Beaubien learned the fur trading business from Joseph Bailly, who had a trading post on the Grand River in modern-day Michigan.
Bailly provided Beaubien with a basic education, as he did with his metis trainee, Alexander Robinson, although unlike Beaubien Robinson never learned to write any European language (but used his own script to keep track of his accounts).
By 1800, Beaubien had his own trading house in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
By 1806, Bailly and Robinson had a trading post in the Lake Calumet region (now part of Chicago).
Beaubien learned the fur trading business from Joseph Bailly, who had a trading post on the Grand River in modern-day Michigan. Bailly provided Beaubien with a basic education, as he did with his metis trainee, Alexander Robinson, although unlike Beaubien Robinson never learned to write any European language (but used his own script to keep track of his accounts). By 1800, Beaubien had his own trading house in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. By 1806, Bailly and Robinson had a trading post in the Lake Calumet region (now part of Chicago).
Jean Baptiste Beaubien