Magdelaine Laframboise

Magdelaine La Framboise (1780–1846), born Marguerite-Magdelaine Marcot, was one of the most successful fur traders in the Northwest Territory of the United States, in the area of present-day western Michigan. Of mixed Odawa and French descent, she was fluent in the Odawa, French, English and Ojibwe languages of the region, and partnered with her husband. After he was fatally stabbed in the fall of 1806 by a member of the Potawatomi tribe, she successfully managed her fur trade business for more than a decade, even against the competition of John Jacob Astor. After retiring from the trade, she built a fine home on Mackinac Island.

La Framboise founded a school on Mackinac Island for Native American children. She also supported a Sunday school and other activities at the Catholic Sainte Anne Church. She donated land for a new site for the church, and was honored by being buried beneath its altar. As one of the most prominent early businesswomen of the new state, in 1984 she was elected posthumously to the recently established Michigan Women's Hall of Fame.

Early life She was born Marguerite-Magdelaine Marcot in February 1781 at Fort St. Joseph, near present-day Niles, Michigan. Her maternal grandfather was Chief Kewinoquot of the Odawa. The children's father, Jean Baptiste Marcot, was killed in 1783 by Indians at the portage between the Fox and Wisconsin rivers.

Therese (b. 1775) and Magdelaine, the two youngest children, were baptized as Roman Catholic a few years later on August 1, 1786, on Mackinac Island. They were raised in their mother's culture and learned several languages. Their father had sent the family's children to Montreal to be educated in French-language schools, but their widowed mother did not have the financial resources to do that when the girls came of age. She moved to Mackinac with Magdelaine and her sisters after the British abandoned Fort St. Joseph, ceding the area to the new nation of the independent United States in the aftermath of the American Revolutionary War. Therese and Magdelaine both became fluent in four languages: Ottawa, French, English, and Chippewa (also known as Ojibwe).

On her own After Joseph La Framboise was murdered in 1806, Magdelaine La Framboise took over their fur trade. She continued to manage several trading posts, and expanded her business throughout the western and northern portions of Michigan's lower peninsula. She also raised their two children, sending both Josette and Joseph to Montreal for education in French schools.

Fur trading could be a lucrative business: an experienced fur trader earned about $1000 per year (which was a large sum at the time). La Framboise was highly successful, earning $5000 to $10,000 per year.

"La Framboise, the half-Ottawa wife of a murdered French trapper, owned a string of trading posts in the Grand River Valley. Reputed to be no ordinary woman — probably for succeeding in an exclusively male trade in the "pays d'en haut" or savage country."

In the early 1800s Mackinac had a permanent population of about 250. Although it was part of the United States and a territory, most of the residents were still of French and Métis ancestry, and French was the predominant language. In the summer trading season, the population could reach 4,000, attracting agents and Native Americans from the interior.

He had begun fur trading and by 1790 built quite a business with his wife's help and her Odawa family connections. They were among the elite traders; they sent their sons to Montreal for their education and their daughters to Europe. Their lives were quite interrupted by the War of 1812, during which Mitchell rejoined the British Army. Afterward, under pressure by Americans against British nationals trading in the United States, the family moved across the border to Drummond Island. Mitchell lived there with three of their sons, and Elizabeth was with him temporarily. About 1816, she returned to the US with their son William to manage their holdings on Mackinac. They had retail stores at both places and traveled to see each other. In exchange for her gift of land, La Framboise asked to be buried beneath the altar of Ste. Anne's at her death.

On April 2, 1816 her daughter Josette La Framboise, known as Josephine, married Benjamin Kendrick Pierce (1790–1850), American commandant of Fort Mackinac. When they later lived in Washington, DC, she was consulted by officials on Indian affairs.

During the 1830s and 1840s, La Framboise continued to host many prominent visitors to Mackinac Island, including French writer Alexis de Tocqueville, who explored the United States and wrote about it, and Margaret Fuller, an "American woman of letters" from Massachusetts.

In the early 21st century, Ste. Anne's Church constructed a crypt in the church for interment and prayer. It honored La Framboise by reinterring her and her family's remains in the crypt on July 26, 2013. Some of her descendants attended the ceremony.

The mansion of La Framboise still stands next door to the church. It has been acquired, renovated and adapted for use as the Harbour View Inn.