The Voyageur Years:
Gabriel Guilbault in the NWC Records
The Subject
Gabriel Guilbault was born on 23 April 1762 at L’Assomption, Quebec. His parents were Charles Gabriel Guilbault and Marie Charlotte Morin. He died at Saint-Benoît on 8 April 1833, age approximately 70–71, his occupation recorded as maçon (mason). His first wife, Marie Josephte Abitakijikokwe — an Ojibwe woman of the Nation Sauteuse from Lake Superior — died at Rigaud in June 1813. He remarried Josette Closier in February 1815. The 1798 baptism records of his children at Saint-Paul-de-Joliette recorded his occupation as “voyageur et maintenant agriculteur.” Between 1816 and 1821 — ages 54 to 59 — five North West Company account books in the HBCA placed him deep in the pays d’en haut once more.
| Full Name | Gabriel Guilbault (also Guilbeau, Gilbian, Gulbiau in various records) |
| Born | 23 April 1762, L’Assomption, Quebec |
| Parents | Charles Gabriel Guilbault (1731–1784) & Marie Charlotte Morin |
| First Marriage | 27 January 1801, Oka — Marie Josephte Abitakijikokwe (c.1760–1813) |
| Second Marriage | 6 February 1815, Rigaud — Josette Closier |
| Brother | Paul Guilbault (23 April 1761–2 January 1831) — NWC co-worker, confirmed |
| NWC Employment | 1816–1821 (ages 54–59); confirmed across five HBCA F.4 volumes |
| NWC Posts | Lac La Pluie (Rainy Lake) → Athabasca |
| Athabasca wages | 450 livres; net balance 336 livres (F.4/37); gross dissolution payment 610 livres (F.4/43, F.4/45) |
| Death | 8 April 1833, Saint-Benoît, occupation: maçon |
Finding Gabriel: Two Platforms, Five Volumes
The HBCA NWC Account Books Name Index — a searchable database of more than 3,700 NWC employees at the Archives of Manitoba — is the standard entry point for voyageur research. Searching under all Guilbault phonetic variants returned Gabriel in three volumes (F.4/29, F.4/32, F.4/37) and Paul in two (F.4/29, F.4/37).
The most significant methodological discovery of this research is that the HBCA Name Index and Ancestry’s indexing of the same collection are complementary but not equivalent. Two additional volumes documenting Gabriel’s 1821 dissolution payments — F.4/43 and F.4/45 — did not appear under any Guilbault variant in the HBCA Name Index. They were found only through Ancestry, where Gabriel’s name was rendered as Guilbeau and, in one entry, Gulbiau — so phonetically degraded that no surname search would catch it.
A thorough search of the HBCA collections now requires three independent searches: (1) HBCA NWC Account Books Name Index (direct, Archives of Manitoba); (2) HBCA Servants’ Contracts Index (separate database, Archives of Manitoba); (3) Ancestry, Canada HBC Corporate and Employment Records, 1766–1926, using first-name and surname variant searches. No single platform returns complete results for this collection.
The Lac La Pluie Blotter, 1820
HBCA F.4/29 is the NWC Lac La Pluie Blotter for 1820 — the post account book for the NWC’s depot at Lac La Pluie (Rainy Lake) on the Ontario-Minnesota border. The F.4/29 index (page 4 of 39) lists Gabriel Guilbault at reference 35 and Paul Gibault at reference 33 — two entries apart. Gabriel’s account (page 11 of 89) records purchases: capotes, tobacco, gun flints, soap. Balance: 188 livres. Transfer notation: “To Atha—” — Athabasca. Gabriel was moving deeper into the interior.
188 livres is not a round number and not a standard wage. Its identical appearance in F.4/37 as “To Sundries at Lac la Pluie — 188” constitutes cross-document identity confirmation that cannot be attributed to coincidence.
The Athabasca General Blotter, 1820–1821
HBCA F.4/37 is the NWC Athabasca General Blotter for 1819–1821. Gabriel appears as Gilbian Gabriel at reference 100. His account carries the debit: “To Sundries at Lac la Pluie — 188.” Identity confirmed. Wages: 450 livres. Rum: 90 livres. Final balance: 336 livres. SETTLED.
Note: the 336-livre net balance and the 610-livre gross dissolution figures (F.4/43, F.4/45) represent different accounting stages of the same settlement. See Section 6.
