Michel Cadotte

Michel Cadotte (July 22, 1764 – July 8, 1837) (also spelled Michael, Cadott, Cadeau, and other variations) or (Ojibwe: Kechemeshane (or Gichi-miishen in the contemporary spelling) "Great Michel") was a Métis fur trader of Ojibwe and French-Canadian descent who dominated business in the area of the south shore of Lake Superior.

He gained a strategic alliance through marriage to Ikwesewe, the daughter of the head of the White Crane clan; men from this clan were the hereditary chiefs of the Lake Superior Ojibwe. Cadotte's trading post at La Pointe on Madeline Island was a critical center for the trade between the Lake Superior band and the British and United States trading companies.

Cadotte was born July 22, 1764, as the second son to a French father and an Anishinaabe mother in present-day Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, then recently taken over by the British following the Seven Years' War. He had an older brother and grew up with his mother's Ojibwe people. His father Jean Baptiste Cadotte, Sr., became a fur trader for French and later British interests in and around the eastern end of Lake Superior. Michel's paternal grandfather, whose surname was Cadeau, had come to Lake Superior in the late 17th century on a French exploratory mission.

Michel's mother was a member of the powerful Owaazsii (Bullhead) clan of the Anishinaabeg. She is frequently described in historic records as having high status in the region and as being an exceptionally kind person. She was a Roman Catholic convert whose French name was likely Marianne or Anastasia. His parents sent Michel and his brother John Baptiste Jr. to Montreal for their education in French Catholic schools.

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