Hyppolite Brissette’s fur trade career began in 1817 when he signed a three-year contract with the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) as a “middleman” in a canoe brigade. With that commitment, Hyppolite began a decades-long fur trade career that took him across the Métis Homeland.
Hyppolite’s first journey ended at Cumberland House, an HBC post in Saskatchewan. Cumberland House was a key stop for boat brigades heading west into the fur-rich Athabasca region, known for pemmican production—a fur trade staple made of dried buffalo meat, melted fat, and berries.
At Cumberland House, Brissette lived within the Métis dominated fur trade world, working alongside Pierre Guillaume Sayer and other Métis traders.
Around 1820, Hyppolite was restationed to Fort William on Lake Superior. There, he worked with Pierre Guillaume Sayers's brothers, Henry and John Charles, as well as Métis Colbert Amyot, who was married to Jessie Solomon, the Métis daughter of trader William Solomon who was known for his skills as an interpreter throughout the Upper Great Lakes.
Over the next few years, Hyppolite traveled further west into the Métis Homeland—first to Ile a la Crosse in northern Saskatchewan, then Bow River in southwestern Alberta, and eventually Lesser Slave Lake in northern Alberta—growing and deepening his relationships within the Métis world along the way.
In Lesser Slave Lake, Hyppolite met Archange L’Hirondelle, a “half-breed” woman who had lived around the post her whole life. Hyppolite and Archange were married on January 5, 1826.
The couple remained at Lesser Slave Lake until 1828 when Hyppolite was assigned to Fort Pelly in eastern Saskatchewan. Here he and Archange lived and worked among many Métis traders, including his former colleague, Pierre Guillaume Sayer.
Over the next few years, Hyppolite added a further 3,800 kilometres of travel between HBC posts in Saskatchewan, to what is now Washington, back to northwestern Ontario, and, finally, to the Red River in 1836. Many of the men Hyppolite worked with over the years were also relocating to Red River at this time, including Pierre Guillaume Sayer, Amable Hogue and his Métis wife, who Hyppolite had worked with at Bow River.
In 1840, Hyppolite, Archange, and their newborn daughter, Josephine, made one final move—this time to Penetanguishene, the southernmost Métis settlement in the Upper Great Lakes.
In Penetanguishene, the Brissette-L’Hirondelle family continued to grow, building rich connections within the Métis community and beginning a proud Métis family legacy that continues to this day.