Une raison pour laquelle le rôle des peuples francophones á l’ouest de Rocheuses
vint á être oublié: Une occasion manquée
par: Bruce McIntyre Watson
Société historique francophone de la Colombie-Britannique
Universite de la Colombie-Britannique
Octobre 19, 2012
One reason why the early role of French speaking peoples west of the Rockies
became ignored: A lost opportunity
Bruce McIntyre Watson
Historical Francophone Society of British Columbia
University of British Columbia
October 19, 2012
During the twenty years I spent researching my recent three-volume biographical dictionary 1
of 3600 fur traders west of the Rockies, that is, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, Idaho
and part of Montana, it quickly became evident that the lingua franca or common language
amongst the fur traders of the half century from 1793, was largely French. However, in the area
between the Siskyou Mountains of southern Oregon to Northern BC, this historical fact is
largely forgotten or ignored. Unfortunately, this amnesia has skewed the historical narrative on
both sides of the border much to the chagrin of those trying to rehabilitate this fact.
First, at the risk of contradicting myself, I would like to show you and explain some numbers
that emerged from the findings from the dictionary.
British (English/Welsh, Irish)
French Canadians/speakers
Hawaiians
Mixed Descent
Scots
Americans
Iroquois
Orcadians
Others
Number
927
756
435
383
244
215
164
136
147
%
27.5
22.2
12.8
11.2
7.2
6.3
4.8
4.0
4.3
The large number of English speaking Brits in these figures seems to put a lie to what I just said;
however, they overwhelmingly comprised supply ships crews. As such, they had minimal
contact with land-based traders and trading, whereas on land, the land-based traders, if not
using French as a first language, shared it as part of a fur trade lingua franca. Failure to learn
French impacted on trader’s daily lives both at the posts or out in the field. One needed it to
survive. Most of the Iroquois and mixed descent spoke French. Further, the lack of an ability to
speak French was one reason within the fur trade used to deny people promotion.2 So without
doubt French was the lingua franca or the common glue that gave the fur trade its cohesiveness
on the ground.
However, during the subsequent British and American colonial settler thrust from the 1840s on,
historical amnesia of the previous prominent use of French during the critical formation period,
from 1793, set in. The critical half century period was a time in which first-past-the-goalpost
founding narratives or anchoring narratives were laid down. An often overlooked fact of the
large presence of French speakers was not underscored with writing.
And herein lies the crux, if even the irony: subsequent valiant attempts to raise a consciousness
were made after this period. Adrien-Gabriel Morice (1859-1938), originally from France
attempted to fill the gap in his writings published between 1904 and 1908.3 A succession of
Quebec, Belgium and France born Roman Catholic clerics kept detailed institutional church
records largely en français. Because of this, scholars and descendants have been able to publish
numerous after-the-fact narratives concerning French speakers west of the Rockies. But still,
they lacked the punch of earlier first person anchoring narratives. Bolstered by later
communities such as Maillardville, Francophone newspapers, programs and societies, private
Catholic schools, and more recently vibrant French emersion programs, the French speaking
presence has been playing a game of catch-up to try to overcome the strength of a number of
early English speaking narratives. Where are the French narratives? Why is this the case? Apart
from the usual reasons cited for the loss: dispossession, disempowerment, the language of a
power structure, cultural bias, the protective firewalls built by the Roman Catholic Church,
latent and overt racism, distance from Quebec and intermarriage, one reason is overlooked.
And this is entirely my own take. Most all of the French speaking early fur traders on the
ground during the critical early period were illiterate or, if literate, wrote very little and so their
voices were absent in the form of founding or anchoring narratives. It was an opportunity
missed. It was as if the files of many lives these people had been deleted with no back-up
system in place, files which would have found considerable resonance in today’s society.
It is not the purpose of this paper to look into the reasons for illiteracy or lack of writing but to
focus more on the impact of an opportunity missed. To do this, I would like first to look at the
importance of the written founding or anchoring narratives in general. Second I would like to
look at the critical period during which important narratives were written and why it was
important that they reflect this period. Third, I will speculate on what the French speaking fur
traders could have said had they written down their life experiences during this period.
