Edge of Empire: Documents of Michilimackinac, 1671-1716
edited by Joseph L. Peyser and José António Brandao
Michigan State University Press, 2008 Cloth: 978-0-87013-820-1 | eISBN: 978-1-60917-085-1 Library of Congress Classification F572.M16E44 2008 Dewey Decimal Classification 977.488
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Few places were as important in the seventeenth-century European colonial New World as the pays d’en haut. This term means "upper country" and refers to the western Great Lakes (Huron, Michigan, and Superior) and the areas immediately north, south, and west of them. The region was significant because of its large Native American population, because it had an extensive riverine system needed for beaver populations—essential to the fur trade—and because it held the transportation key to westward expansion.
It was vital to the French, who controlled the region, to be on good terms with its peoples. To maintain good relations through trade and diplomacy with the nations in the pays d’en haut, the French built a number of posts, including one at Michilimackinac and one on the St. Joseph River (near Niles, Michigan). These posts were garrisoned by French troops and run by French commanders who contracted with merchants to manage business matters. Edge of Empire provides both an overview and an intensely detailed look at Michilimackinac at a very specific period of history. While the introduction offers an overview of the French fur trade, of the place of Michilimackinac in that network, and of what Michilimackinac was like in the years up to 1716, the body of the book is comprised of over sixty French-language documents, now translated into English. Collected from archives in France, Canada, and the United States, the documents identify many of the people involved in the trade and reveal a great deal about the personal and professional relations among people who traded. They also reveal clearly the process by which trade was carried out, including the roles of both Native Americans and women. At the same time, the documents open a window into French colonial society in New France.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
The late Joseph L. Payser was Professor Emeritus of French at Indiana University South Bend and co-director of the French Michilimackinac Research Project.
Josoé António Brandão is Associate Professor of History and Associate Chair of the Department of History at Western Michigan University. He is co-editor of The Iroquoians and Their World, an ongoing series of publications related to the history and culture of the Iroquoian linguistic group. He is also co-director of the French Michilimackinac Research and Translation Project, of which the translated documents in this volume are a part.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
Maps 000
Illustrations 000
Foreword 000
Preface 000
Acknowledgments 000
Introduction 000
Short Title List of Documents 000
Document 1
May 16, 1671: Copy of St. Lusson¿s Act of possession of the Northern Territory 000
Document 2
July 8, 1683: Petition by Charles de Couagne against Marie Félix 000
Document 3
July 31, 1683: Subpoena delivered to Louis Oacuse 000
Document 4
July 16, 1683: Interrogation of Louis Ouakouts 000
Document 5
July 16 and 27, 1683: Testimony of Simone Côté and others 000
Document 6
No date, 1683: Statement of trade goods belonging to Marie du Bocq 000
Document 7
July 16, 1683: Petition by Charles de Couagne to seize Louis Ouakont¿s canoe 000
Document 8
July 16, 1683: Petition of Charles de Couagne 000
Document 9
Oct. 4, 1683: Petition by Claude Tardy 000
Document 10
Oct. 4¿7, 1683: Judicial investigation of Loisel and Villedieu 000
Document 11
Oct. 5, 1683: Petition by Claude Tardy 000
Document 12
Oct. 7, 1683: Loizel & Villedieu¿s petition 000
Document 13
Oct. 11, 1683: Petition by Anthoine Villedieu 000
Document 14
Oct. 13, 1683: Judgment rendered by Migeon DeBransat 000
Document 15
Oct. 13, 1683: Statement of court expenses 000
Document 16
No date, 1684: Statement of expenditures made by sieur de la Durantaye 000
Document 17
Dec. 31, 1684: Service contract of Claude Guichard, Carpenter, and La Durantaye 000
Document 18
May 19, 1684: Death and inventory of Jean Gay (or Laurent) dit Cascaret 000
Document 19
May 20, 1684: Court record of the death of Mathurin Normandin dit Beausoleil 000
Document 20
