Louis-Thomas Chabert de Joncaire (1670June 29, 1739), also known as Sononchiez by the

Iroquois The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...

, was a French army officer and interpreter for

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 ...

who worked with the Iroquois tribes during the

French and Indian Wars The French and Indian Wars were a series of conflicts that occurred in North America between 1688 and 1763, some of which indirectly were related to the European dynastic wars. The title ''French and Indian War'' in the singular is used in the U ...

in the early 18th century. He helped negotiate the

Great Peace of Montreal The Great Peace of Montreal (french: La Grande paix de Montréal) was a peace treaty between New France and 39 First Nations of North America that ended the Beaver Wars. It was signed on August 4, 1701, by Louis-Hector de Callière, governor of ...

in 1701 and founded

Fort Niagara Fort Niagara is a fortification originally built by New France to protect its interests in North America, specifically control of access between the Niagara River and Lake Ontario, the easternmost of the Great Lakes. The fort is on the river's e ...

in 1720.

Early life

Louis-Thomas Chabert de Joncaire was born in 1670 in

Saint-Rémy-de-Provence Saint-Rémy-de-Provence (; Provençal Occitan: ''Sant Romieg de Provença'' in classical and ''Sant Roumié de Prouvènço'' in Mistralian norms) is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Southern France. Loc ...

, France, to esquire Antoine-Marie de Joncaire and Gabrielle Hardi. Joncaire came to Canada in approximately 1687 as a cavalry sergeant in the Governor General's Guard.

Career as an interpreter

Soon after his arrival in Canada, he was captured by members of the

Seneca Seneca may refer to: People and language * Seneca (name), a list of people with either the given name or surname * Seneca people, one of the six Iroquois tribes of North America ** Seneca language, the language of the Seneca people Places Extrat ...

tribe. According to his son

Daniel Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength" ...

, Joncaire was tortured by the tribe and en route to execution at a stake, but was saved when a woman of the tribe adopted him. During Joncaire's captivity, a cordial relationship was established between him and the

which continued until his death. The Seneca befriended and trusted Joncaire while Joncaire mastered the

Seneca language Seneca (; in Seneca, or ) is the language of the Seneca people, one of the Six Nations of the Iroquois League; it is an Iroquoian language, spoken at the time of contact in the western portion of New York. While the name ''Seneca'', attested as ...

. By virtue of his diplomatic qualities, he became a valuable auxiliary for

. After his release, Joncaire had a permanent post near modern-day

Geneva, New York Geneva is a City (New York), city in Ontario County, New York, Ontario and Seneca County, New York, Seneca counties in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is at the northern end of Seneca Lake (New York), Seneca Lake; all land port ...

, and a home in Montreal. Beginning in the summer of 1700, Joncaire, Father Bruyas, and Paul Le Moyne de Maricourt were significantly involved in the peace discussions that led to the

of 1701 that ended the second Beaver War. Joncaire successfully negotiated a peace between New France, the

Onondaga Onondaga may refer to: Native American/First Nations * Onondaga people, a Native American/First Nations people and one of the five founding nations of the Iroquois League * Onondaga (village), Onondaga settlement and traditional Iroquois capita ...

, Seneca, and other Iroquois tribes (except for the

Mohawks The Mohawk people ( moh, Kanienʼkehá꞉ka) are the most easterly section of the Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois Confederacy. They are an Iroquoian languages, Iroquoian-speaking Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous people of North America ...

). During the

War of the Spanish Succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict that took place from 1701 to 1714. The death of childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700 led to a struggle for control of the Spanish Empire between his heirs, Phil ...

beginning in 1702, Joncaire preserved Iroquois neutrality by alternatingly presenting gifts to the Seneca and threatening the Seneca with attacks from their western Native American neighbors if they were to break their treaty with New France. In the summer of 1709 during

Queen Anne's War Queen Anne's War (1702–1713) was the second in a series of French and Indian Wars fought in North America involving the colonial empires of Great Britain, France, and Spain; it took place during the reign of Anne, Queen of Great Britain. In E ...

, Joncaire and his men assassinated

Louis Montour Louis may refer to: * Louis (coin) * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also Derived or associated terms * Lewis (d ...

(relative of

Madame Montour Madame Montour (1667 or c. 1685 – c. 1753) was an interpreter, diplomat, and local leader of Algonquin and French Canadian ancestry. Although she was well known, her contemporaries usually referred to her only as "Madame" or "Mrs." Montour. She ...

) on Governor Vaudreuil's orders. Montour was urging the Seneca to grant right-of-way to their western neighbors on the behalf of the New York-based traders who employed him, which threatened the French control over the Seneca. In August 1711, when New France was threatened by an attack from the English, Joncaire and

Michel Maray de La Chauvignerie Michel Maray de La Chauvignerie (January 24, 1704August 10, 1778), also known as Michel Maray, sieur de la La Chauvignerie, was a French military officer in the Troupes de la Marine and interpreter of Iroquoian languages. Biography Michel Maray ...

convinced several Native American tribes to renew their alliance with New France at a banquet in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

by singing an Iroquois war song.

Fort Niagara

In early 1720, Vaudreuil assigned Joncaire the task of acquiring permission from the Seneca to construct a French post to defend against a planned English occupation of the area around

Niagara Falls Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the border between the province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York in the United States. The largest of the three is Horseshoe Falls, ...

