Louis Denis de Laronde

Louis Denis de Laronde
Louis Denis de la Ronde; Louis Laronde
Born	c. 1800 Lower Canada
Occupation	Fur trader
Children	Henry de Laronde Charlie de Laronde Alexander de Laronde Catherine de Laronde Angelique de Laronde Louise de Laronde Mary Anne de Laronde

Louis Denis de Laronde (born c. 1800) was a fur trader on the north shore of Lake Superior and the patriarch of the mixed-ancestry de Laronde family of Lake Nipigon.

Early life

• Born in Lower Canada in approximately 1800.
• Claimed descent from an earlier Louis Denis de la Ronde, a French officer who had commanded at Chequamegon on the south shore of Lake Superior in 1727.

Fur trade career

• Worked first for the North West Company and, after the 1821 merger, for the Hudson's Bay Company.
• While stationed at Osnaburgh he married a local Ojibwa woman in 1827; the couple had seven children, all of mixed ancestry.
• Wintered at Long Lake from 1830 and was a trading rival of Henry Sayer.
• Was in charge of the Hudson's Bay Company's Pic post by 1849, when he was met there by the treaty commissioners Alexander Vidal and Thomas Anderson on 4 October.
• Said to have spent 32 years in the "Indian country" by 1850 and to have possessed great knowledge of the Indians.

Family

• Louis and his eldest son were not paid treaty annuities, but other members of the family were paid with the Nipigon Band in 1869 and 1871.
• The inspector J. A. Macrae reported that he did not follow the Indian mode of life, took his wife from her family and tribe, and that his children all held his status.

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There is some possible connection to the much more famous and earlier Louis Denis De La Ronde (1675 - 1709) [1]