Joseph Gervais
Encyclopedia
Joseph Gervais was a pioneer settler and trapper in the Columbia District
of the Hudson's Bay Company
(claimed as the Oregon Country
and now in the present-day United States
). He is the namesake for the town of Gervais, Oregon
.
, Canada (British North America at the time) along the St. Lawrence River. Jean Baptiste Gervais was likely his younger brother. At the age of 20 Joseph left home and spent time employed as a trapper and along the Arkansas River
(in what was part of Louisiana
) hunting buffalo
to be sold in New Orleans. While engaged in this enterprise, Joseph Gervais joined the Hunt party that was part of John Jacob Astor
’s Pacific Fur Company
. By August 7, 1810, he had joined the group at Michilimackinac.
arrived at Fort Astoria
on February 15, 1812. Later that year Gervais went with a party to the Willamette Valley
under the leadership of Donald Mackenzie to scout the area and educate the native inhabitants on how to better preserve some fur pelts that the trappers were especially interested in acquiring. During this trip he was involved with a fight with one of the natives and on a second trip that fall he became familiar with Étienne Lucier
, with both later settling in the area. By October 1813, Gervais had married a Native American woman.
During the fall of 1813 the British North West Company
purchased Fort Astoria during the War of 1812
and re-named the post as Fort George. During the winter of 1813 to 1814 he stayed at the fort and worked for the North West Company. After trapping for both the North West Company and as an independent trapper, he joined the Hudson's Bay Company
(HBC) in 1824 and was based out of Fort Vancouver
. By 1828 he had made a land claim at Chemaway and lived there intermittently until 1831. In January of that year Alexander McKenzie was killed along with several other HBC employees on Hood Canal
in modern Washington. Gervais and other HBC employees were sent to retaliate against the Clallum tribe
responsible for the attack against McKenzie. That fall he also went to the Umpqua River
Valley in Southern Oregon
to retrieve the merchandise left when Jedediah Smith
and his trapping party were killed by the local tribe.
In 1831, after working for the Hudson's Bay Company, Gervais permanently settled on French Prairie
at the site of what is now the town of Gervais. There he built a square-hewed, two-story log cabin that measured 18 by 24 feet. He also constructed a post-in-sill style barn, grew an apple orchard, and grew wheat on the 125 acre (0.5058575 km²) parcel. On the property he had 65 acres (263,045.9 m²) under cultivation and several outbuildings including a grist mill. In 1834, Jason Lee
arrived to build the Methodist Mission
on the prairie, and for a time preached to the French-Canadian trappers at Gervais' home as Catholic priests had yet to arrive in Oregon Country
. He did sign a petition along with most Catholics in the valley in 1836 requesting a priest from the Bishop of Juliopolis.
In 1841, Gervais was elected justice of the peace. In March 1843, Gervais' house was the site of the second "Wolf Meeting", which provided for a bounty on predators and other protections for the settlers. Gervais was also a member of the organizing committee of the Champoeg Meetings
, where on May 2, 1843, a vote was taken to create a government in the area. Although Gervais voted against forming this government, the vote for creating a government passed and the Provisional Government of Oregon
was formed. Gervais eventually became a U.S. citizen. During the Cayuse War
of 1847 to 1848, two of his children, Isaac and Xavier, joined the settler's militia to fight the Native Americans responsible for the Whitman Massacre
.
and they had four children. She died of diphtheria
in 1840 and Joseph married a third time, to Marie Angelique. A Chinook, she bore one child, Rosalie. In 1850, he lost his farm by foreclosure and died July 14, 1861, at the home of David Mongraine.
Columbia District
The Columbia District was a fur trading district in the Pacific Northwest region of British North America in the 19th century. It was explored by the North West Company between 1793 and 1811, and established as an operating fur district around 1810...
of the Hudson's Bay Company
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...
(claimed as the Oregon Country
Oregon Country
The Oregon Country was a predominantly American term referring to a disputed ownership region of the Pacific Northwest of North America. The region was occupied by British and French Canadian fur traders from before 1810, and American settlers from the mid-1830s, with its coastal areas north from...
and now in the present-day United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
). He is the namesake for the town of Gervais, Oregon
Gervais, Oregon
Gervais is a city in Marion County, Oregon, United States. The population was 2,009 at the 2000 census. The 2007 estimate is 2,250 residents. It is part of the Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
.
Early life
Joseph Gervais was born in 1777 in Maskinonge, QuebecMaskinongé, Quebec
Maskinongé is a municipality in the Mauricie region of the province of Quebec in Canada.- References :...
