Jean Baptiste Cardinal was born on May 19, 1728 to Jeanne Duguay and Jacques Jean-Baptiste Cardinal,  and was baptized at the Basilique Notre-Dame in Montreal. He was one of nine children which included two sisters named Jeanne, and brothers named Jacques, Joseph, Nicolas, Jean-Baptiste, Pierre and Charles.

On April 8, 1755 in Detroit, Jean Baptiste married Marie-Anne Maillet.  Their first two children, Jeanne-Marie and Marie-Anne, are believed to have been born in Canada.  At some point between 1758 and 1761, the family migrated southward and settled at Fort Vincennes.  Four more children were born to the couple over the next decade: Jacques, Genevieve, Jean-Baptiste, and Celeste.

Fort Vincennes played a pivotal part in the battles on the western front of the Revolutionary War.  The fort changed hands several times between the British forces, which were based in Detroit, and the American forces who made allies of the French Canadians who lived in the area.  Jean Baptiste supported the cause against the British by signing the Oath of Allegiance to Vincennes in 1778 and fighting in the militia under George Rogers Clark.  In 1780,  it is believed that Jean Baptiste marched with Augustin de la Balme in an attempt to take Detroit.  Along the way, La Balme took an unoccupied British and Indian trading post near present day Fort Wayne, Indiana.  When his expected reinforcements did not show up, he took some of his men to capture another post along the Eel River.  The local Indians were unhappy with the outsiders intruding and attacked.  After a lengthy battle, most of the men, include Jean Baptiste Cardinal, perished along the Eel River.

Jean Baptiste Cardinal was my 7th great-uncle on my mom’s side.

REFERENCES

• Canadian Genealogy Index
• Quebec Vital Church Records (Drouin Collection)
• Quebec, Genealogical Dictionary of Canadian Families (Tanguay Collection)
• “De La Balme’s Defeat” – Revolutionary War and Beyond website