Joseph Frobisher | |
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| Born | (1748-04-15)April 15, 1748 |
| Died | September 12, 1810(1810-09-12) (aged 62) Beaver Hall,Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
The Hon.Joseph Frobisher (April 15, 1748 – September 12, 1810)M.P.,J.P., was one ofMontreal's most importantfur traders. He was elected to the1st Parliament of Lower Canada and was aseigneur with estates totalling 57,000acres.[1] He was a founding member of theNorth West Company and theBeaver Club, of which he was chairman. From 1792, hiscountry seat, Beaver Hall, became a centre of Montrealsociety.
Joseph Frobisher was born atHalifax, Yorkshire in 1748. He was the third of five sons born to Joseph Frobisher (1710–1763) and Rachel Hargreaves (1718–1790). The Frobishers were an oldYorkshire family descended from Richard Frobysher ofAltofts andThorne, a first cousin ofSir Martin Frobisher.[2] Joseph's eldest two brothers,Benjamin andThomas (1744-1788), came toQuebec soon after theBritish Conquest of New France to enter thefur trade, and Joseph joined them in 1769. They put to use the small capital they had between them to set up a fur trading company based in Montreal, trading in theNorthwest Territory.
The brothers worked well together: Benjamin's talents laid in management and he concentrated on running the business withLondon from Montreal. In stark contrast to Benjamin, Thomas preferred thevoyageur lifestyle and was only ever in Montreal briefly. Joseph had a more varied experience, dividing his time betweenGrand Portage, other posts, and Montreal. When Benjamin died unexpectedly in 1787, as Joseph knew very little at that stage of the management side of the business (and Thomas nothing at all), the two brothers went into partnership withSimon McTavish; both firms being part of theNorth West Company.
Frobisher was named a justice of the peace in 1788. He was elected to the1st Parliament of Lower Canada for Montreal East in 1792.[3] Frobisher retired from the company in 1798. He was secretary for theBeaver Club at Montreal. Frobisher was part-owner of theBatiscan Iron Works and, with his partners, purchased theseigneury ofChamplain, located on the north shore ofSt. Lawrence River, near present-dayTrois-Rivières. He served in the local militia, becoming major by 1806.
He had a large townhouse inMontreal on St. Gabriel Street and extensive landholdings throughoutQuebec. In 1792, he built hiscountry seat, Beaver Hall, which was one of the early estates of theGolden Square Mile. The wife of Lieutenant GovernorSir John Graves Simcoe observed in her diary that Mrs. Frobisher, "lived in great style and comfort, and had an excellent garden".[4] Since retiring from the fur trade in 1798, the sociable Mr. Frobisher had enjoyed the good life and developed a passion for sumptuous dining to the extent that he kept a diary specifically for recording his dinner parties. His dining room comfortably sat forty guests, and even though he was not in the best of health from 1806, he continued to dine out or entertain in his home every night of the week.[5] He was secretary and chairman of theBeaver Club from 1807 until his death, and they frequently met at Frobisher's home. Frobisher died at Beaver Hall in 1810, and his home succumbed to fire in 1847.[6]
In 1779, at the Anglican service inMontreal, Frobisher married a girl twenty years his junior. She was Charlotte Jobert (1761-1816), daughter of surgeon Jean-Baptiste Jobert and Charlotte Larchevêque. Her aunt, Marguerite Larchevêque (1749-1798), was married toCharles Chaboillez, one of the most influential French Canadian fur traders, who with Frobisher and his brother was one of the founding members of theBeaver Club. They were the parents of fifteen children, but only three lived to adulthood and married:
The Frobisher brothers gave their name to theBaffin Island community calledFrobisher Bay, which in 1987 was renamedIqaluit, and is now the capital city ofNunavut territory. The body of water on which sits Iqaluit is still known as Frobisher Bay. There still exists a Frobisher street in Montreal. Beaver Hall Hill is a street which follows the beginning of the path up Rue Belmont to the location of Frobisher's country retreat.[3]