The importance of a written rather than an oral founding narrative
What is a founding narrative? All founding narratives justify man’s presence in or dominion
over the landscape and serve as identity touchstones and ownership. They fuse culture to the
environment. Landscapes are reshaped. To do this, humans have devised many types of
founding narratives all of which hold common threads. Founding mythologies draw on deities
for help, founding narratives, embody cultural aspirations and anchoring narratives see man
fitting him/herself to the landscape. All shared similar qualities of ownership and each drew in
embellishments for greater effect. The end goals were the same, establishing a presence in the
landscape. However, to survive the ravages of time, narratives had to be written down.
Numerous scholars have addressed this importance of writing. Melvyn Bragg who bathes
himself in language like a suit of new clothes, for example, puts it best when he says “A written
language …secures against loss” and “writing begins as a secondary arm but soon, for many,
become the primary source, the guardian, the authority…”4 In other words, it assures a
continuum.
In the larger context of worldwide cultures, history shows us that written narratives survive in
spite of the messiness of history and, with a little nudging, original cultures can even be
resurrected through the written form. One example is the Israelites the founding narrative of
which is found in the five books of Moses. That story survived through the messiness and
nastiness of several millennia of history, through the various expulsions and diasporas, only to
be used in the 19th and 20th centuries to reclaim a distant place of origin which was largely
untrodden by those returning from the diasporas.5 Additionally, as by the 19th Century, Hebrew
had almost died out as an everyday communication device, its resurrection was enabled by the
surviving written founding mythology and long practiced rituals. It became the vehicle for
worldwide Jewry to resume a continuation of a culture which had largely disappeared from an
area for around 1500 years.
If the strength of a written narrative was able to bring the Israelites back, it was a different story
for the Philistines. By contrast, the presence of the sea peoples, the Philistines who settled the
coastal areas of ancient Canaan, is lost to obscurity as nothing has been found with certainty,
beyond archaeological evidence, that gives a hint to their anchoring stories. No doubt present
for many millennia, their early story appears to be lost forever; their story being shaped and
reshaped by subsequent sea changes in history. Clearly, no contemporary original narrative has
been found to contest the strength of the early narrative of the Israelites.
Written narratives have also sustained cultures or resurrected them from oblivion. For example,
the body of Greek and Latin literature preserved in the Toledo Library of Spain, and an
endlessly recopied body of work by the Irish monks in Ireland saved a body of knowledge that
could be revisited. The Persians resurrected their narratives from under an Arabic overlay.
Similarly, the Japanese, when faced with a written language not their own, wrestled for control
by adding two additional written scripts assuring their own written continuation. And so forth.
In all the above, a written narrative was the key.
The story west of the Rockies
Can we apply this to French west of the Rockies? In a sense we can. But, first, why is there such
a difference with the level of consciousness east of the Rockies? The answer may be that east of
the Rockies the French founding narrative was much more layered and complex over a longer
period and ensured at least a conscious understanding of a French presence. There the pockets
of French culture outside of and including Quebec, Acadia, St. Boniface/Red River, St.
Louis/St. Genevieve and New Orleans, amongst others had all been in the extended ambit of
the claimed territories of New France. As such they inherited in varying degrees, a layered,
enduring military, commercial, religious, civil and political settlement culture. All supported in
writing. In these pockets there was and is a sustaining link that reflects lingering values of Old
France and the realities of the New World. In other words, there was plenty of fodder to sustain
written anchoring narratives east of the Rockies.
West of the Rockies is another story. The area was never part of a New France claim with the St.
Lawrence region as the fountainhead. Consequently, if it were to be done, the window of
opportunity to get a foot-in-the-door and establish a founding narrative existed from the late
eighteenth century to the mid nineteenth century. That important critical period was a time
during which non–natives were rushing in carrying with them their cultural, political, social
and commercial baggage. All were vying for the first to establish a foothold backed by the
critical first-person founding narratives. However, the output comprising contemporary written
narratives were overwhelmingly English.
How do the written narratives stack up?
Some sample published works between 1798 and 1858
Maritime Exploration
1797-1798
Laperouse, Comte de Jean-Francois Galaup, Voyage de La Pérouse… published in Paris in French in
1797 and in English in 1798)
1798
George Vancouver, A Voyage of Discovery….
