Wilmont Kreis

Just before the advent of the French and Indian War, a group of two families were recruited from north of Quebec to Detroit to help run the windmills. The Tremblay (later Trombley) and Laforest families came to Detroit by canoe. Along with the arduous voyage, this included portaging Niagara with sixteen children, thirteen of whom were quite young and four were one year old or younger. The story of this voyage to bring two great families to the city in the wilderness is well recorded and recently reported in Michigan’s Habitant Heritage, a periodical filled with priceless details of the French-Canadian-Detroit society. I could not help including it in the book, as these families will play a large part in the story into the twentieth century. Read More