canada.

If you have Métis or French-Canadian ancestors who were involved in the fur trade (for example, a voyageur*), you’ll find this database really useful. The main page of the Voyageurs Contracts Database explains that its database “includes data from approximately 35,900 fur trade contracts signed in front of Montreal notaries between 1714 and 1830. […] The information collected from the contracts includes: family names, parishes of origin, hiring company, length of contract, destination(s) […]” and more.

* A “voyageur” is a French term that means ‘traveler’. “Voyageurs were the canoe transportation workers in organized, licensed long distance transportation of furs and trade goods in the interior of the continent. [They] were highly valued employees of trading companies, such as the North West Company […] and the Hudson's Bay Company […]”. (Source: Wikipedia contributors, "Voyageurs," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Voyageurs&oldid=418895640 : accessed March 16, 2011).)



Shooting the Rapids (1879)

 (Image source: Frances Anne Hopkins, Library and Archives Canada, acc. no. 1989-401-2, c002774.)

I searched for my ancestor “Toussaint Laronde” using the Database’s Quick Search page. I put “toussaint” in the keywords field and “laronde” in the names field. There were two results; both were my Toussaint. I then clicked ‘Details’ for the results and found items like date, place and length of his contracts, his functions, his wages, and his destinations. (The contracts are dated 13 April 1803 and 28 July 1821.) Next, I clicked ‘Select’, and then ‘View Selections’, where I requested copies of Toussaint’s contracts. In my email, I also asked for the total cost and how I could pay. The archivist promptly answered my questions and said I could pay with PayPal, cheque or money order.

I’m now waiting anxiously for the mail to arrive with paper copies of the microfilmed version of Toussaint’s voyageur contracts!

Copyright © 2012, Yvonne Demoskoff.