My Seventh Great Grandparents
Michael Campeau and Jeanne Masse
Michael and Jeanne were both were baptized in Montreal in 1677 and 1667,
respectively. Both were children of “Daughters of the King”. They married there on 7 January 1696 and raised a family of eleven children. Michael died in 1737, while Jeanne survived him by twenty-seven years, dying on 4 September 1764 in Detroit. She was buried there the next day in the parish of Ste-Anne.
Jeanne’s burial record is most interesting, thanks to the officiating priest Bocquet, who provided more than the required amount of details for such a sacramental record. A copy of that record is seen above, while below is a rough translation: “The year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred sixty four, the fifth of September was buried in the cemetery of this church, the body of Jeanne Masse, widow of the late [sieur] Michel Campeau, during his lifetime [bourgeois] of this town, residing [in] Saint Jacques road, died yesterday suddenly; [in a] state of infancy, in which she had fallen for more than three years and her age of approximately ninety years, having hid from all the symptoms which would have caused suspicion the approach of her death. The said burial in presence of the [sieurs] Saint Bernard, [son-in-law] of the deceased, Chapoton, Rocour and many other relatives and friends which the principals have signed with us.”
In other words, Jeanne, who was 87 years old and not 90, had been afflicted with dementia for more than three years. Despite her condition, or perhaps because of if, she managed to conceal ill health to the point that her death was unexpected to those who knew her.
Source:
1. Ste-Anne (Detroit, Michigan), parish register, 1760-1781, p. 60re , no entry no. (1764), Jeanne Masse
burial, 5 September 1764; Ste-Anne parish; digital image, “Early U.S. French Catholic Church Records
(Drouin Collection), 1695-1954″, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 26 August 2014).
Michael and his brother Jacques came to Detroit soon after its founding probably circa 1701-4. We know that Jacques was appointed a arquebusier and blacksmith to go to Fort Ponchartrain in Detroit in June 1704. Michael and his partner Jean de Merles were said to be among the pioneer merchants of Detroit. They were involved in the transport and trading of furs beginning in 1707. Between 1718-1730 Michael hired recruits to go out West as part of his trading business. Michael apparently returned to Montreal. Since Montreal remained the center of fur trade between New France and European France this commuting between Detroit
and Montreal seems normal. Most of the children of Michael and Jeanne were born in Montreal which would seem to indicate that Jeanne maintained residence there while Michael commuted. This is about a 560 mile trip via today’s highway system. Most reports indicate that the canoe roundtrip with supplies and/or trading goods entailed a
100 day roundtrip between Montreal and Detroit. The river fall between Lake Ontario and Montreal was over 200 feet which must have made for some difficult paddling. Michael was probably doing most of this trip via canoe trains that might contain 100+ plus canoes carrying furs and other materials to and fro. In 1708, Paul Alexander Campau and the second Margaret were born in Detroit. The remaining children were born in Montreal. In 1707-8, Cadillac was awarding defined plots to residents of Detroit. Michael and other Campeau family members were granted plots around the fledging city. From the cities founding in 1701 living was centered at the fort (Pontchartrain). The records show that in 1707 the population of Detroit was 270 with 25 families identified.
Michael was assigned Lot 18 on March 10, 1707 (see included map). He was to pay yearly rent of 5 livres and 6 sols (1 livre equals 20 sols) along with 10 livres for other considerations. The considerations are not identified but this normally might apply to a sole or favored trading situation in the city. For example, a blacksmith might be granted
a protection from competition.
Along with others, Michael was granted a farm garden plot upstream from the city. These farm lots were located on the Detroit River and usually not more than 90 feet of frontage on the river. These “ribbon” farms as they came to be known became the basis from still existing street names in Detroit.
A story exists that Michael was in Detroit in 1703 when he got into trouble for accusing another resident of setting fire to the Fort. However, in the “History of Wayne County and Detroit” it relates that Jacques was the accuser of Perre Roquant dit La Ville. Roquant was arrested and subsequently tried in Montreal. Campau testified aqainst him. Requant was acquitted and Jacques order to pay 500 livre for bringing “groundless
charges”.
Michael and his brother Jacques were major players in Detroit and responsible for most of the Campeau lineage that continues in Detroit, Monroe, Saginaw, Grand Rapids, and Chicago.
Unfortunately, little seems to be know about Jeanne Masse.
Jeanne and Michael had 11 children:
1. Infant, b.Mar. 20, 1697 buried same day
2. Jane, b. Feb. 6, 1698 married Andrew MarsH
3. Michael I, b. Feb. 25, 1700 and buried Feb. 28, 1700
4. Anthony, b. Jan. 1, 1702
5. Margaret, b. Nov. 2, 1703 and buried Nov. 4, 1703
6. Mary Ann, b. Nov. 1, 1704 and buried Nov. 3, 1704
7. Michael II, b. Jan. 22, 1706
8. Margaret, b/ March 2, 1708
9. Paul Alexander, b. Sept. 14, 1709
10.Mary Ann, b. Dec., 26,1712 married Peter 8ellepeerche
11. Charles, b. Oct. 20, 1715 married Mary Catherine Casse St. Aubin
