- Big Joe Mufferaw
Big Joe Mufferaw was a
French Canadian folk hero from theOttawa Valley , perhaps best known today as the hero of a song byStompin' Tom Connors . Like Paul Bunyan, he made his living chopping down trees. The name is also sometimes spelled Muffero, Muffera, and Montferrand. The last spelling is more common among francophones; anglophones who had trouble with it used one of the other spellings.In addition to being the subject of many Paul Bunyan-esque tall tales, Mufferaw is sometimes enlisted as a defender of oppressed French Canadian loggers in the days when the bosses were English and their rivals for work were Irish. In one story, Big Joe was in a Montreal bar, where 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 place in the United States.
A real
Joseph Montferrand lived from1802 to1864 . French Canadian writer Benjamin Sulte told this man's story in a 1975 book. He also is the subject of a chapter in Joan Finnegan's 1981 book "Giants of the Ottawa Valley " and her 1983 book "Look! The Land is Growing Giants ". Bernie Bedore of Arnprior also wrote several books recounting Joe's adventures.There is also a typeface named for Joe Mufferaw.
A statue of Joe Mufferaw was erected outside of the Mattawa Museum in
Mattawa, Ontario , during the spring of 2005. It was carved by local carving artist Peter Cianafrani, and was his last statue before passing away later in the spring. A plaque commemorating his name sits at the base of the statue.The
Stompin' Tom Connors song describes the following tall tales, with many references to the Ottawa Valley:
*Joe "paddled in to Mattawa all the way fromOttawa in just one day".
*Joe had a "pet frog who was bigger than a horse, and barked like a dog."
*Mississippi Lake was formed as a result of sweat dripping off his face, as the citizens of Carleton Place can attest to.
*Joeportage d from Gatineau to Kemptville, to see his girlfriend, and "he was back and forth so many times to see her, that the path he wore became theRideau Canal ."
*He "put out a forest fire from halfway from Renfrew and Arnprior. He was half an hour away in Smiths Falls, but drowned out the fire with five spitballs."
*He "swam acrossCalabogie Lake to catch across eyed bass , but he said "I can't eat that," so he covered it up with Mount St. Pat."
*After drinking a bucket ofgin , Joe "beat the living tar out of 29 men and high above the ceiling of the Pembroke pub, there's 29 boot marks, and they're signed 'with love.'"Incidental media references
On May 1, 2007, Home Ice (
XM 204) aired a portion of the song, replacing the words "Joe Mufferaw" with a soundbite from the Team 1200'sOttawa Senators -New Jersey Devils playoff game broadcast from the night before, creating a crude "BigRay Emery ".External links
* [http://www.pastforward.ca/perspectives/Sept_212001.htm Heritage Perspectives - Big Joe Mufferaw]
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