B. 16 Aug 1706 in Detroit, New France
M. 11 Aug 1730 in Montreal, New France
Wife: Marie-Therese Maillot
D. about 1750 in New France
Detroit was just a fledgling outpost when Antoine Mallet was born there to Pierre Mallet and Marie-Madeleine Thunay dite Dufresne. His family had arrived at Detroit among a group of settlers on August 8, 1706. Antoine's mother was pregnant at the time, and his birth took place barely a week later on August 16th.
Antoine spent his first few years in Detroit before his family moved back to Montreal in about 1712. It must have been quite an adventure for a 6-year-old boy to travel such a great distance by canoe; the family would have spent all day on the water, camping at night on the shores of the Great Lakes. For some parts of trip, they had to walk from one body of water to the next. Antoine spent the rest of his childhood in Montreal, with his fur trading father often away for months at a time.
When Antoine was 23-years-old, he was granted permission by the governor to move back to Detroit. The formal document dated July 28, 1729 allowed Antoine and another young man, Laurent Parent, to make the journey by canoe along with three other men. By 1730, Antoine returned to Montreal where he got married to Marie-Therese Maillot on August 11th. The couple then moved back to Detroit where they made their new home.
Little else is known about Antoine’s life. He was either a fur trader or a farmer, or he may have been both. In the account book of the Huron Mission of Detroit dated about 1745, it was noted, “I paid [Vital] Caron 120 livres which he had advanced to Antoine Mallet for the house he sold me.” Church records at Detroit showed that Antoine had ten children with Marie-Therese, but sadly, six of them died young.
It’s unknown when or where Antoine died. On October 25, 1753, Marie-Therese was listed as a widow on a baptism at Post Vincennes. One of their daughters had married there in October of 1750, so the family relocated to Vincennes by that date. Antoine must have died just before or after that move.
Children:
1. Marie-Therese Mallet — B. about 3 May 1731, Detroit, New France; D. Jan 1734, Detroit, New France
2. Marie-Catherine Mallet — B. about 22 Oct 1732, Detroit, New France; D. Oct 1732, Detroit, New France
3. Marie-Therese Mallet — B. about 12 Apr 1735, Detroit, New France; D. 19 Sep 1763, Post Vincennes, New France; M. Jean-Baptiste Renaud dit Deslauriers (1708-?), 26 Oct 1750, Post Vincennes, New France
4. Jacques-Louis Mallet — B. about 15 Apr 1736, Detroit, New France
5. Joseph Mallet — B. about 26 Aug 1737, Detroit, New France; D. Apr 1739, Detroit, New France
6. Jean-François Mallet — B. about 11 Oct 1738, Detroit, New France
7. Marie-Timothea Mallet — B. about 6 Sep 1739, Detroit, New France; D. Dec 1739, Detroit, New France
8. Angelique Mallet — B. about 9 Dec 1740, Detroit, New France; D. Dec 1740, Detroit, New France
9. Antoine Mallet — B. about 12 Feb 1742, Detroit, New France; M. Catherine Bordeleau (1759-?)
10. Augustin Mallet — B. about 12 Apr 1743, Detroit, New France; D. Apr 1743, Detroit, New France
Sources:
Dictionnaire généalogique des familles canadiennes depuis la fondation de la colonie jusqu'à nos jours, Cyprien Tanguay, 1890
Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1997
Genealogy of the French Families of the Detroit River Region, 1701-1936, Christian Dennison, 1987
“Records of the Parish of St. Francis Xavier,” Records of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia, Vol. 12, 1901
