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Gabriel Franchère
The seventh child of 19, Gabriel Franchère was born in Montreal Canada in 1786. In 1810, at the age of 24, he engaged as a clerk in John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company. He sailed around Cape Horn, and assisted in the founding of Astoria. After Astoria was peacefully taken over by the British in the war of 1812, Gabriel journeyed home overland by canoe with the rest of the remaining members of the American Fur Company, A journey that took five months. His accounts of these adventures were published in his book Voyage to the North West Coast of America. He later became Astor's agent in Montreal, and owned the Auberge Le Vieux Saint-Gabriel - North America's oldest inn, served as harbor master of Montreal. In 1834 was the American Fur Company's agent in Sault St. Marie. Received Astor medal, and has been honored by the naming of a mountain, town, and bay in Alberta after him. A WWII supply ship - Gabriel Franchère - was also named in his honor.
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Fun Facts:
Jacques Franchere (Abt 1722-1766) was the first Franchere to arrive in North America (that I know of).
Our Mission:
The Franchere family web site has been created to provide the extended Franchère family with a means of re-connecting with each other, and to document the family's roots. Content is not exclusive to the Franchère family, but maintains Franchère as a central theme.