Joseph Montferrand
Voyageur, logger, strong man, and a figure of legend; b. 25 Oct. 1802 at Montreal, son of François-Joseph Favre, dit Montferrand, voyageur, and Marie-Louise Couvret; d. 4 Oct. 1864 in his native town.
Joseph Montferrand, dit Favre (the Favre comes from his grandfather François Favre, dit Montferrand), belonged to the third generation of Montferrands in Canada.
He grew tall (six feet, four inches) and strong, but especially he was fast and agile. Various witnesses of the time say his body moved like a whip. As a teenager he was known for beating up neighbourhood troublemakers and even winning a boxing match against a boxing instructor.
Young Montferrand first drove a cart, but was eventually lured by money, or love of the outdoors, to work for the Hudson’s Bay Company.
Logging took him along the rivers of Lower Canada and also the Upper Ottawa River, working in the camps all winter and driving the logs downstream to the mills in spring.
His image lives on divided. In English he evolved into something of a Paul Bunyan character
In French-speaking Canada he became a strong man who helped the weak, resorting to violence as a last resort, preserving traditional values.
His legend lives on in poems, stories, books and songs – the most recent written and performed by Stompin’ Tom Connors.
Big Joe Mufferaw
Explorer’s Point, the site of the Mattawa Museum includes a hand carved pine statue of one of Canada’s folk heroes, Joe Mufferaw, perfect for a photo opportunity.
Our talented Mattawa photographer Danny Turcotte (Catch-Light.ca) captured Big Joe in a new way at night with some flashlights and some light painting.
There is no photoshop in this photo. It was done in the dark with his camera on a tri pod taking a long photo and as it takes the photo he used flashlights and sparks spinning in the air which creates this effect. He actually ran around creating the image.
“You can see me standing there spinning the fireworks which gives the photo scale to show how tall Big Joe is as he stands towering above me—-I think he just paddled down the Ottawa…..”
You can even see the 3 crosses in the background!
Related Articles
Doug Mackey, 64:September 21, 2001 – Canada’s Mythical Mufferaw is a real part of Mattawa
leDroit, March 3, 2019 – La légende de Jos Montferrand
Related Publications
Mythical Mufferaw by Bernie Bedore
Scotty the Pike More Tall Tales of Joe Mufferaw by Bernie Bedore