B. 21 Jun 1696 in Montreal, New France
M. 7 Nov 1731 in New Orleans, New France
Wife: Hypolite Chauvin de La Freniere
D. about 1750 in Kaskaskia, New France
There are only a few records that detail the life of Joseph Turpin, but the time and place he lived give him a story worth telling. Joseph was born into a fur trading family in Montreal on June 21, 1696. His parents were Pierre-Alexandre Turpin and Charlotte-Marie Beauvais, and he had 7 siblings and 6 half-siblings. Joseph’s mother died when he was 4-years-old, and afterwards, he was raised by a step-mother. His father, who was a Montreal merchant, died before Joseph was age 14.
Joseph's older brother Louis was living at the Illinois trading post of Kaskaskia by 1719, and younger brother Jacques died in Kaskaskia in 1723, so it’s highly likely that Joseph was also there around this time. Kaskaskia was a French settlement on the Mississippi River that began about 1700 when fur traders settled in an Indian village and married women of the tribe. The Jesuits established a mission, and both natives and French cultivated the land. The settlement grew as mixed-race children came of age, and a few French women migrated from Canada. A census taken in June 1723 showed that there were 64 French habitants, 42 French laborers, 28 married women, and 17 children.
What was Joseph’s occupation in Kaskaskia? Early on, it’s hard to say, but the village had an important connection with New Orleans, supplying the gulf coast with farm products and pelts, and some men operated the trading route back and forth on the Mississippi. The fact Joseph appeared in New Orleans in 1731 suggests that he may have been involved in the transport of goods down the river. On November 7th of that year, he took a wife, Hypolite Chauvin de La Freniere, a half-Indian girl born to a slave and an important Louisiana plantation owner; she was only 13-years-old, so it was probably an arranged marriage.
Joseph returned to Kaskaskia with his young bride. The records of most of the baptisms of the village are unfortunately lost, but we do know that the couple had at least two children, a daughter born in about 1732 and a son in about 1750. In 1742, Joseph received a grant of land next to his brother Louis, who was by then one of the wealthiest men in town. The land was described as being on a hill on the opposite side of the Kaskaskia River, with 2 arpents of frontage and 40 arpents deep, suggesting that Joseph had become a farmer. The following year, on August 2nd, Joseph was granted another tract by Governor de Bienville of Louisiana that was “12 arpents square.”
It’s not known exactly when Joseph died, but his wife Hypolite remarried in Kaskaskia on March 19, 1750, so it must have been at least a month before that date. It was later said that his son was born posthumously, but this is uncertain.
The village of Kaskaskia went through many changes after Joseph's death. Within a couple generations, it evolved from a French trading post into a frontier town run by Americans. An 1844 flood caused the relocation of Kaskaskia to a site several miles inland. In 1881, the ruins of the original settlement were finished off when the Mississippi River changed its course in another flood, and the land Joseph had owned ended up under water. Old Kaskaskia doesn’t exist on today’s maps.
Children:
1. Marie-Madeleine Turpin — B. about 1732, Kaskaskia, New France; D. after 1810, Natchitoches, Louisiana Territory; M. (1) Pierre Texier dit LaVigne (1728-1770), 12 Jan 1751, Kaskaksia, New France; (2) Antoine Cusson, 1774, Kaskaskia, Illinois Territory; (3) Joseph Auger, about 1778
2. François Turpin — B. (probably) about 1750, Kaskaskia, New France; D. 1 Oct 1809, Vincennes, Indiana Territory; M. Marie-Josephe Levron dit Metayer, about 1777, (probably) Post Vincennes, Illinois Territory
Sources:
The Family of Nicolas Chauvin de La Freniere, Sadie Greening Sparks, 18 Oct 2000, sadiesparks.com
Race, Sex and Social Order in Early New Orleans, Jennifer M. Spear, 2010
Kaskaskia Under the French Regime, Natalia Maree Belting, 1948
The History of Kaskaskia, Illinois, in a Family History Context (website)
Kaskaskia, Illinois (Wikipedia article)
