Complete Research File — The Guilbault Line

The Voyageur Years Research File

North West Company Employment, 1816–1821
92+ Primary Source Images  ·  5 HBCA Volumes — Two Platforms Required  ·  Two Pauls: Disambiguated  ·  Franklin Expedition: Probable

This research file documents Gabriel Guilbault's five-year North West Company employment across five HBCA account volumes found on two independent search platforms — three through the HBCA Name Index, two more through Ancestry's separate indexing of the same collection. The 188-livre balance that links Lac La Pluie to Athabasca is the identity proof. The 610-livre figure appearing independently in F.4/43 and F.4/45 is the dissolution payment confirmation. And F.4/47 — the NWC's own final dissolution ledger — places two men both named Paul Guilbault eight entries apart, finally resolving which Paul was Gabriel's brother and which was Paul "The Canadian" who would end his days at French Prairie, Oregon.

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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.4/43 Gabriel Guilbeau — 610 livres NWC Pays 1821 Ancestry discovery
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F.4/43 — Gabriel 610 livres (Ancestry only)
F.4/47 North West Balances 1821 — both Pauls 8 entries apart, Gibeau vs Guilbeau
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F.4/47 — Two Pauls, 8 entries apart
F.4/37 Paul Guilbeau — By Lieut Franklin 100
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F.4/37 Paul — Lieut Franklin 100

What's Included in the Complete Research File

F.4/29 Lac La Pluie blotter — Gabriel account with 188-livre linking balance
F.4/37 Athabasca blotter — Gabriel and Paul accounts, full methodology
F.4/32 NWC General Ledger, folio 414 — specially scanned, Archives of Manitoba 2026
HBCA Name Index search showing both Guilbault brothers in the same volume
F.4/43 NWC Pays 1821 — Gabriel 610 livres, August 31; found only via Ancestry
F.4/45 NWC Balances 1821 — 610-livre figure independently confirmed; found only via Ancestry
F.4/46 and F.4/47 — Two Pauls on the same dissolution pages; Gibeau vs. Guilbeau disambiguation
Platform comparison: HBCA Name Index vs. Ancestry — why both searches are required
Paul Guilbeau: 7 parish documents confirming identity as Gabriel's brother
"By Lieut Franklin — 100" in Paul's account — discovery, 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

★ = new documents added April 2026

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
F.4/43 — NWC Pays 1821, August 31 (Ancestry; Gabriel 610 livres) 3 images New — April 2026
F.4/45 — NWC Balances 1821 (Ancestry; Gabriel 610 livres confirmed) 3 images New — April 2026
F.4/46 and F.4/47 — Two Pauls disambiguation (North West Balances 1821) 4 images New — April 2026
Ancestry platform search results — Gabriel and Paul (18-page and 3-result finds) 2 images New — April 2026
Sacred places, canoe routes & Baawitigong context 23 images Complete
TOTAL 94+ 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; distinguished from Paul "The Canadian" (b. 1798) via F.4/47
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 → Athabasca · 5 volumes, 2 platforms · Net balance 336 livres (SETTLED); gross dissolution payment 610 livres (F.4/43, F.4/45)
Two Pauls Resolved F.4/47 places Paul père (Gibeau Paul, 500 wages / 617.14 balance) and Paul "The Canadian" (Guilbeau Paul, 350 wages / 96 balance) eight entries apart on the NWC's own final dissolution ledger
Franklin Connection "By Lieut Franklin — 100" in Paul's Athabasca account — probable Lt. John Franklin, First Overland Arctic Expedition, 1819–1822; corroborated by Narrative Chapter IV
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. But two additional volumes — invisible to the HBCA Name Index and surfaced only through Ancestry's separate indexing — show Gabriel's name one final time: at Lachine on August 31, 1821, in the dissolution payment list for the entire returning workforce. The 610-livre figure there is his gross wage before deductions. The 336-livre figure in F.4/37 is the net. Two accounting stages, three volumes, one man, coming home from the interior after five years in the pays d'en haut...

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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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Genealogists and historians interested in NWC records methodology, Métis heritage documentation, or the platform comparison finding for HBCA research.

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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 case study. Gabriel's employment is confirmed across five HBCA account volumes found on two independent search platforms: 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) through the HBCA Name Index; F.4/43 (NWC Pays 1821, August 31) and F.4/45 (NWC Balances 1821) through Ancestry's separate indexing of the same collection under the spellings Guilbeau and Gulbiau. 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. The 610-livre figure in F.4/43 and F.4/45 represents the gross wage at the dissolution payment stage; the 336 in F.4/37 is the net after Lachine deductions. F.4/32 folio 414 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 confirming shared parents Charles Gabriel Guilbault and Marie Charlotte Morin. The Two Pauls disambiguation is resolved by F.4/47 (North West Balances 1821), which places Paul père (Gibeau Paul, 500 livres wages) and Paul "The Canadian" (Guilbeau Paul, 350 livres wages) eight entries apart on the NWC's own final dissolution page. Paul père's Athabasca account (F.4/37, p.117) contains "By Lieut Franklin — 100" — a probable reference to Lieutenant John Franklin's first overland Arctic expedition (1819–1822), corroborated by Chapter IV of Franklin's published Narrative; formal verification against UK Admiralty financial records is in progress. The inventory follows BCG evidence standards throughout. Read the full methodology →

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