Angelique Wapasha / Wabasha

[Labatte]

 Trying to find out if  Angelique Wapasha /Wabasha was the mother of Louis Georges Labatte (1786) ... Angelique was married to Louis Georges father Michel Labatte but its unclear to as whether she is the mother of Louis Georges or if he is Michel's son from a previous marriage ...

[Rivergal]

Hi LaBatte--sorry I didn't get back to you sooner, but I usually only check this site every few days--unless there is a conversation going on. You didn't say where the family lived. Easier to research them that way. But, anyway, doing a quick Google, this site has only two children of the union.

link

The next link claims that Louis was the son of an unknown native woman. I can well believe it as the men of the Midwest often had children with more than one such partner and were not always lawfully married to them all.

link

[Labatte]

Thank you Rivergal ...Louis Georges was my gr gr gr grandfather, I have been trying for ten years to identify his mother and have come up with two possibilities, one is that his mother was an unknown woman of the Menominee tribe , the other is that his Mother was Angelique Wapasha / Wabasha of the Sioux , I have corresponded with people from both sides , each stating their position as to who Louis Georges mother was , unfortunately nobody has any actual proof that would resolve the situation ... Thank you for your help ...

[Rivergal]

I don't think that second link can be correct when it says Louis George was born at Green Bay. Most white people did not settle there until the later 1830's and those came from Mackinac Island.

Who is this Louis George LaBatte? Do you know? His son says he was born in Lower Canada.

Recollection of Michel LaBatte

"I was born at Sault Ste. Marie (on the American side) in 1814,
the last year of the war, my mother being there on a visit to
friends at the time, though our home was on Drummond Island. My
father was Louis George Labatte, a blacksmith by trade, who was
born in Lower Canada. He was a soldier in the British Army, and
was at the capture of Mackinaw in 1812. He went up from
Montreal with the North-West Company, and moved from Mackinaw
with the British soldiers to Drummond Island. My mother's name
was Louisa Cadotte, a Chippewa, from whom I learned the Indian
language. I was the eldest of a family of three children, two
brothers and one sister, the others being dead. Nothing but
French and Indian was spoken at Drummond Island. I learned
English at Penetanguishene, where I first heard it spoken. I was
twelve years old when we left Drummond Island. I came in a
bateau with my mother, brother, sister, and an Indian, named
Gro-e-wis-Oge-nier, and his wife. We were two weeks coming.
Several families started together in sail-boats, bateaux and
canoes. We camped at Thessalon River, Mississaga River, Serpent
River, LaCloche, She-bon-aw-ning,* Moose Point and other places on
the way. We stopped at Pinery Point and made our toilet before
entering Penetanguishene Bay. We landed at the Reformatory
Point. We were all looking for the place where we expected to
see the sand rolling over and over down the hill. I was married
in Penetang. by Father Charest. My wife's maiden name was
Archange Bergé, whose father came from Drummond Island. I was a
volunteer in the enrolled militia of Simcoe. I have my discharge
papers for 1839, signed by Colonel Gourlay and Horace Keating,
certified by Wm Simpson. Also for 1843, signed by Col. W. A Thompson.**


* The Ojibway name of Killarney.
**He presentel both documents for my inspection.


I remember Bishop McDonnell's visit to Penetanguishene. I took
him and two priests up to Manitoulin and round to the "Sault"
and back again to Holland Landing in a big canoe. Henry and
Louie Solomon and Francis Giroux were with us, and there were
several other canoes. I often went with the late Alfred
Thompson, of Penetang., to the Blue Mountains hunting. I was
with Captain Strachan at Baldoon, on Lake St. Clair, shooting
ducks. I went up the Nottawasaga and over the Portage to Lake
Simcoe, when there were no white settlers there-nothing but
Indians. Drummond Island had the best harbor on Lake Huron. The
barracks at Penetanguishene was built of Norway pine from Pinery
Point. The first houses built in Penetanguishene were built by
Revol, Mitchell and Simpson for stores, all of cedar. Old Ste.
Anne's (R.C.) church was built by Rev. Father Dempsey,*
missionary, who died while on the road to Barrie, and was buried
in the cemetery at Penetanguishene. The old church was built of
upright posts and the spaces filled in with cedar logs, laid
horizontally, and let into the posts by a tenon and extended
mortise. Rev. Father Proulx was the next priest, then Father
Charest. I came to Victoria Harbor (Hogg Bay) over thirty years
ago. My mother has been dead over fifty years. She is buried
at Lafontaine with my father. Kean & Fowlie built the mill at
Victoria Harbor. Asher Mundy, who kept the canteen on the old
military road, was married to Mrs. ValliŠres, widow of a
French-Canadian. There was no house at Lafontaine when I first
saw it. It was first called Ste. Croix. The nearest house was
my father's, at Thunder Bay, about seven miles distant. Louis
DeschŠneau built the first house there. Toussaint Boucher built
the "Iron Canoe" on the spot where Dr. Shohn's residence now
stands in Penetanguishene, for Father Proulx, who afterward
presented it to the Government.**


