In “The Migration of Voyageurs from Drummond Island to Penetanguishene in 1828" by A.C. Osborne, he mentions “LAVIOLETTE, Pierre, died in Marquette, Michigan. Descendants live there”. Maybe there was a Pierre Laviolette who died in Michigan at some time or other but whether he ever appeared here on a batteaux, canoe or ship with the rest of the Drummond Island gang is questionable. Laviolettes were in the Detroit area from the late 1700s and were likely farmers. See “Genealogy of the French Families of the Detroit River Region 1701-1936" Vol. 1 by Rev. C. Denissen for more on this branch of the family. If anyone has details on the Marquette Pierre, please contact me. There is certainly more than one Pierre Laviolette in Ontario in the 1800s. A few are living in the Prescott and Russell areas, many more are in Quebec and one is living in York County. York County Pierre is the fellow I took a good look at because he had children whose baptisms are recorded in the early Penetanguishene St. Ann’s registers. I found a few other interesting records with the name of Pierre Laviolette. In one record he applied for land in 1836 based on his service as a militiaman in the War of 1812. No township is given for the land he requested but his claim is listed in the Upper Canada land records so presumably it was in Ontario. . In an 1875 record, he applied for a gratuity available for veterans of 1812-1815. His stated age was 79 and he claimed to have been a militiaman. Ontario is mentioned but it is difficult to determine if that was his birthplace or his residence in 1875. He does not appear on the later list of applicants who actually received the gratuity. York Pierre was born between 1786 and 1795 in Quebec, likely Montreal where his parents lived before and after their marriage. Pierre married, in 1817 in Sorel, Quebec, a lady named Marguerite Dusang whose brothers Amable and Benjamin were early residents of Coldwater, Simcoe County and, in Benjamin’s case, Georgina Township. Pierre and Marguerite remained in Sorel until sometime between 1828 and 1834. It was not unknown for men who were voyageurs or traders to travel back and forth between the high country and Quebec. Many a man came home each year to find another little one in the cradle. Looking at the birth years of Pierre’s children, it was entirely possible that he did just that. Pierre and Marguerite took up residence in Georgina Township, York County where Marguerite died in 1848. Not one to have a cold spot in the bed for long, Pierre soon married an Irish widow. He had to look rather far afield for this bride - they were married in Oshawa. Oral family history relates that Matilda the bride “jumped the fence” on her wedding night and the last anyone named Laviolette saw of her was her petticoat. The records seem to support this story as she reverted to the surname of her first husband. Census returns state she was separated from her husband. Pierre died, not in Marquette, Michigan, but in Georgina on the family farm in 1877. And he never collected the gratuity because he was dead by he time it was distributed. Obviously, he is not the fellow Osborne has dying in Michigan but was he the Pierre mentioned in the other records? Possibly. He was old enough to have been in the militia. Was he in Drummond Island? Was he in the fur trade business? Did he arrive in Penetang in 1828? All are possibilities but then maybe the answers are more mundane. Perhaps he joined the militia in Quebec, married and had children there and later joined his wife’s family in Georgina Township, York. Lots of questions remain and only one is answered - he is not the fellow in Osborne’s book. Pam Tessier