Jan. 11, 1685: Partnership agreement between Laurent Baudet and sieur de la Durantaye 000
Document 21
May 15, 1685: Partnership agreement between Jean Morneau & Jean Lariou & sieur de la Durantaye 000
Document 22
No date, 1686: Summary of Denonville¿s letters 000
Document 23
Sept. 24, 1686: René Fezeret¿s complaint against Etienne de Sainte [Xainte] 000
Document 24
Sept. 25, 1686: Etienne de Sainte¿s statement denying Fezeret¿s complaint 000
Document 25
Sept. 26, 1686: Testimony of Fezeret¿s witnesses 000
Document 26
Sept. 26¿27, 1686: Judicial inquiry regarding the petition of Estienne de Sainte against Fezeret 000
Document 27
Sept. 30, 1686: Verdict in favor of Fezeret against de Sainte 000
Document 28
Mar. 3, 1687: Judgment to the benefit of sieur Patron against sieur Dulhut [Duluth] 000
Document 29
Mar. 8, 1688: King to Denonville and Champigny 000
Document 30
Jan. 20, 1688: Marie Morin¿s sworn statement against Alphonse de Tonty 000
Document 31
June 7, 1689: Instructions to Governor Frontenac 000
Document 32
May 14, 1690: Agreement between Nicolas Perrot and Pierre Le Sueur 000
Document 33
Sept. 1, 1690: Protest by Françoise Duquet against the Bishop of Quebec 000
Document 34
Sept. 16, 1692: Summary investigation of the beaver trade 000
Document 35
Aug. 31, 1693: Service contract between sieurs Louis Duquet Duverdier, etc., and sieur de la Durantaye 000
Document 36
Sept. 9, 1694: Agreement between Monsieur de la Mothe de Cadillac and Moreau 000
Document 37
Aug. 3, 1695: Cadillac to the Minister 000
Document 38
Apr. 23, 1696: Agreement regarding the purchase, via credit, of trade goods by Marie Guyon 000
Document 39
Sept. 2, 1696: Service contract of Jean Lalonde with Cadillac 000
Document 40
Sept. 24, 1696: House-rental lease from sieur Petit to Mme Cadillac 000
Document 41
September 1697: Champigny to the Minister re: Alphonse de Tonty¿s illegal trade at Michilimackinac 000
Document 42
September 1697: Callière¿s orders to Le Verrier to stop the French from going to the Ottawa country, and Champigny¿s remarks 000
Document 43
Oct. 27, 1697: Champigny to the Minister re: Alphonse de Tonty¿s illegal Michilimackinac trade 000
Document 44
Sept. 4, 1697: Alphonse de Tonty¿s power of attorney to St. Germain 000
Document 45
May 21, 1698: Minister to Callière 000
Document 46
May 5, 1700: Royal memoir to Callière and Champigny 000
Document 47
May 27, 1700: Minutes of the Enquiry of Fezeret v. Boudor 000
Document 48
June 5, 1700: Fezeret v. Boudor: witnesses¿ testimony 000
Document 49
Oct. 3, 1701: Reversal by the Sovereign Council of the 1699 judgment in Fezeret v. Boudor 000
Document 50
May 30, 1703: Minister to Callière re: La Durantaye; la dame de La Forest 000
Document 51
Dec. 31, 1705: Declaration by Marie Lesueur 000
Document 52
July 10, 1715: Ponchartrain to Ramezay and Bégon regarding soldiers at Michilimackinac 000
Document 53
Nov. 20, 1715: Ramezay¿s orders regarding voyageur Verger dit Desjardins 000
Document 54
Nov. 7, 1716: Louvigny¿s statement re: engagés¿ pay dispute over serving against the Foxes 000
Document 55
Sept. 6, etc., 1716¿1717: Petition of Pierre Crevier Duvernay for Pay 000
Document 56
Jan. 13, 1716: King¿s attorney¿s complaint against various voyageurs 000
Document 57
Jan. 13, 1716: Record of interrogations of Leboeuf, etc. 000
Document 58
Jan. 14, 1716: Sentence ordering the four guilty voyageurs to return to Michilimackinac 000
Document 59
Jan. 14, 1716: Appearance of François Poisset as bond for Jean Vergé 000
Document 60
Mar. 27, 1734: Statement by Daragon on the topic of Lafranchise who was robbed and buried alive about 42 years ago 000
Document 61
Mar. 29, 1734: Statement by Widow Dailleboust De Musseaux on the topic of the soldier who was robbed and buried alive about 43 years ago 000
Document 62
Mar. 30, 1734: Statement by Pierre Martin on the same topic 000
Notes 000
Appendix 1. Untranslated French Terms 000
Appendix 2. Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Legal Terms 000
Appendix 3. List of Missionaries Assigned to Michilimackinac 000
Appendix 4. List of Commanders Assigned to Michilimackinac 000
Bibliography 000
Index 000<ctMaps
REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
If you are a student who cannot use this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you
with an electronic file for alternative access.
Please have the accessibility coordinator at your school fill out this form.
