JOLLIET DE MINGAN, JEAN-BAPTISTE, merchant and trader, involved in fisheries; baptized 11 May 1683, son of Louis Jolliet* and Claire-Françoise Bissot; d. between 1732 and 1735, probably at Mingan.

When Louis Jolliet died in 1700 he left his family and associates a sizable territory in the Gulf of St Lawrence, consisting primarily of Anticosti and the islands and islets of Mingan. The poor quality of the moss-covered soil of the islands and nearby north shore made cultivation of the land unpractical, but the area was valuable nonetheless for it was strategically located for the fur trade and the cod, seal, and salmon fisheries.

In 1703 Jean-Baptiste, his older brother François Jolliet d’Abancourt, and the Bissot brothers, Charles-François and François-Joseph, formed a partnership for the exploitation of the trade and fisheries of the Mingan-Anticosti concessions. Backing the group was François Hazeur, the prominent Quebec merchant, who advanced the required merchandise, victuals, and fishing tackle. In 1705, however, both Charles-Francois Bissot and Francois Jolliet lost interest in the enterprise, and the latter ceded his share to his brother, Charles Jolliet d’Anticosti. The following year the association was completely dissolved. Jean-Baptiste remained in possession of the trade and fisheries of Mingan, while his brother Charles exploited Anticosti Island. Between them, the two Jolliets operated four or five trading posts.

On 11 Sept. 1708, at Quebec, Jean-Baptiste had married Marie Mars, daughter of the merchant Simon Mars and Anne de Faye. Since there is no record of their presence in Quebec after that date, one can assume that they moved to Mingan, where Jean-Baptiste lived out the remaining years of his life. Marie gave birth to six daughters and one son, Jean-Joseph, who later became a member of the group that was granted a monopoly of the trade of the Sioux country by Governor Charles de Beauharnois* de La Boische in 1731. After the death of her husband, Marie married Jean-Louis Volant d’Haudebourg on 18 April 1735; she was buried 28 Feb. 1776.

C. J. Russ

AJQ, Greffe de Louis Chambalon, 5, 7 avril, 19 sept. 1703; 3 juin, 27 sept. 1704; 9 mai, 30 sept. 1705; 24 juillet 1715; Greffe de Jean-Claude Louet, 25 mai 1732. AN, Col., C^11A, 36, ff.501–4. P.-G. Roy, Inventaire de pièces sur la côte de Labrador conservées aux Archives de la Province de Québec (2v., Québec, 1940–42), I, 271–73. Wis. State Hist. Soc. Coll., XVII. Bonnault, “Le Canada militaire,” 414. Jean Delanglez, Louis Jolliet, vie et voyages (1645–1700) (Montréal, 1950). Fauteux, Essai sur l’industrie sous le régime français, II, 529–30. Ernest Gagnon, Louis Jolliet, découvreur du Mississipi et du pays des Illinois, premier seigneur de l’île d’Anticosti (Montréal, 1946). Pierre Margry, “Louis Jolliet,” RC, 1^ère sér., VIII (1871), 931–42; IX (1872), 61–73, 121–38, 205–19.