Big Jean Lavoie
Name: 'Big' Jean Lavoie Birth: Nova Scotia, 1880 Occupation: Logger/Miner/Sailor Biography: Two things typify Jean Lavoie - his size, and his wanderlust. Born in Nova Scotia to a family of Scots-Acadians, Lavoie grew up on frontier settlements, following his father who worked as a logger. From a very young age, Jean earned his keep hauling coal and tending steam engines, graduating to logging before he sprouted his first chin hair. Always a big child, his years swinging axes and pulling saws made 18-year old Jean something of a mountain. After a few years of logging, he began to seek change, travelling south to the United States where he got a job as a miner in the Appalachian mountains. His strength proved a merit hauling carts, though standing well over six and a half feet was something of a hindrance. Some years into his tenure he was involved in a collapse, barely escaping with his life after holding up a sagging prop to allow his mates to escape. He then travelled to N...
