Michel Cadotte 1764-1837 (also spelled Michael, Cadott, Cadeau, and other variations) or (Ojibwe: Kechemeshane (or Gichi-miishen in the contemporary spelling) "Great Michel") was a Métis fur trader who dominated business in the area of the south shore of Lake Superior. He gained a strategic alliance through marriage into the Owaazsii clan of the Anishinaabeg. His post at La Pointe on Madeline Island was a critical center for the trade between the Lake Superior Ojibwe and the British and American trading companies.
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Cadotte was born July 22, 1764 to a French father and an Anishinaabe mother in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. He had an older brother and grew up with his mother's people. His paternal grandfather, a man named Cadeau, had come to Lake Superior in the late 17th century on a French exploratory mission. His father, Jean Baptiste Cadotte Sr., became a fur trader for French and later British interests in and around the eastern end of Lake Superior. His mother was a member of the powerful Owaazsii (Bullhead) clan of the Anishinaabeg. She is frequently described in historic records as having high status in the region and as being an exceptionally kind person. She was a Roman Catholic convert whose French name was likely Marianne or Anastasia. His parents sent Michel and his brother John Baptiste Jr. to Montreal for their education in French Catholic schools.[1]
Half French, Cadotte was born just after the collapse of New France after Great Britain's victory in the Seven Years War. His career peaked toward the later decades of the great fur trade; many traders of Métis heritage were prominent in the Great Lakes area on behalf of British and American companies.
His father pressed westward as a trader along the south shore of Lake Superior; Cadotte Sr. set up a trading post on Mooningwanekaaning, an island in Chequamegon Bay in modern-day Wisconsin. The island, the traditional center of the Lake Superior Ojibwe, had been the site of a previous French post. As Michel reached adulthood, he traveled west with his father and older brother Jean Baptiste Jr. (more often called John Baptiste Cadotte).
Jean Baptiste Sr. retired in 1796 and left his holdings to his sons. John Baptiste Jr. explored westward to Fond du Lac and later to Red Lake in present-day Minnesota. Michel settled at La Pointe.
At La Pointe, Cadotte married Ikwesewe, the daughter of the head of the White Crane clan of the Anishinaabe. This was an advantageous marriage, as the Cranes were the hereditary chiefs of the Lake Superior band. Cadotte became the lead trader on the south shore of Lake Superior, and would remain so for decades. Similarly, the head of the White Crane clan believed it advantageous to have a strong alliance with the fur trader through his daughter's marriage. Ikwesewe and Cadotte had several children. Two of their daughters married American men who were brothers: Lyman and Truman Warren.[2]
Working for the British North West Company and later the American Fur Company, Cadotte built a trading empire throughout northern Wisconsin. He established outposts at the head of the Chippewa River, and at Lac Courte Oreilles.
Cadotte and his brother John Baptiste were generous and well-liked; they proved instrumental in brokering peace and commerce in the region. Literate, and able to speak fluent Ojibwe, English, and French, Cadotte often acted as an intermediary between the Ojibwe and the governments of Canada and the United States. He held considerable political influence, for example, persuading most of the Lake Superior Ojibwe to stay out of Tecumseh's Rebellion.
Cadotte retired in 1823 and left his business to his two American sons-in-law, the brothers Lyman and Truman Warren. He died on July 8, 1837, and was buried at La Pointe.[3]