Joseph "Jos" Montferrand (; born Joseph Favre ; October 25, 1802 – October 4, 1864) was a

French-Canadian French Canadians, referred to as Canadiens mainly before the nineteenth century, are an ethnic group descended from French colonists first arriving in France's colony of Canada in 1608. The vast majority of French Canadians live in the prov ...

logger,

strongman Strongman is a competitive strength sport which tests athletes' physical strength and endurance through a variety of heavy lifts and events. Strongman competitions are known for their intensity, pushing athletes to their physical and mental limit ...

, and

folk hero A folk hero or national hero is a type of hero – real, fictional or mythology, mythological – with their name, personality and deeds embedded in the popular consciousness of a people, mentioned frequently in Folk music, folk songs, folk tales ...

of the working man and was the inspiration for the legendary Ottawa Valley figure Big Joe Mufferaw.

Life

Joseph Favre, dit Montferrand, was born in the St. Lawrence district of

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

in 1802. The family men were known for their strength and powerful build. Joe was tall with blue eyes and fair hair. Although he was mild in manner and appearance, he could more than hold his own in a street fight. He successfully challenged several famed boxers during his youth. He came to fame as a result of a challenge issued at a

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

match in the Champ de Mars, Montreal. Two English-speaking boxers had just fought for the championship. The organizers then asked if there was anyone in the crowd who wished to challenge the champion of Canada. The 16-year-old Montferrand stepped into the ring and, with one punch, felled the champion. News of the surprising event spread quickly. At the age of 21, he joined the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

as a voyageur. In 1827, he began work as a logger on the Rivière du Nord in

Lower Canada The Province of Lower Canada () was a British colonization of the Americas, British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence established in 1791 and abolished in 1841. It covered the southern portion o ...

and then moved to the upper

Ottawa River The Ottawa River (, ) is a river in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. It is named after the Algonquin word "to trade", as it was the major trade route of Eastern Canada at the time. For most of its length, it defines the border betw ...

. The loggers felled trees over the winter, drove the logs down the river, and eventually arrived at

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

. Montferrand would also briefly have a stint in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, working for the

Amoskeag Manufacturing Company The Amoskeag Manufacturing Company was a textile industry, textile manufacturer which founded Manchester, New Hampshire, United States. From modest beginnings it grew throughout the 19th century into the largest cotton textile plant in the world ...

Manchester, New Hampshire Manchester is the List of municipalities in New Hampshire, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Hampshire. Located on the banks of the Merrimack River, it had a population of 115,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Manches ...

. Montferrand spent the remainder of his working years in the lumber trade in the

Outaouais Outaouais (, ; also commonly called The Outaouais) is a region of western Quebec, Canada. It includes the city of Gatineau, the municipality of Val-des-Monts, the municipality of Cantley, Quebec, Cantley and the Papineau Regional County Municipal ...

. There was ongoing animosity between Anglophones and

Francophones The French language became an international language, the second international language alongside Latin, in the Middle Ages, "from the fourteenth century onwards". It was not by virtue of the power of the Kingdom of France: '"... until the end ...

and frequent fights between English-, Irish-, and French-Canadian loggers. Montferrand's prowess with his fists and boots was legendary in avenging the wrongs to which he and his compatriots were subjected. Jo Montferrand Pierre tombale

Montferrand defended French-Canadian workers against gangs of

Irish immigrants The Irish diaspora () refers to ethnic Irish people and their descendants who live outside the island of Ireland. The phenomenon of migration from Ireland is recorded since the Early Middle Ages,Flechner, Roy; Meeder, Sven (2017). The Irish ...

known as " Shiners" in the

Bytown Bytown is the former name of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was founded on September 26, 1826, incorporated as a town on January 1, 1850, and superseded by the incorporation of the City of Ottawa on January 1, 1855. The founding was marked by a sod ...

area. After 1840, he mainly worked the log drives as foreman and retired in 1857. In his later years, he had back and joint pain. He died in Montreal in 1864, aged 61, and was interred at the

Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery (, ) is a rural cemetery located in the borough of Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, which was founded in 1854. The entrance and the grounds run along a part of Côte-des-Neiges Ro ...

Legacy

Montferrand's legendary nickname, Big Joe Mufferaw (also sometimes spelled Muffero, Muffera, Muffraw), is believed to be a result of English speakers mispronouncing "Montferrand" phonetically. He was already a legitimate folk hero in his own time, but his reputation grew into the mythical hero when exaggerated tales were told about him. Like

Paul Bunyan Paul Bunyan is a giant lumberjack and folk hero in American and Canadian folklore. His tall tales revolve around his superhuman labors, and he is customarily accompanied by Babe the Blue Ox, his pet and working animal. The character originate ...

, he became the subject of many similar

tall tale A tall tale is a story with unbelievable elements, related as if it were true and factual. Some tall tales are exaggerations of actual events, for example fish stories ("the fish that got away") such as, "That fish was so big, why I tell ya', it ...

s. Mufferaw is sometimes enlisted as a defender of oppressed French-Canadian loggers in the days that their bosses were English-Canadians and their rivals at work were Irish-Canadian criminals. In one story, Big Joe was in a Montreal bar, and a British army major named Jones was freely insulting French-Canadians. After Big Joe beat the major, he bellowed, "Any more insults for the Canadians?" Some Mufferaw tales take place in the

Northeastern United States The Northeastern United States (also referred to as the Northeast, the East Coast, or the American Northeast) is List of regions of the United States, census regions United States Census Bureau. Located on the East Coast of the United States, ...

