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Episode 087-October 1, 2019
Today, Michael Fenn, author of From Torture to Triumph: the Lost Legend of a Man Who Opened America: Guillaume Couture, joins us for a look at the life of this extraordinary pioneer, an ancestor to many both in America and Canada.
The Story of Guillaume Couture
Michael and I began our discussion with Guillame’s early years in France. Although a carpenter by trade, Guillaume could read and had an affinity for languages. This made him a valuable commodity in the New World. He signed on as a donné, a 
position with the Jesuits. He volunteered to work for the church in New France for a set period of time, taking the same vows as the Jesuits.
Guillaume spent some time in Tadoussac, doing carpentry, hunting and fishing. He had very amicable relations with the Natives.
After moving to Quebec, one of Guillaume’s first assignments was to go to Sainte-Marie among the Hurons, a Jesuit outpost. His job was to paddle canoes and cross portages and rapids.
His facility with languages meant that he was often called upon to communicate with Native tribes. At this time, the south side of the St. Lawrence River was off-limits because it was the land of the Iroquois.
On one of his excursions, he, along with a prominent Huron chief and his daughter, was captured by the Mohawk. This lead to several years of captivity which began with torture but transitioned into acceptance as a family member among the Natives.
After not escaping when given the opportunity, Guillaume’s position among the tribe improved. He eventually became the only known non-Iroquois who became part of the Grand Council of the Iroquois. He persuaded the Iroquois to be more open to French treaties and not rely so much on the Dutch and English. Guillaume went along as part of a negotiating team and, although looking very much like a Native, was recognized. That was his re-introduction to New France.
To start his new life, he got a land grant on the south side of the Saint Lawrence, an unsettled area due to threats from the Iroquois. Guillaume was safe, however, because of his previous relationship to the tribe.
He married Anne Émard, one of the three Émard sisters, and had many children who had many children. So there are many descendants of Guillaume and Anne throughout North America.
Sources
Church records
Archives of the Department of Overseas Territories
General sources (See the bibliography in the back of From Torture to Triumph)
Jesuit Relations (see below)
Documents prepared on the anniversary dates of his death that were part of the church history
Document at the turn of the last century that told his story
Another after the Second World War when a clergyman wrote the story
Father Isaac Jogues’s report of what took place during captivity
Other resources
Association des Familles Couture d’Amérique
Video: Guillaume Couture-4 episodes (in French)
Video: guillaume couture par serge bouchard (in French) 
Michael’s book
From Torture to Triumph: The Lost Legend of a Man Who Opened America: Guillaume Couture by Michael Fenn
E-book from Lulu.com
Paperback from Lulu.com
Amazon: Kindle and paperback
Contact Michael
Email: mfenn [at] cogeco [dot] ca
Jesuit Relations
Known in French as Relations des Jésuites de la Nouvelle-France, the Jesuit Relations chronicled the life of the missionaries in New France and were printed from 1632 to 1673. Each missionary had to submit a written report to the superior every year. The superior then wrote them up, and they were published annually.
According to Wikipedia:
No single unified edition existed until Reuben Gold Thwaites, secretary of the Wisconsin Historical Society, led the project to translate into English, unify, and cross-reference the numerous original Relations. Between 1896 and 1901 Thwaites and his associates compiled 73 volumes, including two volumes of indices. The Relations effectively comprise a large body of ethnographic material. He included many other papers, rare manuscripts, and letters from the archives of the Society of Jesus, spanning a period from the founding of the order to 1791.
Links to the French version and the English translation can be found on the website of Creighton University.The first three volumes cover Acadia from 1610 to 1616. The story of Quebec begins in Volume 4. Other volumes detail the various Native tribes, Trois-Rivières, the Missions, the Great Lakes region, and Louisiana.
Announcements
Thank you to Michele Nadeau Hartmann for supporting the podcast!
French-Canadian News
The American-French Genealogical Society
October 6: The Mill Villages of the Blackstone River Valley by U.S. Park Ranger Mark Mello. Mark will detail the various mill villages, their production, and which immigrants worked in the mills.
October 27: Introduction to the PRDH and the Lafrance Database with Sandra Goodwin. Learn about the different versions of the PRDH, the benefits of using the Lafrance database, and how to coordinate research between both collections. In case you need a bit more incentive, the Drouin Institute donated two raffle prizes for audience members: a 1-year subscription to Genealogy Quebec (where you can access the Lafrance database as well as several other valuable resources) and 500 PRDH hits (a hit being access to one record).
Classes are held at the AFGS Library, 78 Earle Street, Woonsocket, RI, and begin at 1:30 PM (unless otherwise noted).
The Franco-American Centre
October 13-20: 2019 Online Auction to promote French language, culture and heritage in NH and beyond.
The French Canadian Heritage Society of Michigan
October 4-6: Center for French Colonial Studies 2019 Annual Conference at Mackinaw City, Michigan
October 12, 11 AM, at the Mount Clemens Public Library: The Forgotten Voyageurs – Understanding their World and their Contributions to the Establishment of Michilimackinac, Fort St. Joseph, and Détroit as vibrant communities in the Great Lakes with Diane Sheppard.
The Quebec Family History Society
October 19, 10:30 AM, at the Briarwood Presbyterian Church Hall in Beaconsfield: Planned Neighbourhoods in Quebec with Ken Lyons
The French-Canadian Genealogical Society of Connecticut
October 19, from 1-3 pm, at the United Congregational Church of Tolland, located on the Green: the French-Canadian Genealogical Society of Connecticut’s Annual Membership Meeting-I will be presenting Crossing the Border: Locating Your Family in Quebec, followed by a discussion of podcasts and podcasting. Bring your questions.
The Vermont French-Canadian Genealogical Society
October 5: DNA Cousins: Mysteries Solved and Unsolved with Michael Dwyer
October 12: Using AncestryDNA: Tools & Tips with Ed McGuire
November 2: Powerful Research Tools at GenealogyQuebec.com with Jane Whitmore
Classes run from 10:30 AM until noon and are held at the Vermont Genealogy Library in Colchester, Vermont.
