Skip to main contentContract - Commitment of Pierre Huneau-Deschamps to Claude-Antoine Bermen de la Martinière and Pierre de Lestage Despeiroux | McCord Museum
Huneau-Deschamps was one of the thousands of men hired each year as “voyageurs” to transport trading goods into the interior. A third of these came from the Montreal region. Huneau-Deschamps was 51, and his expertise as a guide and considerable experience made him one of the roughly 30 percent who were able to make it their full-time career. The contract was signed in August so we know he was not a farmer, since he took no account of the farming calendar and, given the length of the trip, would clearly be spending the winter in Michilimackinac. Owing to his skills as a guide he was to be paid 300 pounds, a considerable sum at time. An inexperienced voyageur would expect to earn around a hundred pounds or less for the round trip.
La Martinière was commandant of the trading post at La baie des Puants (Green Bay, Wisconsin) from 1737 to 1738. During this period the fur trade was run by merchants who were supplied by merchant-outfitters like Lestage. It was they who provided the items to be exchanged against furs at the trading posts. Trading privileges belonged to the post commandant, who leased his post to the merchants. It is presumed that the document was notarized by François Lepailleur, royal notary in Montreal.
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Contract
Commitment of Pierre Huneau-Deschamps to Claude-Antoine Bermen de la Martinière and Pierre de Lestage Despeiroux
Date
August 6, 1738
Dimensions1 textual record ; 26.6 x 19.3 cm
Origin
Montreal, Quebec, Canada, North America
Object NumberS001/C1.2,1.2
DivisionArchives - Textual Archives
CollectionStewart
Scope and ContentNotarized contract in which Pierre Huneau-Deschamps (1687-1769), resident of Île Perrot and a guide to the pays d'en haut, enters into an agreement with Claude-Antoine Bermen de La Martinière (1700-1761), lieutenant in the colonial regular troops serving in Canada, and Pierre de Lestage Despeiroux (1682-1743), merchant-outfitter, to lead, pilot and guide a canoe loaded with merchandise from Montreal to the trading post of Michilimackinac. Huneau-Deschamps was one of the thousands of men hired each year as “voyageurs” to transport trading goods into the interior. A third of these came from the Montreal region. Huneau-Deschamps was 51, and his expertise as a guide and considerable experience made him one of the roughly 30 percent who were able to make it their full-time career. The contract was signed in August so we know he was not a farmer, since he took no account of the farming calendar and, given the length of the trip, would clearly be spending the winter in Michilimackinac. Owing to his skills as a guide he was to be paid 300 pounds, a considerable sum at time. An inexperienced voyageur would expect to earn around a hundred pounds or less for the round trip.
La Martinière was commandant of the trading post at La baie des Puants (Green Bay, Wisconsin) from 1737 to 1738. During this period the fur trade was run by merchants who were supplied by merchant-outfitters like Lestage. It was they who provided the items to be exchanged against furs at the trading posts. Trading privileges belonged to the post commandant, who leased his post to the merchants. It is presumed that the document was notarized by François Lepailleur, royal notary in Montreal.
NotesSource of title: based on the nature of the document.
Signatures and inscriptions: signed “De La Martinière” and “Lestage.”
Language of the document: the document is in French.
General notes: transcription and English translation available.
Signatures and inscriptions: signed “De La Martinière” and “Lestage.”
Language of the document: the document is in French.
General notes: transcription and English translation available.
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