The 188-livre figure appearing identically in F.4/29 and F.4/37 confirms that these two accounts document the same individual. Gabriel Guilbault’s presence at both Lac La Pluie and Athabasca in 1820–1821 is established by direct primary source cross-reference.
The NWC General Ledger, Folio 414
HBCA F.4/32 is the main NWC General Ledger. Folio 414 was specially scanned in February 2026 by the Archives of Manitoba. It documents Gabriel’s continuous employment from 1816 through the 1821 merger — a five-year engagement. He was fifty-four when this service began. The ledger placement: p.396 documents his brother Paul Guilbeau; p.403 documents his son Joseph Claude (Gibeau Joseph — Gabriel’s son born in the pays d’en haut, 1797); p.414 documents Gabriel. Father, son, and brother — three Guilbault voyageurs in the same NWC General Ledger within eighteen pages.
F.4/32 establishes five continuous years of NWC employment. Gabriel was fifty-four when this service began. He was fifty-nine when it ended. Father, son, and uncle all appear in the same bound ledger volume — the fur trade pattern of family-based recruitment made visible in the company’s own accounts.
The Dissolution Payment Volumes, 1821
Not returned by the HBCA Name Index under any variant searched. Found only through Ancestry’s indexing of the same HBCA collection. Both confirm Gabriel’s August 1821 dissolution payment at 610 livres — the gross wage figure at the dissolution payment stage, before the final Lachine deductions that produced the 336-livre net balance in F.4/37.
F.4/43 — NWC Pays 1821, August 31
Heading: NorthWest Company Pays 1821 Cont., dated August 31, 1821. A dissolution payment list for the full returning workforce — Indigenous and French-Canadian voyageurs together as brigades came down through Lachine. Gabriel’s August 31 presence places him on the return route at exactly the right time for a man who wintered in Athabasca.
F.4/45 — NWC Balances 1821: Independent Confirmation
F.4/43 and F.4/45 place Gabriel at Lachine on August 31, 1821 — receiving his dissolution payment as one of the returning Athabasca brigade voyageurs. Both volumes confirm 610 livres independently. Both were found only through Ancestry. Gabriel is now documented in five F.4 volumes spanning the full range of his NWC employment and dissolution.
Paul Guilbeau: Gabriel’s Brother
Paul Guilbault was Gabriel’s brother — born one year before Gabriel on 23 April 1761 at Notre-Dame-de-Montréal (PRDH #296685), son of the same Charles Gabriel Guilbault and Marie Charlotte Morin. He settled at St-Paul-de-Lavaltrie, died 2 January 1831 at age 73, recorded as cultivateur. Seven Quebec parish documents confirm the identification. The 1783 Varennes marriage register places Gabriel as a witness at Paul’s wedding — the only Quebec document that places both brothers in the same place at the same time. Thirty-seven years later, the NWC account books would place them two entries apart at Lac La Pluie.
Paul’s NWC Accounts and the Franklin Connection
“By Lieut Franklin — 100” — this entry almost certainly refers to Lieutenant John Franklin, then on his first overland Arctic expedition (1819–1822). Franklin’s published Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea documents his time at Fort Chipewyan (March–July 1820), his formal requisition of NWC voyageurs, and his payment method through company accounts — precisely the mechanism that produces a credit entry of this form. No Guilbault name appears on the final Arctic roster, consistent with a short-term Chipewyan engagement settled through the NWC books. Verification pending against UK Admiralty financial records (ADM 1/2414, National Archives).
The Two Pauls: Resolved by the NWC’s Own Ledger
Research revealed a complication: two different men named Paul Guilbault appear in the same NWC records. The disambiguation was ultimately resolved by the NWC’s own final dissolution ledger, which placed both men on the same page with different surname spellings and different wage figures.
Gabriel’s brother. NWC wages 500 livres. Final balance 617.14. Confirmed through seven Quebec parish documents. Died 1831, cultivateur, age 73.
Second cousin once removed of Gabriel. Son of François-Régis Guilbault × Archange Larivière (PRDH #190780). NWC wages 350 livres. Balance 96. Gauthier Entry #57: HBC 1821–1840; linked to Hilaire Guilbault and Oregon. Common ancestor: Charles Guilbault × Deguise Flamand (1727, PRDH Family #15831).
