Iowa County WI Archives History - Letters .....Letter Of John Jacques Porlier August 3, 1834
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Nancy Poquette npoq@hotmail.com December 20, 2006, 11:46 am

LOUIS PAQUETTE’s employers were Joseph Jacques Porlier, son of Jacques Porlier, 
and Paul [Hypolite] Grignon. Jacques Porlier was a well-known Green Bay fur 
trader, and many of his letters are preserved by the University of Wisconsin, 
in the collection of the Wisconsin State Historical Society. During a search of 
these documents, I located a letter written in 1834, in French, by Joseph 
Jacques Porlier to his father. This letter mentioned LOUIS PAQUETTE. My 2 years 
of high school French from 35 years ago and a French-English dictionary from 
the turn of the century [1900], have enabled me to roughly translate it to the 
following:

							Green Bay, Aug.3, 1834
“My dear papa,
	“I have received your letters of the 2nd of this current month with 
much joy. The steamboat was not at all delayed after the barque, it has arrived 
at the fort around ten or eleven in the morning. You can not possibly believe 
the great joy that we __________ when we __________.”

“There are? there had? of the provisions for us on board. I recall Charles upon 
leaving the mess and him saying that for provisions that had arrived, he had 
nothing but a barrelful of contempt, flimflammed (or exchanged) for the buying.”

“Je vous apprend nouvelles que l'hommes de M. Paul Grignon est desertes, 
avec ‘le mangeur de lard’ de PAQUETTE et le fils de Garriepie. Voilas 8 jours 
qu’ il sont desertes ils paroit qu'ils sont ganier du coties de Chikagou.” Or-
“I am letting you know of the news that the men of Mr. Paul Grignon [Paul 
Grignon is the youngest brother of the 8 Grignon brothers, all of whom have 
items about them preserved with the Historical Society. Paul’s real first name 
is Hypolite] have deserted, with the ‘pork-eater’ PAQUETTE and the son of 
Guarriepie. There have been 8 days since they have deserted. He [Paul] wagered 
they have gained ground going towards Chicago.”

“We all have perfect health ______ return this week this week to finish the 
haying. There are appearances that the beets won't be good for cutting until 
next week. We have cut ( harvested)…”

Based on this information alone, it did not appear good for LOUIS and the men 
who were accused of deserting. Fortunately, I was also able to locate a ledger 
page for the year 1834, which lists those men who were still on the desertion 
list by the end of the year. They were:

M. Sicard			Luo Ainot
Jacques Wilscaru?		Francois St. Jeau
Pierre LaPointe		Charles Letite
Francois Berieau		Joseph Valvis
Louis  Suprennant		Charles Richard
Joseph Gaynon

Additional Comments:
As in the military service back then, men were listed as missing for the first 
week. If they were missing any longer than that, they were listed as deserters 
until new information illuminated the circumstances. Many emergencies could 
delay them that long, for example, if the birchbark canoe cracked up in the 
rapids, they might have had to build a new one from scratch, before they could 
continue their journey. But, if Louis' crew had deserted, the lack of pay for 
several weeks and the breaking up of the Green Bay Outfit certainly may have 
had something to do with it.

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/wi/iowa/history/letters/letterof16gms.txt

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