The French-Canadian Heritage Society of California
October 27, 10 am to 4 pm at the Southern California Genealogical Society Family Research Library in Burbank, CA: The FCHSC’s Fall Meeting; Jerry England will present Fur Trading in New France with details from his book Ripples from La Prairie Voyageur Canoes, followed by a Q &A. There will be pizza and snacks in the Lunch Room from 12:00-1:00 ($5.00) or bring your own lunch. OPEN RESEARCH: 1:00 pm-4:00 pm. Research assistance is available if needed.
Biddeford (Maine) Cultural and Heritage Center
October 12th from 8 am – 5 pm at the at the Biddeford Middle School: The first mission day, Bridging the Gaps. There will be a choice of presentations and workshops, preservation scanning, local vendors and much more. For more information, visit their website at BiddefordCulturalandHeritageCenter.org.
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Guillaume Couture did not go to New France as a donne. Rather he went as an engagee, which is basically a construction worker. While in Huronia (Wendake), Father Jerome Lalemant took over as Jesuit Superior and started the donne program.
Guillaume’s first Jesuit superior in Huronia was Father Jean de Brébeuf, who was a linguist and compiled dictionaries of the Huron (Wendat) language. It was his influence that allowed Guillaume to become proficient in language. Brébeuf also changed Guillaume’s last name.
While in Huronia (Wendake), all the Jesuits and their entourage were given Wendat names in order to better assimilate with the Indians. When assigning an Indian name, the first attempt was to see if the name was translatable into similar Wendat words. Guillaume’s original European name was Cousture, which in old Norman French means, “sown field”. All Indian names are transitive verbs. So Brebeuf took the Cousture name and removed the “s” from it. Couture in French means, “to sew”. It is simply a loaner translation of the Wendat name given to Guillaume, Ihandich (ee-han-deesh), which in Wendat means, “to sow”. The French name Couture is a homonym of the Indian name assigned to Guillaume of “Ihandich”, which means, “to sow”. Guillaume kept Couture and for a while, as it was denoted with the circumflex above the s, but that eventually faded with time. See “Words of the Hurons”, by John Steckley, who is an authority on all things Huron.
Guillaume Couture was not a prisoner. He was given citizenship to the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and could have left at any time.
The drama of the capture story was not totally emphasized. When Guillaume’s party was attacked by Mohawks, he ran into the woods. Shortly thereafter, he saw that Father Jogues had been captured by the Mohawks. Guillaume had a vow to protect the Jesuits, so he lit the fuse on his arquebus gun and charged into five Mohawk warriors. One of the Mohawks was a man of rank, who attempted to fire his weapon at Guillume, but the weapon misfired. Guillaume aimed and fired and delivered a fatal shot to the Mohawk who attempted to shoot him. He was then captured and beaten.
Guillaume ran two Indian gauntlets. One on Cole Island in Lake Champlain on Aug. 9th, 1642 and again August 14th in Ossernenon. Ossernenon was the village of the Turtle Clan and the eastern gate of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. Guillaume understood how the gauntlett worked better on the second attempt. He ran so fast through the gauntlett that the female elders, called gantowisas, were greatly impressed. The Mohawks are a matriarchal society, and all village operations, prisoners, and booty were the charge of the female elders. It would have been they who decided Guillaume’s fate.
Guillaume was taken to Ossernenon, home of the Turtle Clan, first. Later he was taken farther west to Andagaron, home of the Bear Clan. Lastly, he was taken to Tinnotoguen, home of the Wolf Clan, where he lived for the several years. All three villages were located in Montgomery County, New York State. Ossernenon’s true location is controversial, but there is a Catholic Shrine in Auriesville, Montgomery County, New York, called The Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs. They refer to Guillame as William there. His name is listed on a sign there as well as a carving in the gift shop. The Shrine has a stadium like church that seats 10,000. Tinnotoguen is a field in Sprakers Bend, Town of Root, Montgomery County, New York. Tinnotoguen was visited and documented by Arent van Curler.
It was Iroquois custom that Guillaume be married. He would not have been trusted if he remained celebit.
Guillaume received his new title and citizenship by way of Indian Resuscitation. For an sachem or chief, it was referred to as “Raising up a Chief”. There is much written on the process in several sources. He had the soul of the dead sachem/chief placed inside him and from that point on, became that person and used his name.
From the translated Jogues Papers:
“Towards evening of that day they carried off William Couture, whom they regarded as a young man of unparalleled courage, to Teonontogen, the farthest village of their territory, and gave him to an Indian family. It is the custom of these savages, when they spare a prisoner’s life, to adopt him into some family to supply the place of a deceased member, to whose rights he in a manner succeeds; he is subject thenceforward to no man’s orders except those of the head of that family, who, to acquire this right, offers some presents. But seeing that Rene and I were less vigorous, they led us to the first village, the residence of the party that had captured us, and left us there till some new resolution should be taken.”
The name of the chief that Guillaume became was censored and not published in the Jesuit Relations. Much of the story of Guillaume is revisionist.
After settling in Point-Levy, Guillaume Couture took part in two expeditions, in 1661 and 1664, to find a land route to the western sea (Pacific). It was thought that the northern sea (Hudson Bay) was connected to the Pacific Ocean, and would provide a sea route to China and India (Asia). He was the leader of the 2nd expedition in May off 1663, with Pierre Duquet, Jean Langlois, who was a shipwright. There were 44 canoes of Native Americans. Both expeditions stopped short of reaching Hudson Bay. The 2nd expedition got close but there was a snow storm and his native guides turned back.
