Pierre St. Germain

Pierre St. Germain (c. 1790 – c. 1875) was a Métis interpreter and fur trader, notable for his service in John Franklin's Coppermine expedition. Born c. 1790, possibly to a family of North West Company (NWC) interpreters, he was first employed with the NWC in 1812, before transferring to the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC). He served for several years as an interpreter in Athabasca Country before employment as a guide for the Franklin expedition. The expedition, plagued by supply shortages due to conflicts between the NWC and HBC, was devastated by starvation on the return journey from the Arctic coast, leading to the deaths of the majority of the participants. After twenty years of service in the fur trade, he settled in the Red River Colony at what is now Winnipeg. Ten years later, he and his family participated in James Sinclair's settler expedition to the Columbia District, part of a HBC plan to bolster the nascent Puget Sound Agricultural Company. He remained in the Cowlitz Prairie with his family for the rest of his life, dying at some point in the 1870s.