History, Winnebago County, Wisconsin: Its cities, towns, resources, people

              368 HISTOEY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
Joseph Jourdain. He was an expert at his trade and an artist in the smithy art.
In 1789 Joseph Jourdain arrived at Green Bay and was em¬ ployed at gun and blacksmith work by Mr. Franks, a trader. Afterward he set up his own shop at Menoinineeville. He mar¬ ried a daughter of Michael Gravel, whose wife was a daughter of a Menominee chief. There were born to them several sons and daughters, and some of these and many of their descendants are still living in this valley.
One daughter, the beautiful creole, Mary Magdalene Jourdain, was enamored of a handsome young officer, but was persuaded against her own wishes to become the wife of an Episcopal divine, Eleazer Williams, since discovered to have been the lost dauphin, Louis XYII of France. Their only son, John, is buried in Oshkosh, and his son, the heir to the French throne and in whose veins courses the blood of the most ancient and brilliant of French dynasties, is a resident of St. Louis.
Joseph Jourdain was a devout Catholic and is found in all the records as a subscriber to the several projected church build¬ ings, the salary of priests and petitions for settlement of priests. He was treasurer of the church for several years. For many years he was armorer and smithy for the British detachment at Fort Howard, and in 1815 held that position at Prairie du Chien. In 1832 his salary under the L^nited States Indian agency was $480 per annum. He was the most indispensable resident in all the valley. In 1834 he moved to Neenah, where the sub-mission was established for the Menominee Nation. He came as the mission armorer and blacksmith. His shop was at the foot of the Winnebago rapids on Little Butte des Morts lake, the site of which is now covered by a double machine writing-paper mill. He made his home OA^er the lake (afterwards within the town of Menasha) in one of the log cabins erected by the Gov¬ ernment. After the agency was closed in 1836 he remained and was the earliest permanent resident of the town of Menasha. He continued his shop at his home up to the time of his death, May 22, 1866. He was buried with his wife in Alouez Ceme¬ tery at Green Bay, where their graves are marked by two iron crosses. He was 18 when he located in Wisconsin and 86 years of age when he died. Though he came from Canada, he was of French-parentage. He was five feet six inches tall, straight as an arrow, powerfully built and a handsome man. His de¬ portment was kind and courtly, his manner pleasant and amia-