M. (1) 2 May 1690 in Champlain, New France
Husband: François Xavier Pelletier dit Antaya
M. (2) 9 Jan 1698 in Montreal, New France
Husband: Pierre Mallet
D. about Feb 1738 in Detroit, New France
When we picture a hardy individual braving the wilderness to engage in the fur trade, it’s usually an image of a man. But sometimes women showed equal courage, and one such person was Marie-Madeleine Thunay. Not only did she travel by canoe between Montreal and Detroit at least 16 times, but she was in the final months of a pregnancy the first time she did it.
Madeleine was born in about 1672 at Cap-de-la-Madeleine, New France, to Félix Thunay dit Dufresne and Élisabeth Lefebvre, one of five children. The family moved to nearby Batiscan when she was very young. Her father, who was a doctor, died when she was about 11-years-old; her mother remarried, then died four years later.
Madeleine married her first husband, François-Xavier Pelletier dit Antaya, on May 2, 1690 in Champlain, New France, and the following year, she gave birth to a boy. Her husband was hired for a fur trading expedition in August 1691. It isn’t known if he made other such trips, but it’s likely he was away from home a number of times, given that there were no other children born to them. By 1698, François-Xavier died, and Madeleine married fur trader Pierre Mallet, with the wedding taking place on January 9, 1698 at Montreal. They soon had two children, born in 1698 and 1700.
For the next few years, Madeleine lived in Montreal as her husband spent much of the time out west. In 1703, she sued a Montreal merchant named Pierre de Lestage regarding some dispute over her accounts with him. While it was common for wives to represent their husbands while they were away, this mention of Madeleine involved in a lawsuit suggests that she was more actively working along with her husband. In another court record in 1705, she testified as a witness at a trial of a young military officer accused of raping a 16-year-old girl.
Part of the 46-page file for Madeleine's 1703 court case showing her signature.
The route to Detroit took the settlers up the the St. Lawrence River and into Lake Ontario; from there, they paddled nearly the length of the lake, keeping close to the southern shore — a total of over 500 miles. Each night, they camped along the shore, using their canoes as shelters. During this part of the trip, a message came from Detroit that there had been violence with the Indians, so no one knew what they faced when they arrived. But they continued on anyway, eventually landing at a point near Niagara Falls, where the canoes were unloaded. Then everyone, including Madeleine, trekked 8 miles to reach navigable water on the other side of the falls. This was followed by another long canoe trip to the western end of Lake Erie.
The arrival of the expedition on August 8th is considered to be the beginning of Detroit’s permanent settlement. Just one week later, Madeleine gave birth to a baby boy whom they named Antoine. With the threat of more hostility from the Indians, some of the settlers immediately returned to Montreal when the canoe convoy went back, but Madeleine’s family stayed, and Pierre was granted a plot of land to rent the following year.
Records show that over the next several decades, Madeleine was a frequent traveler between the St. Lawrence River area and Detroit. In 1707, the family made the trip so that trading merchandise could be purchased in Montreal; they returned to Detroit in the fall with their stock. Two sons were born in 1708 and 1710, then during 1712, another journey was made back to Montreal where her final child, a boy, was born in October. It seems that Madeleine and the children remained there until about 1716; Pierre likely was going out west alone on trading expeditions during this time.
Canoe similar to the ones used by Madeleine. (Source: Billy Hathorn, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
Two court records involving non-payment of debts named Madeleine as a defendant. The first of these cases was dated August 23, 1712 and demanded she and Pierre pay 3,355 livres, a huge amount of money. The following year shows that Madeleine was the lone defendant in a lawsuit for neglecting to pay the salaries of men hired by her. This again suggests that Madeleine was handling some of the transactions for Pierre’s fur trading business, and that she sometimes lived in Montreal while he was out west. Further evidence was that when one of their children died in 1716, 8-year-old François, Pierre was absent from the burial.
Madeleine seemed to be reunited with Pierre in Montreal by May 1717, a date when they obtained a loan to purchase more trading merchandise. Soon after, they headed back to Detroit. They stayed there until the early 1720s, then turned up again in Montreal in May 1724 on another mission to buy merchandise. After one more trip to back west, in the spring of 1726, Madeleine appears to have gone to Montreal without Pierre to get more goods for trade. Her 500-mile journey began in June and included six of her grandchildren ages 1-year- to 8-years-old. The group headed back to Detroit in August.
It’s likely that Madeleine made more trips like this on succeeding years, because in the summer of 1728, we find her back in Montreal. On August 19th, Madeleine was mentioned on a voyageur's contract signed in Montreal as being a representative of her husband's business. That same year, she was given permission by the governor of Montreal to return to Detroit by canoe. She was allowed two canoes and 16 men for the trip, and the travelers included her sons Antoine and Paul, now ages 22 and 17. Then in 1730, Madeleine went back to Montreal to witness the marriage of her son Antoine on August 11th. She obtained loans from merchants before she returned to Detroit.
There’s evidence that when Madeleine was in Montreal, she had a home to stay in, because on June 17, 1733, she was given power-of-attorney by her husband to sell their house on Rue Boudoir. She travelled back there again that year, found a buyer for the house, and used the money from the sale to invest in trade merchandise. When Madeleine returned to Detroit, it was likely the final time she made the long trip.
Marie-Madeleine died in about February 1738, likely at Detroit. After her death, her husband Pierre moved to the Illinois country; he passed away at Kaskaskia on November 2, 1738. The following year, two of their sons, Pierre and Paul, left on a trading expedition going even further into the North American continent. They were the first Europeans to reach what is now Santa Fe, New Mexico by crossing the Great Plains, perhaps evidence of a sense of adventure they got from their mother Madeleine.
Children by François Xavier Pelletier die Antaya:
1. Jean-François Pelletier — B. 15 Aug 1691, Sorel, New France; D. 8 Nov 1722, Detroit, New France; M. Marie-Louise Robert (1698-1776), 25 Mar 1718, Detroit, New France
Children by Pierre Mallet:
1. Marie-Catherine Mallet — B. 27 Oct 1698, Montreal, New France; M. Pierre Perthuis, Mar 1716, Montreal, New France
2. Pierre Mallet — B. 20 Jun 1700, Montreal, New France; D. after 1750
3. Antoine Mallet — B. 16 Aug 1706, Detroit, New France; M. Marie-Therese Maillot (1708-?), 11 Aug 1730, Montreal, New France
4. François Mallet — B. about 1708; D. Nov 1716, Montreal, New France
5. Paul Mallet — B. about 1711, Detroit, New France; D. 1753, Arkansas Post, New France
6. Jean-Baptiste Mallet — B. 25 Oct 1712, Montreal, New France
Sources:
Généalogie du Quebec et d’Amérique française (website)
“8 August 1706: Fort Pontchartrain Becomes a Permanent Settlement on Le Détroit du Lac Érié,” Suzanne Boivin Sommerville, Michigan's Habitant Heritage Journal, 2006
Centre du Patrimoine fur trading contract online database
Mallet, Pierre Antoine, Online Dictionary of Canadian Biography