*For a notice of Father Dempsey and his work, see Lizars' "In
the Days of the Canada Company."
**It was made of Russian sheet iron.


I made a trip in the "Iron Canoe" with fifteen men, Father
Proulx, a young priest named Lavelle and a bishop from Europe,
up to Manitoulin, the "Sault" and Mackinaw, and back. Father
Crevier visited Drummond Island twice in my recollection. I
carried the mail to the "Sault" in winter on snow-shoes. I made
the trip from Penetanguishene to the "Sault" and back (three
hundred miles) with a sleigh and two dogs in fifteen days-snow
three feet deep. I once made the trip in fourteen days. Dig a
hole in the snow with my snow-shoes, spread spruce boughs, eat
piece of cold pork, smoke pipe and go to sleep. I often had Mal
de racquette. I would sharpen my flint, then split the flesh of
the ankle above the instep in several places, and sometimes down
the calf of the leg for a remedy. I was in the Shawanaga country
for furs on two occasions when I could not get out, on account
of floods. I was four days without food, which was cached at the
mouth of the river. At another time I was five days without
food, except moss off the rocks on account of floods and soft
weather. I was sent by the Government to clear the land where
Waubaushene now stands, for the Indians. I planted potatoes and
sowed grain. I was there when the Government built the first
grist-mill and houses for the Indians at Coldwater. The
Government afterwards moved the Indians to Beausoleil Island,
Christian and Manitoulin Islands. A man named Stone built the
first mill at Severn River, before there was any mill at
Waubanshene. I remember seeing several cannons at the old Red
Store or Naval Depot at Penetanguishene.

Squire McDonald, uncle of Squire Sam. Fraser, of Midland, was
agent for the North-West Company, and came from Drummond Island
the year before we did. Dr. Mitchell, his son Andrew, Wm.
Simpson and Revol, all came about the same time. I knew about
the Tom Landrigan scrape-getting into trouble about stolen
Government military supplies-mighty close shave for Tom-he was
sentenced to be hanged. I saw Prisque soon after he fell and
broke his neck in Penetanguishene. He looked as if he had a
black handkerchief tied round his neck. He was sawing off a
board lying across the beams, and sawed it too short and pitched
down head first. I saw the drunken soldier, who cut his throat
at Mundy's Canteen, and who was buried near the old cricket
ground. I was fireman for three summers on the steamer Gore,
commanded by Captain Fraser, who married a daughter of Hippolyte
Brissette. I went with the volunteers to Chippawa and Navy
Island to clear out the Mackenzie rebels. My father was married
twice. I was the eldest of the first family, and worked for
myself since I was fourteen years old. I have had a family of
fifteen children."

How many Louis G, Michel and Archange LaBattes were there?

[Labatte]

On census records Louis Georges (1786) lists his P.O.B as the USA... the Names Louis Georges , Michel and Archange appear many times in the Labatte tree ... Louis Georges (1786) is listed as being Metis in a number of government documents...

[Rivergal]

One Archange LaBatte was married to a man named Amable Grignon and lived at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. This was in the first half of the 19th Century. By 1836, Archange was a widow with three children. Their names were Antoine, Hypolite, and a daughter, also called Archange. These children were quarter-bloods of the Winnebago Nation, according to an affidavit made by their mother. In 1844, the elder Archange married James Reed, the founder of Trempealeau, Wisconsin, and the family lived there. I am pretty sure this Archange was a daughter of Louis LaBatte.

[Deleted]

Angelique is listed on my website:

freepages.rootsweb.com/~wapasha/genealogy/wapa1-children.html