Jean-Bonaventure Rousseau

Jean-Bonaventure Rousseau was an influential fur trader in New France, and, after its capture by Great Britain, the Province of Canada.[1] His father who also went by the given name Jean, had been a fur trader in the Ohio River valley.[2] His son Jean Baptiste Rousseau started as a fur trader before becoming one of the most important merchants in Upper Canada.[3]

Jean-Bonaventure Rousseau
Died1774 (aged 47–48)
NationalityFrench, United Kingdom
Occupationfur trader
Known forinfluential fur trader and interpreter

Rousseau swore a loyalty oath, and worked for the British as an interpreter, circa 1770.[4] He subsequently received a license to trade fur around Toronto “and from thence to any markets or parts which he should find advantageous for the sale of his merchandise".[5][6] This included the trade along both the Humber River and Credit River.

In 1750 French authorities destroyed some fortifications, including Magasin Royale, Fort Toronto and Fort Rouille.[1] Rousseau restored Fort Toronto, near the mouth of the Humber, to serve as a fur trading post, and delegated its operation to his son.

A record exists of the contents of the freight canoe that carried his first trade goods, which included 80 imperial gallons (360 L) of rum, as well as 16 imperial gallons (73 L) of wine.[4] Thomas Gage, commander of British forces in North America, wrote that Rousseau was "debauching" First Nations people.

References
  1. Ron Brown (2010). From Queenston to Kingston: The Hidden Heritage of Lake Ontario's Shoreline. Dundurn Press. pp. 93–94. ISBN 9781770705326. Retrieved 2020-05-17. Le Magasin Royale, a log fort that had been situated at Baby Point, farther up the Humber River, was built in 1720 under the orders of the then French governor of Canada, the Marquis Philippe Rigaud de Vaudreuil. Little more than a log cabin, it is considered by archeologists to the first non-aboriginal building in the Toronto area. The strategic significance of the route, the expansion of the French fur trade, and the increasing competition from the English on the south shore of the lake led the French to build a larger trading post, known as Fort Toronto, near its mouth, as a replacement for Le Magasin Royale. Constructed by Chevalier de Portneuf between 1830 and 1740, Fort Toronto was in turn replaced by an even larger fort, Fort Rouille, located on what are today's CNE grounds, a site marked by an historic monument and plaque. After 1750, when the French had destroyed all their Lake Ontario fortification, the ruins of the earlier Fort Toronto were resurrected by fur trader Jean Bonaventure Rousseau, and run by his son Jean Baptiste Rousseau, or "St. John," as Lieutenant Governor Simcoe called him.
  2. Grant Karcich (2013). "Scugog Carrying Place: A Frontier Pathway". Dundurn Press. p. 70. ISBN 9781459707511. Retrieved 2020-05-17.
  3. ROUSSEAUX ST JOHN, JOHN BAPTIST (baptized Jean-Baptiste Rousseau, dit Saint-Jean), fur trader, interpreter, businessman, militia officer, and office holder. Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Archived from the original on 29 March 2019. Retrieved 2019-03-29. On 24 July 1793 Lieutenant Governor Simcoe urged that he be appointed his personal interpreter. Rousseaux had, Simcoe wrote to Alured Clarke*, the lieutenant governor o,f Lower Canada, 'all the requisites necessary for that office, and is equally agreeable to ... [Brant] and the Mohawks as to the Missassagas ... the only person, who possesses any great degree of influence with either of those Nations.'
  4. Allan Levine (2014). "Toronto: Biography of a City". D & M Publishers. pp. 33–34. ISBN 9781771620437. Retrieved 2020-05-17.
  5. A. H. Richardson (1956). "Credit Valley Conservation Report 1956" (PDF). Ontario Department of Planning and Development. Retrieved 2020-05-17. In September 1770 Jean Bonaventure Rousseau, called St. Jean or St. John, was licensed to trade at Toronto “and from thence to any markets or parts which he should find advantageous for the sale of his merchandise", His party was to consist of one canoe with six men besides himself, and his merchandise, valued at 300, included a fair quantity of rum, a smaller amount of wine, four rifles , 300 pounds of gunpowder and 1600 pounds of shot and ball. For this license Rousseau posted a bond of 600, Provincial Currency.
  6. "Attachment 7: West Queen West Heritage Conservation District Study" (PDF). City of Toronto. June 2017. p. 24. Retrieved 2020-05-17. In 1770, Jean-Bonaventure Rousseau of Montreal was both an interpreter with the Indian Department and had license to trade with the indigenous population along the Humber. Rousseau established his family’s commercial endeavors in the York area and was joined in this business by his son, Jean-Baptiste Rousseau, around 1775.
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