Expeditions and Land-based fur trade
1801
Alexander Mackenzie, Voyages from Montreal, …to the Frozen and Pacific Oceans, in the years 1789
and 1793
1806-1814
Lewis and Clark expedition, Thomas Jefferson’s Report to Congress, Journal by Patrick Gass,
apocryphal version, official publication
1820
Daniel Williams Harmon, Voyages and Travels
Gabriel Franchere, Relation d’un Voyage à la Côte du Nord-Ouest de l’Amérique Septentrionale, dans
les années 1810, 11, 12, 12 et 14
1823
Camille de. Roquefeuil, Voyage Around the World, 1816-19
1832
Ross Cox, Adventures on the Columbia River
1836
Washington Irving, Astoria
David Douglas, A sketch of a journey to the north—western part of the continent of North
America during the years 1824, 5, 6 and 7…
1837
Washington Irving, The Adventures of Captain Bonneville…
1839
John Kirk Townsend, Narrative of a Journey Across the Rocky Mountains to the Columbia River
1841
John Scouler, Observations on the Indigenous Tribes of the N. W. Coast of America
1843
Charles Grenfell Nicolay, The Oregon Territory
Thomas J. Farnham, Travels in the Great Western Prairies…the Rocky Mountains and The Oregon
Territory
1847
George Simpson, Narrative of a Journey Round the World, During the Years 1841 and 1842
1848
(Osborne Russell, Journal of a Trapper, manuscript prepared)
1849
Alexander Ross, Adventures of the First Settlers on the Oregon or Columbia River…
1854
Gabriel Franchere, Narrative of a Voyage to the Northwest Coast of America in the years 1811, 1812,
1813, and 1814 or The First American Settlement on the Pacific.
1855
Alexander Ross, The Fur Hunters of the Far West…
Narratives written in English clearly crowded out all others. Ironically, even though many of
the writers of the important works only briefly visited the area, their voice predominates. The
voice of les canadiens and French speakers the heavy lifters in all this business, is essentially
mute.
Alexander Mackenzie was first off the mark in 1801 with his Voyages from Montreal which, as a
soft conquest, coupled with George Vancouver’s 1798 posthumous A Voyage of Discovery to the
North Pacific Ocean, and Round the World, became part of the holy grail of British founding
narratives west of the Rockies. Ironically, seven out the eleven members of Mackenzie’s
expedition were French speaking Canadians or of mixed descent, two were natives and two
Scottish. The French version of this epic thrust over the mountains is absent. Even though some
members came back into the area, Mackenzie never made it back. Yet, his story prevails. His
symbolic British conquest of the wild uncivilized unknown was carried by the written from.
The American-equivalent Lewis and Clark 1805-1806 expedition down the Columbia River
carried out with military precision, is similar. As with Mackenzie, both Lewis and Clark were in
and out within months. However, their politically motivated expedition reflected the spirit and
imagination of the time. Following their return and attesting to the overreaching metaphorical
strength of their journey, there was a flurry of publications: a government report in 1806, a
narrative written by a member of the expedition in 1807, an apocryphal version 1809, and
finally an official version in 1814. French speakers comprised less than 20% and their voice is
silent. But the voice of the future American manifest destiny was loud and clear. The narrative
included a kind of conquest, the spirit of scientific enquiry and observation, the cultural values
which led to a strong presence but a peaceful engagement with others, as well as a flurry of
maps. The report lay in abeyance for 38 years until it was republished again in 1842.
The only French language narrative that came close to becoming an anchoring narrative within
the critical period got hijacked on two levels. First, written between 1810 and 1814 by clerk
Gabriel Franchère for the New York owners of the Pacific Fur Company (rather than the
Montreal-based North West Company), it could only reflect French Canadian values through
corporate eyes. Second, the journal written in French appears to have been sideswiped by an
overzealous Montreal editor Michel Bibaud. In 1820 his well-intentioned effort to raise the
cultural and intellectual levels of his compatriots, he made the language more literary and
elaborate. He added phrases of a philosophical nature and geographical features, birds and
animals. All of this was further complicated by his pro-British bias. Bidaud’s changes obscured
the purity and voice of the original narrative. 6 Hardly the stuff of a founding or anchoring
narrative. To distance itself further as a French speaking voice, the first 1854 New York version
added to the title The First American Settlement on the Pacific making it a vehicle of American
Manifest Destiny. Again, at it hardly conveyed the sensibilities of canadiens, French Canadians
or hybrid French speakers, it was hardly the foundation of an anchoring narrative that could be
rediscovered in later years.
