After travelling extensively and forming rich connections throughout the Métis Homeland, Hyppolite Brissette and his Métis wife, Archange L’Hirondelle, put down roots in the well-established Métis community at Penetanguishene, the southernmost Métis settlement in the Upper Great Lakes.
The precise reasons for their relocation to Penetanguishene from the Red River in 1840 are no longer known. However, there is some indication that Hyppolite fought in the War of 1812 before he joined the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1817, and was drawn to Penetanguishene by promises of land grants for veterans of the war.
Regardless of their reasons, when Hyppolite and Archange reached Penetanguishene, they joined a strongly established Métis community that included Lewis Solomon and his father William, an interpreter who Hyppolite had worked alongside when both men were stationed at Fort William in 1820. Even as late as 1861, both Lewis and William Solomon lived just down the street from the Brissettes.
Within their new Métis community, Archange quickly developed a positive reputation for being “rather clever”. Hyppolite would later be remembered for being “tattooed from head to foot with all sorts of curious figures”—mementos likely acquired throughout his extensive travels.
The Brissettes would eventually raise ten Métis children at Penetanguishene. Hyppolite and Archange each lived a long and vibrant life and witnessed numerous profound changes within the Métis world—with Hyppolite living until the age of 102.
The Brissette-L’Hirondelle family has continued its rich contributions and connection-building within Penetanguishene and the Upper Great Lakes Métis community for generations since.