B. 14 Sep 1696 in Montreal, New France
M. 13 Apr 1722 in Montreal, New France
Wife: Angélique Clement
D. 4 Feb 1751 in Detroit, New France
Jacques Bigras dit Fauvel spent the better part of his life as a voyageur in the French fur trade, an occupation which he had to give up after an injury suffered on the job. He was born on September 14, 1696 in Montreal, the oldest son of fur trader, François Bigras dit Fauvel, and his wife, Marie Brunet. Jacques grew up in a household that would have 13 children.
No doubt Jacques’ father got him started in the fur trading business. By 1713, François Bigras’ days of going on expeditions were behind him, but he was very active in hiring others to go out west. This was around the time Jacques likely went on his first trip as a voyageur, committing to a long journey by canoe to an outpost far from home. A typical fur trading expedition left Montreal in late spring and returned in autumn. Jacques' work required him to paddle many miles a day, often for 18 hours, carrying the boats and goods across land if the water wasn’t navigable. He probably wasn't very tall, because large men didn’t easily fit into a canoe, but he was strong, and perhaps had a sense of adventure.
One of Jacques’ earliest known expeditions was to Fort Detroit in 1717. At the time, he lived in Lachine, but his contract signing took place in Montreal where the company that hired him was based. The agreement specified he was to bring 100 livres worth of merchandise with him, and he was forbidden to pocket any of the profits. Jacques was promised to be paid upon returning to Montreal with a canoe of pelts.
After several years of presumably making many trips on the Great Lakes, the time came for Jacques to find a wife and start a family, so on April 13, 1722, he married Angélique Clement in Montreal. The couple settled in Pointe-Claire, not far from Lachine. It was a good place for coming and going on fur trading expeditions because of its location on the St. Lawrence River west of Montreal. Jacques and Angélique had their first child with the birth of a daughter in 1723. They had a total of 14 children, with the last one born in 1749. Sadly, the three oldest and the youngest died as infants.
Jacques continued to work as a voyageur during the prime of his life. In 1727 and 1736, he was hired for trips to Michilimackinac, an outpost at the place where Lake Huron meets Lake Michigan. His other known trips took him to Detroit, a journey he must have become very familiar with. Jacques’ contracts showed he earned 190 livres in 1739, 160 livres in 1740 and 190 livres in 1741; in 1739, he also received 20 livres worth of tobacco.
The contract Jacques agreed to in 1742 was somewhat different because it also included his son Pascal, who was almost 16-years-old. The agreement stated they would go to Detroit together in one canoe, with Jacques as one of the men steering it. The salary for both of them was lumped together as 280 livres, some of which would be paid in merchandise and some in money. And it was specified that they would each receive two articles of clothing for the trip: a pair of mitasses and a codpiece. Mitasses were tube-like leggings made of skins, a style worn by Indians, which suggests this was how Jacques typically dressed on the trips he made.
Unfortunately, the expedition didn’t go as planned. On June 24th, as the voyageurs were paddling toward the Great Lakes, the man leading Jacques’ canoe, Joseph Ducharme, gave an order that Jacques refused to follow. So Ducharme got mad and pushed Jacques out of the canoe, badly injuring his leg. This forced the canoe to return to Montreal, and Jacques went home with his son. Sadly, young Pascal died just a couple of weeks later, and was buried in Pointe-Claire on July 7th. Then Jacques took Ducharme to court seeking 300 livres in damages. He ended up being awarded only 24 livres, to be paid to him by Ducharme.
The injury Jacques suffered in the canoe incident seems to have ended his fur trading career. At almost age 50, he was also probably getting too old for the rigorous work of a voyageur. In 1750, he gave it up for good, but not the frontier-life, because he decided to move his entire family to Detroit. Property was being offered to those who would commit to cultivating the land; included in the deal were free tools and rations. Jacques arrived on August 9th with his wife Angélique and their surviving children. At first, Jacques was given a plot on the north side of the river, but he asked for land on the south shore, and it was granted.
Jacques didn’t live to make a career as a farmer; he died on February 4, 1751, before the first crops could be planted. It was reported that his widow, Angélique, was financially abandoned by their sons. In 1752, she married another man, Antoine Brizard, who agreed to pay off the debts that Jacques left behind.
Children:
1. Marie-Therese Bigras — B. 16 Feb 1723, Pointe-Claire, New France; D. 18 Feb 1723, Pointe-Claire, New France
2. Marie-Joseph Bigras — B. 1 Apr 1724, Pointe-Claire, New France; D. 3 Apr 1724, Pointe-Claire, New France
3. baby girl Bigras — B. 24 May 1725, Pointe-Claire, New France; D. 24 May 1725, Pointe-Claire, New France
4. Jean-Pascal Bigras — B. 2 Jul 1726, Pointe-Claire, New France; D. 7 Jul 1742, Pointe-Claire, New France
5. Louis Bigras — B. 23 Sep 1728, Pointe-Claire, New France; D. 30 Nov 1747, Pointe-Claire, New France
6. Jacques Phillippe Bigras — B. 4 Dec 1730, Pointe-Claire, New France; D. 28 Apr 1790, Ste-Genevieve, Pierrefonds, Quebec; M. Marguerite Libersan (1746-1814), 21 Feb 1764, Ste-Genevieve, Pierrefonds, Quebec
7. Joseph-Marie Bigras — B. 1 Aug 1732, Pointe-Claire, New France
8. Joseph-Amable Bigras — B. 9 Mar 1734, Pointe-Claire, New France; M. Charlotte Dufour (1739-?), 18 Apr 1755, Detroit, New France
9. Marie-Josephte Bigras — B. 22 Apr 1736, Pointe-Claire, New France; M. Jacques Tavernier (1736-?), 9 Jan 1751, Detroit, New France
10 Marie-Angelique Bigras — B. 15 Oct 1737, Pointe-Claire, New France; M. François Leduc (1737-?), 3 Feb 1754, Detroit, New France
11. Marie-Charlotte Bigras — B. 5 Sep 1739, Pointe-Claire, New France; M. Jean-Baptiste-Amable Drouillard (1731-1788), 25 Feb 1754, Detroit, New France
12. Marie-Françoise-Rosalie Bigras — B. 11 Jul 1741, Pointe-Claire, New France; M. Jean-Baptiste Ravellette, 25 Sep 1758, Detroit, New France
13. Jean Baptiste Bigras — B. 19 Jan 1744, Pointe-Claire, New France; D. 13 May 1822, St-Benoît, Quebec; M. (1) Marie-Louise Brunet dite Letang (1749-?), 22 Jan 1776, Pointe-Claire, Quebec; (2) Madeleine Meloche, 23 Aug 1783, Assumption, Ontario; (3) Catherine Sansoucy (1772-?), 4 Jun 1810, St-Eustache, Quebec
14. Eustache Bigras — B. 4 May 1749, Pointe-Claire, New France; S. 11 Jun 1749, Pointe-Claire, New France
Sources:
Généalogie du Quebec et d’Amérique française (website)
François Bigras (Wikipedia article)
Dictionnaire biographique des Ancêtres québécois, Michel Langlois
Bigras, François, l’ancêtre (website)
Montreal Notarial Records, Canadian Archives Manuscripts
Online Database of Voyageur Contracts
BAnQ (website)
