M. 20 Jul 1735 in Detroit, New France
Wife: Marie-Madeleine Pruneau
D. 18 Apr 1747 in Detroit, New France
During the first few decades of the 18th century, what would one day be the city of Detroit was a thriving French trading post. Typical of the men who lived there was Vital Caron, who made a living as a merchant.
Vital was born on May 14, 1700 in Montreal to Vital Caron and Marie-Louise Perthuis, the second of their eight children. When he was about 3-years-old, the family moved to Lachine. Vital’s father was a sea captain running ships on the Great Lakes, and he likely spent a lot of time away from home.
Vital's baptismal record.
Lachine was a home base for those in the fur trade, so it was natural for Vital to get involved in that business. On May 16, 1727, his uncle, Claude Caron, hired him for an expedition to Michilimackinac, a trading outpost at the place where Lake Huron joins Lake Michigan. Vital was paid 190 livres under the terms of his contract; the expedition was for less than a year, which probably meant he returned by late fall. It’s likely that Vital signed up for several fur trading trips during this part of his life.
Eventually, Vital decided to stay in the west, and by 1735, he settled at Detroit. In about 1735, Vital married Marie-Madeleine Pruneau, the widow of a man who died of small pox. During the next eleven years, the couple had seven children, of which four died young.
Based on the account book of the local Catholic mission, which operated a supply store, Vital was actively involved in fur trading. He was shown to be purchasing such things as glass beads and vermillion (a mercury-based pigment), which were items to be traded with the Indians for beaver pelts. In one curious 1745 ledger entry from 1745, he owed money for “5 chemises de femme,” which were women’s dress-like undergarments. Presumably they were for his wife and not for his trading business.
A couple of places in the priest’s ledger referred to money Vital owed for a number of masses. The French believed that a mass said for a specific purpose could have a positive effect on something in their lives. Usually the mass was in honor of someone who had just died; other times it was for the recovery of a sick loved one, or for the success of a business venture. At one point Vital owed the church for 20 masses; it’s not known why he asked for them.
In 1746, Vital purchased some land and a house from the church for 100 pistoles. It was a plot that was 2 arpents of frontage on the Detroit River, and 40 arpents deep. The site of the land is in present-day downtown Detroit at about where 5th Street runs; the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino is on this land today. It was noted that the payment would be due in May 1747, however, Vital never paid because he died on April 18th of that year. His wife took on the burden of the debt, repaying it over the next few years. She seems to have died by 1755.
MGM Grand Hotel in Detroit on land originally owned by Vital.
Children:
1. Vital Caron — B. 23 May 1736, Detroit, New France; D. young
2. Marie-Catherine Caron — B. 10 Apr 1738, Detroit, New France; M. Antoine Bordeleau (1730-1793), 29 Jan 1758, Post Vincennes, New France
3. Alexis Caron — B. 30 Jan 1740, Detroit, New France; D. 4 Feb 1740, Detroit, New France
4. Marie-Louise Caron — B. 14 Feb 1741, Detroit, New France; M. Antoine Robert Lefebvre (1729-?), 25 Jan 1757, Post Vincennes, New France
5. Zacharias Caron — B. 25 Nov 1742, Detroit, New France; D. young
6. Pierre Caron — B. 21 Oct 1744, Detroit, New France; D. 27 Oct 1744, Detroit, New France
7. Jean-Baptiste Caron — B. 8 Jun 1746, Detroit, New France
Sources:
Généalogie du Quebec et d’Amérique française (website)
Genealogy of the French Families of the Detroit River Region, 1701-1936, Christian Dennison, 1987
Account Book of the Huron Mission at Detroit and Sandwich (1740-1781), Pierre-Philippe Poiter
Indiana Church Marriages, 1780-1993, FamilySearch.org
Online Database of Voyageur Contracts
