Jean Baptiste Barsalou

Jean Baptiste Barsalou was a Canadian fur trader and merchant-tanner. He was born on Sept 1706 at Montreal to Gérard Barsalou and Marie-Catherine Legras. His father was a master tanner and had owned his own tannery in the faubourg Sainte-Catherine.

Jean entered the working world by making a few trips to the fur country on behalf of his uncle Neveu and of another merchant, Ignace Gamelin the younger. From the early 1730s he assumed management of the tannery, making agreements with Montreal butchers to reserve the hides of oxen, cows, and calves for him, and with shoemakers to settle the price of leather prepared in his shop.

However, the inflation to which Canadian business was subject during the final years of the French régime and the losses experienced when paper currency was regulated after the British conquest strongly affected Barsalou’s trade. His business gradually deteriorated and his efforts were meet with failure.