Quite the opposite for the English voice. The Anglophone presence on the Pacific slopes was
strengthened by a string of personal common narratives written and published within the
critical time period, published and circulated. Les canadiens were nonetheless there, but in the
third person. First person voices en français were silent – at least in written form. This was a time
when a strong written narrative, a cultural memory, was needed to counteract the oncoming
colonial thrust of les Anglais.
Another opportunity was lost with the French speakers who played a large role in the travels
and journals of David Thompson and Simon Fraser. Even though the Thompson/Fraser
narratives and journals were published posthumously and after the critical period, their
narratives were added to the already substantial growing body of narratives. Ironically, once
again, French speakers were present in large numbers with them in the space west of the
Rockies. David Thompson was surrounded with French speaking servants but his world was
written through his lens. Simon Fraser came down the Fraser in a party of eleven, three quarters
of whom spoke French as a first language. One was a literate clerk. Still, it is only Fraser’s voice
that is heard. Had les canadiens lent their voice to the time, perceptions of the French Canadians
struggling with the rugged British Columbia landscape would have been very different.
That is not to say that other French narratives were written but these widely missed the mark.
The journals of Comte de Jean-Francois Galaup Laperouse reflected his working for the King of
France.7 Having had an engagement as part of the French navy at Louisbourg and at Fort
Churchill on the shore of Hudson Bay, one would think that would be an idea candidate for
establishing a founding narrative sailing down the coast on his round the world voyage.
However, after making landfall in Alaska in 1786, he skirted the coast of BC sighting Haida
Gwai (Queen Charlotte Islands) and missed Nootka altogether because of the fog. Hardly the
stuff supporting a founding narrative at least in British Columbia. The expedition came to a
catastrophic end but the journals survived.
Camille de Roquefeuil out of France came a little closer in 1823 when his 1817 8 presence on the
coast was published in two substantial volumes with maps. Although published in the French
language, it meant little to the sensibilities of the French Canadians who had been part of an
evolving British North America for half a century.
Geographic features and locations
The absence of written narratives aside, further attesting to the presence of les canadiens, the fur
trade records from Pacific Fur Company,9 North West Company 10 and Hudson’s Bay
Company11 are full of French geographic features named. A few have endured. Others have
been added more recently.
Older and more recent French geographic names west of the Rockies
In British Columbia
Alouette Lake, Babine Lake, Baptiste Creek, Barrière River, Beauchemin channel, Bedaux Pass,
Brule, François Lake, Grand Cache, Lariche River, Lac des Roches, Lac la Hache, Lac Le Jeune,
Lachine Cr., Portage Brûlé Rapids, Prudhomme Lake, Réné Lake, Tête Jaune Cache
In Oregon
Deschutes County, La Grande, La Pine, Malheur County, Terrebonne, , The Dalles
In Idaho
Boise (wooded), Bonneville, Coeur d’Alene (heart of the awl), Montpelier, Nez Perce County,
Payette , Teton
In Washington
Des Moines, Grand Couleee, La Crosse, Palouse, Pend Orielle County
What could have been?
What stories could have been told from the early critical time period? To examine this, we can
look at a random sample of fur traders who, had they been literate or more literate, could have
told a great story and laid the foundations for a French-speaking anchoring narrative west of
the Rockies. In the present context of our more enlightened society for the individual narratives
are remarkably modern. Their own hybrid origins and complex marriages with native peoples,
would have had considerable resonance in today’s society. They certainly tried hard to preserve
their own culture for it took three generations before they married out into a non-Catholic, nonFrench speaking culture.
What could several randomly chosen French speakers have said about their lives.
Jean Baptiste Boucher (Waccan) (c.1789-1849) 12
A narrative of strength and control rather than passive obedience would involve that of Jean
Baptiste Boucher (Waccan). Spending forty three of his sixty years in the New Caledonia where
he raised a large family, he was known and respected as the enforcer for his ability to effect
stability keep the peace and order and gain food, etc. Serving under Simon Fraser from 1806, his
voice would have widened the narrative of that early time.
Michel Laframboise (1793-1861) 13
What if the interpreter Michel Laframboise who spent 51 of his 67 years almost exclusively
south of the 49th parallel had written his story. A model of adaptability, he was. He survived
the 1810-11 voyage of the Tonquin as a Pacific Fur Company employee, as well as a succession of
fur trade companies. He also claimed that he had a native wife in every tribe through which he
travelled. When he was given permission to settle in the 1830s, his 70 acre piece of land in
Oregon followed the old Seigneurial habitant strip bordering on the river. Michel`s attributes
could have easily anchored a highly readable canadien narrative west of the Rockies.
