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The life of Leon Bourassa
Biography
Leon Bourassa’s life is connected with a tract of land along the Des Plaines River that later became part of Forest Home Cemetery in Forest Park, just west of Chicago, Illinois. The Historical Society of Forest Park describes him as a trader who acquired the property in 1839. He and his Potawatomi wife, Mnetoqua, cared for the older Indigenous burial places there.
The family chronology places Leon’s birth on October 9, 1798 and identifies him as a son of Daniel Bourassa I and Marguerite Bertrand.
In 1851 the property passed to Ferdinand Haase. The site subsequently became associated with a farm, a public gathering place, and the cemeteries established there. A marker erected in 1941 remembers Leon’s cabin and, particularly, Mnetoqua’s decision to remain near her ancestors’ graves.
The surviving family and local historical accounts place his death by the end of 1863.
Images & documents
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Family relationships
Parents
Full siblings
A life in dates
3 events
- Connection to this place
Probable birth locality — Michilimackinac / Mackinac Island settlement.
Michilimackinac / Mackinac Island settlement, Michigan, United States
Show on map → - Property Acquisition
Local historical accounts identify Leon as acquiring land along the Des Plaines River, now within Forest Home Cemetery near Chicago.
Bourassa / Mnetoqua homestead and ancestral burial land, Illinois, United States
Show on map → - Property Transfer
The property associated with Leon’s household passed to Ferdinand Haase.
Bourassa / Mnetoqua homestead and ancestral burial land, Illinois, United States
Show on map →
Notes & sources
Family records
- Canonical PROD, revision 116
- Citizen Potawatomi Nation — Bourassa family history
- DNA consolidated biography and timeline evidence and decisions
- Retained family research and archival source findings
- Ste. Anne de Michilimackinac baptism transcription — Leon Bourassa, 1799