Hope I am not overdoing this - but here's another Quebec-L message that deals with Toussaint Charboneau - quotes from the Lewis & Clark book I mentioned earlier. The Quebec lister says: << Aloha, I'd like to add to the considerable recent past discussion of CHARBONNEAU. The quotes below are from a well-researched story of the Lewis and Clark expedition in "Undaunted Courage" 1996 by Stephen E. Ambrose. Much of Ambrose's material is taken from the logs of either Merriwether Lewis or William Clark. Ambrose: "....on November 4 (1804) Clark recoded that 'a french man by Name Chabonah....visit us, he wish to hire & informed us his 2 sqars were Snake Indians.' His name was Toussaint Charbonneau. A French Canadian, about forty-five years old, he had once worked for the North West Company but was now living among the Hidatsas as an independent trader. His squaws, or 'wives' were Shoshones, or Snakes, from a band that lived in the Rocky Mountains at the headwaters of the Missouri. They were teenagers who had been captured by a Hidatsa raiding party four years earlier at the place where three rivers came together to form the Missouri, called Three Forks. Charbonneau had won them in a bet with the warriors who had captured them. The captains (Lewis and Clark) eagerly accepted Charbonneau's offer to sign on as interpreter, not so much for his own sake as because his wives could speak the language of a mountain tribe. The wives could speak to Charbonneau in Hidatsa; he could then talk in French to (George) Drouillard, who could pass it on to the captains in English........So on the spot they signed up Charbonneau and one of his wives 'to go with us', He (Charbonneau) chose Sacagawea, who was about fifteen years old and six months pregnant." Ambrose goes on to tell us that Sacagawea was particularly effective in leading the expedition through Indian territory and in trading for horses. Ambrose: "Lewis's most unusual experience as a doctor came on February 11 (1805), when he was present at the labor of one of Charbonneau's wives, Sacagawea. Lewis noted that 'this was the first child which this woman had boarn and as is common in such cases her labour was tedious and the pain violent'..........The baby, a boy named Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, was healthy and active. The family had their hut inside Fort Mandan....". In early 1808, long after the expedition was completed, Ambrose tells of Lewis and Clark living in St. Louis, Missouri and that Sacagawea's son, Jean Baptiste, and daughter, Lizette, became boarders in Clark's home and were tutored there. There were several anecdotes in Ambrose's book about Charbonneau and his family...Toussaint apparently was the expedition's cook with assistance from Sacagawea, a poor sailor in the pirogues, and not always in favor with Lewis. I was able to obtain the book on the Internet for $11.50 (US) although the listed price was $17.00 (US) or $24 (CA) >> [end quote] For those interested, I think the book has been remaindered and is available at bargain prices at Borders, B & N, etc. Clark's spelling is always good for a couple of chuckles - and does remind us that spelling was not very important to our pre-1850 ancestors - another reason for us to notice and collect surname variants, even the most far-out! Salut to all, Ginny