Louis Labonté (1788-1860) 14
For sheer stubbornness and creativity I would look to Louis Labonté. Coming overland in 1812
with the Pacific Fur Company, he married the daughter of a Clatsop chief. In 1830, wishing to
stay in the area, he began farming, a practice which the HBC discouraged for land under its
aegis. The HBC practice of sending people back to Montreal or their place of signing on to
receive their separation papers usually was enough to discourage. However Louis, who had
joined the HBC west of the Rockies, stubbornly made unnecessary bureaucratic return trip to
Montreal, not only making the HBC look foolish but forcing the Company to change its policy.
He broke the mould, so to speak. A different perspective for a narrative.
Jean Baptiste Bruléz (1809-?) 15
For a narrative of error, redemption and fulfillment, I would choose that of Jean Baptiste Brulez
16 who joined the HBC in 1831 as a 22 year old. In 1840 the quiet, hard-working Montrealer had
the distinction of accidently setting a fire that consumed the entire Fort Langley. Consequently,
he was assigned to the far off Snake River. He and his Sooke wife and adopted son then settled
first in Oregon in 1844 and gradually moving north, first to the future Washington state and, in
1859 in a "large cavalcade with freight wagons and a pack train" to Vancouver Island, his wife’s
territory. There they settled at the mouth of the Sooke River, in log cabins growing feed for
their cattle. In tribute, he had a mountain named after him. A nice forgiving touch.
Francois Xavier (1815-) and Jean Baptiste (1813-1893) Vautrin, the Vautrin brothers. 17
A narrative of the Vautrin brothers, Francois Xavier and Jean Baptiste would demonstrate the
strength and bonds of family. Both joined the fur trade in 1834. Francois spent most of his
working career at Fort Langley, Jean Baptiste at Fort Alexandria before both retiring in 1852 to
their respective neighbouring farming spreads in the Shawnigan district of Vancouver Island. In
1861, both brothers worked at a nearby Mill Bay sawmill and both continued to farm in the
Cowichan area at least until 1881 with the children going to school locally. Sometime around
1885, brother Jean Baptiste and at least three of his children moved to Oregon likely to be with
his wife’s relatives to live either on or near the Grand Ronde Indian Reservation. As in the past,
Francois Xavier’s family soon followed suit. A great family story.
Simon Plomondo (c.1802-81) 18
A Simon Plomondo 19 narrative would have revealed the reality of the complexity of the French
speaking community. Plomondo’s roots in the hybrid English, Abenaki and French
communities, would have resonated with today’s very mixed society. However, a marriage to
the niece to F. N. Blanchet, one of the Roman Catholic priests who established a mission in the
area could not prevent him from being released in less than a year after being appointed Indian
Agent in 1855 as it was felt that he was too close to the natives. The town of Toledo, Washington
is the approximate site known as Plamondon's Landing.
Laurent Sauve (Laplante) (c.1794-1858) 20
A Laurent Sauvé (Leplante) narrative would have revealed skills which pushed and extended
the limits of the fur trade. In on the construction of Fort Langley, his dairy farmer and
cowherding skills, now doubt learned in Quebec, saw him in good stead near Fort Vancouver.
Spending most of the twenty five years on the Pacific slopes from 1821-1858 raising two
successive families his charge of the HBC's dairy herds (100 cows with 300 additional cattle) on
Wappato Island, caused the island to be renamed Sauvies Island. Added to this category could
be Etienne Pepin (1798-?), who practiced his blacksmithing skills while raising a family by two
successive wives at Fort Langley from 1827-1860. Having lived through the early development
of British Columbia, Etienne Pepin would have been a rich source of narrative had he been able
to write down what he observed and experienced.
Charles Touin (1813-?) 21 and Jean Baptist Gagnier (c.1802-c.1890) 22
Some narratives would reveal that individuals came out to escape bad marriages. Charles Touin
23 joined the HBC in 1833 to escape a four year marriage. Some twelve years later, according to
the priests, she was behaving badly (“elle se conduit mal”) 24 which may have been the cause or
result of the departure of Charles. Touin raised a family west of the Rockies and his
descendants purchased the old Fort Alexandria site. Another, Jean Baptist Gagnier similarly left
a wife of over three years (Margaret Dubois) in Lower Canada, never went back, married and
raised at family in southern Oregon and on the coast.
