Métis Marriages: Labatte & Berger, Pt. 1

On June 3, 1845, Georgian Bay Métis Community members, Michel (Michael) Labatte and Archange Berger (Bergé), were married at the St. Ann’s Church in Penetanguishene.

In the late 1820’s, both the Labatte and Berger families had relocated to Penetanguishene from Drummond Island, alongside others from their Métis community, following the island’s surrender to the United States by the British after the War of 1812. 

Marriages, like that of Michel Labatte and Archange Berger, are important examples of endogamy—marrying within one’s own community—within the Georgian Bay Métis Community that have enabled the Métis of Penetanguishene to remain a distinct, cohesive, and resilient Métis community despite relocation and succeeding generations of settler-imposed assimilative pressures. 

Michel and Archange’s 1845 marriage would eventually blossom into a large Métis family of more than ten Métis children, whose descendants are part of the contemporary Georgian Bay Métis Community which continues to thrive in the Penetanguishene area to this day.

See Our Sources

• Labatte Family VMFL Document

• Upper Great Lakes Submission to the MNC Expert Panel

• Additional Submissions to the MNC Expert Panel

• The Migration of Voyageurs from Drummond Island to Penetanguishene in 1828

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