Teaser: Francois Rivet had a long life before and after his time with the Corps of Discovery. Marked by joy and sadness, momentous events in the life of Francois Rivet were found in the records of his Catholic parish.
After the Expedition – Francois Rivet
Born circa 1757 in Montreal, Canada, Francois Rivet joined the expedition in 1804. Rivet appeared to be a rather robust and active member of the expedition, adept at helping morale. Rivet was known for dancing on his head (Ordway, November 27, 1804). Rivet’s joie de vivre may explain his long life. Rivet passed away at the approximate age of 95 on September 27, 1852, and was buried two days later in St. Paul, Oregon in the Williamette Valley (S-15, p. 50). Present was one son of Francois, Antoine. Joseph Rivet, Francois’ other son, passed away earlier in the year (S-5, p. 46b) due to alcoholism (A-85). Rivet’s widow, Therese Flathead passed away shortly after Francois. She was buried on October 13, 1852. Her son, Antoine was a witness (S-17, p.51).
According to the archives of the St. Paul Catholic church in St. Paul, Oregon, Rivet had been hunting and trapping for 20 years prior to the expedition. Then, from 1813 to 1824, Rivet worked as an interpreter and hunter (Tubbs & Jenkinson). Rivet had a reported third son in 1816, Francois Jr. (Watson). In 1824, Rivet served as an interpreter for Alexander Ross’ Snake Country Expedition (Elliot). Afterward, he arrived in Oregon to interpret for the Hudson Bay Company and act as “kind of a hedge blacksmith” at Fort Colville in what is now Kettle Falls, Washington (A-85). Francois’ youngest son died in 1830 on a Snake River bound expedition, drowning in a whirlpool in the Dalles (Watson). In 1839, Rivet took a claim south of St. Paul (A-85; Tubbs & Jenkinson). By accounts of the church archives, Rivet became active in the community.
The Catholic Church recognized Francois Rivet’s marriage to Therese Flathead [Tete Platte in French, (Jackson)] in 1838 (Tubbs & Jenkinson), and there is evidence to suggest that Francois and Therese may have originally married in late 1782 (Rivet). Rivet met Therese when she was a young 19-year-old widow with a baby girl (Jackson). Rivet was Therese’ second husband. Her first husband was killed in battle against the Blackfeet (Flora & Courchane). Therese brought her baby daughter, Julia into her marriage with Rivet (Jackson), and Julia took Rivet’s name (Phillips). On July 13, 1840, Rivet was the Godfather to Archange Tyelis, a middle-aged Indian woman who was baptized (B-267, p. 7), and another infant girl of mixed descent (B-295, p. 20) later that year. On November 29, 1840, Rivet was again Godfather to a teenage girl, Catherine Hu (B-33, p. 16). Rivet also served as a witness for three marriages (M-11, p. 59; M-14, p. 67; M-6, p. 86) and was present for the burial of a Joseph PendOreille (S-6, p. 35). Even though Rivet was mentioned briefly on 13 occasions in the Lewis and Clark journals, one can gather a sufficient idea as to who the man was. In fact, Rivet’s active life full of love and loss served as inspiration for a fictional account of his life in The Gates of the Mountains (Henry).
Reference
Elliott, Thompson C. "Journal of Alexander Ross—Snake Country Expedition, 1824." The Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, vol. 14, no. 4, (1913): 366-385.
Flora, Stephanie, and Chalk Courchaine. “Peter Skene Ogden: Pioneer of 1817.” Retrieved from http://www.oregonpioneers.com/bios/PeterSkeneOgden_1817.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjCieDtrd32AhWKD0QIHcmXAL8QFnoECAQQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0GvUoAIxcGc0tBzmheCXOe
Henry, Will. The Gates of the Mountains. NewYork, Random House, 1963.
Jackson, John C. “Old Rivet.” The Magazine of Northwest History vol.18, no. 2 (2004): 1-7
Munnick, Harriet Duncan. 1979. Catholic Church Records of the Pacific Northwest: St. Paul, Oregon 1839-1898. Binford & Mort: Portland, Oregon
Phillips, Lisa. "Transitional Identities: Negotiating Social Transitions in the Pacific NW 1825-1860s." Canadian Political Science Review, vol 2, no. 2, (2008): 21-40.
Rivet, Tom. “François Rivet (1754 – 1852).” Wikitree, 2014, https://www.wikitree.com/ wiki/Rivet-234.
Tubbs, Stephenie Ambrose, and Clay Jenkinson. The Lewis and Clark Companion: An Encyclopedic Guide to the Voyage of Discovery. Macmillan, 2003.
Watson, Bruce McIntyre. Lives Lived West of the Divide: A Biographical Dictionary of Fur Traders Working West of the Rockies, 1793-1858. The University of British Columbia, 2010.
