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Life
[edit]Youth
[edit]She was born in the Lake Nipissing region northwest of Lake Huron[1] around the year 1736.[2]: 191 She was Objiwa of the Catfish clan. (Awause/Awaazisii)[3] She was a relative of Madjeckewiss[4] and sister to Shosh-e-man.[5] Her children were first cousins to chief Nodin and second cousins to chief Great Marten.[6] Her family connections later on in life helped her build a network of relationships with native communities.[7]
Fur trader Jean Baptiste Cadot managed to adjust to the wildness when she was taken to live with him.[8] In 1750, at Sault Ste. Marie Louis Legardeur de Repentigny began constructing a fort, there he found Athanasie living with Jean Baptiste Cadot. Repentigny ordered the couple to start a farm.[9]
Marriage
[edit]After the birth of her daughter Marie Renée, Jean Baptiste Cadot and Athanasie decided to formalize their relationship in the European fashion and traveled to Michilimackinac.[10][11] They would get married at Sainte Anne Church on October 28, 1756.[12] The wedding was performed by Father Le Franc.[13] The priest mistaken her as Nipissing, this possibly due to the priest confusing the Catfish Clan with the Nipissings or Athanasie's father was named Nipissing.[14]
This marriage and her familial connection with Madjeckewiss would benefit her husband’s reputation as a friend and powerful figure among Ojibwe and other tribes in the area.[11] Historian Arthur Silver Morton said this about the union:[15]
Jean Baptiste Cadotte, interpreter to the late French garrison at the fort of the place....... He was married to a Saulteur chief’s daughter, a woman of uprightness, energy, and force of character, and through her he was able to play the part of marchant voyageur for the Indians of the lake.
Saves Alexander Henry
[edit]In the spring of 1763, Pontiac led an uprising against the British due to their mistreatment of the Natives.[11]
During the spring of 1764, Alexander Henry was in Michilimackinac with Wamatam. Then a group of Natives Americans who joined in on Pontiac's uprising arrived on the island, they came looking for ojibwe recruits and were out to kill Henry who was the only english man island man on the island. Henry asked Wamatam for his protection and asked him to escort him to Sault where the Cadots would protect him. Wamatam agreed to escort Henry, however 3 days into their journey the wife of Wamatam got sick and they couldn’t take him to Sault.[16]
Henry feared for his life and then he spots a canoe in the distance:[16]
I therefore indulged the hope that it might be a Canadian canoe [rather than an Indian one] on its voyage to Montreal; and that I might be able to prevail upon the crew to take me with them and thus release me from all my troubles.
— Alexander Henry, Travels and Adventures in Canada and the Indian Territories, Between the Years 1760 and 1776, 161
The canoe was carrying Athanasie as she was accompanied by 3 French Canadians. Henry asked Athanasie if she could escort him to Sault, she agreed and the 2 of them head off. Henry doesn't mention that Athanasie was pregnant with Michel Cadotte at this time.[16]
On the journey to Sault they were surrounded by 20 canoes of Ojibwe, one of the Indians accused Henry of being British and others were about to attack. Then according to Alexander Henry Athanasie[17]
assured them that I was a Canadian whom she had brought on his first voyage from Montreal.
— Alexander Henry, Alexander Henry's Travels and Adventures in the Years 1760-1776, 164
Then the 2 of them were allowed to pass without any further issues. They arrived safely at Sault the next day where Henry was greeted by Jean Baptiste Cadot.[17]
Moves to Montreal
[edit]Around 1769, she went to Montreal to be with her children who were attending school there.[18] The family was living there with the parents of her husband's business associate Maurice-Régis Blondeau.
In 1775, the family saw the Invasion of Quebec (1775).[5]
Death
[edit]She died in 1776 in Montreal.[19] She would be buried at the chapel in Saint-Amable under the name Thérèse.[5] After her death Jean-Baptiste Cadot would go on to marry Catherine.[20]
Role in the fur trade
[edit]Native American women were important to the North American fur trade, especially ones who married fur traders. Athanasie was no exception.[21]
She was a prominent figure for the fur trade around the Great Lakes and was known for her dynamic way in doing business.[7]
She would travel long distances by canoe accompanied by coureur des bois to form trade relations with other Native American communities.[22] According to historian Brenda Child:[7]
Her willingness to travel long distances accompanied primarily by French men bears out her reputation for independence.
She also played an important role for her husband’s success in the fur trade. She would have taught Jean-Baptiste Cadot how to read and write in Ojibwe as well as Ojibwe traditions. She would also have provided knowledge to Jean Baptiste about the fur trade. When Jean Baptiste was away she would have handled aspects of the fur trade, done the chores at home, and raised the kids.[5]
She made purchases for her family. This can be seen in the Jean-Baptiste Cadot’s account book which states; she bought her husbands clothes, and other items.[23]
She would also accompany her husband on long distance trips.[24] At times she even commanded a few of his brigades.
