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Brisbois Grave, 1920

Brisbois grave, a view of the tomb of Michael Brisbois. View the original source document: WHI 42452

b. Yamaska, Canada, 1760
d. Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, April, 1837

Michael Brisbois was a fur trader. He was born and baptized on October 16th, 1760 at Yamaska, Quebec. He was the son of Joseph Brisbois and Catherine Renoux. He attended school in Quebec.

War of 1812

He worked in the fur trade out of Mackinac in 1778. In 1781, he moved his operations to Prairie du Chien where, with other French Canadian traders, he founded the first permanent white settlement. Although Brisbois sympathized with the British in the struggle for control of the Northwest, he accepted a commission in the Illinois Territorial Militia in 1809. During the War of 1812, he furnished supplies to both the American and British forces but maintained a pro-British attitude. He was arrested for treason at the close of the war. He was sent to St. Louis for trial but was acquitted.

Politics and Later Life

He was appointed associate justice for Crawford County by Governor Cass of Michigan Territory in 1819. He held various local offices in the Prairie du Chien area afterwards. His son, Bernard Walter Brisbois, also began his career as an agent for the American Fur Company. Later he engaged in the mercantile business in Prairie du Chien until 1833 when he was appointed consul at Verviers, Belgium. He returned to Prairie du Chien in 1834 and lived there until his death.

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P. L. Scanlan, Prairie du Chien ([Menasha, Wis.] 1937); Colls. State Hist. Soc. Wis., 9 (1882); F. L. Holmes, et al., eds., Wis. (5 vols., Chicago, 1946); Prairie du Chien Union, June 18, 1885; WPA MS.