Jacques Godfroy

The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents Volume 70

[1] (p. 21). — Jacques Godfroy (Godefroy) de (or dit) Marbœuf, was born at Three Rivers in 1684; in 1710 he formed a partnership with Paul Chevalier and Joseph Senécal (Burton’s Cadillac’s Village, p. 27; but Tanguay makes him Adrien Senécal), for trading at Detroit. In 1716 he married Marie Anne Chesne, by whom he had ten children; he died in November, 1730. His eldest son, Jacques (born in 1722), was also a fur trader; he was proficient in several Indian tongues, and acted as Indian interpreter for many years, acquiring great influence over the savages who resorted to Detroit, as well as among the French habitants. In 1764, he was arrested on suspicion of treason, as a supposed sympathiser with Pontiac, but was afterward released. In 1758, he married Louise Clotilde, daughter of Dr. Chapoton (vol. lxix., note 71), by whom he had three children; he died in 1795.