CADOTTE
Generation No. 1
JEAN FRANCOIS CADOTTE b. 4-7-1693 (Cap-de-la-Madeleine, Quebec) d. 11- 6-1743(Batiscan, Quebec)
1st Spouse: MARIE JOSEPH PROTEAU b. 11-20-1721(Batiscan Quebec)
2nd Spouse: MARIE RIVARD b. 8-10-1734 in Batiscan Quebec,
Children
Son: JOSEPH LOUISE CADOTTE, b. 8- 26-1722, (Batiscan, Quebec)
Son: JEAN BAPTISTE CADOTTE, b. 12-5-1723, (Batiscan,Quebec) d. 1810 (Sault Ste Marie, Michigan)
Son: AUGUSTIN CADOTTE, b. 9-16-1728, (Batiscan, Quebec)
Son: MICHEL CADOTTE, b. 9- 17-1729 (Batiscan, Quebec) d. 3-15-1784,
Daughter: MARIE-JOSEPH CADOTTE, b. 11-28-1730, (Batiscan, Quebec)
LUC PROTEAU
Spouse: MARIE GERMAIN
Children
Daughter: MARIE JOSEPH PROTEAU b. 11-20-1721(Batiscan Quebec)
NICHOLAS RIGARD
Spouse: FRANCOISE MARIEN
Children
Daughter: MARIE RIVARD
MICHEL CADOTTE, b. 9- 17-1729 (Batiscan, Quebec) d. 3-15-1784, (Maskinonge, Quebec);
Souse: MARIE ANNE COSSET, b. 1- 17, 1761, Batiscan Quebec.
Generation No. 2
JEAN BAPTISTE CADOTTE b. 12-5-1723 (Batiscan, Quebec) d. 1810 in Sault Ste Marie, Michigan,
1st Spouse: Athanasie Nipissing woman MARIANNE B. 10- 28-1756 (Mackinac Island) St Ignace, Mich. d. 5-18-1776 (Montreal,Canada)
2nd Spouse: Marie Mouet b. 1776 Sault Ste Marie, Michigan,
Children
Daughter: MARIE RENEE5 CADOTTE, b. August 06, 1754, Mackinac Island.
Daughter: CHARLOTTE CADOTTE, b. October 1759, Sault Ste. Marie.
Son: JOHN BAPTISTE JR. CADOTTE, b. 1761;
JOHN BAPTISTE JR. CADOTTE, b. 1761;
Spouse: MARIE JANETTE SAUGIMAQUE PIQUETTE.
MICHAEL SR. CADOTTE, b. 7-22-1764, Saulte St. Marie d. July 08, 1837, LaPointe Wisconsin.
JOESPH MARIE CADOTTE, b. 10- 1767; d. 1772, Montreal,Canada.
AUGUSTIN CADOTTE b. 9-16-1728 Batiscan, Quebec.
Spouse: MARIE JOSEPH COSSET b. 1763 in Batiscan Quebec,
Children
Daughter: MARIE-ANGELIQUE5 CADOTTE, b. August 25, 1763, Batiscan, Quebec.
Son: AUGUSTING CADOTTE, b. Bef. February 08, 1766, Quebec; d. Aft. 1843
AUGUSTING CADOTTE, b. Bef. 2-8- 1766, Quebec; d. Aft. 1843;
Spouse: ESTER DANDURAND
LAURENT CADOTTE, b. Bef. 2-8-1766, Quebec.
GENEVIEVE CADOTTE, b. 3-24-1769, Batiscan, Quebec;
Spouse: JOSEPH TROTTIER, b. 2-17-1794, Batiscan Quebec.
Children
Son: LOUIS JOSEPH CADOTTE, b. 9-8-1769, Batiscan, Quebec.
Son: JEAN BAPTISTE CADOTTE, b. 9-8-1771, Batiscan, Quebec.
Daughter: MARIE-MARGUERITE CADOTTE, b. 9-8,-1771, Batiscan, Quebec.
Generation No. 3
MICHAEL SR. CADOTTE b. 7-22-1764 Saulte St. Marie d. 7-8-1837 LaPointe Wisconsin.
Spouse: MARIE MADELAINE, daughter of CHIEF WAU-BIJE-JAUK.
Children
Daughter: GERMAIN CADOTTE.
Son: MICHEAL JR. CADOTTE, b. 9-6-1787, Chippewa River.
Daughter: MARGUERITE CADOTTE, b. 12-15-1788, Macinac Island;
Daughter: JULIA CADOTTE, b. 7-19-1798, Fond du Lac, Minnesota.
Daughter: MARY CADOTTE, b. 9-14-1800;
Son: ANTOINE CADOTTE, b. 4-18-1803, LaPointe, Madeleine Island, Wisconsin;
Daughter: CAROLINE/CHARLOTTE, b. 7-28-1805, Michilimackinac;
Son: JOSEPH CADOTTE, b. 9-1807;
MICHEAL JR. CADOTTE, b. 9-6-1787, Chippewa River;
Spouse: ESTHER KAGWAIAN.
MARGUERITE CADOTTE, b. 12-15-1788, Macinac Island;
Spouse: LEONARD ST. GERMAIN.
MARY CADOTTE, b. 9-14-1800;
Spouse: LYMAN MARQUIS WARREN
ANTOINE CADOTTE, b. 4-18-1803, LaPointe, Madeleine Island, Wisconsin;
Spouse: ROSALIE BOURBONNET.
CAROLINE/CHARLOTTE, b. 7-28-1805, Michilimackinac;
Spouse: JAMES ROUGH ERMATINGER.
JOSEPH CADOTTE, b. 9-1807;
Spouse: SOPHIA OTAWAKWE ETIENNE.
LAURENT5 CADOTTE b. 2-8-1766 Quebec.
Spouse: ELIZABETH STEPHENS WILLIAMS THOMAS b. 1805.
Children
Son: BENJAMIN6 CADOTTE.
Son: LAURENT CADOTTE, b. 1793, West Lake Superior d. 10-23-1874,St Norbert, Red River(Manitoba).
Daughter: MARIE CADOTTE, b. 1805;
Daughter: MICHEL CADOTTE, b. 1811, Red River Settlement.
Son: JOSEPH CADOTTE, b. Abt. 1813.
Daughter: JOSEPHTE CADOTTE, b. 1813.
Daughter: ANGELIQUE CADOTTE, b. 7-1818.
MARIE CADOTTE, b. 1805;
Spouse: JOSEPH ST GERMAIN DIT BRISARD.
Generation No. 4
JULIA CADOTTE b. 7-19-1798 Fond du Lac, Minnesota.
Spouse: JOSEPH DUFAULT b. Abt. 1790 in Lac Du Flambeau Minnesota.
Children
Son: MICHEAL7 DUFAULT, b. 1831, Wisconsin; d. 12-14-1916.
BENJAMIN CADOTTE
Spouse: JOSEPHTE SAULTEAUX.
Children
Daughter: MARIE ANNE7 CADOTTE, b. 1832;
Daughter: LOUISE CADOTTE, b. 2-2-1832, St Boniface, Red River Settlement.
MARIE ANNE CADOTTE, b. 1832;
Spouse: JOSEPH LA FRAMBOISE.
