Fort St. Joseph

Commandants and People Documented to Have Been Involved in the Fur Trade at Fort St. Joseph, near present-day Niles, Michigan , Compiled by Diane Wolford Sheppard

Profiles of Fort St. Joseph Families - In addition to the métis families, the profiles on this page will include all of the families who lived at Fort St. Joseph through the end of the fort registers in 1773. The recent emphasis by authors on Native Women means that the French-Canadian women and their families are often ignored, thereby creating a false impression of the families who lived at Fort St. Joseph, as well as the forts themselves. As you read these profiles, you will see how extensively these women travelled throughout the Great Lakes and to and from the St. Lawrence settlements. These women are just as worthy of our admiration as the voyageurs and traders.

Some Families lived at Fort St. Joseph and at Michilimackinac. The remaining profiles will be completed as time permits.

Bariteau to Beaune Families

Bolon – Ménard Family

Chevalier Family

Collet – Foucher Family

Dagneau Dequindre – Picoté de Belestre Family

Demers – Chevalier Family

Deshêtres – Chevalier Family

Larchevêque – Réaume Family

Réaume Family

Additional Articles:

Marriage Contract of Louis Chevallier and Marie Madeleine Réaume, widow of Augustin Larchevesque 28 April 1752, Fort St. Joseph (Niles, Michigan), translated by Suzanne Boivin Sommerville - Suzanne used this document as a handout for her presentation at the 2010 Center for French-Colonial Studies conference in Niles, Michigan

My Relatives at Fort St. Joseph: French? Indian? Some Important Interconnections, by Suzanne Boivin Sommerville

Articles about the Deshêtres Family: The Deshêtres family lived at Michilimackinac, Fort St. Joseph, and the Detroit River Region. The profile of the family appears above. FCHSM Members, log in to access the following issues of MHH for the articles appearing in January 2007, July 2007, July 2008, January 2009

The following articles appeared in MHH in 2006:

The Excommunication of Louis de Gonzague Deshêtres dit Pigeon and Louise Beaulieu, by Loraine DiCerbo – This article was originally published in the April 2006 issue of MHH.

The Combined Children of Marie Louise Thérèse Beaulieu and Louis Gonzague Deshêtres dit Pigeon, by Loraine DiCerbo – this was originally published appeared in the October 2006 issue of MHH.

Additional Articles in MHH: FCHSM members, please log in and access the list of articles published in MHH.

Links:

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project: http://www.wmich.edu/fortstjoseph/; Booklet Series: http://www.wmich.edu/fortstjoseph/about/resources; Educational Panels: http://www.wmich.edu/fortstjoseph/about/panels; Blog: http://fortstjosepharchaeology.blogspot.com/.

See the People of the Post booklet for the illustration above

Excavation site at Fort St. Joseph - Loraine DiCerbo

Loraine DiCerbo’s photo of the excavation site at Fort St. Joseph