Jacques Le Ber dit La Rose

Life in context.

Jacques Le Ber dit La Rose (c.1633–25 November 1706) was the younger brother of direct ancestor François Le Ber and therefore belongs to Madison Cameron Walker’s collateral Le Ber family rather than the direct descent. Born at Pistre/Pîtres in the diocese of Rouen to Robert Le Ber and Colette Cavelier, he arrived in Canada in 1657 and married Jeanne Le Moyne at Montréal on 7 January 1658. He became a major merchant, fur trader and seigneur in New France. In 1663 he and François served in Montréal’s citizen militia. With Charles Le Moyne he built the LeBer-LeMoyne trading post at Lachine between 1669 and 1671; Parks Canada identifies the surviving buildings as among the oldest extant structures associated with Canada’s fur trade and notes that the site stood at a commercial gathering place already used by Indigenous people. Jacques participated in the colony’s intertwined commercial, diplomatic and military world, including a 1693 expedition against Mohawk communities. He received royal letters of nobility in 1696 and died at Montréal in 1706. His prominence helps illuminate the wider family environment around François, but Jacques is not a direct ancestor of Sandi, Jason or Madison.