LAURENT CADOTTE b. Abt. 1793 West Lake Superior d. 10-23-1874 St Norbert, Red River (Manitoba)
Spouse: SUSAN CREE Bef. 1811.
Children
Daughter: ELIZA CADOTTE, b. Abt. 1851.
Son: ALEXIS CADOTTE, b. 4-23-1867, St Norbert, Red River Settlement.
Son: AUGUSTIN CADOTTE.
Son: PIERRE CADOTTE, b. Abt. 1829, Red River Settlement.
Son: JEAN-BAPTISTE CADOTTE, b. 10-23-1830, Red River Settlement.
Son: JOSEPH CADOTTE, b. 8-12-1832, St Boniface, Red River Settlement.
Daughter: MARIE CADOTTE, b. 1844;
Daughter: JULIE CADOTTE, b. 1845, Red River Settlement.
Son: FELIX CADOTTE, b. 9-1849, St. Norbert, Red River Settlement; d. Bef. 1882.
MARIE CADOTTE, b. 1844;
Spouse: ANTOINE LALIBERTE.
MICHEL CADOTTE b. 1811 Red River Settlement.
1st Spouse: NANCY COCHRANE b.11-29-1843 St Andrews, Red River Settlement.
2nd Spouse: NANCY BEAR b. 12-25-1881 St Pierre, Peters, MB, CAN.
Children
Son: JAMES CADOTTE, b. St Pierre, MB, CAN.
Daughter: SOPHIE CADOTTE, b. Abt. 1844, St Pierre, MB, CAN.
Daughter: ELIZA CADOTTE, b. Abt. 1851, St Pierre, MB, CAN.
Son: JOHN CADOTTE, b. Abt. 1849, St Pierre, MB, CAN.
Daughter: JANE CADOTTE, b. Abt. 1853, St Pierre, MB, CAN.
JOSEPH CADOTTE b. Abt. 1813.
Spouse: MARIE GENEVIEVE PICARD Abt. 1842,
Children
Son: JOSEPH CADOTTE, b. Abt. 1836.
Daughter: GENEVIEVE CADOTTE, b. 1844;
Son: PIERRE CADOTTE, b. 1844, Dakota Territory
Daughter: JOSEPHTE CADOTTE, b. Abt. 1846.
Son: ANTIONE CADOTTE, b. 4-4-1852.
son: FRANCOIS XAVIER CADOTTE, b. 8-30-1854, Assumption, Pembina, ND,
Daughter: CATHERINE CADOTTE, b. 1858, St Joseph, Pembina, ND,
Daughter: JULIENNE CADOTTE, b. 12-29-1948.
GENEVIEVE CADOTTE, b. 1844;
Spouse: ALEXANDRE GARIEPY.
PIERRE CADOTTE, b. 1844, Dakota Territory,
Spouse: CATHERINE DESMARAIS, b. 1850
CATHERINE CADOTTE, b. 1858, St Joseph, Pembina, ND,
Spouse: JOHN PLUMMER.
JOSEPHTE CADOTTE b. 1813.
Spouse: PAUL CHARTRAND, b. 1812, d. 12-29-1886.
Children
Son: PETER CHARTRAND, b. St Laurent, Northwest Territories.
Son: NORBERT CHARTRAND.
Son: MICHEL CHARTRAND, b. St Laurent, Northwest Territories.
Son: ANTOINE CHARTRAND, b. 1837.
PAUL CHARTRAND
Spouse: LOUISE SAULTEAUX
Children
Son: PAUL CHARTRAND, b. 1812, d. 12-29-1886.
ANGELIQUE6CADOTTE b. 7-1818.
Spouse: LOUIS GRANDBOIS Abt. 1844,
Children
Son: LOUISE GRANDBOIS.
Son: JEREMIE GRANDBOIS, b. 8-1851, St Norbert, Red River Settlement; d.
MICHEL GRANDBOIS
Spouse: MARGUERITE LANDRY.
Children
Son: LOUIS GRANDBOIS Abt. 1844
Generation No. 5
MICHEAL DUFAULT b. 1831Wisconsin d. 12-14-1916.
Spouse: JOSETTE ROY b. 1835 Madland Island Wisconsin, d. March 27, 1911.
Child
Daughter: MARY8 DUFULT, b. 12-26-1867,Rainey Lake Minnesota; d. 8-25-1914;
MARY DUFULT, b. 12-26-1867,Rainey Lake Minnesota; d. 8-25-1914
Spouse: WILLIAM WRIGHT; b. 1865; d. 3-21-1909, White Earth Indian Minnesota.
VINCENT ROY
Spouse: ELIZABETH LACOMBRE
Children
Daughter: JOSETTE ROY,
AUGUSTIN CADOTTE
Spouse: ANGELIQUE LAFERTE b.1-11-1859 St Norbert, Red River Settlement,
Children
Daughter: ISABELL8 CADOTTE, b. Abt. 1859; m. ALEXIS DUBOIS.
Daughter: ELISE CADOTTE, b. 1861; d. August 23, 1866, St Boniface, Red River Settlement.
LOUIS LAFERTE
Spouse: ANGELIQUE CARON.
Daughter: ANGELIQUE LAFERTE b.1-11-1859 in St Norbert, Red River Settlement,
PIERRE CADOTTE b. 1829 Red River Settlement.
1st Spouse: LOUISE NISQUALLY b. 1-29-1844 St James Mission, Fort Vancouver, Oregon,
2nd Spouse: JULIE BLONDIN b. 1852 in St Boniface, Red River Settlement,
Children
Son: EDOUARD CADOTTE, b. 1852, St Norbert, Red River Settlement
Son: JOSEPH CADOTTE, b. 10-24-1864, St Norbert, Red River Settlement.
Son: MODESTE WILLIAM CADOTTE, b. 5-24-1862, St Norbert, Red River
Daughter: SOPHIE CADOTTE, b. 12-19-1863, St Norbert, Red River Settlement.
Daughter: ISABELL CADOTTE, b. 3-12-1865, St Norbert, Red River Settlement.
Daughter: ROSALIE CADOTTE, b. 10-10-1869, Duck Lake, Northwest Territories.
PIERRE BLONDIN
Spouse: ELIZABETH LAVERDURE
Children
Daughter: LOUISE NISQUALLY b. 1-29-1844 St James Mission, Fort Vancouver, Oregon,
Daughter: JULIE BLONDIN 1852 St Boniface, Red River Settlement
EDOUARD CADOTTE, b. Abt. 1852, St Norbert, Red River Settlement;
Spouse: ISABELLE LINKLATER
JEAN-BAPTISTE CADOTTE b. 10-23-1830 Red River Settlement.
Spouse: ELISE PILON b. 1-12-1858 St Norbert , Red River Settlement
Children
Daughter: SARAH CADOTTE.
Daughter: PHILOMENE CADOTTE.
Son: PATRICE CADOTTE, m. CATHERINE ROWAN.
Son: JEAN BAPTISTE CADOTTE, m. MARIE PAULINE NORMAND.
ANTOINE PILON
Souse: ANGELIQUE LEMAY
Children
Daughter: ELISE PILON b. 1-12-1858 St Norbert , Red River Settlement
PATRICE CADOTTE,
Spouse: CATHERINE ROWAN.
JEAN BAPTISTE CADOTTE,
Spouse: MARIE PAULINE NORMAND.
