Jean Joseph Rolette

Jean Joseph Rolette (September 24, 1781 – December 3, 1842), often known as Joseph Rolette, was a fur trader and member of the Mackinac Company who operated a trading post in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin.

Youth and early career Rolette was born in Quebec in 1781 to ethnic French parents. As a young man he trained for the priesthood at a Jesuit seminary there, but he did not complete his studies.

After leaving the seminary, he became involved in the fur trade. He worked briefly in Windsor, Ontario before establishing a trading post for the Mackinac Company in the remote village of Prairie du Chien sometime between 1801 and 1805, in what is now the state of Wisconsin in the United States. In 1811, the Mackinac Company was reorganized as the South West Company, and Rolette became a major partner in the business. It is believed he had two partners in 1815, when the company was acquired by American John Jacob Astor. Astor's American Fur Company established a monopoly in this region and much of the West.

First marriage and family In 1807, Rolette married 14-year-old Marguerite Dubois, the "mixed-blood" daughter of Antoine Dubois; her mother was the sister of Chief Wabasha II. They had at least two daughters, Emilie (later known as Emilie Rolette Hooe) and Elizabeth Rolette. Marguerite died in 1817. As part of the separation contract, Joseph Rolette agreed to construct his wife a two-story stone house on the riverfront in Prairie du Chien. Known as the Brisbois House, this structure is now a National Historic Landmark and is owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society.

In the Panic of 1837, Rolette lost significant wealth and became indebted to Dousman and the American Fur Company. Then in 1842 the American Fur Company declared bankruptcy, and in order to continue in the trade Rolette entered into a joint venture with Dousman, Henry Hastings Sibley, and Pierre Chouteau to organize a new company which would take its place on the upper Mississippi. While Rolette was given an ownership stake in the new company, he was not given any control over its operation. Only a few months later, Rolette died in debt to the new company, and most of his estate was seized by the remaining partners. Dousman also married Rolette's widow Jane Fisher Rolette two years later.

At the time of his death, Rolette was building what would become known as the Rolette House.