Louis Annance 1794 - 1875 Famous Abenaki Trapper and Guide

Louis Annance, pronounced Louie, the famous guide of Maine, was born in St.Francois, Canada, August 25th, 1794. He was the son of Francois Annance and Marie Joseph, also from St.Francois, (Odanak).
In 1805, he was sent to Hanover, New Hampshire to attend the preparatory school at Dartmouth. Several Abenaki boys had been sent there for their education, including Louis' father and brother. With the War of 1812 looming, Louis left the school to fight along with his fellow Abenaki. Knowing three languages, English, French and his native tongue, he served as an interpreter. He was loyal to the British and received commendations for bravery . His brother, Francois (Noel) Annance, was in charge of all of the Abenaki soldiers during the war. Noel went on to join the Northwest Co. and then the Hudson's Bay Co. after the war.
In 1817, Louis married Margeurite Guillman. Together they had three children, Margeurite Louisa - b.1819, Louis Napoleon - b.1822 and Edouard - b.1829. They were all baptized at St.Francois.
About 1819, Louis renounced the Catholic faith and joined the Congregationalists. He stated," I am going to the place of my forefathers," and the family removed themselves from Odanak. They travelled to the lakes of Western Maine and later to Lancaster, New Hampshire. Here, he connected himself with the Methodists and was a member of one of their churches. He also united with the Masonic order, and was made a master mason at North Star Lodge of Lancaster in 1834. Being the first Abenaki , and one of the first Native Americans to join the fraternity. The secretary of North Star Lodge, in a communication to Albert F. Jackson, master of Doric Lodge of Monson, Maine, under the date November 3, 1876, writes that,"some of our oldest members recollect Brother Annance, who was made a mason here, and say they have sat in a lodge with him."
In a Bicentennial Sketchbook , (1764-1964) of Lancaster it is written, In later years there were several Indians in the town, one of whom, Louis Annance, lived in the old manner, on the bank of the Israels River about a mile above the bridge. He kept a tame moose, and may have been the inspiration for the character of Tomah in D.P. Thompson's novel' " The Trappers of Umbagog", the plot of which follows closly the details of an actual murder.
The early histories of Andover and Rangeley, Maine,also tell stories of Louis Annance. At Squire Rangeley's Township, in 1825, there were Indians living at Indian rock, among them old Metallak, a great friend of the whites, and Louis Annance, described as " a good Christian man." A bad Indain was Bill Williams, who lived on the lakeshore and troubled early settlers and threatened their lives. He had a squaw and two children. One day in winter, they came back from a trip down the lake with only one child and when questioned, the squaw said, "I could only carry one, and Bill wouldn't carry the other, so he took him by the hair of the head and shook him until he died.' Bill was later killed by the Indians themselves.
About 1840, the 'Big Indian' was Louis Annance . He lived with his aged sister and two nephews. They occupied a log cabin on the road to what later was Abram (Abraham) Ross' farm and Nathaniel Toothaker's farm overlooking the lake. It was this family of Abenaki who taught the pioneer farming stock the ways of the woods and lakes, as well asIndian lore of the region.

"The Cultured Indian"

There had been in the early days of the white settlers, Indian trappers about the lakes. Jerome and Elijah Wazamimet and their uncle Louis Annance, who was educated at Dartmouth. Louis Annance, always retained his Indian wild life tastes and returned to the lake country to hunt with his Abenaki brothers. Many are burried in the Cupsuptic woods near the mouth of the Kennebago stream.

Greenville, Maine about 1840

Louis Annance had never lost his love for the wilderness. With many trips from New Hampshire to Maine, he was captivated by the solitude and beauty of the Moosehead Lake region. About 1840, he moved his family to the region. Walter Creegan, editor for "The Northern" for many years, gathered information about Old Louis from the residents of Greenville. He writes, Mr. Shaw states that "Louis Annance was well known and respected by the townspeople. He was a tall man , straight, broad-shouldered, copper-colored, and athletic in his makup. He was one of the St.Francis Indians that Thoreau met on his trip to the region in 1857. Louis stated that "Thoreau did not know the first thing about building a canoe. He spoke pure english, french and his indian language. He was a great reader and an easy speaker and although he lived in the solitude of the wilderness, he could sit down with an educated person and converse with him on almost any subject."
Lucius Hubbard, whose frequent visits to the Maine woods resulted in the best map ever made, remembered that "Louis lived in a cabin on the shore of the cove east of Kineo House in 1870. He worked as a guide, hunter, trapper and was the butcher of Greenville for many years. Louis smoked a mixture of tobacco and the bark of the squawbush, half and half, and in his later years, the children of town would gather it for him as a treat."
Louis passed on December 25, 1875 and is burried under a cedar tree in the Greenville cemetery. His headstone was erected the fourth day of October in 1876 by his brother master masons and the services were conducted by the Doric Lodge of Monson, under a dispensation granted by Albert Moore, grand master of the Grand Lodge of Maine, September 30, 1876. It is unknown when Louis' wife passed on and it is said that she was burried on one of the islands at the lake.
John F.Sprague, who sat with Old Louis and heard him tell his life story a year before he passed on, read the following before the Maine Historical Society wrote, "He was a man of marked natural ability and superior intelligence, and was noted for his kind and generous disposition, his genial and pleasant manners, unimpeachable integrity and strict morality. While possessing all of these traits of a noble and refined manhood, he, at the same time, always retained the natural instincts and peculiarities of his race; for he loved the lone hunting grounds of his fathers, and devoted many autumns and winters to the adventurous hunt and exciting chase.