Wisconsin Historical Collections, Volume XV (1900)

              452 wisconsin historical collections vol xv narrative of alexis clermont in an interview with the editor.1 i was born on mackinac island april 3 1808 my father — - i do not know his baptismal name — was killed in the war of 1812-15 he was a french canadian and at the time was serving in the british army my mother married again this time to francis beaudien and in the autumn of 1820 they came with me to green bay in the fall of 1828 joseph paquette,2 who had a place below dutchman's creek took a contract for furnishing hay to fort winnebago at the fox-wisconsin portage i went to the portage with paquette and his other men to make the hay my wages being if i remember aright 1 at the narrator's home in de pere june 23 1888 in the presence and with the assistance of the late andrew j.vieau the language is necessarily that of the editor for clermont was illiterate and the information could only be elicited by careful cross questioning vieau's own intimate knowl edge of the principal facts of clermont's life was of material value in as sisting the exercise of his friend's memory the manner of clermont's narration is preserved as closely as is practicable under the circumstances in october 1892 clermont then in his 85th year desirous of revisiting chicago walked the entire distance of 210 miles over his old mail-route in the identical costume mail pouch and all which he wore when a car rier in the " 30's his path led through kaukauna appleton menasha neenah oshkosh fond du lac west bend milwaukee racine kenosha waukegan and evanston being poor and unsophisticated he had hoped that his overland journey would attract sufficient popular attention to win for him a revenue sufficient to support his declining days but it failed of this purpose and friends were obliged to send him home clermont died at de pere february 8 1899 ed 2 a cousin of pierre paquette of portage see wis hist colls xii pp 402 403 ed