Such is a tiny glimpse of what could have been. Had a few lives lived in the French language
west of the Rockies during the early period been recorded in writing they would have revealed
a considerable range of human experience. Unfortunately, they did not get written down for
succeeding generations to exploit and nurture their own history before historical amnesia took
over.
Summary
In summary, the intertwining of the threads of Pacific slopes history short-changed the historic
memory for French speakers west of the Rockies for, at a time when it was critical to be literate
and write down a cultural and social claim to the land and its peoples, the French speakers,
ordinary workers in the area, did not have the literary skills to carry it off. Hence, any
anchoring narrative which might have been was overwhelmed by other written narratives.
Had such real-life narratives been written down, they surely could have been resurrected and
indeed embraced in line with today’s sensibilities. Consequently, because of the lack of written
record, the historical memory of the overwhelming number of French speakers west of the
Rockies during the early period has unfortunately been relegated to the recesses of history.
Cèst tout.
1
Lives Lived West of the Divide: a biographical dictionary of fur traders working west of the Rockies, 1793-1858, 3 vols., Kelowna: Centre for
Social, Spatial, and Economic Justics, University of British Columbia, Kelowna, British Columbia, 2010
2
George Simpson’s “Character Book,” in Hudson’s Bay miscellany, 1670-1870, Glyndwr Williams, ed., Winnipeg: Hudson’s Bay
Record Society, 1975, p. 200
3
Du Lac Stuart a L’Ocean Pacifique. Extrait du”Bulletin de la Societe Neuchateloise de geographie,” (1904); History of the Northern Interior of
British Columbia, 1905; Dictionnaire Historique Des Canadians et des Metis Francais de L’Ouest, (1908); Histoire de l’elglise catholique
dans l’ouest Canadian du lack Superior au Pacific, 1659-1915, (1921-1923).
4
The Adventure of English: the biography of a language, New York: Arcade Publishing, 2003, p. 10
5
Codified in Babylon after 576 BCE expulsion, the narrative survived the Jewish return to Jerusalem under the Persians. The
narrative continued under the Hellenistic period, the Romans through and the expulsion or diaspora to lands elsewhere. It survived
when the traditional land of Israel was under the Byzantines, Arabs, Crusaders, Ottomans and even British mandate.
6
Simon Fraser, Letters & Journals, 1806-1808, W. Kay Lamb, ed., Toronto: MacMillan, p. 32-33
7
Voyage de Lapérouse auatour du Monde/Voyage of La Pérouse round the world; published in Paris in French in 1797 and in English in
1798
8
Camille-Joseph, Marquis de Roquefeuil’s Journal D’un Voyage Autour du Monde, Pendant Les Annees 1816, 1817, 1818 et 1819, was
published in 1823 in Paris. The most recent English publication was by Ye Galleon Press, Fairfield, Washington, 1981
9
Records of the Pacific Fur Company which was west of the Rockies 1811-13, are sparse and scattered but made up for by a number
of narratives from the pens of employees
10
Records of the North West Company, which was on the Pacific slopes from 1806-1821, are likewise scattered.
11
The almost complete collection of records of the Hudson’s Bay Company are housed in the Manitoba Provincial Archives in
Winnipeg, Manitoba.
12
Lives Lived, vol. 1, p. 216-17
13
Lives Lived, vol. 2, p. 553-54
14
Lives Lived, vol. 2, p. 545-46
15
Lives Lived, vol. 1, p. 234
16
Spelling variations: Brulé, Baulez, Bruley, Brewley, Brouillet, Brulin, Broutin, Broulier, Brulais, Broulin, Bruluis
17
Lives Lived, vol. 3, p. 955-56
18
Lives Lived, vol. 2, p. 783-784
19
Spelling variations: Plamandon, Plamondo, Plamondeau, Plomando, Plomondon
20
Lives Lived, vol. 3, p. 855
21
Lives Lived, vol. 3, p. 936-37
22
Lives Lived, vol. 1, p. 395
23
Spelling variations: Toin, Twan, Thoin
24
Morice, “Québécois,” p. 277