Jean-Bonaventure Rousseau was an influential

fur trader The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the mos ...

New France New France (french: Nouvelle-France) was the area colonized by France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Great Britain and Spai ...

, and, after its capture by

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

, the

Province of Canada The Province of Canada (or the United Province of Canada or the United Canadas) was a British North America, British colony in North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham ...

. His father who also went by the given name Jean, had been a fur trader in the

Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...

valley. His son Jean Baptiste Rousseau started as a fur trader before becoming one of the most important merchants in

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the ...

. In the 1750s, French authorities destroyed some fortifications, including the

Magasin Royal Magasin royal () was the generic name given to a trading post under the purview of the King of France. The name also applied specifically to two trading posts that were built during the 18th century for French fur trading near the Humber River in ...

Fort Toronto Fort Toronto, also known as Fort Portneuf, was a French trading post that was located near the mouth of the Humber River in what is now Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was constructed in 1750 by French military officer Pierre Robineau de Portneuf, wh ...

and

Fort Rouillé Fort Rouillé was a French trading post located in what is now Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Fort Rouillé was constructed by the French in 1751, building upon the success of a trading post they established in the area a year earlier, known as Fort T ...

during the Seven Years' War. Rousseau restored Fort Toronto, near the mouth of the Humber, to serve as a fur trading post, and delegated its operation to his son. After the British conquest of New France, Rousseau swore a loyalty oath and worked for the British as an interpreter, circa 1770. He subsequently received a license to trade fur around the Toronto area ''“and from thence to any markets or parts which he should find advantageous for the sale of his merchandise"''. This included the trade along both the Humber River and

Credit River The Credit River is a river in southern Ontario, which flows from headwaters above the Niagara Escarpment near Orangeville and Caledon East to empty into Lake Ontario at Port Credit, Mississauga. It drains an area of approximately . The total le ...

. A record exists of the contents of the freight canoe that carried his first trade goods, which included of rum, as well as of wine.

Thomas Gage General Thomas Gage (10 March 1718/192 April 1787) was a British Army general officer and colonial official best known for his many years of service in North America, including his role as British commander-in-chief in the early days of the ...

, commander of British forces in North America, wrote that Rousseau was ''"debauching"'' First Nations people.

References

{{Reflist, refs= {{cite news , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=OG6qBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT8&dq=%22Jean-Bonaventure+Rousseau%22+OR+%22Jean+Bonaventure+Rousseau%22#q=rousseau , title = Toronto: Biography of a City , author = Allan Levine , publisher = D & M Publishers , year = 2014 , pages = 33–34 , isbn = 9781771620437 , archiveurl = , archivedate = , accessdate = 2020-05-17 , url-status = live , quote = {{cite book , url = http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/rousseaux_st_john_john_baptist_5E.html , title = ROUSSEAUX ST JOHN, JOHN BAPTIST (baptized Jean-Baptiste Rousseau, dit Saint-Jean), fur trader, interpreter, businessman, militia officer, and office holder , work =

Dictionary of Canadian Biography The ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography'' (''DCB''; french: Dictionnaire biographique du Canada) is a dictionary of biographical entries for individuals who have contributed to the history of Canada. The ''DCB'', which was initiated in 1959, is a ...

, archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20190329152750/http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/rousseaux_st_john_john_baptist_5E.html , archivedate = 29 March 2019 , accessdate = 2019-03-29 , url-status = live , quote = On 24 July 1793 Lieutenant Governor Simcoe urged that he be appointed his personal interpreter. Rousseaux had, Simcoe wrote to Alured Clarke*, the lieutenant governor o,f Lower Canada, {{'all the requisites necessary for that office, and is equally agreeable to ...

rant A diatribe (from the Greek ''διατριβή''), also known less formally as rant, is a lengthy oration, though often reduced to writing, made in criticism of someone or something, often employing humor, sarcasm, and appeals to emotion. His ...

and the Mohawks as to the Missassagas ... the only person, who possesses any great degree of influence with either of those Nations.{{' {{cite news , url = https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2017/pb/bgrd/backgroundfile-105302.pdf , title = Attachment 7: West Queen West Heritage Conservation District Study , work =

City of Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

, author = , date = June 2017 , page = 24 , archiveurl = , archivedate = , accessdate = 2020-05-17 , url-status = live , quote = In 1770, Jean-Bonaventure Rousseau of Montreal was both an interpreter with the Indian Department and had license to trade with the indigenous population along the Humber. Rousseau established his family’s commercial endeavors in the York area and was joined in this business by his son, Jean-Baptiste Rousseau, around 1775. {{cite news , url = https://cvc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/1956REPT.pdf , title = Credit Valley Conservation Report 1956 , work = Ontario Department of Planning and Development , author = A. H. Richardson , date = 1956 , page = , location = , isbn = , language = , trans-title = , archiveurl = , archivedate = , accessdate = 2020-05-17 , url-status = live , quote = In September 1770 Jean Bonaventure Rousseau, called St. Jean or St. John, was licensed to trade at Toronto “and from thence to any markets or parts which he should find advantageous for the sale of his merchandise", His party was to consist of one canoe with six men besides himself, and his merchandise, valued at 300, included a fair quantity of rum, a smaller amount of wine, four rifles , 300 pounds of gunpowder and 1600 pounds of shot and ball. For this license Rousseau posted a bond of 600, Provincial Currency. {{cite news , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=qwfiSVumgvEC&pg=PA70&lpg=PA70&dq=%22Jean-Bonaventure+Rousseau%22#q=%22Jean-Bonaventure%20Rousseau%22 , title = Scugog Carrying Place: A Frontier Pathway , author = Grant Karcich , publisher =

Dundurn Press Dundurn Press is one of the largest Canadian-owned book publishing companies of adult and children's fiction and non-fiction. The company publishes Canadian literature, history, biography, politics and arts. Dundurn has about 2500 books in print, ...

, year = 2013 , page = 70 , isbn = 9781459707511 , archiveurl = , archivedate = , accessdate = 2020-05-17 , url-status = live , quote = {{cite book , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=0nqin5o2CpkC&pg=PA94&lpg=PA94&dq=%22Jean-Bonaventure+Rousseau%22#q=%22Jean-Bonaventure%20Rousseau%22 , title = From Queenston to Kingston: The Hidden Heritage of Lake Ontario's Shoreline , author = Ron Brown , publisher =

, year = 2010 , pages = 93–94 , isbn = 9781770705326 , archiveurl = , archivedate = , accessdate = 2020-05-17 , url-status = live , quote = Le Magasin Royale, a log fort that had been situated at Baby Point, farther up the Humber River, was built in 1720 under the orders of the then French governor of Canada, the Marquis Philippe Rigaud de Vaudreuil. Little more than a log cabin, it is considered by archeologists to the first non-aboriginal building in the Toronto area. The strategic significance of the route, the expansion of the French fur trade, and the increasing competition from the English on the south shore of the lake led the French to build a larger trading post, known as Fort Toronto, near its mouth, as a replacement for Le Magasin Royale. Constructed by Chevalier de Portneuf between 1830 and 1740, Fort Toronto was in turn replaced by an even larger fort, Fort Rouille, located on what are today's CNE grounds, a site marked by an historic monument and plaque. After 1750, when the French had destroyed all their Lake Ontario fortification, the ruins of the earlier Fort Toronto were resurrected by fur trader Jean Bonaventure Rousseau, and run by his son Jean Baptiste Rousseau, or "St. John," as Lieutenant Governor Simcoe called him. Rousseau, Jean-Bonaventure