Was a descendant of a prominent family of Le Mons, France. His father, a lawyer, came to Canada in 1757 as secretary of the army under Montcalm. Jean Baptiste, the seventh son of Barthelmy Faribault, was born at Berthier, Canada in 1774. Here he received a fair education until at the age of sixteen when he left school to enter a firm of importers at Quebec. In 1799 the lure of adventure and opportunity led him to become a fur trader in the employ of the Northwest Fur Company. He was given charge of the trading posts at Kankakee, near present day Chicago, Baton Rouge on the Des Moines River in Iowa, and in 1805 at Little Rapids on the St. Peter River (Minnesota River) near present day Carver. By 1809 he had become an independent trader at Prairie du Chein.
In 1805, Jean Baptiste married Elizabeth Pelagie Kinne Hanse, the widow of the superintendent of Indian affairs. As the daughter of a French voyageur and a Wahpeton Dakota mother, Pelagie was a member of that Dakota band.
In 1812, Mr. Faribault was offered a commission in the British Army. He declined, remaining friendly to the United States. During the siege of Prarie du Chein by the English, his house was burned, his cattle killed and $12,000 worth of furs and merchandise were pillaged. Mr. Faribault later became a naturalized citizen of the United States and an employee of the American Fur Company.
In 1819, Colonel Henry Leavenworth, being impressed by Faribault's knowledge and understanding of the Dakota Indians, offered him military protection and assistance if he would settle near the new fort at the mouth of the Minnesota River. Faribault and his family settled at Pikes Island where he built a log house, farmed, and carried on his fur trade with the Indians.
In June, 1822 the island flooded and he moved to the east bank of the river becoming the first resident of Mendota. There in the spring of 1826 the water, which was unusually high, carried off his house and livestock. Still not discouraged he built higher on the river bank. Around 1840 Faribault's stone house was built where he lived for many years.
Mr. Faribault died on August 20, 1860 at Faribault, the city which had been named for his oldest son.