JOSEPH CADOTTE b. 8-12-1832 St Boniface, Red River Settlement.
Spouse: MARIE CHRISTINE CARRON January 12, 1858 in St Norbert , Red River Settlement.
Children
Son: LOUIS FREDERICK8 CADOTTE, b. 7-1-1860, St Agathe Riviere-aux-Rats, Northwest Territory.
Daughter: ROSALIE CADOTTE, b. 1863, St Norbert, Red River Settlement;
Daughter: DOMITILDE CADOTTE, b. Abt. 1867, St. Norbert, Red River Settlement.
Daughter: VIRGINIE CADOTTE, b. Abt. 1869, St Norbert, Red River Settlement
Son: FERDINAND CADOTTE, b. 1886;
ROSALIE CADOTTE, b. 1863, St Norbert, Red River Settlement;
Spouse: JOSEPH GARAND, b. 2-18-1879, St Pierre, Peters, MB, Canada.
VIRGINIE CADOTTE, b.1869, St Norbert, Red River Settlement;
Spouse: ALEXIS DESJARDINS.
FERDINAND CADOTTE, b. 1886;
Spouse: MARIA CARRIERE, 1-11-1922, St Pierre, Peters, MB, Canada.
JULIE CADOTTE b. 1845 Red River Settlement.
Spouse: LOUIS VERMETTE,
Children
Son: LOUIS VERMETTE.
Son: ROGER VERMETTE.
Daughter: VIRGINIE VERMETTE.
Daughter: ELIZA VERMETTE.
Daughter: ANNIE VERMETTE.
JOSEPH VERMETTE
Spouse: ANGELIQUE LALIBERTE
Children
Son: LOUIS VERMETTE,
FELIX CADOTTE b 9-1849 St. Norbert, Red River Settlement, d. 1882.
Spouse: SARAH SUTHERLAND January 28, 1873 in St Norbert Red River Settlement,
Children
Son: LOUIS FREDRIC8 CADOTTE, b. 1874.
Daughter: MARIE ROSE CADOTTE, m. ALEX PILSON.
PIERRE SUTHERLAND
Spouse: SUZANNE MCMILLIAN
Children
Daughter: SARAH SUTHERLAND b. 1-28-1873 St Norbert , Red River Settlement
MARIE ROSE CADOTTE,
Spouse: ALEX PILSON.
SOPHIE CADOTTE b. 1844 in St Pierre, MB, CAN.
Spouse: PHILLIP THOMAS,
Children
Daughter: FANNY THOMAS, b. St Peters, Northwest Territory.
Son: JEREMIE THOMAS, b. St Peters, Northwest Territory.
Daughter: JANE THOMAS, b. St Peters, Northwest Territory.
JOHN THOMAS
Spouse: JANE WILLIAM
Children
Son: PHILLIP THOMAS,
ELIZA CADOTTE b. 1851 St Pierre, MB, CAN.
Spouse: DAVID LAWERENCE d. 4-12-1875,
Child
Son: JEAN NORBERT LAWERENCE, b. 2-11-1876.
NORBERT LAURENCE
Spouse: JOSEPHTE PARENTEAU
Children
Son: DAVID LAWERENCE b. 4-12-1875,
ANTIONE CADOTTE b. 4-4-1852.
Spouse: LOUISE HAMELIN b. 9-4-1871 St Francois Xavier, Red River Settlement,
Children
Daughter: NANCY CADOTTE, b. 8-24-1872, Lebret, Northwest Territory.
Son: PIERRE CADOTTE, b. 10-12-1872, Lebret, Northwest Territory.
GASPARD HAMELIN
Spouse: ELIZABETH LAUNDRY
Children
Daughter: LOUISE HAMELIN b. 9-4-1871 St Francois Xavier, Red River Settlement,
FRANCOIS XAVIER CADOTTE b. 8-30-1854 Assumption, Pembina, ND,
Spouse: MARIE ADAM b. 12-30-1873 Lebret, Northwest Territory, daughter of JEAN ADAM and MARIE BOYER.
Child
Son: MOSE8 CADOTTE, b. April 28, 1876, Lebret, Northwest Territory.
JEAN ADAM
Spouse: MARIE BOYER
Children
Daughter: MARIE ADAM b. 12-30-1873 Lebret, Northwest Territory,
ANTOINE CHARTRAND b. 1837.
Spouse: FRANCOIS MAKONS-SAULTEAUX.
Child
Daughter: LOUISE8 CHARTRAND, b. 1861
LOUISE CHARTRAND, b. 1861;
Spouse: JACQUES JACOB DUCHARME; b. 1852, St Lawerence Nwt..
JEREMIE GRANDBOIS b. 8-1851 St Norbert, Red River Settlement d. North Dakota, USA.
Spouse: ELISE VIVIER January 03, 1872 in Assumption, Pembina, Pembina,
Children
Daughter: VIRGINIA8 GRANDBOIS, b. 12-22-1872, Pembina, d. 8-22-1963, Rolette, ND USA; m.
(1) LOMISH AMYOTTE; m.
(2) CHARLES EUGENE LEFAVOR, Bef. 1897, East Grand Forks, Polk County Minnesota.
Children
Daughter: ROSA MARIE GRANDBOIS.
Daughter: LOUISE GRANDBOIS.
Son: JOE GRANDBOIS, d. East Grand Forks, Polk, MN; m. SARAH MORIN.
FRANCOIS VIVIER
Spouse: JOSETTE DUBOIS.
Children
Daughter: ELISE VIVIER b. 1-3-1872 Pembina, Dakota Territory,
VIRGINIA GRANDBOIS, b. 12-22-1872, Pembina, d. 8-22-1963, Rolette, ND USA;
1st Spouse: LOMISH AMYOTTE;
2nd Spouse: CHARLES EUGENE LEFAVOR, Bef. 1897, East Grand Forks, Polk County Minnesota.
Larent Codote b. 1766
Spouse: Susan Mcchegone Cree b. 1760
Children
Son: Benjamin Cadotte dit Dutour b. d. 4-16-1829
Benjamin Cadotte dit Dutour b. 1784 d. 4-16-1829
Spouse: Josette Anger b.
Children
Daughter: Pelagie Cadotte
Son: Henry Cadotte b. 1817
Daughter: Charlotte Cadotte b/ 1822
Son: Benjamin Cadotte b. 1824
Benjamin Cadotte b. 1824
Spouse: Mary Whiteface b. 1827
Children
Son: George Cadotte b.
Son: Oliver Cadotte b.