The best source for Guillaume’s story in English is a book called, Saint Among Sinners, by Francis Talbot, S.J.. The book is out of print but can be found on Ebay. There is another OOP book called, Guillaume Couture, Premier Colon de La Pointe-Levy, that written in French. There are numerous historical records in the New York State historical references.
Thank you, NCouture, for the clarification. You mention the Jogues papers. Are there any other resources you can point people to? You also mention historical records in the New York State historical references. What types of records will people find there? It’s fascinating that so many details are known about this one man’s life!
In NYS historical documents Guillaume is often referred to as “William Couture”. I’m sure much of the original documents were lost during the great fire at the NYS Archives.
Here is an example on archive.org of the books titled, History of New York State:
https://archive.org/details/historyofstateof00brod?q=%22William+Couture%22
After Isaac Jogues escaped captivity, he ended up back in France where he wrote memoirs of his captivity.
https://archive.org/search.php?query=Jogues%20Papers&sin=TXT
This is the link to Our Lady of Martyrs Shrine in Auriesville, NY (Ossernenon), birthplace of St. Kateri Tekakwitha: https://www.ourladyofmartyrsshrine.org
There is a large sign on the Shrine grounds that says, “The Hurons Paul, Stephen and Eustace were tortured here in 1642 as was William Couture a Frenchman”.
NYS Historical Marker: http://nyshmsithappenedhere.blogspot.com/2014/09/it-happened-here-other-french-and_21.html
NYS Historical Marker for Ossernenon: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GiRST2GEN_o/U7LabpBZhuI/AAAAAAAABqc/yshPGF21yd8/s1600/IMG_2167.JPG
NYS Historical Marker for Tinnotoguen (Te-no-to-ge):
https://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=75281
L’Association des familles Couture d’Amérique
https://www.famillescouture.com
Book written by a Jesuit priest from Philadelphia, Francis Talbot, Saint Among Sinners was a NY Times best seller when it came out:
https://books.google.com/books?id=peKKwzv7gioC&printsec=frontcover&dq=saint+among+savages&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwius_K9xf3kAhVJmuAKHTtLAsUQ6AEwAXoECAUQAg#v=onepage&q&f=false
Book, Words of the Hurons, by Professer Steckely
https://books.google.com/books?id=UHzyvteBgNcC&pg=PA53&dq=Words+of+the+Hurons&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiws-fnxf3kAhXEhOAKHcxiBH0Q6AEwAHoECAAQAg#v=onepage&q&f=false
The book references the Jesuits receiving Indian names. Because of the name change, ALL COUTURES IN NORTH AMERICA ARE RELATED.
This is a link to Sainte Marie Among the Hurons:
http://www.saintemarieamongthehurons.on.ca/sm/en/Home/index.htm
Guillaume Couture was lead carpenter on the project and Isaac Jogues was placed in charge of the project.
Ref: Sainte-Marie Among the Huron
Jury & Jury, 1954, Oxford Publishing, Canada
Although this book does not mention Guillaume Couture, it provides a vivid description of what life was like in Wendake (Huronia). Living in Wendake prepared Guillaume for life in a Mohawk village. The Wendats (Hurons) and the Mohawks are the same people, called “Onkwehonweh”, (Ung-way-uwn-way), with identical DNA and customs. Many Hurons were seamlessly integrated into Mohawk society because of this.
https://books.google.com/books?id=pY-4vfAXRrwC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Huron+Feast+of+the+Dead&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjktIWcx_3kAhXkhOAKHfd-
BIgQ6AEwAHoECAAQAg#v=onepage&q&f=false
Timeline Info:
Montmagny negotiated a peace treaty with the Mohawk:
5 July through 23 September 1645 – Montmagny negotiated a peace treaty among the Mohawk, the French
Canadians, and their Native-American Allies (Huron, Algonquin, Montagnais, and Attikamek) in Trois-
Rivières. The Mohawk departed and returned to Trois-Rivières on 17 September with Guillaume Couture for the
formal ratification of the treaty with the 400 Allied Native Americans. The last meeting was held on 20 September.
The Mohawk departed for Iroquoia on 23 September with two French Canadians, two Algonquin, and two
Huron, having left three Mohawk with the French as hostages to guarantee the peace.
source: 17 JR, Vol. 27, pp. 77, 245-305; JR, Vol. 28, pp. 277- 287 (Couture’s report of the Iroquois conferences held in Iroquoia after the return of the Mohawk ambassadors from their conference with Montmagny); DCB, Couture’s biography
Gabriel Druillettes, S.J., Claude Dablon, S.J., Guillaume Couture, Denis Guyon, and François Pelletier attempted to travel to the Great Lakes via the Northern Sea (Hudson Bay):
11 May 1661 to 27 July 1661 – During the winter of 1660-1661, a Nipissing chief visited Québec and told the Jesuits about the Native American Tribes that lived around the Northern Sea (Hudson Bay) and of the general fair that they held each summer. The chief invited the Native Americans from Tadoussac and Québec to the fair. Based on this information, Gabriel Druillettes, S.J., decided to resume his voyage to the Great Lakes; however, he decided to go via Tadoussac, the Saguenay River, and the Northern Sea (Hudson Bay). Claude Dablon, S.J., Guillaume Couture, Denis Guyon, and François Pelletier accompanied Druillettes on the voyage. One of the Objectives of this trip was to determine if the Northern Sea (Hudson Bay) linked to the Western Sea (Pacific Ocean) and the Southern Sea (Gulf of Mexico). Druillettes planned to winter at a mission to the Cree (Kiristinons/Kilistinons), which Laval named St. François Xavier prior to their departure. Dablon intended to return to Québec to inform the Jesuits about their new discoveries, so that they could prepare for the mission. The group left for their voyage on 11 May, but were delayed in Tadoussac for three weeks due to a contagious disease. They left Tadoussac on 1 (or 2) June, accompanied by 40 canoes of Native Americans. The journey from Tadoussac to Nikabau/Nekauba (southeast of Chibougamu and Lac Mistassini, which are southeast of Hudson Bay’s southern shore) took 30 days and required 64 portages. Following Laval’s instructions, Druillettes and Dablon named the mission St. François Xavier. During the voyage, they learned that the Iroquois had defeated the “Squirrel” nation and had dispersed all the surrounding Tribes that the missionaries intended to meet. The Montagnais guides were apprehensive of an attack by the Iroquois and decided to turn back at the watershed near the lake. Dablon, Druillettes, Couture, Guyon, and Pelletier returned from their voyage on 27 July 1661.
