Charles Chaboillez
| Charles-Jean-Baptiste Chaboillez | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
9 July 1736 Michilimackinac |
| Died | 25 September 1808 (aged 72) Montreal, Quebec |
| Known for | French Canadian fur trader, founding member of the Beaver Club at Montreal |
Charles-Jean-Baptiste Chaboillez (July 9, 1736 - September 25, 1808), of Montreal, was one of the most influential French Canadian fur traders after the British Conquest of New France and a founding member of the Beaver Club. Chaboillez Square in Montreal was named for his nephew, The Hon. Louis Chaboillez, in 1813.
He was the eldest son of fur trader Charles Chaboillez (1706-1757), and his wife Marie-Anne (1711-1778), the daughter of another well-known fur trader, Jean-Baptiste Chevalier (1677-1746). After his father's death, his mother returned to Montreal and purchased a spacious house on Rue Saint-Paul for 9,000 livres. From 1751, Chaboillez with his brothers was active in the fur trade between Michilimackinac, Grand Portage and Montreal. By 1769, he had already amassed a personal fortune of some 30,000 livres and the following year an investment of £2,550 in the fur trade put him in the forefront of Canadian investors.
Chaboillez was a client of Montreal merchant Jean Orillat and he was supplied from Michilimackinac by John Askin. He maintained business relations with Benjamin Frobisher, who went surety for him in 1778 and again in 1783. That year, Frobisher and Chaboillez guaranteed an expedition costing £3,500 which Benjamin and his brother Joseph Frobisher sent to Grand Portage. In 1785, he went into partnership with other Montreal outfitters and merchants at Michilimackinac, one being Étienne-Charles Campion, to form the General Company of Lake Superior and the South. The objective of the 'General Society', was to engage in the fur trade in the upper Mississippi region for a period of three years. In 1786, Chaboillez joined with McTavish, the Frobisher brothers, James McGill and others merchants to ask Sir John Johnson to establish peace among the Indian tribes in the upper Mississippi region. During the winter of 1792–93 Chaboillez was in partnership with George Edme Young, and they engaged 42 men to go to Michilimackinac and the Mississippi.
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