Son: Nicholas Cadotte b.1852
Son: William Cadotte b. 1859
Son: Alexander Cadotte b.1860
Daughter: Adele Cadotte b.1871
Nikola-Nicholas Cadotte b. 1852
Spouse: Lizzie Makaska Najin b.1855
Children
Son: John Cadotte b.1875
Son: Benjamin Cadotte b. 1877
Daughter: Susan Cadotte b. 1882
Daughter: Mary Cadotte b. 1892
Son: Gilbert Cadotte b. 1895
William Cadotte b. 1859
Spouse: “Iyawastewin” Good Talker Mary Adelia b.1866
Children
Daughter: Elsie Cadotte b. 1883
Daughter: Julian Cadotte b. 1885
Son: Jerome Cadotte b. 1891
Daughter: Madeline Cadotte b. 1894
Daughter: Emma Cadotte b. 1896
Daughter: Alice Cadotte b. 1897
Son: Nicholas Cadotte b. 1899
Son: John Cadotte b. 1901
Son: Davis Cadotte b. 1902
Daughter: Mary Cadotte b. 1904
Son: Peter Cadotte b. 1907
Alexander Cadotte b.1860 Spouse: Marciene –Mercy b.1863
Children
Daughter: Mary Cadotte b. 1888
Son: Robert Cadotte b. 1894
Son: George Cadotte b. 1896
Benjamin Cadotte b. 1877
Spouse: Daisy Mae Devere
Spouse: Esther Rough Surface
Children
Daughter: Lima Cadotte b. 1910
Daughter: Vivian Cadotte b. 1912
Son: Benjamin Cadotte b.1923
Son: Clarence Cadotte b.1926
Daughter: Lillian Cadotte b. 1928
John Cadotte b. 1875
Spouse: Hattie Mclean b. 1889 d.10-9-1950
Children
Daughter: Victoria Cadotte b. 1899
Son: Ignatius Cadotte b. 1902
Daughter: Clara Cadotte b. 1906
Son: Raymond Cadotte B. 1909
Son: Arron Cadotte b. 1911
Son: Vincent Cadotte b. 1914
Daughter: Hermine Cadotte b. 1917
Daughter: Theresa Cadotte b. 1918
Jerome Cadotte b. 1890
Spouse: Scholastic Mad Bear b. 1891
Children
Daughter: Verna Rosie Cadotte b.1915
Daughter: Ethel Cadotte b.1918
Son: Tyrus Raymond Cadotte b. 1920
Son: Roger Cadotte b. 1923
Daughter: Mary Cadotte b.1925
Daughter: Dorothy Cadotte b. 1931
Raymond Cadotte b. 2-23-1909 d. Jan 1981
Spouse: Melda Demery b. 1913 d.2-1992
Children
Son: Chas D, Cadotte b.7-17-1932
Daughter: Sylvia Cadotte b. 2-281934
Daughter: Victoria Cadotte b. 9-3-1935
Daughter: Mary Jane Cadotte b. 2-12-1938
CADOT (Cadotte), JEAN-BAPTISTE, fur trader and interpreter; baptized 5 Dec. 1723 in Batiscan (Que.), son of Jean-François Cadot and Marie-Josephe Protean; d. in or after 1803.
Jean-Baptiste Cadot first went to the Upper Lakes in 1742, engaging himself at age 19 to Jean-Baptiste-Nicolas-Roch de Ramezay* for a journey to the Nipigon country. Perhaps he was encouraged by his father, who had made a voyage to Michilimackinac (Mackinaw City, Mich.) in 1717. In 1750 Cadot was again in the west, this time in the employ of Louis Legardeur* de Repentigny and Louis de Bonne* de Missègle, who together had been granted a seigneury at Sault Ste Marie (Mich.). The rushing rapids in the St Marys River were a key point in the water route to the interior, since all canoes going between Lake Huron and Lake Superior had to be portaged or pulled through the swift water. Repentigny erected a small fort, and when he left the area Cadot stayed on as his agent.
Cadot adjusted to his wilderness home by taking a Nipissing woman named Athanasie (or possibly Anastasie) to live with him. When a daughter was born in August 1756 they regularized their relationship by marriage at Michilimackinac on 28 October. Three years later another daughter was born and in 1761 a son, Jean-Baptiste. Cadot’s wife was a great asset to him since she was related to the Ojibwa chief Madjeckewiss and was highly respected. The family spoke only Ojibwa at home, and Cadot’s skill with language and oratory won him the position of chief with the local band of about 50 warriors. By 1762 the British controlled the Sault. Cadot, having a small farm there and being responsible for a family, quickly accommodated himself to the trader Alexander Henry* and the small garrison of Royal Americans (60th Foot) commanded by John Jamet*. In late December fire destroyed three of the four buildings in the fort, sparing only Cadot’s house. Most of the soldiers returned to Michilimackinac, but Jamet was too severely burned to be moved. Late in February, however, Cadot and Henry undertook a very difficult winter trip to return him to his unit, after which Cadot returned home.
It would have been better for Jamet and Henry if they had stayed at the Sault. The Ojibwas under Madjeckewiss and Minweweh*, inspired by Pontiac*’s siege of Detroit (Mich.), took Michilimackinac on 2 June 1763, killing Jamet and capturing Henry. The Indians at the Sault, however, were kept out of the affair by the efforts of Cadot. In May 1764 Henry was permitted by Wawatam*, his Ojibwa guardian, to go to the Sault. Madjeckewiss also arrived there with his band and would have harmed Henry but for Cadot’s intervention. On 22 July Athanasie gave birth to another son, Michel. When the Cadots took the child to Michilimackinac to be baptized on 13 August by Pierre Du Jaunay* the British had not as yet reoccupied the post. Upon the return of the British on 22 September their commander, Captain William Howard, kept the soldiers at Michilimackinac and planned to rely on Cadot to represent him at the Sault. In May 1765 Cadot was sent there with a wampum belt to acquaint the Indians with the negotiations for peace undertaken by Sir William Johnson*, superintendent of northern Indians. One month later Cadot vividly demonstrated his influence over the Indians by leading 80 canoes to Michilimackinac for a treaty. When the Indians requested that traders be allowed to go to Lake Superior, Howard, heeding Cadot’s advice, gave him permission to trade at La Pointe (Wis.). Establishing a partnership with his former associate Alexander Henry, Cadot stayed at the Sault while Henry traded successfully in the vicinity of Chequamegon Bay (Wis.).
In August 1766 Cadot was appointed as Indian interpreter, a position he held for at least a year; he earned 8s. per day and was provided with presents to dispense. Regarded as “that vigilant Friend of the English,” in March 1767 he showed that his reputation was deserved when he persuaded the Indians at the Saint to exchange their French flag for a British one. Working for Robert Rogers*, commandant at Michilimackinac, and also for Johnson, Cadot had become one of the most influential people in the Upper Lakes. During the summer of 1767 Cadot aided Henry Bostwick, John Chinn, and Alexander Henry in the search for copper deposits along Lake Superior, and he was named as one of Bostwick’s associates when a group of British investors received approval in London to establish mines in the area. During the next few years Cadot served the concern by maintaining good relations with the Indians and keeping them from interfering with the mines. Though the operation proved unprofitable, Cadot’s reputation soared. In 1771 Johnson considered him to be one of the “Two Most faithfull Men amongst the French,” and in the same year George Turnbull, the commandant at Michilimackinac, said Cadot “has an universall good character amongst both Canadians and Indians. In 1775 Cadot was part of a large group of traders, including Joseph and Thomas Frobisher, Alexander Henry, and Peter Pond, who travelled west to trade. At Cumberland House (Sask.), after being entertained by Hudson’s Bay Company officer Matthew Cocking, they set out in various directions. Cadot, with four canoes, went to pass the winter at Fort des Prairies (Fort-à-la-Corne). The western trade prospered, and Sault Ste Marie grew in importance as a provisioning post. Cadot maintained an association with Henry until at least 1778, when he established joint ventures with Jean-Baptiste Barthe, an agent for John Askin.