Gabriel Druillettes, S.J., Claude Dablon, S.J., Guillaume Couture, Denis Guyon, and François Pelletier attempted to travel to the Great Lakes via the Northern Sea (Hudson Bay):
11 May 1661 to 27 July 1661 – During the winter of 1660-1661, a Nipissing chief visited Québec and told the Jesuits about the Native American Tribes that lived around the Northern Sea (Hudson Bay) and of the general fair that they held each summer. The chief invited the Native Americans from Tadoussac and Québec to the fair. Based on this information, Gabriel Druillettes, S.J., decided to resume his voyage to the Great Lakes; however, he decided to go via Tadoussac, the Saguenay River, and the Northern Sea (Hudson Bay). Claude Dablon, S.J., Guillaume Couture, Denis Guyon, and François Pelletier accompanied Druillettes on the voyage. One of the objectives of this trip was to determine if the Northern Sea (Hudson Bay) linked to the Western Sea (Pacific Ocean) and the Southern Sea (Gulf of Mexico). Druillettes planned to winter at a mission to the Cree (Kiristinons/Kilistinons), which Laval named St. François Xavier prior to their departure. Dablon intended to return to Québec to inform the Jesuits about their new discoveries, so that they could prepare for the mission. The group left for their voyage on 11 May, but were delayed in Tadoussac for three weeks due to a contagious disease. They left Tadoussac on 1 (or 2) June, accompanied by 40 canoes of Native Americans. The journey from Tadoussac to Nikabau/Nekauba (southeast of Chibougamu and Lac Mistassini, which are southeast of Hudson Bay’s southern shore) took 30 days and required 64 portages. Following Laval’s instructions, Druillettes and Dablon named the mission St. François Xavier. During the voyage, they learned that the Iroquois had defeated the “Squirrel” nation and had dispersed all the surrounding Tribes that the missionaries intended to meet. The Montagnais guides were apprehensive of an attack by the Iroquois and decided to turn back at the watershed near the lake. Dablon, Druillettes, Couture, Guyon, and Pelletier returned from their voyage on 27 July 1661.
Source: JR, Vol. 46, pp. 171-173, 180, 245-295 (detailed description of the voyage); DCB, Biography of Couture, Dablon, Duquet. Michel LeNeuf sieur de LaVallière did not go on this journey, although Louis Jolliet’s biography in the DCB states that he did. See LeNeuf’s biography in the DCB which does not mention a voyage to Hudson Bay.
Tracy sent Guillaume Couture as an ambassador to New York Governor Nichols:
22 July 1666 – Tracy released one of the Oneida hostages and ordered him to escort Guillaume Couture to meet with Governor Richard Nichols of New York. Tracy’s letter to Nichols explained that he had sent Couture to New York to obtain custody of the Native Americans who attacked Fort Sainte Anne and bring them to Québec. Nichols avoided meeting with him, Couture, however, obtained custody of the leader of the raid, a member of the Neutral Nation who had been absorbed into the Mohawk Tribe. Couture also persuaded the Mohawk Chief known as the Flemish Bastard, one of the pro-French members of the Tribe, to accompany him back to Québec. Source: Verney, pp. 61-62; JR, Vol. 50, p. 193.
Pierre de Saurel’s punitive expedition against the Mohawk:
24 July to 28 August 1666 – Tracy made the decision that Pierre de Saurel’s punitive expedition against the Mohawk would depart four or five days after Couture’s departure. Saurel’s expedition consisted of about 100 soldiers accompanied by 200 French Canadians and Native Allies. Their mission was to free the French-Canadian prisoners. When they were about two days from the Mohawk villages, the expedition met the Flemish Bastard and three other Mohawk who were returning the French-Canadian prisoners. On 28 August 1666, François Pelletier dit Antaya who had accompanied Saurel on the expedition as a volunteer reported to Tracy that the expedition, the Flemish Bastard, and the prisoners were en route to New France.
Source: Verney, p. 62 ; DCB, Prouville de Tracy’s biography; JR, Vol. 50, pp. 185-196; NYCD, Vol. 9, 44-45; 45-52.
Guillaume Couture Conge. When the British and the French were batteling it out in court for ownership of Hudson Bay, the French attempted to use Guillaume couture’s voyage to the North Sea as evidence that they were there first:
http://data2.archives.ca/e/e032/e000777726.jpg
“Order of Mr d’Avaugour to fr Couture to go North
Pierre Davaugour lieutenant general for the king in New France
certifies having given leave to ( ) Couture ( ) to accompany the savages escorted North until and for as long a time that he will judge apropos for service to the King and the good of the country, and can go or send himself with them if he finds there safety and some advantage for the Republic.
Made at Quebec the Tenth May One Thousand Six Hundred Sixty Three
Signed Dubois Davaugour ( )
Verified from the original found in the papers of the clerk of the Sovereign Council of New France by me the undersigned designated Secretary of ( ) and head clerk of the Council Signed
Verified at Quebec the 12th November 1712 Vaudreuil”.
The son, Guillaume Couture (born 1662) was given a conge. France sent notaries to record all legal transactions that happened in New France. The below 1688 transaction is from my great grandfather Guillaume Couture III (born 1662), for a conge (license) for an expedition to trade furs with the Ottawa indians. The engage they hired, François Laberge, ended up in Detroit.
