B. about 1695 in (probably) Native American camp at future site of Chicago
M. 15 Aug 1718 in Montreal, Quebec
Husband: Jean-Baptiste Richard
D. after 4 Nov 1766 in (probably) Post Vincennes, Illinois Territory
Marie-Anne You was a Métis woman who grew up among her mother’s tribe, and later married a French man in Montreal. But she found that she preferred the place she knew as a child, and she was allowed to move back.
Marie-Anne’s mother (called Elisabeth) was a member of the Wea tribe, a branch of the Miami Indians who lived in what is today western Indiana. During the late 17th century, the Wea were among several other tribes who were pushed west by aggression from the Iroquois, and during the 1690s, two camps were settled near the mouth of the Chicago River. It was here that Marie-Anne’s parents must have met.
The father of Marie-Anne was a French fur trader named Pierre You de La Découverte, who had traveled with LaSalle on his 1682 expedition down the Mississippi River. During the 1690s, he lived for a time at one of the two Native American camps on the Chicago River, and he was said to take a Native American wife in April 1693. Typically such an arrangement was not a formal one, and it was of mutual benefit to both parties. Marie-Anne’s father likely wanted to gain a good relationship with the people of the camp in order to trade with them. But her mother may have also been seeking an alliance for trade purposes—it gave better access for the goods offered by a fur trader to her people.
Marie-Anne was born about 1695, and her parents didn't stay together very long after that. Pierre You returned to the Montreal area and married a French woman on April 15, 1697. As for Marie-Anne, she remained with her mother.
By 1700, the Miamis abandoned the camps at Chicago, and the Wea set up new villages on the Wabash River in what is today northern Indiana. This area became known as Ouiatenon and was the tribe’s main settlement throughout the 18th century. The Wea were said to have a summer camp close to the river so they could fish, and a winter camp that was a hunting ground. They also grew corn in the prairie land. During the time that Marie-Anne was a child, the camps were sometimes visited by fur traders, and this was how she came in contact with the man she would marry, Jean-Baptiste Richard.
It’s uncertain when Jean-Baptiste met Marie-Anne. He was a blacksmith and interpreter who in 1717, arrived with seven other men to build a fort near their settlement; the outpost was at the request of the tribe who wanted protection from their enemies when they engaged in fur trading. But Marie-Anne’s relationship with her future husband may have begun years earlier—there is a record of the baptism of a 15-year-old Indian girl at Detroit who was identified as Jean-Baptiste’s slave. The event occurred on May 22, 1710.
Could this have been Marie-Anne? It's possible that Jean-Baptiste had acquired her when traveling on his own to her village at Ouiatenon. But the name on the baptism was “Marie-Jeanne,” so it can’t really be proven. If it was her, it’s important to note that slaves in New France were sometimes more like servants. The French usually allowed slaves to live in their houses, had them baptized in their churches, and often paid them a wage. French fur traders sometimes even married the Indian slaves they had previously owned.
Whatever the circumstances were, Marie-Anne and Jean-Baptiste were living as a married couple, and had a baby girl who was born about 1717 or 1718. They journeyed back to Montreal and were married there on August 15, 1718. Their daughter was baptized on the same day; it’s interesting that one of Marie-Anne’s half-brothers, Philippe You de La Découverte, served as the godfather. Her father, Pierre, died within a couple weeks of her wedding, and was buried at the same church where she had been married.
Marie-Anne had two more children by the end of 1721, but she didn’t adapt well to living on the St. Lawrence River. Whether it was the climate or the culture, she was “continually ill,” and wanted desperately to go back to Ouiatenon. The fort needed an interpreter, creating an opportunity for Jean-Baptiste to return, but the offer didn’t include his wife and children. So Jean-Baptiste asked the governor for permission to have his his family join him, and it was granted. In September 1722, Marie-Anne, along with her husband and three very young children, traveled by canoe from Montreal to northern Indiana. The family brought with them three men to help paddle and enough supplies to set themselves up in their new home.
For the next couple of decades or so, Marie-Anne and her family lived at Ouiatenon. At some point she gave birth to another child, but no records survive from that time. The fort remained an active trading post with the Wea tribe living nearby, and the population swelled to as much as 3,000. Jean-Baptiste seems to have died before 1750, and later, Marie-Anne and her daughters appeared in church records at Post Vincennes, another French fur trading site with people of mixed races. Marie-Anne was still living in Vincennes when it fell into British control. The last known record of her was as godmother for her great-granddaughter, Françoise-Agnes Godere, on November 4, 1766. She likely died within a few years of that date.
As for the Wea tribe, their sense of security at Ouiatenon came to an end in 1791 when President Washington ordered military action against them. A large American force made a surprise attack, killing many people, taking women and children as prisoners, and burning their village. Over the next couple generations, the Wea population declined, and in 1854, many of the tribe were relocated to Oklahoma.
Children:
1. Marie-Suzanne Richard – B. about 1718, New France; D. Jan 1800, River Raisin, Northwest Territory; M. (1) Albert Gilbert Parent (1703-1750), 1733, Montreal, New France; (2) Charles Barthelemy dit Rose (1722-?), 9 Jul 1759, Detroit, New France
2. Agnes Richard — B. 7 May 1719, Pointe-aux-Trembles, New France; before Jul 1778; M. (1) François Godere (~1701-?), about 1735; (2) Jean-Baptiste Vaudry (1726-?), 28 Aug 1756, Post Vincennes, New France
3. Jean Richard — B. 20 Nov 1721, Pointe-aux-Trembles, Quebec; D. Jun 1807, Amherst Island, Ontario; M. Alida Connor (~1725-1816)
4. Marie-Josephe Richard — B. after 1721, (probably) Fort Ouiatenon, New France; M. Joseph Antaya dit Pelletier
Sources:
Wea (Wikipedia article)
Ouiatenon (Wikipedia article)
Encyclopedia of Chicago (website)
Marriage à la façon du pays (Wikipedia article)
Pierre You de La Découverte, Dictionary of Canadian Biography (website)
Native American Netroots (website) https://nativeamericannetroots.net/diary/858
“Who and What Were the Panis Indians Buried from Ste. Anne de Detroit?”, Suzanne Boivin Sommerville, Michigan’s Habitant Heritage, Vol. 32, #3, July 2011
Red River Valley Website, Metis History, 1708-1714, Dennis Matthews
“Records of the Parish of St. Francis Xavier,” Records of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia, Vol. 12, 1901
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