It was not until 1780 that the American revolution directly affected Cadot. Patrick Sinclair, lieutenant governor of Michilimackinac, decided to attack the Spaniards at St Louis (Mo.) and, feeling that “the Indians are under the absolute authority of Mr. Cadot, who is a very honest man,” he dispatched Cadot with a war party along the southern shore of Lake Superior to try to gain Indian support. A number of Indians enlisted by Cadot did help in the attack on St Louis, but it was repulsed. In October 1781 Cadot was again put on the payroll as an interpreter. In September 1783 Daniel Robertson, now commandant at Michilimackinac, sent Cadot and Madjeckewiss to the Chequamegon region in an unsuccessful effort to stop a war between the Ojibwas and the Foxes and Sioux. About 1767, following the death of Athanasie, Cadot had married Marie Mouet, a Canadian. In October of that year they had a son, Joseph-Marie, who apparently died young. During 1772–73 Cadot sent young Jean-Baptiste to Montreal, where he studied at the Collège Saint-Raphaël from 1773 to 1780. By 1786 Cadot’s sons were working with him under the name of Messrs Cadot and Company and from 1787 evidently conducted most of the firm’s activities. On 24 May 1796 the venerable trader, pleading the infirmity of old age and apparently too feeble even to sign his name, formally turned over the business to Jean-Baptiste and Michel. During his career Cadot had been the major trader at Sault Ste Marie, and although he never became rich he appears to have had a comfortable income. His son Jean-Baptiste was admitted in 1801 to partnership in the North West Company, but he was expelled two years later for drunkenness. The date of the elder Cadot’s death is unknown: one account suggests 1803, but he may have been alive as late as 1812. Louis-Honoré Fréchette* made Cadot the central figure of “Le drapeau fantôme,” a poem published in his collection La légende d’un peuple (Paris, [1887]). Clements Library, Thomas Gage papers, American ser., 103: Turnbull to Gage, 12 May 1771; 104: Turnbull to Gage, 6 July 1771; supplementary accounts, “Account of Sir William Johnson’s Indian Department expenses to Sept. 25, 1767”; “Speismacher Indian transactions, Dec. 8, 1767–July 18, 1768.” DPL, Burton Hist. Coll., J.-B. Barthe papers, invoice book, 1778–80; sales book, 1775–79; ledger, 1775–79. McCord Museum, J.-B. Blondeau, account book, 1777–87. PAC, MG 19, A2, ser.1, 3. PRO, CO 700, Canada no.38E. Univ. of Notre Dame Arch. (Notre Dame, Ind.), Wisconsin diocesan coll., Cadotte ledger. Wis., State Hist. Soc., Consolidated returns of trade licences, 1777, 1779, 1781–83, 1785–86 (transcripts). Les bourgeois de la Compagnie du Nord-Ouest (Masson). Jonathan Carver, Travels through the interior parts of North America, in the years 1766, 1767, and 1768 (3rd ed., London, 1781; repr. Minneapolis, Minn., 1956), 131–32, 141–43. Henry, Travels and adventures. John Askin papers (Quaife), vol.1. Johnson papers (Sullivan et al.). Mich. Pioneer Coll., 9 (1886), 10 (1886), 11 (1887), 20 (1892), 37 (1909–10). [Robert Rogers], “Rogers’s Michillimackinac journal,” ed. W. L. Clements, American Antiquarian Soc., Proc. (Worcester, Mass.), new ser., 28 (1918): 224–73. U.S. v. Repentigny (1866), 72 U.S. 211, 223–26, 241–43, 247, 251–52. Wis., State Hist. Soc., Coll., 11 (1888), 12 (1892), 18 (1908), 19 (1910). Dictionnaire national des Canadiens français (1608–1760) (3v., Montréal, 1958). Massicotte, “Répertoire des engagements pour l’Ouest,” ANQ Rapport, 1929–30: 221, 424. Tanguay, Dictionnaire. Joseph Tassé: Les Canadiens de l’Ouest (2v.,Montréal, 1878), 1. Wallace, Macmillan dict. Cadotte family stories, comp. T. H. Tobola (Cadotte, Wis., 1974). Maurault, Le collège de Montréal (Dansereau; 1967), 186. Walter O’Meara, Daughters of the country: the women of the fur traders and mountain men (New York, 1968). [This work confuses Cadot’s first and second wives. d.a.a.]
(IV)-Michael Cadotte (1764-1837) of Makinac, son (III)-Jean Baptiste Cadotte Sr. (1723-1803) became Chief Factor La Pointe (Wisconsin) for the Alexander Henry the elder (1739-1824) and (III)-Jean Baptiste Cadotte Sr. (1723-1803) partnership.
(IV)-Michel Cadotte married Equaysayway daughter Waubojeeg (The White Fisher) hereditary Chief of the La Pointe Chippewa.
(IV)-Michael Cadotte as (1763-1804) married to the daughter of White Crane the Ojibwa. Grandson of Ke-che-ne-zuh-yauh a famed orator chief of the Western Ojibwa.
The English Middle Fort on Madeleine Island lay destroyed.
It is believed Cadotte spent much time at Lac Court Oreilles and Lac de Flambeau: Ojibwa villages. Lac du Flambeau is about 45 miles from Lake Superior. Lac du Flambeau, or Torch Lake (Wauswagning), occupied by the Ojibwa from La Pointe, is named after the custom of spearing fish by torchlight.
There are three Michael Cadottes in the field this year.
I have received a lot of e-mail concerning the three Michael Cadottes. I have no personal incentive to verify who is who.
Jean Loehde, however, noted: William W. Warren suggests Michael took as wife the daughter of White Crane (waub-ij-e-jauk the son of A-ke-gui-ow) (Ke-che-ne-zuh-yauh, head of the Crane family is father to A-ke-gui-ow). However, (Waubijeeg is Reindeer or Caribou). He went on to say it is difficult to trust Warren because of lack of dates for anything. I also have problems with the fact that this historical data isn't time frame related.
(IV)-Jean Baptiste Cadotte (1761-1818) wrote Monsieur Gautier, Kings Interpreter at Mackinac, that smallpox had devastated the Ojibwa at Fond du Lac, Sandy Lake, Rainy Lake, Sandy Lake and surrounding areas. The survivors likely temporarily abandoned the area. In September, when the Chippewa (Ojibwa) are at war with the Fox and Dakota, Captain (I)-Daniel Robertson (1733-1810), commandant at Mackinac, sent messages to the Indians by (III)-Jean Baptiste Cadotte Sr. (1723-1803) and Matchekewis; a Chippewa (Ojibwa) chief of note.
Nick Cadotte was the brother-in-law to John Grass.
Lizzie “Makaska Najin” Cadotte was John Grass’s sister
Michel Cadotte is born 1811 Red River des Metis Settlement and will marry Nancy Cochrane also born 1820 Red River Settlement.
Catherine Henry born 1811 Red River des Metis Settlement daughter Alexander Henry (1764-1814), living Red River 1870 census.
Madeline Island has a rich history, and is the largest of the twenty-two islands making up the Apostle Islands archipelago. The Island is named after Madeleine Cadotte, daughter of Chief White Crane and wife of fur trader Michael Cadotte. It has been inhabited by Native Americans, fur traders, and missionaries. Madeline Island has flown the flags of three nations and has been the site of some civilization for about 400 years.
