Gosselin | Metis, Mixed-heritage: Iroquois | Surname Anchor Post

Each of these posts is dedicated to one surname that is carried by someone connected to indigenous, Metis or mixed-heritage people in Canada. Please be aware that it’s a synthesis of the information I’ve collected in my personal research throughout the years and is by no means complete!

SURNAME NOTES | GOSSELIN

Regions:
- Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Western Canada
Ethnicity:
- Metis Mixed-heritage: Iroquois
Associated surnames:
- Bastien, Beaudoin, Beaulieu / Sinclair, Belanger, Bell, Birston / Borsten, Blondin / Blondeau, Charette, Desmarais, Champagne / Beaugrand, Caplette, Chartrand, Delorme, Deschamps, Descoteaux, Desmarais, Ducharme, Gagnon, Gariepy, Grandbois, Jerome, Jenevey, Klyne, Lafournaise, Land, Lavallee, Lefort, Montreuil, Morisseau, Piche, Rainville, St. Germain, St. Mathe, Roy, Vallee, Vivier.
Misc.: –
- 1. In 1872/1873 , a government survey was undertaken to determine the precise international border between Canada and the U.S.A. Part of the survey was assisted by Metis guides and Chippewa men who were employed as scouts.
  - a) One of these scouts was Francois Gosselin (son of Michel Gosselin & Marguerite Assiniboine). “Francois would thus have spoken his mother’s Nakota language. He married Suzanne Lafournaise, the daughter of Joseph Lafournaise and Suzanne LeClair dit Allard ) before 1842.”
  - b) Another Gosselin Metis scout was Guillaume Gosselin (son of Francois Gosselin and Susanne Lafournaise). “His father was a leader of the 49th Rangers and his sister Marie was married to Joseph Charette another member of the Rangers …. Alexander Morris interviewed Gosselin on May 28, 1874 and was told that the Metis scouts who were with the 1873 party did not want to work for the Boundary Commission in 1874 because they feared trouble from the Lakotas. They are very hostile to the Americans and do not understand the object of the survey. “[Source: The Boundary Commission’s Metis Scouts: The 49th Rangers, Larry Haag & Lawrence Barkwell].
- 2. The 1885 North-West Resistance by the Metis and the Cree, Kainai, Piikani, Saulteaux and Siksika peoples took place against a backdrop of starvation, broken treaties and encroachment by new settlers in Saskatchewan and Alberta. The resistance fighters eventually lost and Canada’s federal government asserted its control over the area. Three Metis Gosselins (or their spouses) were involved: Alexander Gosselin (m. Helene Letendre), Helene Gosselin (m. Jean Desmarais) and Marie Josephine Gosselin (m. Jean Belanger) [Source: Veterans and Families of the 1885 Northwest Resistance, Lawrence Barkwell, Louis Riel Institute]. See External Links below for more information.