Jacques  BABIE DE RAINVILLE

BABIE (in later generations spelled “Bâby,” and in Michigan historical collections “Baubee”), JACQUES, soldier, farmer, and fur-trader, founder of the distinguished Canadian family of this name, son of Jean “Bavis” and Isabeau Robin of the parish of Monteton, diocese of Agen; b. in France c. 1633 (1639 according to the census of 1681); d. 28 July 1688 at Champlain.

Jacques Babie came to Canada in 1665 as a sergeant in the Carignan-Salières regiment, sent by Louis XIV and Colbert to fight the Iroquois. After peace had been signed at the end of 1666 between the Iroquois and Alexandre de Prouville, Marquis de Tracy, commander-in-chief of Louis XIV’s forces in North America, Babie obtained his discharge from the army and settled in Champlain on the St. Lawrence near Trois-Rivières, in a fertile region known as the “cradle of explorers and fur-traders.”

He was attracted to fur-trading and farming and engaged in both. As early as 1668, and for many years thereafter, he traded with the

Jacques Babie came to Canada in 1665 as a sergeant in the Carignan-Salières regiment, sent by Louis XIV and Colbert to fight the Iroquois. After peace had been signed at the end of 1666 between the Iroquois and Alexandre de Prouville, Marquis de Tracy, commander-in-chief of Louis XIV’s forces in North America, Babie obtained his discharge from the army and settled in Champlain on the St. Lawrence near Trois-Rivières, in a fertile region known as the “cradle of explorers and fur-traders.”

Marine Leland, “BABIE (Bâby, Baubee), JACQUES,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 1, University of Toronto/ Université Laval, 2003

He was attracted to fur-trading and farming and engaged in both. As early as 1668, and for many years thereafter, he traded with the Indians of the upper Saint-Maurice and upper Ottawa rivers, and was among the government-accredited merchants who participated in the great fur mart held annually at Montreal. In 1669, he bought two tracts of land in Champlain and farmed them.

Marine Leland, “BABIE (Bâby, Baubee), JACQUES,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 1, University of Toronto/ Université Laval, 2003

Jacques Babie died in 1688, at the age of about 55, in Champlain, leaving a comfortable fortune. Very avid for profits, and a hard-headed businessman, he had numerous differences which frequently brought him before the Conseil Souverain.

Marine Leland, “BABIE (Bâby, Baubee), JACQUES,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 1, University of Toronto/ Université Laval, 2003