Complete Research File — The Guilbault Line

The Voyageur Years Research File

The Voyageur Years: North West Company Employment, 1816–1821
86 Primary Source Images • 3 HBCA Account Volumes • Paul Guilbeau NWC Connection: Confirmed • Franklin Expedition: Probable

This documentary biography draws on a curated selection of primary source images. The complete research file below includes all 86 Squarespace images — including the 1820 Lac La Pluie blotter entry where Gabriel's account closes with "To Atha— 188," the identical figure that opens his Athabasca account and proves a single man worked across both posts — seven Quebec parish documents confirming Paul Guilbeau as Gabriel's brother, and the Athabasca account entry that places a Guilbault alongside Lieutenant John Franklin's first overland Arctic expedition.

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F.4/37 Gabriel Guilbeau Account — 336 livres SETTLED
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F.4/37 Gabriel Account — 336 livres SETTLED
F.4/37 Paul Guilbeau — By Lieut Franklin 100
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F.4/37 Paul Account — Lieut Franklin
1801 Oka marriage register — Abitakijikokwe name preserved
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1801 Marriage — Oka
1783 Paul Guilbeau marriage — Gabriel as witness confirming brotherhood
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1783 Paul marriage — Gabriel witness

What's Included in the Complete Research File

F.4/29 Lac La Pluie blotter — Gabriel account with 188-livre linking balance transcribed
F.4/37 Athabasca blotter — Gabriel and Paul accounts, full methodology
F.4/32 NWC General Ledger, folio 414 (specially scanned by Archives of Manitoba, 2026)
HBCA Name Index search showing both Guilbault brothers in the same volume
Paul Guilbeau: 7 parish documents confirming identity as Gabriel's brother
"By Lieut Franklin — 100" discovery with historical context and verification notes
Gabriel's occupation arc: voyageur → agriculteur → maçon → NWC → maçon (1762–1833)
Charles Gabriel Guilbault père — two marriages, children's baptisms, burial, PRDH
Marie Josephte baptism (1801) and burial (1813) with documentary contrast analysis
1893 notarial document preserving Indigenous ancestry 80 years after Marie Josephte's death
1798 mass baptisms — "voyageur et maintenant agriculteur" occupational evidence
1827 Ottawa River land record — 68 acres and three open research questions with archival leads

Document Inventory

Charles Gabriel Guilbault père — all records 15 images Complete
Paul Guilbault — parish documents (baptism, marriage, family, burial) 9 images Complete
Paul Guilbeau — NWC account pages (F.4/37, pp. 106 & 117) 2 images Franklin entry noted
Gabriel Guilbault — vital records (baptism, marriages, land, burial) 13 images Complete
Marie Josephte Abitakijikokwe — vital records + 1893 reference 4 images Complete
Children — first family (1798 mass baptisms, burials, baptism records) 9 images Complete
NWC account books (F.4/29, F.4/37, F.4/32, Name Index) 7 images Complete
Sacred places, canoe routes & Baawitigong context 23 images Complete
TOTAL 82+ images

Subject Summary

Subject Gabriel Guilbault (1762–1833)
Born 23 April 1762, L'Assomption, Québec
Parents Charles Gabriel Guilbault (1731–1784) & Marie Charlotte Morin (1738–1767)
Brother Paul Guilbault (1761–1831) — confirmed NWC co-worker, Lac La Pluie and Athabasca
First Marriage 27 January 1801, L'Annonciation d'Oka — Marie Josephte Abitakijikokwe, Ojibwe, Nation Sauteuse, Lake Superior
NWC Employment 1816–1821, ages 54–59 · Lac La Pluie then Athabasca · Final credit: 336 livres, SETTLED
Franklin Connection "By Lieut Franklin — 100" in Paul's Athabasca account — probable Lt. John Franklin, First Overland Arctic Expedition, 1819–1822
Death 8 April 1833, Saint-Benoît — occupation: maçon
Relationship 4th great-grandfather of Mary Hamall Morales

The 188-livre balance appearing identically in both the Lac La Pluie blotter (F.4/29) and the Athabasca blotter (F.4/37) is the methodological proof linking two geographically separate NWC post ledgers. A single figure, written by two different clerks at two different posts, is what places Gabriel in the pays d'en haut at ages 54 through 59 — and what brought a Guilbault brother into the orbit of Lieutenant Franklin's first overland Arctic expedition...

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Family Members

Descendants of Gabriel Guilbault and Marie Josephte Abitakijikokwe through the Guilbeault, Hamall, and connected families can request access to this research.

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Researchers

Genealogists and historians interested in NWC records methodology, Métis heritage documentation, or Ojibwe genealogy in the fur trade era.

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Are You a Descendant of Gabriel Guilbault or Marie Josephte Abitakijikokwe?

If your ancestry passes through the Guilbeault, Guilbault, Hamall, or connected families in Québec and Illinois, you may descend from this voyageur and his Ojibwe wife from the shores of Lake Superior. Gabriel's granddaughter Elisabeth Emma Guilbault married into the Gilbert family; their descendants carried the Anishinaabe heritage of Marie Josephte forward through generations that did not know her name. Get in touch — we'd love to hear your family's story.

About This Research

This research file represents the complete evidentiary foundation for the Gabriel Guilbault NWC documentary biography. Gabriel's employment is confirmed across three independent HBCA account volumes: F.4/32 (NWC General Ledger, folio 414, 1816–1821), F.4/29 (Lac La Pluie Blotter, 1820), and F.4/37 (Athabasca General Blotter, 1819–1821). The 188-livre balance appearing identically in F.4/29 as "To Atha—" and in F.4/37 as "Sundries at Lac la Pluie — 188" is the cross-document proof of identity. F.4/37 was specially scanned by Archives of Manitoba staff in February 2026.

Paul Guilbeau's identity as Gabriel's brother is established through seven Quebec parish documents including the PRDH baptism record (#296685), the 1783 Varennes marriage register with Gabriel present as witness, and the PRDH family record showing shared parents Charles Gabriel Guilbault and Marie Charlotte Morin. Paul's Athabasca account contains "By Lieut Franklin — 100" — a probable reference to Lieutenant John Franklin's first overland Arctic expedition (1819–1822), verification of which is in progress. The inventory follows BCG evidence standards throughout. Read the full methodology →

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