catching frogs - finding my Cree and Metis ancestry

My trip across the Churchill River to visit the ruins of Fort Prince of Wales and my final day in Churchill. 

Strolling around the small community of Churchill and getting a sense of where everything is and visiting various sites to gather information. My plans got changed due to the nesting terns. 

A train ride is always a fun adventure and this proved to be similar to a train trip I made fifty-seven years earlier.

The road trip that took me from Nova Scotia to Winnipeg in my quest for knowledge.

We look at how Colin Sinclair was reunited with his family and how he lived out his life at the Red River Colony.  Reflection on Nahoway's life.

William Sinclair died 20 April 1818.  What happened to Nahoway and her family after his death?

We catch up with William and find out what he had been up to while we spent time with Colin Robertson. And we look more closely at why Nahoway wanted me to find Colin Robertson. It all makes sense now.

The North West Company was at war with the Hudson's Bay Company and were determined to destroy the Red River Colony in 1816. The history books place the responsibility for the destruction on the shoulders of the Metis, but according to Colin Robertson and James Bird and the accounts they share of the Seven Oaks Massacre, blame in truth lies solely with the North West Company.

Robertson re-established the Red River Colony by offering the settlers who remained a chance to begin again. It would not turn out as he had hoped. 

Robertson details in his journal of the travel between Terrebonne, Quebec and the Red River Colony, a journey that took 47 days.  They spent the night of July 6th on a piece of geography that is precious to me. 

Colin Robertson was in Montreal where he was recruiting men for the Red River Colony. He wrote in his journals about how the North West Company attempted to undermine his progress. The details are important to and explain the struggle of the Colony but I was interested in learning about the character of this man and the evidence his journal notes might give me and how he responded to difficulties and what his perceptions of people were. I was able to glean some idea of the man.

William Sinclair returned to Scotland to tend to his declining health. I turned my attention to Colin Robertson's personal journals to learn more about the man who extended a great kindness to Nahoway, a kindness that kept his name linked to Nahoway's family tree for generations to come.

Settlers began arriving from the Scottish Highlands and Ireland to make their way to what would become the Red River Colony.

Nahoway and William had seven children during their time at Oxford House, in addition to the four they already had. 

Oxford House post, built in 1798, was the home where William and Nahoway lived together the longest, raising their family. 

William Sinclair returned to York Factory in 1783 as servant to Humphrey Marten Chief of York Factory where he met Nahoway and their life together was taking shape.

We can't examine the details of life during the fur trade without considering the impact of smallpox on Indigenous people.

William Sinclair is my great-great-great-great grandfather, married to Nahoway. He signed on with the Hudson's Bay Company in 1782 and sailed to York Factory from Orkney aboard the King George, to begin his contract as servant to Humphrey Marten. The French had other plans. 

Who were the Churchill Home Guard and what role did they play at Fort Prince of Wales during the fur trade?

Examining Victor Lytwyn's book, Original People of the Great Swampy Land, published by the University of Manitoba Press in 2008. Lytwyn's purpose for writing this book was, in his words, to "challenge many stereotypical views of the Lowland Cree in the previous literature".

Louis Bird created extensive volumes of oral stories of the Swampy Cree. Consider the differences in the written historical account as compared to the oral histories.

Examine more closely the writers of the Hudson's Bay Company upon which we relied for a view of the history of that time. 

what's it all about

Critically examine Women of Red River , written by William James Healy and published in 1923 for details of Nahoway and her descendants

Introduction to my personal journey to reconnect with Nahoway, my great-great-great-great Omushkego grandmother.