“1688, 20 juillet.—Engagement de François Laberge à Guillaume Couture et Le Marchant pour faire le voyage des Ottawas—Étude ”
France sent notaries to record all legal transactions that happened in New France. The above 1688 transaction is from our great grandfather Guillaume Couture III (born 1662), for a conge (license) for an expedition to trade furs with the Ottawa indians. The engage they hired, François Laberge, ended up in Detroit.
There are many Native American’s named Couture, enough to make our own tribe. The “Le Merchant” fellow in the transaction is a Sieur in New France, meaning he is wealthy land owner. We did they go? Did Guillaume take on indian wives “à la façon du pays”?
As a result, Coutures were all over North America long before the Lewis & Clark Expidition. In one of the MSS shows, the author of Songs Upon the Rivers, stated that there was a Couture family living on the Pacific Ocean when Louis and Clark arrived.
Family Tree DNA (FTDNA.com), French Heritage Project, where Guillaume Couture’s Y-DNA is cataloged.
https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/frenchheritage/dna-results
NOTE: Y-DNA is handed down from father to son, unchanged. All male Couture’s have the identical Y-DNA as Guillaume Couture.
THE JESUIT COVER-UP
When Guillaume Couture came back to New France with his Mohawk dignitaries, he spent a moment along with Isaac Jogues. There is no doubt in my mind that Guillaume was given absolution for his sins during this meeting.
The Jesuits, skilled propagandists, would not have published information on one of their donnes living freely among the Mohawks, with a wife, after having participated in a ritual that they would have deemed demonic in nature. The ritual being Requickening or Resuscitation. He would have been free to return to New France but he did not. The Jesuits as a revisionists, chose to call Guillaume a prisoner of the Mohawks. Kiotsaeton, in both this book and Saint Among Savages, explained that Couture was free to leave at any time.
In the book, The Great Law and the Longhouse, William Fenton, it describes the event at Three Rivers where the Indian Sachem Kiotsaeton performed a requickening ceremony on a Frenchman. Couture, not named directly in the book, but was with Kiotsaeton.
https://books.google.com/books?id=LNKNhY0MX8UC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Great+Law+of+the+Longhouse&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwikraWc2f3kAhXhmuAKHV7uAf0Q6AEwAHoECAAQAg
The Requickening Paradigm, Chapter 12
“In 1645 at Three Rivers, Kiotsaeton (“the Hook”), a Mohawk speaker, treated some Frenchman to the first recorded performance of the Requickening Address to pen the proceedings of a treaty. . . “
Thank you, NCouture, for taking the time to provide all this valuable information!
In 1666, a Mohawks war party killed some French officers at French Fort St. Anne at Isle La Motte (Vermont). As a result, Marquis de Tracy, Commander of the Carignan-Salières Regiment, sent an army to attack the Mohawks.
Guillaume Couture headed out to New York ahead of the invading army, eventually ending up going into the Mohawk village and coming out with the Mohawk warriors responsible for killing the French officers, as well as the French prisoners.
Couture met the invading army on the way back and as a result the entire force turned back for New France. Couture had saved Ossernenon from destruction.
Just imagine, no Frenchman could go near a Mohawk village without a small army.
Guillaume Couture could walked into a Mohawk village and came out with prisoners and freed captives.
Here is an excerpt from the book, The European Invasion of North America by Michael Laramie.
————————————————————————-
…Tracy received an alarming report. That spring, work had begun on a fourth fort on the north western corner of Isle La Motte in Lake Champlain. With the fort near completion, a party of several solders and volunteers left for a hunting expedition on the northern park of the lake. The Frenchmen had only been gone a short time when they were set upon by a Mohawk war party. These of them, including a number of regimental officers were killed in the attack while the remaining four were carried off as captive, one of which was Tracy’s cousin.
Furious over the attack and capture of his relative. Tracy dispatched Captain Arnoutl de Loubias and a party of soldiers…with order to detain and return them to Quebec…Tracy then ordered Captain Pierre de Saurel to launch a punitive expedition against the Mohawk, whom he considered the obvious culprits behind the attack…
…Suspecting collusion between the Mohawks and the government of New York, Tracy dispatched Captain Guillaume Couture and one off the Oneida delegates to Albany to deliver a letter to the English governor, Colonel Richard Nicolls. The letter did not directly accuse New York of any collusion but instead politely called for the English to maintain the same level of control over their allies that the French had demonstrated over their own. the Letter also called upon the New York governor to use its influence to deliver the perpetrators of the recent attack over to the French for punishment.
Nicolls never met Couture on the pretense that the governor had pressing business elsewhere, but even so, Couture’s mission proved a success. The choice of Couture as enjoy was not doubt responsible…
…Couture returned to Quebec in 1646, but it seems his influence and word still carried great weight with the Mohawk. Enough so that he managed to secure the leader of the Fort St. Anne attack and the release of the four Frenchmen taken prisoner, including Tracy’s cousin. Couture’s efforts even managed to persuade the Flemish bastard, a prominent pro-French spokesman within the tribe, to accompany him back to Quebec.
Couture and his party had hardly set out for Quebec when the encountered Captain Saurel and his expedition only a fw days march from the northe-rmost Mohawk village. The encounter quickly turned into an anxious one. The 100 Algonquians who accompanied Saurel’s 200 solders and volunteers demanded that the captiain
https://books.google.com/books?id=MDJlp-CjNYAC&pg=PA43&lpg=PA43&dq=Flemish+Bastard+Couture&source=bl&ots=qzuLv0thY7&sig=ACfU3U1AXemYxRN4WHzerrzkGKaHMo–kw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjA_J7Qo_7kAhW1HzQIHYH8C9cQ6AEwAnoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q&f=true
When a Indian council met to decide to allow Guillaume Couture to settle the south side of the St. Laurence on former Abenaki territory, they referred to the opening statement of The Great Law of Peace, or the Kayanerehkowa. What the U.S. Code is to an American lawyer, the Kayanerehkowa was and is, to the Iroquois. Kayanerehkowa (http://www.ganienkeh.net/thelaw.html), or Great Law, is the political system by which Ben Franklin ran home to mimic after the Albany Conference, when devising a government of succession for America. If Guillaume sat as a Mohawk Council member, then he would have been proficient in the latter.
