Date Published:
January 2005

L’Encyclopédie de l’histoire du Québec / The Quebec History Encyclopedia

Louis Joseph de La Vérendrye

La Vérendrye, Louis Joseph de (1717-1761), explorer, was born at Sorel, Canada, on November 9, 1717, the fourth son of Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, Sieur de La Vérendrye. He joined his father in the West about 1736, accompanied him on the trip to the Mandans in 1738, and was with his brother, the Chevalier de La Vérendrye on the expedition to the Rocky mountains in 1742-3. He left the West in 1749, and entered the army as a cadet. He served in Canada during the Seven Years' War; and was drowned, in October, 1761, in the wreck of the Auguste, while returning to France. In 1758 he married, at La Prairie, Louise Antoine de Lépervanche; but he appears to have left no issue. See Abbé I. Caron, Pierre Gaultier de Varennes de La Vérendrye et ses fils (Bull. rech. hist ., 1917), and A. H. de Trémaudan, Who was the Chevalier de La Vérendrye? (Can. hist. rev ., 1920).

Source : W. Stewart WALLACE, ed., The Encyclopedia of Canada, Vol. IV, Toronto, University Associates of Canada, 1948, 400p., p. 4.