Marguerite Graverod was married to Charles Coté when their daughter Marie went and married Antoine Labatte. Charles and Marguerite Graverod, this time spelled Greverot were only a few of the many French and metis who ended up in and around Penetanguishene and Midland.
If only as a mere curiosity I question whether or not Graverod is a metis name and if in the end that name didn't morph into all the other similar names like Gravel or Gravenhearst. I also wonder if Graverod itself may not have started from Hargreaves. When I search Hargreaves I get results that include coal mining in Scotland and when I search the history of Penetanguishene I get results that include a Gordon and the trade of Scotch Whiskey. When I add it all up together I know that Mister Graverod is leading this story to the coal mine that never panned out in Chelmsford. Is it coincidence that that coal mine was on J R Gordon property.
The Batt sisters connected to the Kennedy-Sanders story, in my opinion, are more likely the Labatte sisters. But which Labbatte ? Of interest to the bigger story of the development of Chelmsford and the struggle between corporation and non corporation entities, the name Labatte later becomes Labatt in many cases. La equals "the" when translated from French to English so I assume that when the Batt sisters were mentioned on Copper Cliff Museum website they were actually representing " les soeurs LaBatte ". It is much easier to locate the Labatte sisters then it is to find information about the Batt sisters on the internet.
Batt, like Chew, is a name often associated to the expansion of England into the colony of Australia. It is sometimes a sad story that involves the expulsion of Acadians to a prison like settlement in Canada Bay, Australia.
Labatt, like in the beer, that so many Canadians drink, is a name that reflects true Canadian social engineering. The Labatt's, in my opinion again, were the republican democrate types who took control of the beer brewing companies. They starting brewing beer when beer brewers were a dime a dozen in Canada and most of these brewers were highly unorganized. This organized vs unorganized aspect of labor is seen in all domains or guilds of the time. The wood and grain industry along with sawmills and grist mills were operated by organized and unorganized owners and operators. The same went of the cheese makers and the beef and cattle industry and for te traders of furs and the manufacturers of goods.
The Voyageurs vs the "coureurs des bois" story perhaps exemplifies best this duality conflict between corporate ownership versus the little guy. The Voyageurs led by the Jesuits were well organized while the "coureurs des bois" were not. Who do you think became the controlling factor behind the early trading posts of the northwest of Canada in the long term ?
The name Mister Graverod comes into play in the early 1800's and Mr. Graverod is mentioned in a 1822 book written by Jedidiah Morse. The title of the book is " A report on Indian Affairs " and Mister Graverod is an Indian language interpreter who accompanies Colonel George Boyd as he travels through Mackinaw territory. A quote from the book pretty much sums up Boyd's mission.
Green Bay may vie with Mackinaw in its importance, as a place adapted to carry into effect the benevolent plans of the Government in reference to the Indians. This place, and Prairie du Chiens, will probably be the future capitals of the North West Territory, which is now without any white populations, except for.....( my words - US guards and Metis - by controlling a few of the tribes we control all of the tribes) ............
The report was written to the US Secretary of War.
Mister Graverod's identity is never really given. Was he a pure blood native or was he a Metis or was he a character like that one played by Kevin Costner in Dancing with Wolves.
It seems ironic that vole is part of the word benevolent. Vole in French is theft. So, benevolent in the above context basically means well meant thievery. Further in the report we are told that the Indians and the Factors and the Metis were almost always welcoming to Boyd and Mister Graverod. I question what would have happened if they had challenged the war party behind Boyd. Benevolent might certainly have changed to malevolent and the theft of land and sovereignty would have been justified as a war rally against barbarians and enemies of the US.
Mister Graverod appears in the above 1822 book. In 1901 meanwhile, while many of the Labbatte clan had married to all types of other families, mostly French names found around Chelmsford, another book was being published. This book was the work of O C Osborne and was titled The Migration of Voyageurs from Drummond Island to Penetanguishene in 1828.
In that work we get a glimpse at what happened to the natives, the metis and the rest of the people in the northwest during at the turn of the 18th century.
Within the first few sentences we come across the words " the establishment " ...........then teeth start grinding as the story is told.
Gordon's Point...............story never ends.