The Great Law’s opening statement perfectly describes what Guillaume Couture and Pointe-Levy were to the Mohawks and the Iroquois. Remember, the Iroquois attacked all the major population areas of New France, but Pointe-Levy was never touched. Here’s the paragraph from The Law:
“Roots have spread out from the Tree of Great Peace: one to the north, one to the east, one to the south, and one to the west. These are the Great White Roots and their nature is Peace and Strength.
If any man or nation outside of the Five Nations shall obey the laws of the Great Peace (Gayanerekowa) and shall make this know to the statement of the League, they may trace back the roots to the Tree. if their minds are clean and if they are obedient and promise to obey the wishes of the Council of the League, they shall be welcomes to take shelter beneath the Tree of the Long Leaves.
We place at the top of the Tree of Great Peace an eagle who is able to see afar. If he sees in the distance any danger threatening, he will at once warn the people of the league.” KAYANEREHKOWA
Teyonhekwen (He who has two lives)
Exert from: SAINT AMONG SAVAGES
By Father Francis Talbot, Society of Jesus (SOJ)
==============Page 352==================
The Iroquois were seeking peace. They had responded favorably to the French invitation and sent an embassy for the purpose of holding council at Three Rivers. Governor Montmagny, his official family of Councilors and soldiers, Fathers Vimont and Le Jeune hurried up the river from Quebec. Hundreds of Algonquins from many nations gathered from the forests of the entire St. Lawrence region. Hurons who had seeped through the Iroquois blockade lingered in anticipation. Father Jogues skimmed in his canoe down the St. Lawrence from Montreal, hopeful and determined, and with vigorous strokes darted his skiff among the hundreds of canoes that fringed the shore below the fort. Guillaume Couture greeted him, Guillaume whom he had left among the Mohawks two summers ago. He had remained at Tionontoguen and was now the interpreter and a member of the Iroquois embassy. The leader was Kiotseaeton, also from Tionontoguen, easily the most eloquent of the Mohawk orators. His associate was Aniwogan, who was recognized as the shrewdest diplomat of the nation. The third delegate was Tokhrahenehiaron, the man whom the French had rescued from the Algonquins and sent back to his people in May. Jogues knew them well, and all three of the Mohawks had guilty memories of Ondessonk, the Blackrobe. He welcomed them with an affection and sincerity that amazed them, for they had not expected such forgiveness on his part. Jogues’ chiefest welcome, however, was for Honatteniate, the grandson of his “aunt,” who had been brought up with the other prisoner from Quebec. Ever since his capture, Honatteniate had been sulky and depressed. With scorn and a rigid silence, he had rebuffed any kindnesses which the French and Algonquins tried to show him. He and Ondessonk met at Three Rivers. Immediately, Honatteniate became a different man; his whole manner changed; he talked, he laughed, he danced, he shed all his fears and his arrogance. On July 12, 1645, the council convened under a huge tent spread
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Guillaume had some powerful friends. The two Indians with Guillaume in the latte exert were Mohawk Sachems, Kiotseaeton and Aniwogan, who were two of the 50 Peace Chiefs of the Haudensaunee League. They were two of the most powerful men in all of North America. Peace chiefs hold titles from the 50 original founders of the League. Comparable in power to a U.S. Senator
These were powerful men. Not just some “elders”.
Kiotseaeton was Wolf Clan – Sarenhowane (Majestic Tree). Kiotseaeton was just not an eloquent speaker, but he had an official capacity to the Great Council to speak first at meetings, a position similar to the U.S. Speaker of the House, and was most likely Ben Franklin’s prototype for the American version. He was a professional negotiator. He considered Guillaume his nephew. Kiotseaeton had an official title of Sarenhowane, “Majestic Tree”. He was first in a sucsession of three for his Clan.
Aniwogan was Turtle Clan – Tekarihoken (The Mediator). He too was first in a sucsession of three for his Clan.
The book was a national best seller in the U.S. in 1935.
If Guillaume held a Council title, then there only 3 names for his clan. It is possible that Guillaume held the second in command title of Teyonhekwen (He who has two lives).
Guillaume was later “resuscitated” by the Wendats (Hurons) and given the title Achirra (Two Lives) because of the Wendat fear of his Haudenosaunee title. Achirra is the title given to Jean Nicolet by the Wendats and Nipposings.
Our Blood Runs Through the Gauntlet
The prisoners ran their first gauntlet at Cole Island, NY, which is to the west of Crown Point New York. It was five days later on August 14th, 1642, day 13 since their capture at Three Rivers, Guillaume Couture along with fellow Frenchman, and future Saints, Isaac Jogues and Rene Goupil.
As they approached the village of Ossernenon, their whoops went out. We are fortunate enough to have eye witness accounts of the gauntlet from what appears to have been the very same village or its Turtle Clan’s successor.
