Marie-Anne : The Extraordinary Life Of Louis Riel's Grandmother

Marie -Ann Lagimodiere (nee Gaboury) 1780-1875 was the first woman of European descent to settle in what is now Western Canada and the grandmother of Métis leader Louis Riel. Born in Maskinongé, Quebec, she married fur trader Jean-Baptiste Lagimodière in 1806 and accompanied him on a challenging 2,200 km journey west. Together they lived among Indigenous communities, participated in buffalo hunts, and raised a large family in the Red River region, helping to establish the early French-speaking settlement of St. Boniface, Manitoba.

Maggie Siggins offers a comprehensive cradle-to-grave biography of Marie-Anne Lagimodière, capturing the full arc of her life as a pioneer, settler, and grandmother of Louis Riel.