Pierre Falcon (sometimes referred to as Pierriche, meaning 'Pierre the rhymer'; 4 June 1793 – 21 October 1876) was a

Métis The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United States. They have a shared history and culture which derives ...

fur trader and pioneer living in what is today known as

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

. He was also a well known composer and singer. Falcon Lake located in the

Whiteshell Provincial Park Whiteshell Provincial Park is a provincial park in southeast Manitoba, approximately east of the city of Winnipeg. The park is considered to be a Class II protected area under the IUCN protected area management categories. It is in size. ...

in south-eastern

was named after Pierre Falcon.

Early life

Pierre Falcon was born at

Somerset House Somerset House is a large Neoclassical complex situated on the south side of the Strand in central London, overlooking the River Thames, just east of Waterloo Bridge. The Georgian era quadrangle was built on the site of a Tudor palace ("O ...

, also called Elbow Fort, in the

Swan River Valley The Swan River Valley (also known as Swan Valley) is a valley between the Manitoba Escarpment in the Parkland Region of Manitoba, Canada. It is located between the Porcupine Hills to the northwest and Duck Mountains to the south, as well as Thund ...

, on 4 June 1793. His father, Pierre Jean-Baptiste Falcon was a fur trader and clerk with the

North West Company The North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in what is present-day Western Canada and Northwestern Ontario. With great weal ...

in the Red River district and his mother was a

Cree The Cree ( cr, néhinaw, script=Latn, , etc.; french: link=no, Cri) are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada ...

Woman, the daughter of Pas au Traverse. Falcon was taken to La Prairie,

Lower Canada The Province of Lower Canada (french: province du Bas-Canada) was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence (1791–1841). It covered the southern portion of the current Province of Quebec an ...

, as a child and was baptized at L’Acadie,

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, on 18 June 1798. While in Quebec, Falcon stayed with his family, possibly his uncle Francois, and learned to read and write. In 1808, at 15, Falcon came back to Manitoba to become a clerk for the

. In 1812, he married a woman named Marie (possibly Marie-Suzette), who was also the sister of the Métis leader

Cuthbert Grant Cuthbert James Grant (1793 – July 15, 1854) was a prominent Métis people (Canada), Métis leader of the early 19th century. His father was also called Cuthbert Grant. Life Cuthbert James Grant was born in 1793 at Fort Tremblant, a North We ...

. They had four sons and six daughters whom Falcon supported as a successful rancher. One of his sons, Jean Baptiste Falcon, led the St. François Xavier (White Horse Plain) group of

buffalo hunters Buffalo most commonly refers to: * Bubalina, including most "Old World" buffalo, such as water buffalo * Bison, including the American buffalo * Buffalo, New York Buffalo or buffaloes may also refer to: Animals * Bubalina, a subtribe of the t ...

in 1851 and defended the camp from the

Sioux The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin (; Dakota language, Dakota: Help:IPA, /otʃʰeːtʰi ʃakoːwĩ/) are groups of Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribes and First Nations in Canada, First Nations peoples in North America. The ...

at the Battle of Grand Coteau (North Dakota).

Songs

In 1816, Pierre Falcon, then 23, celebrated the victory of the Métis at the

Battle of Seven Oaks The Battle of Seven Oaks was a violent confrontation in the Pemmican War between the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) and the North West Company (NWC), rivals in the North American fur trade, fur trade, that took place on 19 June 1816, the climax of ...

in his song ''La Chanson de la Grenouillère''. The song and the music became so popular among the Métis that it was still sung 150 years later and was published in 1866 in ''Le Foyer canadien'' and again in 1914 in ''Les Cloches de Saint-Boniface''.
Songs of Falcon 1: The Battle of Seven Oaks and Lord Selkirk at Fort WilliamSongs of Falcon 2: The Buffalo Hunt and The Dickson Song

Re-settlement

Falcon continued to work for the North West company until its merger with the Hudson's Bay in 1821. Falcon served the new company until 1825, when his family along with several other Métis families resettled in Grantown (later known as Saint-François-Xavier) on the White Horse Plain, under the leadership of

. An 1838 census listed Falcon as having of land under cultivation. By 1849 he was shown with only as the remainder had been divided amongst his sons. In 1855, Falcon became a local magistrate. He died on 21 October 1876, followed a year later by his wife on 11 October 1877.

References

External links

The Manitoba Historical Society (Pierre Falcon (1793-1876))
* http://www.metismuseum.ca/media/document.php/14585.Pierre%20Falco1.pdf {{DEFAULTSORT:Falcon, Pierre Canadian fur traders 1793 births 1876 deaths People from Swan River, Manitoba People from Central Plains Region, Manitoba Canadian Métis people