, Canada (British North America at the time) along the St. Lawrence River. Jean Baptiste Gervais was likely his younger brother. At the age of 20 Joseph left home and spent time employed as a trapper and along the Arkansas River
Arkansas River
The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. The Arkansas generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's initial basin starts in the Western United States in Colorado, specifically the Arkansas...
(in what was part of Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
) hunting buffalo
American Bison
The American bison , also commonly known as the American buffalo, is a North American species of bison that once roamed the grasslands of North America in massive herds...
to be sold in New Orleans. While engaged in this enterprise, Joseph Gervais joined the Hunt party that was part of John Jacob Astor
John Jacob Astor
John Jacob Astor , born Johann Jakob Astor, was a German-American business magnate and investor who was the first prominent member of the Astor family and the first multi-millionaire in the United States...
’s Pacific Fur Company
Pacific Fur Company
The Pacific Fur Company was founded June 23, 1810, in New York City. Half of the stock of the company was held by the American Fur Company, owned exclusively by John Jacob Astor, and Astor provided all of the capital for the enterprise. The other half of the stock was ascribed to working partners...
. By August 7, 1810, he had joined the group at Michilimackinac.
Oregon
The Pacific Fur Company's overland Astor ExpeditionAstor Expedition
The Astor Expedition of 1810-1812 was the next overland expedition from St. Louis, Missouri to the mouth of the Columbia River after the Corps of Discovery, led by Lewis and Clark.-History:...
arrived at Fort Astoria
Fort Astoria
Fort Astoria was the Pacific Fur Company's primary fur trading post in the Northwest, and was the first American-owned settlement on the Pacific coast. After a short two-year term of US ownership, the British owned and operated it for 33 years. It was the first British port on the Pacific coast...
on February 15, 1812. Later that year Gervais went with a party to the Willamette Valley
Willamette Valley
The Willamette Valley is the most populated region in the state of Oregon of the United States. Located in the state's northwest, the region is surrounded by tall mountain ranges to the east, west and south and the valley's floor is broad, flat and fertile because of Ice Age conditions...
under the leadership of Donald Mackenzie to scout the area and educate the native inhabitants on how to better preserve some fur pelts that the trappers were especially interested in acquiring. During this trip he was involved with a fight with one of the natives and on a second trip that fall he became familiar with Étienne Lucier
Étienne Lucier
Étienne Lucier was a fur trader in what is now the Pacific Northwest. At the time it was called the Oregon Country and claimed by the United States and called the Columbia District as claimed by Great Britain. He was one of two French Canadians to vote for the creation of a government for that...
, with both later settling in the area. By October 1813, Gervais had married a Native American woman.
During the fall of 1813 the British North West Company
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 was to become Western Canada...
purchased Fort Astoria during the War of 1812
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
and re-named the post as Fort George. During the winter of 1813 to 1814 he stayed at the fort and worked for the North West Company. After trapping for both the North West Company and as an independent trapper, he joined the Hudson's Bay Company
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...
(HBC) in 1824 and was based out of Fort Vancouver
Fort Vancouver
Fort Vancouver was a 19th century fur trading outpost along the Columbia River that served as the headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company in the company's Columbia District...
. By 1828 he had made a land claim at Chemaway and lived there intermittently until 1831. In January of that year Alexander McKenzie was killed along with several other HBC employees on Hood Canal
Hood Canal
Hood Canal is a fjord forming the western lobe, and one of the four main basins, of Puget Sound in the state of Washington. Hood Canal is not a canal in the sense of being a man-made waterway—it is a natural waterway.-Geography:...
in modern Washington. Gervais and other HBC employees were sent to retaliate against the Clallum tribe
Klallam
Klallam refers to four related indigenous Native American/First Nations communities from the Pacific Northwest of North America. The Klallam culture is classified ethnographically and linguistically in the Coast Salish subgroup...
responsible for the attack against McKenzie. That fall he also went to the Umpqua River
Umpqua River
The Umpqua River on the Pacific coast of Oregon in the United States is approximately long. One of the principal rivers of the Oregon Coast and known for bass and shad, the river drains an expansive network of valleys in the mountains west of the Cascade Range and south of the Willamette Valley,...
Valley in Southern Oregon
Southern Oregon
Southern Oregon is a region of the U.S. state of Oregon south of Lane County and generally west of the Cascade Range, excluding the southern Oregon Coast. Counties include Douglas, Jackson, Klamath, and Josephine. It includes the Southern Oregon American Viticultural Area, which consists of the...
to retrieve the merchandise left when Jedediah Smith
Jedediah Smith
Jedediah Strong Smith was a hunter, trapper, fur trader, trailblazer, author, cartographer, cattleman, and explorer of the Rocky Mountains, the American West Coast and the Southwest during the 19th century...
and his trapping party were killed by the local tribe.