Edge of Empire: Documents of Michilimackinac, 1671-1716
edited by Joseph L. Peyser and José António Brandao
Michigan State University Press, 2008 Cloth: 978-0-87013-820-1 eISBN: 978-1-60917-085-1
Few places were as important in the seventeenth-century European colonial New World as the pays d’en haut. This term means "upper country" and refers to the western Great Lakes (Huron, Michigan, and Superior) and the areas immediately north, south, and west of them. The region was significant because of its large Native American population, because it had an extensive riverine system needed for beaver populations—essential to the fur trade—and because it held the transportation key to westward expansion.
It was vital to the French, who controlled the region, to be on good terms with its peoples. To maintain good relations through trade and diplomacy with the nations in the pays d’en haut, the French built a number of posts, including one at Michilimackinac and one on the St. Joseph River (near Niles, Michigan). These posts were garrisoned by French troops and run by French commanders who contracted with merchants to manage business matters. Edge of Empire provides both an overview and an intensely detailed look at Michilimackinac at a very specific period of history. While the introduction offers an overview of the French fur trade, of the place of Michilimackinac in that network, and of what Michilimackinac was like in the years up to 1716, the body of the book is comprised of over sixty French-language documents, now translated into English. Collected from archives in France, Canada, and the United States, the documents identify many of the people involved in the trade and reveal a great deal about the personal and professional relations among people who traded. They also reveal clearly the process by which trade was carried out, including the roles of both Native Americans and women. At the same time, the documents open a window into French colonial society in New France.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
The late Joseph L. Payser was Professor Emeritus of French at Indiana University South Bend and co-director of the French Michilimackinac Research Project.
Josoé António Brandão is Associate Professor of History and Associate Chair of the Department of History at Western Michigan University. He is co-editor of The Iroquoians and Their World, an ongoing series of publications related to the history and culture of the Iroquoian linguistic group. He is also co-director of the French Michilimackinac Research and Translation Project, of which the translated documents in this volume are a part.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
Maps 000
Illustrations 000
Foreword 000
Preface 000
Acknowledgments 000
Introduction 000
Short Title List of Documents 000
Document 1
May 16, 1671: Copy of St. Lusson¿s Act of possession of the Northern Territory 000
Document 2
July 8, 1683: Petition by Charles de Couagne against Marie Félix 000
Document 3
July 31, 1683: Subpoena delivered to Louis Oacuse 000
Document 4
July 16, 1683: Interrogation of Louis Ouakouts 000
Document 5
July 16 and 27, 1683: Testimony of Simone Côté and others 000
Document 6
No date, 1683: Statement of trade goods belonging to Marie du Bocq 000
Document 7
July 16, 1683: Petition by Charles de Couagne to seize Louis Ouakont¿s canoe 000
Document 8
July 16, 1683: Petition of Charles de Couagne 000
Document 9
Oct. 4, 1683: Petition by Claude Tardy 000
Document 10
Oct. 4¿7, 1683: Judicial investigation of Loisel and Villedieu 000
Document 11
Oct. 5, 1683: Petition by Claude Tardy 000
Document 12
Oct. 7, 1683: Loizel & Villedieu¿s petition 000
Document 13
Oct. 11, 1683: Petition by Anthoine Villedieu 000
Document 14
Oct. 13, 1683: Judgment rendered by Migeon DeBransat 000
Document 15
Oct. 13, 1683: Statement of court expenses 000
Document 16
No date, 1684: Statement of expenditures made by sieur de la Durantaye 000
Document 17
Dec. 31, 1684: Service contract of Claude Guichard, Carpenter, and La Durantaye 000
Document 18
May 19, 1684: Death and inventory of Jean Gay (or Laurent) dit Cascaret 000
Document 19
May 20, 1684: Court record of the death of Mathurin Normandin dit Beausoleil 000
Document 20
Jan. 11, 1685: Partnership agreement between Laurent Baudet and sieur de la Durantaye 000
Document 21
May 15, 1685: Partnership agreement between Jean Morneau & Jean Lariou & sieur de la Durantaye 000
