One of the First French in Indiana — Jean-Baptiste Richard

B. 19 Mar 1681 in Pointe-aux-Trembles, New France¹
M. 15 Aug 1718 in Montreal, New France²
Wife: Marie-Anne You
D. after 10 Dec 1731 in (probably) Illinois Country³

During the late 17th- and early 18th-century, French fur traders penetrated deep into what is now the American Midwest, setting up outposts along major rivers. The first one established in present-day Indiana was built by a handful of men, including Jean-Baptiste Richard.

Some of the details about Jean-Baptiste’s life are sketchy, but it is known that he was born March 18, 1681 in Pointe-aux-Trembles, New France to Guillaume Richard and Agnes Tessier¹, one of at least eight children. Guillaume was a fur trader and soldier, who was unfortunately killed by Iroquois when Jean-Baptiste was a boy.⁴

Jean-Baptiste grew up surrounded by those in the fur trade, and it was natural that he get involved in it. Fur trading meant dealing with natives of various tribes, and Jean-Baptiste picked up on the languages, becoming well-known as an interpreter.⁵ He also learned the skill of being a blacksmith.⁵ Both of these things would make him valuable on the frontier.

The earliest record of Jean-Baptiste living out west was when he was allotted land at Fort Detroit on March 10, 1707; he paid 40 sols in rent, plus “10 livres for other rights,”⁶ likely the permission to trade with Indians. It was said that Jean-Baptiste was seriously injured the following year, and needed to leave the fort,⁶ presumably to go back to Montreal. This would have been a rugged trip by canoe of over 500 miles.

By 1710, Jean-Baptiste must have returned to Fort Detroit because he was mentioned in the baptism of a Native American slave that he owned.⁶ This is a curious record because there's suggestion that the slave, a 15-year-old girl, may have later become his wife. But the first name is different—Marie-Jeanne—so the evidence isn't conclusive. It's important to note that slaves in French fur trading outposts were often paid for their work, and they usually lived in the house along with their owners. Many were freed when they came of age.

In 1717, Jean-Baptiste was asked to join a company of men on a venture to establish a new trading post. A cluster of Indian villages on the Wabash River became a prime location for dealing in furs, and the tribal leaders wanted the French to set up a fort for everyone's protection. They asked the French to provide “an officer to govern them, a missionary to instruct them, and a blacksmith.”⁷ That’s how Jean-Baptiste became one of the eight men chosen to build Fort Ouiatenon, the first permanent post in Indiana. The eight men constructed a stockade within a fort that would one day contain “a double row of ten houses, a chapel, a blacksmith shop, and trading areas.”⁷

Modern replica of Fort Ouiatenon blockhouse. (Source: Hammer51012, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

If the slave on the 1710 baptism was a different person than the woman he married, it's likely that Jean-Baptiste met his wife, Marie-Anne You, at Fort Ouiatenon. She was the daughter of a French fur trader and a woman from the Miami tribe,⁸ and had lived near the fort among her mother’s people. Jean-Baptiste and Marie-Anne traveled to Montreal where they got married on August 15, 1718.² They already had a daughter at the time of their marriage, and she was baptized the same day.⁹ The couple made their home there for the next few years, with Marie-Anne giving birth to two more children.

Two things would bring about Jean-Baptiste moving back to Fort Ouiatenon. One was that the continuing need for interpreters meant Jean-Baptiste’s skills were needed. The other was that Marie-Anne wanted to return there because she was “continually ill” living in Montreal, and she thought that moving back would make her healthy again.¹⁰

Jean-Baptiste received permission to bring Marie-Anne and their children to Fort Ouiatenon, and in 1722, they set out in a canoe with three voyageurs to help paddle it.¹⁰ The canoe was filled with supplies to set up their household, plus goods for trading with the natives: clothes, 100 lb. of flour, 300 lb. of biscuit, 2 pots of brandy, 15 pots of wine, 2 pots of strawberry brandy, 100 lb. of gunpowder, 100 lb. of lead, some woolen cloth, some knives, and 2 lb. of vermillion. It was written in the contract that Jean-Baptiste was forbidden to trade any of the liquor or ammunition with the natives at Fort Detroit, which they traveled through on the way to Fort Ouiatenon.

Permission granted to Jean-Baptiste to take his family to Fort Ouiatenon in 1722.

There was one more child of Jean-Baptiste and Marie-Anne who was likely born at Fort Ouiatenon.¹¹ At some point, though, the family seems to have returned to Montreal because a record dated June 15, 1731 granted Jean-Baptiste permission to once again travel from Montreal to Ouiatenon, this time with one canoe and four voyageurs.¹² Two more records that year identified him as a plaintiff in a case involving a tailor and a merchant, both living in Montreal.^3,13 The records only referred to a previous ruling, and didn’t describe what was at issue between the men. The second record dated December 10, 1731 was the final mention of Jean-Baptiste on any known document.³

Jean-Baptiste had a close relationship with the man in charge of Fort Ouiatenon, François-Marie Bissot, Sieur de Vincennes. In about 1732, François Bissot started another trading post further down the Wabash, which would become Fort Vincennes.¹⁴ It’s possible that Jean-Baptiste was involved with setting up Fort Vincennes, because years later, his wife and all three of his daughters lived there. Unfortunately, François Bissot was killed during the Chickasaw Wars in 1736, being captured and burned to death with a group of French men in present-day Mississippi.¹⁴ Given Jean-Baptiste's association with Bissot, he may have been conscripted to fight in the Chickasaw Wars and also died there.