Excerpts from, White Indians of Colonial America, by James Axtell
“When the returning war parties approached the first Indian village, the
educational process took on a new complexion. As one captive explained, “whenever
the warriors return from an excursion against an enemy, their return to the tribe
or village must be designated by the war-like ceremonial; the captives or spoils,
which may happen to crown their valor, must be conducted in a triumphant form…”
…Upon entering the village the Indians let forth with some distinctive music of
their own. “When we came near the main Body of the Enemy” wrote Thomas Brown, a
captive soldier from Fort William Henry, “The Indians made a Live-Shout, as they
call it when they bring in Prisoner alive, (different from the Shout they make
when they bring in Scalps, which they call a Dead-Shout).”. According to another
soldier, “Their Voices are so sharp, shrill, loud and deep, that when they join
together after one has made his Cry, it makes a most dreadful and horrible Noise,
that stupefies the very senses,” a noise that naturally frightened many captives
until they learned that it was not their death knell…”
…They had good reason to think that their end was near when the whole village
turned out to form a gauntlet from the entrance to the center of the village and
their captors ordered them to run through it. With ax handles, tomahawks, hoop
poles, clubs, and switches the Indians flogged the racing captives as if to beat
the whiteness out of them…
…A French soldier who had spent several years among the north-eastern Indians
believed that a prisoner “so unfortunate as to fall in the course of the
bastonnade must get up quickly and keep on, or he will be beaten to death on the
spot.” On the other hand, Pierre de Charlevoix, the learned traveler and
historian of Canada, wrote that “even when they seem to strike at random, and to
be actuated only by fury, they take care never to touch any part where a blow
might prove mortal.”…
…The Indians usually beat the captives with “great severity,” he said, “by way of Revenge for their Relations who have been slain.” Since the object of taking captives was to satisfy the Indian families who had
lost relatives, the gauntlet served as the first of three initiation rites into Indian society, a purgative ceremony by which the bereaved Indians could exorcise their anger and anguish, and the captives could begin their cultural
transformation…”
1663 Congé accordé par le Gouverneur Davaugour au Sieur Guillaume Couture
http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/CollectionSearch/Pages/record.aspx?app=fonandcol&IdNumber=2318407&new=-8586312414052039188
—–TRANSLATION—–
Order of Mr d’Avaugour to fr Couture to go North
Pierre Davaugour lieutenant general for the king in New France
certifies having given leave to ( ) Couture ( ) to accompany the savages escorted North until and for as long a time that he will judge apropos for service to the King and the good of the country, and can go or send himself with them if he finds there safety and some advantage for the Republic.
Made at Quebec the Tenth May One Thousand Six Hundred Sixty Three
Signed Dubois Davaugour ( )
Verified from the original found in the papers of the clerk of the Sovereign Council of New France by me the undersigned designated Secretary of ( ) and head clerk of the Council Signed
Verified at Quebec the 12th November 1712 Vaudreuil
—–TRANSLATION—–
The writing on the bottom is from Philippe de Rigaud, Marquis de Vaudreuil,, Governor-General of New France, (1703 to 1725), who appears to have authenticated the document.
The story goes, Guillaume Couture led a second expedition that attempted to reach Hudson Bay:
May 1663 – Guillaume Couture agreed to lead a second expedition to the Northern Sea (Hudson Bay). He was accompanied by Pierre Duquet, Jean Langlois, who was a shipwright, and 44 canoes of Native Americans. They left Québec in mid May and headed north via the Saguenay River. The group reached Lake Mistassini on 26th of June where they were delayed by a storm that left a foot of snow. When they reached the Rupert River, the Native Americans refused to go any farther.
The Sachem of Pointe-Levy
it was no coincidence that Guillaume Couture was Captain of Militia, Village Clerk, Seneschal Judge of the coast of Lauzon, and a Royal notary, as well as called to sit on the Sovereign Council. The Royal government knew what they had in Guillaume. His unique relationship with the Mohawks (Pine Tree Chief?), allowed them to get their first settlement on the south side of the Saint Laurence after over 90 years as a colony.
The year 1661 was a difficult year for New France. The Iroquois were sending war parties and attacking the French at Tadoussac, Isle d’Orleans, Quebec, Three Rivers, and Ville-Marie. The same year, the Governor ordered Guillaume to what was his First Mission to Discover the North Sea, from 11 May 1661 to 27 July 1661. How nerve wracking it must have been for the villagers of Pointe-Levy in 1661 when Guillaume was sent up north and left the village without his blanket of protection. Still, Point-Levy was never touched.
Guillaume Couture, Quintessential American Hero
In the Canadian province of Quebec, Canada, in City of Levis there is a statue of Guillaume Couture, a Guillaume Couture School, and Boulevard Guillaume-Couture. Guillaume Couture lived and died in New France. To the French Canadians in Canada, Guillaume is a hero of New France, untainted by humiliation of The Conquest. Through him they see the France and New France that is gone forever.
But where in New York State that I live, the town streets are named after tribes of the Five Nations. For us Anglophones here in the United States who were fortunate enough to negotiate the Anglo-Saxon Narrative and still discover who Guillaume Couture was, he is the link by which we see our French heritage, without having to bow to Quebec to honor his memory. His spirit still roams the corn fields in Montgomery County.
Guillaume Couture is underappreciated part of British and U.S. colonial history. In French Canadian history, a bearded Guillaume is survivor of torture. But here, William survived initiation rites into Indian society and was completely culturally transformed.
To Quebec is Guillaume Couture, Hero of New France.
To us down in the States, he is, “William of the Kanien’keha”.
Guillaume Couture was part of the Kanien’keha:ka (Guh-nook-ah-ha-ga) Indians, better known as Mohawks.
The Kanien’keha:ka are part of a greater race of people called the Onkwehonweh (Oown-gway-ewn-way). The Mohawks or the Kanien’keha:ka are the Onkwehonweh of the Flint, or the People of the Flint. Guillaume was
living among the Wendat (Huron) Indians and was learning their language. Mohawks and Wendats are both
Onkwehonweh, and although both their respective language dialects have gone in different directions, they
are both part of the same root langauge. The Mohawk language is Kanien’keha (Gunna-geh-ha).
Imagine the advantage Guillaume had by being able to understand his captors.
If Guillaume sat on a Mohawk Council, then he had to have filled one of these positions on the Wolf tribe hierarchy at Tinnotoguen or perhaps a Peace Tree Chief (Wakehnetoh:ten). These are peace chiefs listed by order of succession of power. .T hey are the only three of these council positions that exist according to The Great Law of Peace.:
Sarenhowane – “Majestic Tree”;
Teyonhekwen – “He who has two Lives”;
Orenrekowa – “Great Limb on Tree”
Then there is: Wakehnetoh:ten – A Pine Tree Chief. At Council, one who is called upon for his wisdom, but must otherwise remain silent. There is no limit to the amount of these as they are not official council members.
