explorer, trader, b. St. Germaine-en-Laye, France. He served in the King's guard before migrating to Canada. In 1678 he set out to explore Lake Superior in the hope of discovering a route to the western ocean. A master in the art of Indian domination, he succeeded in establishing peace between the Sioux and Chippewa, and in 1679 made an alliance with the Siouan Confederacy which gave France possession of their territory and made the region safer for traders. In 1680 he ascended the Brule River, portaged to Upper St. Croix Lake, and descended the St. Croix River to the Mississippi (presumably the first white man to utilize this route). He returned to Mackinac by the Wisconsin and Fox Rivers and, at Mackinac, learned that his enemies had accused him of being a coureur de bails (an unlicensed trader). He returned to France where he was freed of the charge and received a commission to traffic with the Sioux by way of the Wisconsin River. He spent the remainder of his life exploring and conducting a profitable Indian trade. He was especially valuable in helping to protect the Wisconsin area against raids of the Iroquois and in generally retaining the loyalty of France's Indian allies; in so doing, he promoted French ascendancy throughout the Northwest. About 1695 he retired from active trading and lived in Montreal until his death. Dict. Amer. Biog.; L. P. Kellogg, ed., Early Narratives of the Northwest (New York, 1917); L. P. Kellogg, French Regime in Wis. . . . (Madison, 1925); Colls. State Hist. Soc. Wis., 16 (1902); Proc. and Trans. Royal Soc. of Canada, ser. 2, 9 (1903).

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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]