F.4/46 — Both Pauls on the Same Page
F.4/47 — North West Balances 1821: The Definitive Document
F.4/47 is the definitive disambiguation document. The NWC clerks recorded two men with the same given name under different surname spellings — Gibeau and Guilbeau — with completely different wage figures. Each entry matches independently confirmed documents: Paul père’s F.5.3 contract (500 livres) and F.4/37 settlement (617.14); Paul “The Canadian”’s F.4/32, p.396 account (350 wages, 96 balance). The company’s own accounting distinguished the two men on a single page.
Franklin’s Own Published Record
Chapter IV of Franklin’s Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea (London: John Murray, 1823) covers his time at Fort Chipewyan from March 26 through approximately July 10, 1820 — the exact period corresponding to Paul Guilbeau’s F.4/37 account activity. It documents in daily-entry format his recruitment of NWC voyageurs, his payment method (goods distributed through company accounts), and the discharge of three Canadians before the northward journey. No Guilbault name appears on the final Arctic roster — consistent with a short-term Fort Chipewyan engagement settled through the NWC books. Franklin’s published account corroborates the ledger entry on every material point without naming Paul Guilbeau directly.
| HBCA F.4/37, p.117 | Paul Guilbeau account. Credit: “By Lieut Franklin — 100.” |
| Franklin, Narrative, pp.142–149 | Fort Chipewyan, March–June 1820. Two NWC men volunteer June 3. |
| Franklin, Narrative, p.165 | Payment method: goods through company establishments at departure. |
| Franklin, Narrative, p.166 | Three Canadians discharged before northward journey. |
| National Archives UK (pending) | Admiralty financial records 1819–1822. Named payment for Paul Guilbeau would constitute direct proof. |
The Land Record and the Occupation Arc
A notarial record of 1827 documents Gabriel’s acquisition of 68 acres along the Ottawa River. The gap between the August 1821 dissolution payment at Lachine and this 1827 land acquisition remains undocumented.
| c.1780s–1790s | Fur trade country, pays d’en haut — no documentary record; inferred from children’s baptism notes |
| October 1798 | Occupation recorded as “voyageur et maintenant agriculteur” |
| January 1802 | Oka records: occupation maçon — first documentary evidence of the mason’s trade |
| June 1813 | Death of Marie Josephte Abitakijikokwe at Rigaud |
| February 1815 | Remarriage to Josette Closier at Rigaud |
| 1816–1821 | NWC employment — F.4/32 (continuous), F.4/29, F.4/37 (Lac La Pluie → Athabasca), F.4/43, F.4/45 (dissolution payment, 610 livres, August 31, 1821) |
| 1827 | Land acquisition: 68 acres along the Ottawa River |
| April 1833 | Death at Saint-Benoît. Occupation: maçon. His son Joseph Claude had died at Oka five months earlier — identified as Voyageur. |
Five HBCA volumes — three found through the HBCA Name Index, two found only through Ancestry — document Gabriel Guilbault’s NWC employment from 1816 through dissolution in August 1821. The evidence standard is high: direct primary source cross-referencing confirmed by a non-round figure (188 livres) in two geographically separate post ledgers; dissolution payments confirmed by two independent volumes at identical figures; the Two Pauls disambiguation settled by the NWC’s own final ledger. The methodological finding — that two platforms are required for complete HBCA coverage — is documented and reproducible.
What This Methodology Does Not Yet Answer
- The 1821–1827 gap: Gabriel’s dissolution payment was recorded at Lachine on August 31, 1821. The next Quebec record is the 1827 Ottawa River land acquisition. HBC post journals or returns from 1821–1827 may answer whether he was retained by the merged company.
- The Franklin connection — verification needed: The “By Lieut Franklin — 100” entry in Paul’s account is highly probable but not yet verified against Franklin’s expedition financial records at the UK National Archives (ADM 1/2414) or the Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI MS 248).
- Marie Josephte Abitakijikokwe’s origins: The 1801 baptism record describes her as “de la Nation Sauteuse sur le lac Supérieur.” Her specific band, family connections, and circumstances of her meeting with Gabriel remain undocumented.
Complete Primary Source Documentation
Hudson's Bay Company Archives (Archives of Manitoba, Winnipeg)
- HBCA, F.4/29, NWC Lac La Pluie Blotter, 1820 — index (p.4 of 39); Gabriel Guilbault account (ref 35, p.11 of 89). Archives of Manitoba, 130–200 Vaughan Street, Winnipeg, MB R3C 1T5.