On the 14th of June 1671, there was a great celebration in the little settlement of Sault Ste. Marie, then the most far-flung outpost of France’s colonial possessions in the New World. Simon Francois Daumont, the Sieur de St. Lusson has come from the glittering court of Versailles into the very heart of the pathless wilderness of North America to take possession of the Northwest in the name of His Sovereign Majesty, the King of France. It was a magnificent gesture, done with much pomp and ceremony, but that was all. To those hardy spirits who had preceded St. Lusson and to the many who followed in his train; to that gay and gallant company of voyageurs, coureurs de bois and intrepid fur traders who carried on an adventurous commerce with the savage inhabitants of a new world and wrote into the history of the North American continent its most romantic chapter; to them was left the actual work of taking possession. Among the many care free adventurers and soldiers of fortune who came in the train of St. Lusson and stayed to cast their lot in the wilderness there was but one story is concerned, a man named Cadeau. He became an itinerant fur trader, was married, and perpetuated his name, which became Cadotte in the next generation.
About the middle of the eighteenth century there became prominent among the many French and English fur traders operating throughout the Northwest one Jean Baptiste Cadotte, a son of the above-mentioned Cadeau and father of Michel Cadotte. As a young man he penetrated the most remove villages of the Ojibway in the territory around Lake Superior and became very popular with all the Indians with whom he came in contact while acting in his capacity of fur trader. His influence among the Indians was great and served him in good stead in many crises. It is said that when French dominion ceased throughout the Northwest Jean Baptiste Cadotte tried to leave the region but the love of the Indians for him and his children was so great that they threatened to force to make him stay. There is a fairly well substantiated tradition that the chiefs of the Ojibway tribe granted the site of the present day Sault Ste. Marie to J. B. Cadotte and his descendants as a mark of their gratitude for his labors in their behalf. Alexander Henry is said to have had the grand of land after his death it was brought into the Lake Superior region by an unknown person who made a number of inquires concerning the Cadotte family, and then returned to Montreal. Since that time it has not been heard of. Jean Baptiste Cadotte and is referred to by Alexander Henry, the noted English trader, as the last governor of the French Fort at Sault Ste. Marie.
On October 28, 1756, in the Catholic Church at Michilimakinac, Jean Baptiste Cadotte was married to an Ojibway woman of the great Awause clan referred to in the marriage documents as a neophyte named Marianne, the daughter of a Nipissing, and in another old French document as Athanasi, Anastasia and Catherine. This woman was of remarkable strong character and possessed an unusual energy, helping her husband in his fur trading to the extent of making canoe trips of hundreds miles with the voyageurs and coureurs de bois to far flung fur outposts. She once dramatically saved the life of Alexander Henry, who was at one time a partner of Jean Baptiste Cadotte and spent the winter of 1765/66 with him on the main land opposite Madeline Island, about where Bayfield, Wisconsin now stands.
Anastasia Cadotte bore two sons, Jean Baptiste, Jr. and Michel, the last named of whom inherited to the greatest extent the admirable qualities of both mother and father. Michel Cadotte was born July 22, 1764, at Sault Ste. Marie. The early days of his childhood were spent in and around the little trading post where he learned his lessons, which would serve him so well in the eventful years, which followed. As a youth he was sent to Montreal, where he received a liberal education, and on his return, he entered the fur trade as an assistant to his father.
Far horizons held an untold lure for young Michel Cadotte and as early as 17984, when he was but 20 years old, he was wintering among his Indian half brothers at the head of the Chippewa River. At that early date he had already established a trading post on the Namakagon River, a tributary of the St. Croix, and was doing extensive trading with the tribes along the upper Mississippi. The date of his location on Madeline Island is uncertain, some saying 1792, others 1800, but it may be stated with a fair degree of certainty that he settle permanently on that picturesque and historic piece of terra firma during the last decade of the 18th century. White Crane, the noted Ojibway chief, was at that time the village chief of La Pointe and Michel Cadotte wooed and won his beautiful daughter. Equaysayway was her native name but when she married Cadotte and entered the church she was given the name of Madeline. Her name has been perpetuated in the name of the island on which she lived and died, which, up to the middle of 19th century, had been known by a variety of titles ranging from Moningwunakauning to just plain Michel’s. This marriage was a singular stroke of good fortune for Michel Cadotte. The Cranes were the aristocracy of the Ojibway tribe, equivalent to the ‘old 400’ of New York. They claimed that their ancestors were the first to pitch their wigwams and light their fires on Chequamegon Point when the tribe migrated from the Sault three hundred years before. Although the marriage was undoubtedly a love match it did much to further the ambitions of Cadotte and put him in a strong position with the people among whom he was to spend his life.
In May 1796, the advantages of a quiet old age became apparent to Jean Baptiste Cadotte, the elder, and he turned over his extensive fur trade to his two sons, Michel and Jean Baptiste, Jr., with the provision that they care for him in his declining years. He died seven years later in 1803.
By the beginning of the 19th century Michel Cadotte had established a thriving fur trade post on Madeline Island near the site of the old French Fort, which had been abandoned in 1756 and had virtually become a feudal baron over the entire surrounding region. A trading post at Lac Courte Oreilles and other less important stations scattered throughout northern Wisconsin and the Michigan peninsula were operated by him and reaped annually an enormous harvest of furs. He did a business of $40,000 annually at a time when raw furs were ridiculously plentiful and cheap. Such a trade now would run into hundreds of thousands of dollars yearly. For a quarter of a century he carried on this traffic of furs, sometimes as a free trader, sometimes as a representative of those great fur companies, which were making fortunes by duel exploitation of the fauna of the region and the vanity of fashionable men and women. His influence among the Indians increased with the passing of years until he became almost a demi-god among them, a final court of appeal for setting of quarrels, a true friend in any case of need. “Kechemeshane,” Great Michel, he was called by the children of the wilderness, and also ‘Kind Hearted Michel Cadotte.’ When the noted Shawnee prophet agitated the Indians throughout the northwest with his promise of coming power an incident occurred which aptly illustrated the respect in which Cadotte was held by his Indians. The propaganda of the Shawnee prophet had spread afar and some of his medicine bags had come to the Chequamegon. A party of 150 canoes was made up and, bringing a dead child with them for the ‘prophet’ to resuscitate, they started for Detroit. At the Pictured Rocks of Lake Superior they were met by Great Michel, who, on learning of their errand, advised them to return to La Pointe. Just the wish of one man against the already partly enacted will of several hundred Ojibways but it was enough. They turned their canoes towards the setting sun and forgot the glowing promise of the Shawnee prophet. Such was the influence of Kechemeshane.
Although to the casual observer Michel Cadotte may seem noting more than the picturesque fur trader, typical of his time, he was, in reality, much more than that. There was in him something of the spirit of the true pioneer, the vision of an empire builder. When he settled on Madeline Island shortly before the end of the 18th century he chose as a location for his home and trading post a site on the southwest corner of the island near the old site of the old French military post. Here he built his home and fur depot and around them grew up a little settlement which slowly gravitated northward along the curving, sandy beach and finally resulted I the present village of La Pointe. Michel Cadotte had in him that inherent love of the land, which is the unmistakable characteristic of the real pioneer. Out of the virgin wilderness around his frontier home he began to carve a farm and raise an annual crop of vegetables and grains, which were most used I the rough fare of the time. From the Sault he brought cows and horse and began to raise livestock. When McKenney visited the island in 1826 he found Cadotte had tow comfortable log houses lathed and plastered, twenty acres of land under intensive cultivation and considerable livestock.