Document 22
No date, 1686: Summary of Denonville¿s letters 000
Document 23
Sept. 24, 1686: René Fezeret¿s complaint against Etienne de Sainte [Xainte] 000
Document 24
Sept. 25, 1686: Etienne de Sainte¿s statement denying Fezeret¿s complaint 000
Document 25
Sept. 26, 1686: Testimony of Fezeret¿s witnesses 000
Document 26
Sept. 26¿27, 1686: Judicial inquiry regarding the petition of Estienne de Sainte against Fezeret 000
Document 27
Sept. 30, 1686: Verdict in favor of Fezeret against de Sainte 000
Document 28
Mar. 3, 1687: Judgment to the benefit of sieur Patron against sieur Dulhut [Duluth] 000
Document 29
Mar. 8, 1688: King to Denonville and Champigny 000
Document 30
Jan. 20, 1688: Marie Morin¿s sworn statement against Alphonse de Tonty 000
Document 31
June 7, 1689: Instructions to Governor Frontenac 000
Document 32
May 14, 1690: Agreement between Nicolas Perrot and Pierre Le Sueur 000
Document 33
Sept. 1, 1690: Protest by Françoise Duquet against the Bishop of Quebec 000
Document 34
Sept. 16, 1692: Summary investigation of the beaver trade 000
Document 35
Aug. 31, 1693: Service contract between sieurs Louis Duquet Duverdier, etc., and sieur de la Durantaye 000
Document 36
Sept. 9, 1694: Agreement between Monsieur de la Mothe de Cadillac and Moreau 000
Document 37
Aug. 3, 1695: Cadillac to the Minister 000
Document 38
Apr. 23, 1696: Agreement regarding the purchase, via credit, of trade goods by Marie Guyon 000
Document 39
Sept. 2, 1696: Service contract of Jean Lalonde with Cadillac 000
Document 40
Sept. 24, 1696: House-rental lease from sieur Petit to Mme Cadillac 000
Document 41
September 1697: Champigny to the Minister re: Alphonse de Tonty¿s illegal trade at Michilimackinac 000
Document 42
September 1697: Callière¿s orders to Le Verrier to stop the French from going to the Ottawa country, and Champigny¿s remarks 000
Document 43
Oct. 27, 1697: Champigny to the Minister re: Alphonse de Tonty¿s illegal Michilimackinac trade 000
Document 44
Sept. 4, 1697: Alphonse de Tonty¿s power of attorney to St. Germain 000
Document 45
May 21, 1698: Minister to Callière 000
Document 46
May 5, 1700: Royal memoir to Callière and Champigny 000
Document 47
May 27, 1700: Minutes of the Enquiry of Fezeret v. Boudor 000
Document 48
June 5, 1700: Fezeret v. Boudor: witnesses¿ testimony 000
Document 49
Oct. 3, 1701: Reversal by the Sovereign Council of the 1699 judgment in Fezeret v. Boudor 000
Document 50
May 30, 1703: Minister to Callière re: La Durantaye; la dame de La Forest 000
Document 51
Dec. 31, 1705: Declaration by Marie Lesueur 000
Document 52
July 10, 1715: Ponchartrain to Ramezay and Bégon regarding soldiers at Michilimackinac 000
Document 53
Nov. 20, 1715: Ramezay¿s orders regarding voyageur Verger dit Desjardins 000
Document 54
Nov. 7, 1716: Louvigny¿s statement re: engagés¿ pay dispute over serving against the Foxes 000
Document 55
Sept. 6, etc., 1716¿1717: Petition of Pierre Crevier Duvernay for Pay 000
Document 56
Jan. 13, 1716: King¿s attorney¿s complaint against various voyageurs 000
Document 57
Jan. 13, 1716: Record of interrogations of Leboeuf, etc. 000
Document 58
Jan. 14, 1716: Sentence ordering the four guilty voyageurs to return to Michilimackinac 000
Document 59
Jan. 14, 1716: Appearance of François Poisset as bond for Jean Vergé 000
Document 60
Mar. 27, 1734: Statement by Daragon on the topic of Lafranchise who was robbed and buried alive about 42 years ago 000
Document 61
Mar. 29, 1734: Statement by Widow Dailleboust De Musseaux on the topic of the soldier who was robbed and buried alive about 43 years ago 000
Document 62
Mar. 30, 1734: Statement by Pierre Martin on the same topic 000
Notes 000
Appendix 1. Untranslated French Terms 000
Appendix 2. Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Legal Terms 000
Appendix 3. List of Missionaries Assigned to Michilimackinac 000
Appendix 4. List of Commanders Assigned to Michilimackinac 000
Bibliography 000
Index 000<ctMaps
REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
If you are a student who cannot use this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you
with an electronic file for alternative access.
Please have the accessibility coordinator at your school fill out this form.
It can take 2-3 weeks for requests to be filled.
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
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