Merchant-tanner
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Le Marchand tanneur | The Merchant-Tanner
The rabbit skin merchant ("Marchand de peaux de lapin", painting by Carle Vernet, La France pittoresque).
A marchand tanneur, or merchant-tanner, was someone who processed and sold animal skins. Some merchants owned a tannery, and employed tanners and master-tanners to work for them. The merchant would provide the tanners with food, lodging, laundry services and an annual salary.
Other merchants simply formed alliances with master-tanners to sell their products, some agreeing to buy an entire year’s worth of production.
Known persons who had this occupation: Denis Avisse, François Barsalou, Gérard Barsalou, Jean-Baptiste Barsalou, Etienne Chare(s)t (père et fils), Jean (de) Dieu, Charles Delaunay, Jacques Delavant, Jacques Drolet, François Dulaurent dit Saint-Laurent, Pierre Gendron, Noël Giroux, René Hautbois, Pierre Hay(a), Thomas Huguet, Charles Larche, Jean-Baptiste Larchevêque dit Grandpré, Claude Lenoir dit Roland, Gabriel Lenoir dit Rolland, Louis Mallet, Jean Mouchère dit Desmoulins, Joseph Normand, Jean-Louis Plessis dit Bélair, Ignace Robreau dit Duplessis, Pierre Robreau dit Duplessis, Hippolyte Thibierge, Jean Thomelet
Source: Marîse Thivierge, “Les artisans du cuir à Québec (1660-1760)”, Revue d’histoire de l’Amérique française (Dec 1980), Volume 34, numéro 3; electronic edition, Érudit (https://doi.org/10.7202/303877ar).