Fort Ouiatenon thrived for much of the 18th century, but when fur trading was no longer profitable, it fell into decline. The fort was destroyed by order of President Washington in 1791,⁷ and today the site is obliterated, but a replica stands nearby. Since 1968, the Tippecanoe County Historical Association holds a celebration there each October called The Feast of the Hunter’s Moon, which recreates what it was like during the 18th century. The event even features a blacksmith, a representation of the first to hold that role: Jean-Baptiste Richard.

Children:
1. Marie-Suzanne Richard – B. 12 Jan 1717, Montreal, New France;⁹ D. 13 Jan 1800, River Raisin, Northwest Territory;¹⁵ M. Gilbert Parent (1703-1750), 1733, Montreal, New France¹⁶

2. Agnes Richard — B. 7 May 1719, Pointe-aux-Trembles, New France;¹⁷ D. before Jul 1778, (probably) Post Vincennes, Illinois Territory;¹⁸ M. (1) François Godere (~1700-?), about 1735;¹⁹ (2) Jean-Baptiste Vaudry (1726-?), 28 Aug 1756, Post Vincennes, New France²⁰

3. Jean Richard — B. 20 Nov 1721, Pointe-aux-Trembles, New France;²¹ D. 28 Jun 1807, Napanee, Ontario;²² M. Elsa Alida Connor (~1725-1816), about 1762, Fort Hunter, New York²²

4. (possibly) Marie-Josephe Richard — B. after 1721, (probably) Fort Ouiatenon, New France;²³ M. Joseph Antaya dit Pelletier¹¹

Sources:
1    Baptismal record of Jean-Baptiste Richard, Quebec Catholic Parish Registers, 1621-1979, FamilySearch.org
2    Marriage record of Jean-Baptiste Richard and Marie-Anne You, Q.C.P.R.
3    Court record involving Jean-Baptiste Richard dated 10 Dec 1731, BAnQ 
4    Généalogie du Quebec et d’Amérique française listing of Guillaume Richard 
5    Permission granted at Montreal for Jean-Baptiste Richard to take canoe to Ouiatenon, 3 Sep 1722, BAnQ  
6    Cadillac’s Village or Detroit Under Cadillac, Clarence Monroe Burton, 1896
7    Fort Ouiatenon and Feast of the Hunters’ Moon School Guide, Tippecanoe Historical Association
8    “Detroit River métis Families — Part 16 — Tiverage to You Families,” Diane Wolford Sheppard, Michigan's Habitant Heritage, 2015
9    Baptismal record of Marie-Suzanne Richard, Q.C.P.R.
10  Ouiatanon Documents, translated and edited by Frances Krauskopf, 1955
11  Marie-Josephe Richard turns up as mother of a bride in 1763 Vincennes, but it’s uncertain if she was the daughter of Jean-Baptiste, marriage record of Pierre Querre and Marie-Josephe Antara, Indiana Marriages, 1780-1992, FamilySearch.org
12  Permission granted at Montreal for Jean-Baptiste Richard to take canoe to Ouiatenon, 27 Jun 1731, BAnQ  
13  Judgment on behalf of Jean-Baptiste Richard against Jean Poupart dit Lafleur, 28 Sep 1731, BAnQ 
14  François-Marie Bissot, Sieur de Vincennes (Wikpedia article)
15  Find-a-Grave listing of Marie Suzanne (Richard) Parent https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/107240402/marie-suzanne-parent
16  Généalogie du Quebec et d’Amérique française listing of Marie-Susanne Richard 
17  Baptismal record of Agnes Richard dit Lafleur, Q.C.P.R.
18  Agnes’ estimated death is based on marriage record of her daughter Ursule Gaudry, “Records of the Parish of St. Francis Xavier,” Records of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia, Vol. 12, 1901
19  Estimated date of Agnes’ marriage to François Godere based on age at death of their oldest child Pierre, Indiana Deaths and Burials, 1750-1993, FamilySarch.org
20  Marriage record of Jean-Baptiste Vaudry and Agnes Richard, “Records of the Parish of St. Francis Xavier”
21  Baptismal record of Jean Richard, Q.C.P.R.
22  Find-a-Grave listing of Jean “John” Richard  
23  Estimated date of Marie-Josephe Richard’s birth based on that Jean-Baptiste Richard’s children were accounted for before the family moved to Ouiatenon, and so she was likely born later (if she was really his daughter)