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Go to the Peloquin Family History Page Paul Peloquin Page For more information on a topic, click on any underlined word. |
Written by Agnes (Peloquin) Rajala For the descendents of Alfred Paul Peloquin and Hulda Karolin Johansson |
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The Peloquin family in America began with Francois Peloquin, who came to the New World in 1692 as a soldier of St. Ours. Notice that he came from the region of France then known as Poitou, which included the Loire Valley.
This is the region from which most of the colorful voyageurs of the fur trade came - they were renowned for their good singing voices and sense of rhythm, and they brought with them their French folk songs, such as Alouette and En Roulant Ma Boule and others. They sang these as they paddled the huge Montreal and smaller Canot du Nord, to establish a rhythm for their paddles. Francois' parents were Mathurin Peloquin and his wife Ambroise Syllart, and I know nothing more of them. In America, Francois was known as Francois Peloquin dit Credit - "dit" being a term that meant "called" (or we would say "aka" or "also known as"). You will see this term in later branches of the family, as well. |
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Felix Peloquin, born in 1700, was married in 1720 to Marie-Anne Pelletier of Sorel. She was born in 1697, so was three years older than he. Her father was Michel Pelletier dit Antaya (which is believed to be derived from Entaillat), Seigneur d'Fief D'Ovilliers. He had been established at Ile d'Orleans by 1685, as an important person.
Let's digress a bit into the Pelletier line here. Since they were old-timers, there were already lots of Pelletiers in the New World, and they were intermarried into practically every family. You'll find several of them in our tree. They were voyageurs too - Jean Baptiste Pelletier and Louis Pelletier are mentioned in the Journal of Alexander Henry as having just arrived from the Assiniboine; there was a Peltier of the North West Fur Co. at Pine Fort on the Assiniboine in October, 1793; and Jean Baptiste and Louis were voyageurs of the North West Co. at Nipigon in 1804. |
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You know about the voyageurs. To me they were the glamorous daring young men of the colonial days, dashing and romantic. They were strong - they had to be, for 'he work of paddling the canoes those endless miles for long days was relentlessly hard. And they prided themselves on the enormous heavy packs they portaged. They had to be brave, too, facing the dangers of rapids, wild animals, Indians, rival fur traders, and accidents of all kinds. Hardiness was a given: there were no concessions to bad weather, they carried no tents, and food was a handful of dried corn. And they accepted all this uncomplainingly, in fact they were noted for their cheerful, happy dispositions and their wit and loyalty.
And they could sing. It is said they were chosen for their good singing voices. (Did you know that Papa had a good, true voice? He told me once that he was the star of the "singing school" in Centerville. This was a seasonal affair, when people of the time got together and learned new songs and just sang for the fun of it. He was forced to drop out when his brother Prisque's wife died, it was considered disrespectful of the dead and therefore unthinkable to take part in any fun at such times - even though the leader begged him.) |
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And they could sing. It is said they were chosen for their good singing voices. (Did you know that Papa had a good, true voice? He told me once that he was the star of the "singing school" in Centerville. This was a seasonal affair, when people of the time got together and learned new songs and just sang for the fun of it. He was forced to drop out when his brother Prisque's wife died, it was considered disrespectful of the dead and therefore unthinkable to take part in any fun at such times - even though the leader begged him.)