. Joncaire convened a meeting of Seneca chiefs and informed them of his desire to have his own house so that he could visit them more frequently. The chiefs told Joncaire that he could construct a house at any location of his choice, so he recruited eight soldiers from

Fort Frontenac Fort Frontenac was a French trading post and military fort built in July 1673 at the mouth of the Cataraqui River where the St. Lawrence River leaves Lake Ontario (at what is now the western end of the La Salle Causeway), in a location tradition ...

to construct

roughly eight miles below the Niagara Falls on the east side of the

Niagara River The Niagara River () is a river that flows north from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. It forms part of the border between the province of Ontario in Canada (on the west) and the state of New York (state), New York in the United States (on the east) ...

. The trading post that they constructed is in modern-day

Lewiston, New York Lewiston is a town in Niagara County, New York, United States. The population was 15,944 at the 2020 census. The town and its contained village are named after Morgan Lewis, a governor of New York. The Town of Lewiston is on the western bord ...

. Joncaire gained permission from the Iroquois to expand Fort Niagara from a trading house to a wooden stockade capable of holding 300 men. He served as the commander of Fort Niagara until 1726.

Later life and death

In 1731, Joncaire was tasked by Governor

Charles de la Boische, Marquis de Beauharnois Charles de la Boische, Marquis de Beauharnois ( 12 October 1671 – 12 July 1749) was a French Naval officer who served as Governor of New France from 1726 to 1746. Biography Son of François IV de Beauharnais, Charles had two brothers wh ...

to lead a group of

Shawnee The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...

migrants from the

Susquehanna River The Susquehanna River (; Lenape: Siskëwahane) is a major river located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, overlapping between the lower Northeast and the Upland South. At long, it is the longest river on the East Coast of the ...

to the

Allegheny River The Allegheny River ( ) is a long headwater stream of the Ohio River in western Pennsylvania and New York (state), New York. The Allegheny River runs from its headwaters just below the middle of Pennsylvania's northern border northwesterly into ...

and prevent them from trading with the English. He was also instructed to convince them to move even further west with a preference for

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

where there was greater French influence. Joncaire died at Fort Niagara on June 29, 1739, during this task.

Personal life and family

According to

Bacqueville de la Potherie Bacqueville de la Potherie, also known as Claude-Charles Le Roy, was a French chronicler of New France. His most famous work is ''Histoire de I'Amérique septentrionale'', an account of French expeditions to the Great Lakes and Mississippi ...

, Joncaire married an Iroquois woman in the 1690s. Joncaire married the 17-year-old Marie-Madeleine Le Gay on March 1, 1706, in Montreal when he was 36 years old. Marie-Madeleine Le Gay was the daughter of Jean-Jérôme Le Gay, Sieur de Beaulieu, a merchant and bourgeois of Montreal, and Madeleine Just. Joncaire and Le Gay had ten children between 1707 and 1723. Joncaire's eldest son with Le Gay,

Philippe-Thomas Chabert de Joncaire Philippe-Thomas Chabert de Joncaire (), also known as Nitachinon by the Iroquois, was a French army officer and interpreter in New France who established Fort Machault in the 18th century. During his career, he largely served as a diplomat with t ...

, was given by his father to the Seneca at the age of 10 in 1717, had an Iroquois upbringing, and later served as a captain in the colonial French army. In 1753, Governor

Jean de Lauson Jean de Lauzon or de Lauson (; 2 January 1586 – 16 February 1666) was the governor of New France from 1651 to 1657, one of the most challenging times for the new colony. He also was born into being the lord of Lirec. As a prominent lawyer in ...

sought to build a fortified trading post at the confluence of the Allegheny River and French Creek at Venango. That year, the English traders were expelled from Venango and Philippe-Thomas Chabert de Joncaire established Fort d'Anjou at the location. Philippe-Thomas was replaced by Michel Maray de La Chauvignerie as the officer in charge of constructing the fort, which eventually became

Fort Machault Fort Machault (, ) was a fort built by the French in 1754 near the confluence of French Creek with the Allegheny River, in northwest Pennsylvania. (Present-day Franklin developed here later.) The fort helped the French control these waterways, ...

. He died in Canada soon after the end of the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754� ...

. Another of their sons,

Daniel-Marie Chabert de Joncaire de Clausonne Daniel-Marie Chabert de Joncaire de Clausonne (1771) was a French army officer and interpreter in New France who established Fort du Portage near Niagara Falls and fought in the French and Indian War. Early life Daniel-Marie Chabert de Joncaire ...

, was also a army officer and interpreter in New France. He established Fort du Portage near

and fought in the

Battle of Fort Niagara The Battle of Fort Niagara was a siege late in the French and Indian War, the North American theatre of the Seven Years' War. The British siege of Fort Niagara in July 1759 was part of a campaign to remove French control of the Great Lakes and Oh ...

during the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the ...

. After leaving for France, he was implicated in the

Canada Affair Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's List of countries and dependenci ...

and imprisoned in the

Bastille The Bastille (, ) was a fortress in Paris, known formally as the Bastille Saint-Antoine. It played an important role in the internal conflicts of France and for most of its history was used as a state prison by the kings of France. It was sto ...

, before returning to America and then dying in Detroit in 1771.

Legacy

The location of the initial trading post that Joncaire commanded near Fort Niagara in 1720 is commemorated by a New York State Historic Marker for "Fort Joncaire" in

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Joncaire, Louis-Thomas, Chabert de 1670 births 1739 deaths French Army officers People from Saint-Rémy-de-Provence Interpreters French Canadian people of the French and Indian War