In 1831, after working for the Hudson's Bay Company, Gervais permanently settled on French Prairie
French Prairie
French Prairie is a prairie located in Marion County, Oregon, United States, in the Willamette Valley between the Willamette River and the Pudding River, north of Salem...
at the site of what is now the town of Gervais. There he built a square-hewed, two-story log cabin that measured 18 by 24 feet. He also constructed a post-in-sill style barn, grew an apple orchard, and grew wheat on the 125 acre (0.5058575 km²) parcel. On the property he had 65 acres (263,045.9 m²) under cultivation and several outbuildings including a grist mill. In 1834, Jason Lee
Jason Lee (missionary)
Jason Lee , an American missionary and pioneer, was born on a farm near Stanstead, Quebec. He was the first of the Oregon missionaries and helped establish the early foundation of a provisional government in the Oregon Country....
arrived to build the Methodist Mission
Methodist Mission
The Methodist Mission was founded in Oregon Country in 1834 by the Reverend Jason Lee. The mission was started to educate the Native Americans in the Willamette Valley and grew into an important center for politics and economics in the early settlement period of Oregon.-Foundation:In 1831, several...
on the prairie, and for a time preached to the French-Canadian trappers at Gervais' home as Catholic priests had yet to arrive in Oregon Country
Oregon Country
The Oregon Country was a predominantly American term referring to a disputed ownership region of the Pacific Northwest of North America. The region was occupied by British and French Canadian fur traders from before 1810, and American settlers from the mid-1830s, with its coastal areas north from...
. He did sign a petition along with most Catholics in the valley in 1836 requesting a priest from the Bishop of Juliopolis.
In 1841, Gervais was elected justice of the peace. In March 1843, Gervais' house was the site of the second "Wolf Meeting", which provided for a bounty on predators and other protections for the settlers. Gervais was also a member of the organizing committee of the Champoeg Meetings
Champoeg Meetings
The Champoeg Meetings in Oregon Country were the first attempts at governing in the Pacific Northwest by United States European-American pioneers. Prior to this, the closest entity to a government was the Hudson's Bay Company, mainly through Dr...
, where on May 2, 1843, a vote was taken to create a government in the area. Although Gervais voted against forming this government, the vote for creating a government passed and the Provisional Government of Oregon
Provisional Government of Oregon
The Provisional Government of Oregon was a popularly elected government created in the Oregon Country, in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. It existed from May 2, 1843 until March 3, 1849. Created at a time when no country had sovereignty over the region, this independent government...
was formed. Gervais eventually became a U.S. citizen. During the Cayuse War
Cayuse War
The Cayuse War was an armed conflict that took place in the Northwestern United States from 1847 to 1855 between the Cayuse people of the region and the United States Government and local Euro-American settlers...
of 1847 to 1848, two of his children, Isaac and Xavier, joined the settler's militia to fight the Native Americans responsible for the Whitman Massacre
Whitman massacre
The Whitman massacre was the murder in the Oregon Country on November 29, 1847 of U.S. missionaries Dr. Marcus Whitman and his wife Narcissa Whitman, along with eleven others. They were killed by Cayuse and Umatilla Indians. The incident began the Cayuse War...
.
Later years
Once news of the gold rush in California reached the valley in 1848, Gervais went south to the gold fields, but returned within a few years. Joseph Gervais had a total of three wives and many children. His first wife was Chinook and they had a son named David and daughter named Julie. Upon her death he married Yi-a-must (later Marguerite), a ClatsopClatsop
The Clatsop are a small tribe of Chinookan-speaking Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. In the early 19th century they inhabited an area of the northwestern coast of present-day Oregon from the mouth of the Columbia River south to Tillamook.-Language:Clatsop in the...
and they had four children. She died of diphtheria
Diphtheria
Diphtheria is an upper respiratory tract illness caused by Corynebacterium diphtheriae, a facultative anaerobic, Gram-positive bacterium. It is characterized by sore throat, low fever, and an adherent membrane on the tonsils, pharynx, and/or nasal cavity...
in 1840 and Joseph married a third time, to Marie Angelique. A Chinook, she bore one child, Rosalie. In 1850, he lost his farm by foreclosure and died July 14, 1861, at the home of David Mongraine.