According to writer Walter O'Meara, it is possible that Jean Baptiste Cadot’s marriage to her was the main reason Alexander Henry formed a partnership with him. Due to her influence over the Indians.[23]
Name
[edit]Ojibwe name
[edit]Her Ojibwa name was Equawaice.[1] Other variations of her Ojibwe name include Iquawanee or Equawanee.[14]
European name
[edit]Athanasie's name is also spelled as Athanasia.[25] Some scholars have spelled her name as Anastasie, but in 1987 historian Theresa Schenck found that the priest always wrote her name as Athanasie.[26] Her Christian name is also written in records as: Marianne, Marie, Marie René[e], and Thérèse. Her granddaughter and her husband call her Astasie.[14]
Pierre Gibault recorded the baptism of her son Joseph Cadotte. On this baptism record his mother’s name is written as Marie Moüet. This has lead some genealogists to mistaken Athanasie as dead by 1767 and that Jean Baptiste Cadot had remarried to a member of the Langlade family, when this isn’t the case.[27]
Religion
[edit]Athanasie was a practicing Catholic. But she had associations with the Ojibwe religion.[28]
Children
[edit]Children:[10]
- Marie Renée Cadotte (1756-1786)
- Charlotte Cadotte (1759-1768)
- Jean Baptiste Cadotte Jr
- Michel Cadotte
- Joseph Cadotte (1767-1773)
Legacy
[edit]William Whipple Warren called her:[29]
a woman of great energy and force of character, as she is noted to this day for the influence she held over her relations - the principal chiefs of the tribe; and the hardy, fearless manner, in which, accompanied only by Canadian 'Coureurs du bois' to propel her canoes, she made long journeys to distant villages of her people to further the interests of her husband.
She is a minor character in historical fiction novel written historical fiction novel written by Mary Hartwell Catherwood titled The White Islander.[30]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Silbernagel 2020, p. viii-ix, 57, 20.
- ^ John, Dulong (2015). "Jean Baptiste Cadotte's Second Family: Genealogical Summary- Part 1" (PDF).
- ^ DuLong 2020, p. 200.
- ^ John, DuLong (2019). "Jean-Baptiste Cadotte's Neglected Second Family" (PDF).
- ^ a b c d DuLong 2020, p. 201.
- ^ Silbernagel 2020, p. 20.
- ^ a b c Child 2012, p. 38.
- ^ "CADOT (Cadotte), JEAN-BAPTISTE". Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Retrieved 2025-07-02.
- ^ Silbernagel 2020, p. 58.
- ^ a b Silbernagel 2020, p. 57, 59, viii-ix, x.
- ^ a b c Silbernagel 2020, p. 59.
- ^ DuLong 2015, p. 190-191.
- ^ Tobola 1974, p. 122.
- ^ a b c DuLong 2015, p. 191.
- ^ Morton 1939, p. 265.
- ^ a b c Silbernagel 2020, p. 60.
- ^ a b Silbernagel 2020, p. 61.
- ^ DuLong 2015, p. 192.
- ^ John, DuLong (2019). "Jean-Baptiste Cadotte's Neglected Second Family" (PDF).
- ^ DuLong 2020, p. 202.
- ^ Silbernagel 2020, p. 67.
- ^ Child 2012, p. 34.
- ^ a b O'Meara 1968, p. 276-277.
- ^ "Michel Cadotte". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Retrieved 2025-07-06.
- ^ Tobola 1974, p. 108.
- ^ Michigan History. Michigan Department of State. 1987. p. 3.
- ^ DuLong 2020, p. 203.
- ^ Silbernagel 2020, p. 150.
- ^ Warren 1885, p. 148.
- ^ Catherwood, Mary Hartwell (1900). The White Islander. Century Company.
Bibliography
[edit]- Silbernagel, Robert (May 13, 2020). The Cadottes: A Fur Trade Family on Lake Superior. Wisconsin Historical Society. ISBN 9780870209413.
- O'Meara, Walter (1968). Daughters of the Country:The Women of the Fur Traders and Mountain Men. Harcourt (publisher). Archived from the original on 2010-09-08.
- DuLong, John P. (2020), Jean-Baptiste Cadotte's First Family: Genealogical Summary, University of Saskatchewan
- DuLong, John P. (2015), Jean-Baptiste Cadotte's Second Family: Genealogical Summary, University of Saskatchewan
- Tobola, Thomas (1974). "Cadotte Family Stories". Cadott Printing.
- Child, Brenda (2012). Holding Our World Together:Ojibwe Women and the Survival of Community. Viking. ISBN 9780670023240.
- Warren, William (1885). History of the Ojibway People. Minnesota Historical Society. ISBN 9780873516433.
{{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help) - Morton, Arthur Silver (1939). A History of the Canadian West to 1870-71. Archived from the original on 2020-04-24.