But an armed chief would have been a “Rarontarm”, or a War Chief, which are not part of the council apparatus.
One of the various scenarios possible is that Guillaume killed a Peace Chief who was trying to fire a cheap Dutch trade gun. Guillaume took his place as a subject matter expect at Council, as the group would have had many questions. If only the Jesuits didn’t censor the details.
Happy Feast of St. Jogues, October 19, 2019
This is an excerpt from the papers of Saint Isaac Jogues
. . .The last one to be dragged in from flight was Guillaume Couture, who had set out from the Hurons with me. This man, in the midst of the general confusion, had fled with the others into the forest; and, as he was a young man not only of courageous disposition but strong in body and fleet of foot, he had put a great distance between him and his enemies. Then, all of a sudden, he looked around him, and seeing that I was not with him, he said to himself: “Shall I desert my dearest Father, a prisoner of these savages, and escape without him? Never!”
Then, returning along the path by which he had fled, he was taken prisoner of his own accord. Would to God that he had escaped and not increased the number of sufferers. In such circumstances it is no consolation to have companions in misfortune, especially when they are those whom we love as much as we love ourselves. Such is the quality of those men who, although laymen, put aside all worldly interest and devote themselves completely to the Hurons for God and the Society.
One could never imagine the horrible types and the severity of the torments to which this man was subjected. The hatred of the Iroquois had been aroused against all the French, but it was especially violent against him because they knew that he had killed one of their chiefs in battle. They began, then, by stripping him naked; they tore off his fingernails with their teeth; they gnawed off his fingers litde by little; they pierced his right hand all the way through with a broad sword. Despite the intense agony he suffered from all these tortures,
He told me later that the remembrance of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ had fortified him and even brought him great joy.
When I saw him there, stripped of his garments and bound with ropes, I could not contain myself. I tore myself from my guards and ran to him through the midst of the enemies who had brought him there. I embraced him with great affection and exhorted him to offer to God those pains, for himself and for all those who were tormenting him. The savages were at first surprised at what I had done, but then, as if they had recovered their senses and concentrated their hatred, they assailed me with their fists, with sticks and cudgels; then they left me half-dead on the ground.
The Societe de genealogie de Quebec
Presentation of parchments – Guillaume Couture
On August 18, in Lévis, the SGQ handed out parchments to 30 descendants of Guillaume Couture, commemorating his 400th birthday.
https://www.sgq.qc.ca/86-centre-de-documentation/1098-remise-de-parchemins-guillaume-couture
They gave the first 30 decedents who were able to submit their lineage to Guillaume, parchments and were invited to a ceremony and a group photo. I was the only submission from the U.S. but was unable to make the trip to Levis, Quebec. They gave me a certificate any how so there were actually 31.
When telling the story of Guillaume Couture, somewhere in the first paragraph, if not the first sentence, it is related that Guillaume is literate and has an affinity for languages.
But just how was Guillaume able to become literate? Perhaps Guillaume attended a Jesuit Primary School, equivalent to an English Grammar School. Free primary schools were popping up all over France in the 1600’s including Rouen, second only to Paris in national prominence. Jesuits had a university (Secondary School) and a novitiate right around the corner from St-Godard.
Guillaume attends a dormitory type Jesuit Primary School at age four till age ten? Or, was his father literate in some way, and purchased text books and perhaps tutor’s for his soon to be apprentice son?
It would be customary to becomes a carpenter’s apprentice with the Brotherhoods of Compagnon at age ten.
How was Guillaume able to become a polyglot (a person with a command of many languages)?
Was he an autodidact (a person who learns language without the guidance of a university teacher)?
In researching Missionary Linguistics, I found that the first New France polyglot was Étienne Brûlé, who was interpreter to Champlain and the first to learn three major Native languages, Iroquoian, Algonquian, and Montagnais (Innu). These are also the three Native languages of Guillaume Couture.
The intense activity in the several mission centers among the Hurons produced a large number of linguistic works, dictionaries, word-lists, “radices”, and grammatical works.
* Recollect Dictionaries of Iroquoian dialects, 1615.
*World lists and dictionaries of Fr. Nicolas and Brs. Sagard and Viel,1623.
* Le Caron & Viel – Rudimentary Dictionaries of Huron, Montagnais, and Algonkin Languages
*First Jesuit Dictionaries 1625 – 1629
*Sagards Dictionaire de la langue Huronne; and Le Grand Voyage du pays des Hurons 1632
All these works made their way back to Rouen, France.
1627 to 1633 – Jean de Brebeuf, chief Wendat/Huron linguist, was aptured by Kirk brothers and returned to France and was sent to the Jesuit University at Rouen, a few blocks from Guiilaume Couture’s carpenter shop.
Did the Jesuits groom Guillaume like all missionaries who started learning a native language by copying the dictionaries of their predecessors, and then learning from the foremost authorities on language?
Guillaume Couture is one of my 10th Grt Grands. Interesting that he ran the Gauntlet, his second time on Aug 14th, coincidentally, my birthday
William wised up for the second run. He was the first one to go and he blew through there so fast that anyone could get a good shot at him.
My son runs the 100 meter dash in high school track. When the gun goes off, he runs it like William’s 2nd gauntlet at Ossernenon. That’s our mindset.
Hi All – I’m a Couture in America. Based on family lore, I believe I’m descended from Guillaume’s son William. I’d like to see if I can trace back my ancestry and see if this is true. Can anyone give me a recommendation for where to start? I was thinking ancestry.com, but I thought those of you familiar with Guillaume might have other ideas. Thanks!!