by Nikki Rajala | May 31, 2019 | Featured
John Macdonell was born in Scotland in 1768. His family migrated to New York in 1773 and then to Canada. He was 25 years old when he began this first trading venture, in 1793. His diary describes his impressions of voyageur life. In this section, he has been traveling...
by Nikki Rajala | May 25, 2019 | Featured
What was a canoe brigade like? Did people who went ever write about it? If voyageurs couldn’t even write their names, how did they keep journals? In 1793 John Macdonell left Lachine to begin serving as a North West Company clerk—and he kept a journal! This post...
by Nikki Rajala | May 5, 2019 | Voyageur
When I needed info on pensions for infirm canoemen, where could I find it? Luckily, a book by Carolyn Podruchny had just enough online to answer my question — and more. Her “Making the Voyageur World: Travelers and Traders in the North American Fur Trade” had much to...
by Nikki Rajala | Apr 21, 2019 | Featured
Imagine the array of specialty goods from 1800 — lace handkerchiefs, fragrant tea, violin strings, glass beads, printed calico, nutmegs, lacquered boxes, powdered vermilion, shiny knives and kettles — and feast your senses. Their uniqueness, their usefulness draws...
by Nikki Rajala | Apr 7, 2019 | Voyageur
Were girls ever voyageurs? Did girls go on the fur brigades? Amazingly, yes. If you figure in all the Native American women, there are countless thousands whose assistance was invaluable. If you’re talking European immigrants or Caucasians, a bare handful. To...
