Michael Falardeau

MICHAEL FALARDEAU (floruit c. 1805-51)

Hudson's Bay Company Servant: Middleman at Fort Vancouver and at the Thompson River Post, 1827-40, Boute at the Thompson River Post, 1840-45, Boute and Middleman at New Caledonia, 1845-51

Michael Falardeau is identified as a "Native" in the records of the Hudson's Bay Company Hudson's Bay Company: Biographical Sheets His date of birth is not known but he was most likely born during the period 1805-07. His age is certainly recorded as 25 years in a Hudson's Bay Company record which belongs to outfit year 1831-32. His parents have not so far been identified but N. Falardeau, more than likely Narcisse Falardeau, was godfather to his daughter: "Angelique Falardeau, daughter of Michel Falardeau and Jenny Lucie of the Shouswaph" when she was baptised at Fort Langley on 1 July 1856 Fort Langley It is possible, therefore, probable even, that Narcisse is Michael's younger brother. According to the records of the Hudson's Bay Company, Narcisse Falardeau was born on 5 September 1818 and his parish of origin was Berthier-sur-Mer in the province of Quebec Hudson's Bay Company Biographical Sheets

Michael Falardeau took up employment with the Hudson's Bay Company in 1827 and is reported to have gone west with a returning York Factory Express in the fall of that year. For the next twenty-four years or so he was employed at various posts in the Columbia and New Caledonia departments, mainly as a middleman. He served at Fort Vancouver and Fort Nez Perce during the years 1827-37 but thereafter he spent most of his time at the Thompson river post, that is at Fort Kamloops Hudson's Bay Company: Biographical Sheets

Madame Fallerdeau

The officer in charge of Thompson River in 1843 wrote: “Madame Fallerdeau came to me to complain of her husband, but I refused to hear her complaint until they were both present, for as usual in such cases there are no doubt faults on both sides. She, however, seemed to have fully made up her mind not to remain longer with him.” The man in her life was forty-year old Michael Fallardeau, possibly a mixed-descent son of the fur economy, who came west with the returning York Factory express in 1827, and spent the next quarter century at Thompson River and in New Caledonia. Whatever the outcome, Fallerdeau’s earliest recorded child was born five years later to a Shuswap woman named Jenny Lucy, who may or may not have been the “Madame Fallerdeau” of 1843. [Jean Barman, French Canadians, Furs, and Indigenous Women in the Making of the Pacific North West (UBC Press, 2015), page 139]

Death

No record of death has so far been found for Michael Falardeau. There is an oral tradition which suggests that he may have died in 1855, two days after receiving a beating from a man named Paul Fraser, but proof of this is presently wanting. His name is last mentioned in Hudson's Bay Company records during outfit year 1851-52 and his name is crossed out in the Abstracts of Servants’ Accounts for 1851/52 and 1852/53.

Marriage

Michael Falerdeau married a Shuswap woman named Jenny Lucie.

Children

1. Louis Falardeau
2. Angelique Falardeau
3. N. N. Falardeau

EXTRACTS FROM THE FORT KAMLOOPS JOURNAL FOR 1843

                   1

Friday 11 August 1843: The men for the establishment are..... Michele Fallerdeau Steersman [BC Archives, Living Landscapes, Thomsons River Journal]

                   2

Monday 4 September 1843: "Lefleure & Fallerdeau finished recovering the roof of the dwelling House, it being so ill done in Spring that the last rain we had ran through it in streams" Ibidem]

                   3

Tuesday 5 September 1843: "Favel cealing one of the rooms Fallerdeau dressing boards Lefleure & Martele at work with the Kitchen" [Ibidem]

                   4

Tuesday 26 September 1843: "Two men Favel & Fallardeau employed at the new house" [Ibidem]

                   5

Wednesday 1 November 1843: "Very warm for the season. Lolo & Seina with assistance of Indians cutting the young horses_ Fallerdeau & Douliet laying the floor of the north end of the dwelling house Cha.s Favel fixing doors & windows" [Ibidem]

                   6

Monday 6 November 1843: "A hoar frost on the night. Fallerdeau & Douliet commenced putting up a stable, the wood of which, excepting the ground frame, was brought from the old Fort. Favel dressing wood for a Privy" [Ibidem]