So now we go back to Antoine's son Pierre. Pierre Peloquin, or Pierre Felix, continued in the family tradition of being a voyageur, being on record of having in 1791 gone from Montreal to ??? and Detroit. (St Boniface archives p. 298). According to Elliott Coues' index v. 2 p. 947, Pierre Felix was a voyageur for Northwest Co. in Nipigon . His wife was Marguerite Cournoyer whose forbears had been in French Canada since the early 1600's. (See Paul Hus). They were married in 1783). 1 seem to have lost my list of his children, but among them, as I recall, were two named Prisque, one born in 1785 and one years later. Which certainly makes things confusing, at least to me. With the Prisque born in 1785 we continue our saga. He too became a voyageur, and Papa (my father) had stories about him. In fact, that's what started me swinging in the family tree. It happened after Mamma died, in 1950, that Ben, Earl, Papa and I were delegated to go to Grand Rapids (we lived in Bigfork, and there was no mortuary) to make Mamma's funeral arrangements. On the way back, Papa and I sat together in the back and he began to talk about his father. He said that his father noticed in this area many names that he'd heard his father (the old voyageur Prisque) mention - Leech Lake, Lake of the Woods, Bowstring River, etc. - and he said he believed from that circumstance that his father (Prisque of 1785) had canoed the same rivers and walked in the same forests. The idea intrigued me, and I started trying to find some proof. There does seem to be some documentation, both of his familiarity with Northern Minnesota and his having been to the Pacific Ocean, both of which stories were told at the Peloquin Family Picnic. Records show that Prisque Felix, of Sorel, had an engagement to the "Gentlemen of the Company of Michilimackinac" to go to Michilimackinac to trade, Jan. 1801, under the auspices of Louis Chaboillez - who did a lot of trading in this area. What's even more amazing is that his name appears on a list of men of the "former Pacific Fur Company", as one of the "Clerks and Men at Ft. Okanagan", in Washington. His is the third name after that of Alexander Ross - who wrote a book about his hair-raising adventures (The Fur Hunters of the Far West) and never once mentioned his ol' partner Prisque Felix, though he must have known him. (From Hudson's Bay archives). |
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This brings us to the migration from Canada to US.
The Pelletiers came first, of our forbears. Anoka County records that Charles Peltier (sic) arrived in Centerville with the earliest settlers. It wasn't a settled area - there were Indian battles in 1854 and 1858. Joseph (my great-grandfather) came in 1849, with his family - his daughter Eleanor had been born in 1843. (He had 13 children in all, one of them who had a son, Charles Pelletier, who lived in Papa's home for some years after the death of his mother. Papa recalled that- when the "old man" came to visit his son, he smelled terrible - he was a trapper. Papa visited Charles Pelletier in Spokane in about 1970). The trip was horrendous: they took all their goods, cattle and horses (or so Uncle Prisque told Ben) on a flatboat, and went up the St. 'Lawrence and across the Great Lakes to Milwaukee. That took all summer. From there they went overland to St. Paul. Just when Prisque Peloquin came I'm not sure, but it's safe to guess 1861. |
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There was always the continual struggle with the Iroquois. The nearby town of Sillery was completely devastated by the Americans and their Indian allies in the fierce raids. During this time of history, Ft. Richelieu had been built in 1642 and burned by the Iroquois in 1647. It was rebuilt in 1664. Paul built his home near the fort, a place later known as Sorel, and took his new bride to their home in a rowboat.
The couple prospered. Paul was a close friend of Pierre de Saurel, the Seigneur. But it was a life of pioneer dangers. A pair of little boys died - of what I don't know - in 1687, and were buried on the same day. His son, Paul, was killed by Iroquois in 1690 when he was 8 years old. In 1696 another Indian attack brought total destruction. Paul was 51, but with his son Louis they again rebuilt. Eventually he became a person of some consequence and influence. Records mention that he was present at meetings with official groups. By 1721, besides his farm near the old fort, he owned a large estate stretching 2.5 miles along the St. Lawrence, plus two islands. So he established at least 5 of his sons on it. (He had 14 children). In fact (these French!) of his 6 sons who married, 5 had a total of 59 children. And that is why to avoid confusion among the many Louises and Pauls, some of them adopted "dit" names: Marc-Antoine, for example, was Hus-Millet, goodness knows why - did he raise the stuff? And later he added Beachamin. Others called themselves Paulhus. The one we are interested in, Pierre (1677-1751) became HUS-COURNOYER. No one knows why. "Court noyer" means short oak - was there one near his house? Or was he built like one? |
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If you would like to submit other bits of history from our family, I'll be happy to do so. Or if you have links to sites that would be of interest to the Peloquins / Pelloquins everywhere, please submit those as well.
Paul Peloquin
