Martin Chartier
Martin Chartier (1655 – Apr 1718) was a French-Canadian explorer and trader, carpenter and glove maker. He lived much of his life amongst the Shawnee Native Americans in what is now the United States.
Martin Chartier
1655
1718 (aged 62–63)
Explorer, fur trader, glovemaker
Travels with Louis Jolliet and René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle
Sewatha Straight Tail (1660-1759)
René Chartier (1621-1689);[1] Madeleine Ranger (1621?-1662)
Children: Mary Seaworth (Sewatha) Chartier (1687–1732); Peter Chartier (1690–1759)
Chartier accompanied Louis Jolliet on two of his journeys to the Illinois Country of New France, and went with René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle on his 1679–80 journey to Lake Erie, Lake Huron, and Lake Michigan. Chartier assisted in the construction of Fort Miami and Fort Crèvecoeur.[2] On April 16, 1680, Chartier, together with six other men, mutinied, looted, burned Fort Crèvecoeur, and fled.
In a letter dated 1682, La Salle stated that Martin Chartier "was one of these who incited the others to do as they did."[3]
Chartier sometimes was written as Chartiere, Chartiers, Shartee or Shortive.
Early life[edit]
Martin Chartier was born in 1655 in St-Jean-de-Montierneuf, Poitiers, Vienne, Poitou-Charentes, France.[4] When he was twelve, his family emigrated from France to Quebec in 1667, including his father René, brother Pierre, and sister Jeanne Renée. They joined his paternal grandfather and uncle there.
On the transatlantic voyage, Chartier and his father René became acquainted with René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, who was also immigrating to Canada.[5] Some sources state that the young Chartier spent the next several years in Montreal learning to make gloves,[2][Note 1] but there is also evidence that he was apprenticed to a carpenter.[7]
Chartier's father, uncle and grandfather were killed in the Lachine massacre outside Montreal on August 5, 1689.[8]
Louis Jolliet's 1672–74 expedition[edit]
In 1672, Martin Chartier and his brother Pierre took part in Louis Jolliet's second expedition.[9] In December 1672 Jolliett and his company reached the Straits of Mackinac, where he met up with Pierre Marquette. They talked with Indians and prepared maps for the 1673 expedition to find the mouth of the Mississippi River; a voyage that would become famous. They wanted to discover whether it flowed into the Gulf of Mexico or the Pacific Ocean.[10]
In 1674, Chartier accompanied Louis Jolliet to the Illinois Country, where he became acquainted with the Pekowi Shawnee, who lived at that time on the Wabash River.[Note 2] After Jolliet returned to Quebec in 1675, Chartier returned to the territory and married Sewatha Straight Tail (1660-1759),[12] daughter of the Shawnee chief Straight Tail Meaurroway Opessa.[13] Their first child, a daughter, was born in 1676, according to a 1692 statement by Chartier.[11][6]
Later life[edit]
Chartier is known to have acted as interpreter for the Shawnee at conferences held with the English at Conestoga in 1711 and 1717.[11][33]: 251 In 1717, Governor Penn granted Chartier a 300-acre tract of land (one source says 500 acres[33]) along the Conestoga River in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.[26][33] He and his son Peter Chartier established a trading post near a Shawnee village on Pequea Creek in Pennsylvania.[53] That same year, he accompanied Christoph von Graffenried, 1st Baron of Bernberg on a journey to Sugarloaf Mountain in Maryland.[54]: 17 [55] They traveled south to the Shenandoah Valley, where they visited Massanutten Mountain[56] in a fruitless search for silver ore. This had reportedly been found several years earlier by Swiss explorer Franz Ludwig Michel.[57]
Death, burial and memorialization[edit]
Martin Chartier died in April, 1718, on his farm in Dekanoagah, Pennsylvania, near the Susquehanna River and northwest of Conestoga.[58] His funeral on 25 April was attended by James Logan, the future Mayor of Philadelphia.[33] Immediately after the funeral, Logan seized Chartier's 250-acre estate, on the grounds that the late explorer owed him a debt of 108 pounds, 19 shillings and 3 and 3/4 pence. Logan later sold the property to Stephen Atkinson for 30 pounds.[59]
In 1873, Chartier's grave was accidentally discovered by John Stehman, who then owned the property. Chartier was evidently buried in traditional Shawnee style, with the addition of his helmet, a cutlass, and several small cannon balls.[60]
A historical marker, erected in 1925 by the Lancaster County Historical Society, stands on the site of his burial, in Washington Boro, Pennsylvania, at the intersection of River Road and Charlestown Road.[26]