New Vignette Tells Story of Madame Laframboise

The cover of the new illustrated history article published by Mackinac State Historic Parks. (Photograph courtesy of Mackinac State Historic Parks)

An illustrated history article focusing on the life of fur trader Magdelaine Laframboise has been published by Mackinac State Historic Parks and is available at all park museum stores for $3. The 11-page vignette was written by Dr. Keith Widder, former curator of history at the parks and a noted expert on Mackinac Island and the upper Great Lakes.

Madame Laframboise, a woman of Odawa and French- Canadian ancestry, took control of her husband's fur-trading business upon his untimely death in 1806. During her career, she traveled throughout Michigan and became a prosperous fur merchant, maintaining a home on Mackinac Island. Committed to social causes, she cared for the poor, helped establish schools for Native American and Métis children, and supported the Island's Roman Catholic church. In the 1820s, she donated a portion of her land for the building of Ste. Anne's Church, which still sits next to her house.

Her historic home, now called the Harbour View Inn, is a hotel operated by Michael and Jane Bacon. Motivated by the research done by Dr. Widder, the Bacons funded the printing of the vignette.

"We truly appreciate the Bacons' thoughtful donation, which makes it possible for us to print this vignette and share this important story with the public," said Phil Porter, director of Mackinac State Historic Parks.

The parks' first vignette, written in 1963 by former park Superintendent Eugene Petersen, was entitled "Clay Pipes: A Footnote to Mackinac's History." More recent vignette subjects have included the Michigan governor's summer residence, Mackinac Island Scout Service Camp, Father Marquette statues, and the DePeyster bowl, an important artifact of Fort Michilimackinac. The Madame Laframboise piece is 25th in the series.

Future topics in development include movie making at Mackinac Island and the history of Robinson's Folly, a geological formation on Mackinac Island.