Michel Cadotte and his Ojibway princess wife brought into the world a large family and raised it well. The sons were sent to Montreal and there were well educated as their father had been before them. The daughters were kept at home and instructed in the art of being good wives. In 1818 there came into the Lake Superior country two youthful adventurers from New York. They were the Warren brothers, Lyman Marquis and Truman Abraham, direct descendants of Richard Warren who arrived at Plymouth in 1620 via the Mayflower. They entered the employee of Cadotte and soon rose high in his favor. They were wed to Cadotte’s daughters in 1821, Lyman marrying Mary and Truman taking to wife Charlotte. Thus were united in one strain the blue blood of the Mayflower, the royal blood of the Ojibways and the virile, red blood of a gallant French adventurer. In 1823 the Warren brothers took over the extensive fur trade of Cadotte and the old veteran retired.
Michel Cadotte died at La Pointe on July 8, 1837, when he was almost 73 years of age. He died in poverty and that, perhaps, better than anything else, shows the type of man he was. At one time very wealthy, he had no realization of the value of money, no respect for it except as a medium by which might be procured those things, which he, or his friends, or his relatives desired. He accumulated wealth and squandered it; lived highly, spent freely and died poor.
"The connection of the Cadotte family with the Chippewa or Ojibway fur trade began a hundred years or more before the Revolutionary War. The name originally was Cadeau, but in the second generation as fur traders the name became corrupted to Cadotte, and has so remained. The original Monsignor Cadeau had a son Jean Baptiste Cadotte, an energetic forceful character, who married and Ojibway woman of a very similar nature. They had two sons, Jean Baptiste, Jr. and Michel. The former of these two operated largely in what is now northern Minnesota, but it is Michel in who we are particularly interested. Born in 1764, he received a good education, and then took up his residence at La Pointe. Michel had trading posts in various other places. It is a well-established fact that one of these is at or near Chippewa Falls, where a son Michel was born."
"To Jean Baptiste Cadotte Jr. is given the credit for completely opening to the fur traders the region about the upper Mississippi. " Jean Baptiste had followed in the footsteps of his father, the fur trader and partner of Alexander Henry WHO IS HE? Jean Baptiste Cadotte, Jr. spent the winter of 1797-98 at the strategic forks of the Red Lake and Clearwater Rivers, or at the present site of the town of Red Lake Falls. "Mr. Cadotte in the employ of the Northwest Company, probably spent the winter of 1794-95 at Red Lake and the next year at Cedar or Cass Lake, while the season following, 1796-97, was passed at Red Lake once more. He was in charge the next winter of the trading house of the Northwest Company on the present site of the town of Red Lake Falls." On March 25, 1798 the geographer and surveyor David Thompson, who like Cadotte was in the employ of the Northwest Company, visited Cadotte's house at the fork of the Red Lake and Clearwater Rivers. About his visit Thompson wrote: "Mr. Baptiste Cadotte was about thirty-five years of age. He was the son of a French gentleman by a native woman, and married to a very handsome native woman, also the daughter of a Frenchman: He had been well educated in Lower Canada, and spoke fluently his native Language, with Latin, French and English. I had long wished to meet a well educated native, from whom I could derive sound information for I was well aware that neither myself, nor any other Person I had met with, who was not a Native, were sufficiently masters of the Indian Languages. As the season was advancing to break up the Rivers, and thaw the snow from off the ground, I inquired if he would advise me to proceed any farther with Dogs and Sleds: he said the season was too far advanced, and my further advance must be in Canoes.
Because of the severity of the spring thaw and rain which accompanied it, Thompson returned to Cadotte's house March 31 at which time he spoke with the Chippewa chief of the Red Lake Indians and observed some Indian dances. "The course of this River is from south westward until it is lost in the Plains, the groves are at a considerable distance from each other, by no means sufficient for the regular Farmer, but may become a fine pastoral country , but without a market, other than the inhabitants of the Red River." Thompson left Cadotte's house on April 9 with his crew of three French Canadians and the wife of one of them, a native woman. They took the Clearwater River since they were traveling in a birch canoe and the Red Lake River still had ice on it from the Lake.
Duncan Campbell born 1802 who married a Dakota woman, wintered until 1810 on the Mississippi River with Michel Cadotte then joined the American Fur Company, working for James Lockwood at Prairie du Chein.
July 12: Michel Cadotte sent Guilliaume LaLonde to Lake Superior.
July 13: Michel Cadotte sent Souverain Danie to Lake Superior.
July 15: It was stated: Mr. Jean Baptiste Cadotte, having since the year 1802 received from the Concern one hundred pounds currency per annum as a donation at their pleasure - the same be discontinued after the payment that shall take place in the year 1813 - it having been considered that he holds the place of Indian Interpreter in Upper Canada, and is thereby enabled to support himself without the Company's assistance.
Michel Cadotte 1764-1837 (also spelled Michael, Cadott, Cadeau, and other variations) or (Ojibwe: Kechemeshane (or Gichi-miishen in the contemporary spelling) "Great Michel") was a Métis fur trader whose post at La Pointe on Madeline Island was a critical center for trade between the Lake Superior Ojibwe and British and American trading companies
Cadotte was born July 22, 1764 to a French father and an Anishinaabe mother in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. His paternal grandfather, a man named Cadeau, had come to Lake Superior on a French exploratory mission in the late 17th century. His father, Jean Baptiste Cadotte Sr., became an active fur trader for French and later British interests in and around the eastern end of Lake Superior. His mother, a Roman Catholic convert whose French name was likely Marianne or Anastasia, was a member of the powerful Owaazsii (Bullhead) clan of the Anishinaabeg. She is frequently known in the records as having high status in the region and as being an exceptionally kind person. Michel Cadotte received a liberal French Catholic education in Montreal.
Though partially French by heritage, Cadotte was born just after the collapse of New France. His career, which came toward the end of the great fur trade, was during a period were traders of Métis heritage were handling the bulk of the trade on behalf of British and American companies. As his father's career progressed, he pressed westward along the south shore of Lake Superior and set up a trading post on Mooningwanekaaning, an island in Chequamegon Bay in modern day Wisconsin. The island, the traditional center of the Lake Superior Ojibwe had been home to a previous French post. As Michel reached adulthood, he came west with his father and older brother Jean Baptiste Jr. (more often called John Baptiste Cadotte).