. The French-Canadian writer Benjamin Sulte told this man's story in a

1884 Events January * January 4 – The Fabian Society is founded in London to promote gradualist social progress. * January 5 – Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera '' Princess Ida'', a satire on feminism, premières at the Savoy The ...

book. He is also the subject of a chapter in Joan Finnigan's

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

book '' Giants of the Ottawa Valley'' and her

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

book '' Look! The Land Is Growing Giants''. Bernie Bedore of Arnprior also wrote several books that recount Joe's adventures.

Stompin' Tom Connors Charles Thomas "Stompin' Tom" Connors, Order of Canada, OC (February 9, 1936 – March 6, 2013) was a Canadian country music, country and folk music, folk singer-songwriter. Focusing his career exclusively on his native Canada, he is credited wi ...

made him the hero of a 1970 song. A statue of Joe Mufferaw was erected outside the Mattawa Museum in

Mattawa, Ontario Mattawa is a town in northeastern Ontario, Canada at the confluence of the Mattawa and Ottawa Rivers in Nipissing District. The first Europeans to pass through this area were Étienne Brûlé and Samuel de Champlain. History In 1610, Étienne Br ...

, during the spring of 2005. Carved by local carving artist Peter Cianafrani, it was his last statue before he died later that spring. A plaque commemorating his name sits at the base of the statue. Montferrand was also the inspiration for the Big Joe mascot of the

Ottawa Redblacks The Ottawa Redblacks (officially stylized as REDBLACKS) (Canadian French, French: ) are a professional Canadian football team based in Ottawa, Ontario. The team plays in the East Division (CFL), East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL ...

CFL team. Montferrand was named a National Historic Person by the federal government in 2023.
Larger than life French Canadian folk hero and raftsman Jos Montferrand receives National Historic Person designation
Parks Canada news release, August 19, 2024.

References

Bibliography

*''Histoire de Jos. Montferrand, l’athlète canadien'', Benjamin Sulte, Montreal: J.B. Camyre (1883) *''The shanty: a story from the Ottawa Valley of Canada'', Bernie Bedore, Arnprior, Ontario: Mufferaw Enterprises (1975) *''Tall tales of Joe Mufferaw'', Bernie Bedore, Toronto: Consolidated Amethyst Communications (1979) *''Jos Montferrand : le géant des rivières'', Mathieu-Robert Sauvé, XYZ, 2007. *''Montferrand: v.1 Le prix de l'honneur; v.2. Un géant sur le pont'', Paul Ohl, Libre Expression, 2009. *''Jos'', P. J. Poirier, Marchand de feuilles, 2010. * Bourgoin Louis-Marie, « Jos. Montferrand, contremaître de chantier et guide de cage », Asticou, cahier no 23 (juin 1980), p. 34-39. * Choquette Robert, L’Ontario français historique, Montréal, Éditions Études Vivantes, 1980, 272 p. * Côté Jean, Jos Montferrand, le magnifique, Montréal, Éditions Quebecor, 1980, 136 p. * Du Berger Jean, « Histoire de Montferrand : l’athlète canadien and Joe Muffraw », Journal of American Folklore », vol. 73 (1960), p. 23-34. * Gaffield Chad (dir.), Histoire de l'Outaouais, Québec, Institut québécois de recherche sur la culture, 1994, 876 p. * Gouin Jacques, « Jos. Montferrand : Histoire, légende et symbole », Asticou, cahier no 3 (juillet 1969), p. 5-9. * Goyer Gérard et Jean Hamelin, Joseph Montferrand, dans Dictionnaire biographique du Canada, vol. IX. Québec, Presses de l'Université Laval, 1977, p. 620-623. * Lemieux Gilles, « La vie de l’illustre Joe Montferrand par Sir Wilfrid Laurier », Asticou, cahier no 8 (décembre 1971), p. 27-34. * Montpetit André-Napoléon Nos hommes forts, Québec, C. Darveau, 1884, 196 p. * Ohl Paul, Montferrand : le prix de l’honneur, tome I, Montréal, Libre Expression, 2008, 376 p. * Ohl Paul, Montferrand : un héros sur le pont, tome II, Montréal, Libre Expression, 2009, 376 p. * Prévost Michel, «Jos Montferrand, de la légende à la réalité», Histoire Québec, vol. 1, no 1 (juin 2005), p. 37-40. * Prévost Michel, «Joseph (Jos) Montferrand : roi des forêts de l'Outaouais ou pilier de tavernes?», Cap-aux-Diamants, 69 (printemps 2002), p. 13-17.

External links

Biography
at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''

(French)

(French)
Article at thecanadianencyclopedia.ca
* For the album by

{{DEFAULTSORT:Montferrand, Joseph 1802 births 1864 deaths Franco-Ontarian people Track and field athletes from Montreal Canadian strength athletes Canadian folklore Canadian fur traders Canadian loggers Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada) Burials at Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery Tall tales Canadian legends Hudson's Bay Company people North West Company people Pre-Confederation Quebec people Pre-Confederation Ontario people

Life

Legacy

See also

References

Bibliography

External links