Marie-Anne Lagimodiere

Marie-Anne Gaboury was born in Masquinong QC in 1780. From the time she was 12 until her marriage in 1806, Marie-Anne kept house for the parish priest. At the age of 26 she married Jean-Baptiste Lagimodiere, a courier de bois (fur trader) working for the Hudson’s Bay Company.

Although it had never been done before, and her husband reportedly tried to talk her out of it, when he returned to the west she went with him. She was the first woman of European descent to travel with a group of fur traders from Quebec to Manitoba and also the first to settle there permanently.

The stories of her life in the west are many and speak to a woman of strength and bravery. From shooting and killing a bear to often going with Jean-Baptiste when he went hunting and trapping, there is no question that Marie-Anne wasn’t afraid to live life by her rules.

She had seven children and many more grandchildren, the most well known of whom was Louis Riel. Marie-Anne Lagimodiere died at the age of 95 in 1875.

References: Wikipedia and "Inspiring Women, A Celebration of Herstory"