- HBCA, F.4/37, NWC Athabasca General Blotter, 1819–1821 — cover; index (Gilbian Gabriel ref 100, Paul Guilbian ref 144); Gabriel Guilbeau account (ref 100, p.114 of 297); Paul Guilbeau account (pp.106 and 117 of 297). Archives of Manitoba.
- HBCA, F.4/32, NWC General Ledger, folio 414 — Gabriel Guilbault 1816–1821; also p.396 (Paul Guilbeau) and p.403 (Joseph Claude Gibeau). Specially scanned February 2026. Archives of Manitoba.
- HBCA, F.4/43, NWC Pays 1821, August 31, 1821 — Gabriel Guilbeau 610 livres; dissolution payment list. Found via Ancestry. Archives of Manitoba.
- HBCA, F.4/45, NWC Balances 1821 — Gabriel Guiltheau 610 livres; independent confirmation. Found via Ancestry. Archives of Manitoba.
- HBCA, F.4/46, NWC Account Book 1820–1821 — both Pauls on same page: Gibeau Paul (350/96) and Gibault Paul (500/617.14). Archives of Manitoba.
- HBCA, F.4/47, North West Balances 1821 — both Pauls eight entries apart: Gibeau Paul (500/617.14) and Guilbeau Paul (350/96). Definitive disambiguation document. Archives of Manitoba.
- HBCA NWC Account Books Name Index — searchable database, 3,700+ employees. Archives of Manitoba.
Ancestry — Canada HBC Corporate and Employment Records, 1766–1926
- First-name search “Gabriel” — 868 results; Gabriel Guilbeau (F.4/43) and Gabriel Gulbiau (F.4/45) identified; both missed by HBCA Name Index.
- Surname search “guilbeau” — returns Gabriel Guilbeau, Joseph Guilbeau, Paul Gilbeau, Edward Gilbeau Dit Gebbosh, and José Gilbeau; Paul Gibeau confirmed for F.4/46.
Quebec Parish Registers
- Registres paroissiaux, L’Assomption, 1762 — baptism of Gabriel Guilbault, 23 April 1762.
- Registres paroissiaux, Notre-Dame-de-Montréal, 1761 — baptism of Paul Guilbault, 23 April 1761. PRDH #296685.
- Registres paroissiaux, Varennes (Ste-Anne), 1783 — marriage of Paul Guilbeau and Marie Mulot; Gabriel Guilbeau as witness. PRDH #334384.
- Registres paroissiaux, St-Paul-de-Lavaltrie, 1831 — burial of Paul Guilbeau; age 73; cultivateur. PRDH #2990670.
- Registres paroissiaux, Saint-Benoît, 1833 — burial of Gabriel Guilbault, 8 April 1833. Occupation: maçon.
- Registres paroissiaux, L’Annonciation d’Oka, 1801 — marriage of Gabriel and Marie Josephte Abitakijikokwe.
- Registres paroissiaux, St-Paul-de-Joliette, 1798 — mass baptisms including Joseph Claude Guilbault. Film #100437666.
PRDH-IGD Database Records
- PRDH Family record — Charles Gabriel Guilbault & Marie Charlotte Morin (parents of both Paul and Gabriel).
- PRDH Family #91975 — Gabriel Guilbault & Marie Josephte Abitakijikokwe; 7 children including Joseph Claude.
- PRDH Family #15831 — Charles Guilbault × Catherine-Antoinette Deguise Flamand (1727) — common ancestor of Gabriel’s line and Paul “The Canadian”’s line.
Published Secondary Sources
- Gauthier, Raymonde, Ph.D. Ancestry of French Canadians to Oregon Prior to 1842. 2013. Entry #57 — Paul Guilbault “The Canadian,” b. January 21, 1798, Lavaltrie; HBC 1821–1840; pedigree confirmed against PRDH.
- Franklin, John. Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea, in the Years 1819, 20, 21, and 22. London: John Murray, 1823. Chapter IV, pp.142–166. Corroborating source for “By Lieut Franklin — 100” in HBCA F.4/37, Paul Guilbeau account, p.117 of 297.
Notarial and Land Records
- Notarial land record, 1827 — Gabriel Guilbault, 68 acres along the Ottawa River. Archives Nationales du Québec.
This methodology accompanies The Voyageur Years case study summary and the companion case studies on Gabriel’s brother Paul and his son Joseph Claude.
Case Study Summary → Companion: The Invisible Voyageur → Companion: Born in the Pays d’en Haut → Companion: The Abitakijikokwe Discovery →