Jean Baptiste Sr. retired in 1796 and left his holdings to his sons. John Baptiste Jr. pressed further westward to Fond du Lac and later to Red Lake in present-day Minnesota. Michel settled at La Pointe and married Ikwesewe, the daughter of the head of the White Crane clan. This was an advantageous marriage, as the Cranes were the hereditary chiefs of the Lake Superior band. Cadotte soon established himself as the head trader on the south shore, and would remain so for decades. Working for the British North West Company and later the American Fur Company, Cadotte built a trading empire throughout northern Wisconsin and established outposts at the head of the Chippewa River, and at Lac Courte Oreilles. Cadotte and his brother John Baptiste were very generous and well-liked; they proved instrumental in brokering peace and commerce in the region. Literate, and able to speak fluent Ojibwe, English, and French, Cadotte often acted as an intermediary between the Ojibwe and the colonial governments. He held a great deal of political sway as well, convincing the bulk of the Lake Superior Ojibwe to stay out of Tecumseh's Rebellion, among other actions. Cadotte retired in 1823 and left his business to his two American sons-in-law, brothers Lyman and Truman Warren. He died on July 8, 1837, and was buried at La Pointe.
Mooningwanekaaning Island, designated Ile St. Michel by the French in the 17th century, became more widely known as Michael's Island during the 19th and into the 20th century after Cadotte. However, it was his wife Ikwesewe, who lived into her nineties and held the Catholic name Madeline, who the island is now most widely known for: Madeline Island. Cadott, Wisconsin in Chippewa County, Wisconsin was named for him. Cadotte's grandson, William Whipple Warren, also from La Pointe and a native-Ojibwe speaker was a territorial legislator from Minnesota Territory, during the 1850s, and wrote a comprehensive chronicle of Ojibwe history. Cadotte has numerous living descendants throughout Ojibwe Country, especially in the Red Cliff area.
Who Owns Sault Ste. Marie?
by Theresa Schenck
On 31 October 1800 the once-prominent fur trader Jean Baptiste Cadotte, almost seventy-seven years old, lay dying at his residence in Sault Ste. Marie. At his side were his thirteen-year-old grandson, Michel Cadotte, Jr., and probably Catherine, the native woman who had been his companion for some fifteen years, and perhaps even some of their children. To his grandson he expressed the desire to see once more his two grown sons, Michel and Jean Baptiste, Jr., then absent because of their winter trading activities. He wished to see them, he said, "to counsel them to try if possible to find his lost papers relative to the gift of the South side of the Sault Ste Marie duly made to him by the Chippewa Chiefs and Warriors." It was his claim that this grant had been "sanctioned by the French Authorities, and latterly by Gov. St. Clair for the eminent services rendered to his Government." Although it was possible that these papers had been lost when his house and store burned down some time previously, he nevertheless hoped that his sons would "exert themselves to find the papers." Jean Baptiste Cadotte died the next day, and his young grandson passed the message along to his father and his uncle. (2)
Several years later, according to the sworn testimony of Michel Cadotte, Jr., his uncle, Jean Baptiste Cadotte, Jr., went to Montreal "for the express purpose of searching the Records" for these papers, but he was unsuccessful. This was probably about 1805, for it is known that Jean Baptiste was then living at Lac des Deux Montagnes after his dismissal from the North West Company. Later young Michel heard his uncle tell his father that "he believed the papers in question were utterly lost. And so the story might have ended, had not Cadotte family tradition kept it alive.
Michel Cadotte, Jr., declared in 1841 that he had heard from various sources that "his deceased grandfather was once in possession of a document given by the Chippewa Chiefs and Warriors giving him a claim to a very large tract of land on the South side of Sault Ste. Marie." Furthermore, he had heard "all the principal Chiefs and old men on the south side of Lake Superior speak of it as
matter of fact, and [it] was and is this day well understood that the tract aforesaid was given to the said Jean Bte Cadott by their forefathers for the eminent service and benefit which he had done for their Nation."
In further support of this testimony are the affidavits of several of the oldest inhabitants of Sault Ste. Marie, both Indian and non-Indian, taken by Samuel Ashmun in the summer of 1840. All those interviewed had either known personally or heard of the chiefs who granted Cadotte the land, and they so testified. (6) In addition, the United States Supreme Court, in the United States v. de Repentigny, found in 1867 that "there is distinct evidence that Cadotte held [this land] by title acquired from the Indians."
William Warren, great-grandson of Jean Baptiste Cadotte, Sr., wrote in 1852:
I have learned from some of the old chiefs of the tribe, among whom I may mention Ke-che-wash-keenh, or Great Buffalo, of La Pointe, that soon after the first arrival of the British into their country, the chiefs of the Ojibways at Sault Ste. Marie made a formal grant of a large tract of land, comprising the present site of the town of Ste. Marie, to Mons. Cadotte and his half-breed children. The written grant it appears, through some means fell into the hands of Alexander Henry, after whose death some person brought it back into the Ojibway country, and made inquiries of some of the principal chiefs as to its authenticity. It was shown to Great Buffalo at Sault Ste. Marie, and he described it as being a very
old-looking paper, being much torn and patched up, and the writing upon it hardly discernible. Many questions were asked him by the gentleman who had it in [his] possession, respecting the number and whereabouts of Cadotte's descendants. The paper was taken back to Montreal, and has never been heard of since.
Jean Baptiste Cadotte I: (1723-1803)
He was the son of Jean Francois Cadot & Marie Josette Prouteau, born at Batiscan, Quebec. Jean married 1st to Marie-Anastasie (Athanasie) Equawaice (m.1756) and 2nd to Marie Mouet (m.abt.1767). His children were Marie-Renee (b.1756), Charlotte (b.1759), Jean Bte. (b.1761), Michel (b.1764) & Joseph-Marie (b.1768). From 1765 to 1775 he was involved in trading ventures in the Lake Superior area with Alexander Henry, Joseph Frobisher & Peter Pond. In September of 1783 he was sent by Daniel Robertson on a peace mission to the Ojibwe, Dakota & Fox tribes. He retired in 1796 turning his business over to his sons Michel & Jean II.
Michel Cadotte I (Kechemechane): (1764-1837)
Michel Cadotte I & Jean Bte.Cadotte II took over the fur trade business from their father Jean Bte.Cadotte I (mother - Anastase Equawaise) in 1796. By then the two brother had for many years managed posts in northern Minnesota. The Ojibway Clan (Awause/Catfish) that had established themselves in the former Dakota lands were of the same Clan as their mother's. In 1793 Michel had permanently established his residence on Madeline Is. and was married to the LaPointe village Chief White Crane's daughter. Michel & Madeline (Equaysayway/Traveling Woman) had a large family of which three daughters married traders Lyman Warren, Truman Warren, James Ermantinger & Louis Corbin. Lyman Warren in 1823 bought out his father in laws trading venture later becoming in charge of American Fur Co. operations in the area.
Jean Bte.Cadotte II: (1761-1818)
Jean II married Saugemauqua and their children were Louison, Sophia, Archangel, Edward & Polly.
Trading between 1792 & 1800 in the Red Lake area, Jean first had a post on the west side of the lake then later at the junction of the Clearwater & Red Lake Rivers. In 1801 he was one of six admitted as partner in Northwest Co. but in 1803 he was expelled as a partner for "drunkeness". After 1803 Jean was employed by the Mackinac Company at Lac Flambeau in Wisconsin.
Nick Cadotte was the brother-in-law to John Grass.
Lizzie “Makaska Najin” Cadotte was John Grass’s sister
Michel Cadotte is born 1811 Red River des Metis Settlement and will marry Nancy Cochrane also born 1820 Red River Settlement. Catherine Henry born 1811 Red River des Metis Settlement daughter Alexander Henry (1764-1814), living Red River 1870 census.
