Margaret L. Clarke, Editor #29, Evanson Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba
In an earlier article, I briefly listed the children of Joseph Cook and Catherine Sinclair. I have since come across mention of four of the children as adults. An article about Fort Ellice in The Beaver (Autumn 1968) "Frontiersmen of Fort Ellice" by James McCook, tells of the work of "Reverend Thomas Cook, the Anglican missionary" (p. 39). He is evidently Thomas, born in 1826, died in 1891, married to Catherine McKenzie, from the list. The article goes on to say that the Anglican mission was established at Ellice outside the stockade in 1854, and that the missionaries covered Qu'Appelle and Pelly as well as other areas. The Thomas Cook family apparently resided at first with the William McKay family as William noted in 1868 that his brother-in-law had moved to his own house, adding "High time, been six years about it." The author of the article is quoting from Fort Ellice journals in the Hudson's Bay Company archives. Thomas and family were apparently living at Ellice until the late 1860s, when he was moved to "Whitemud River, near Portage la Prairie, to serve a settled congregation" (p. 39). The connection between him and William McKay is of course his sister Mary, born 1824 and married to William. She raised 10 children, many of whom became well known in the history of the prairies. In the autobiography of one of the middle sons, Archdeacon George McKay, is a charming segment describing a near-misadventure involving his mother. After discussing his mother's abilities in making leather clothing to cloth her children and putting up preserves, he says:
For relaxation and outdoor exercise, mother indulged in the sport of hunting.
With an up-to-date sixteen gage (sic) fowling piece, many a savory dish of goose, duck, grouse and other game was secured for home consumption.
After peace was established with the blood-thirsty Sioux, some of them told this story about mother.
This happened in the days when the tomahawk was the favorite weapon of war. Two Sioux Indians had gone on the warpath and had reached Beaver Creek Fort. Hiding in the dense cover about a mile from the Fort, they spied a white woman, carrying a gun, coming in their direction. Just then the mallards flew up from the pond near the woman. Up went her gun to shoulder, and, with left and right shots, down dropped the two ducks. She picked up the ducks, retraced her steps homeward, unmolested by the Indians. When the Indians told this story they always concluded by saying they decided that with her expert marksmanship, any rash attempt on their part to molest that white woman would have proved fatal to them." (George McKay, Fighting Parson, pg. 60).
An article in Canadian Cattlemen situates another member of the family. "The first three cattle ranchers that settled in the Medicine Hat district were . . . Edward McKay, his brother-in-law Mathew Cook and his son-in-law, James Francis Sanderson." That is the opening sentence in "Early History of Medicine Hat" (November 1950) by William Henry McKay, Edward's grandson through his son Samuel. The article goes on to detail their work at establishing themselves in the area in 1882. They spent most of that first summer putting up hay, after putting up their buildings, barns and corrals.
"Mr. Cook, [Edward McKay's] brother-in-law, settled about five miles below the site of the future village of Medicine Hat, on the right bank of the river, and on the flat that still bears his given name, Mathew's Point." The article gives little other information about him, but previous articles in that publication detail the movements of Edward and what are described as his sons and hired men, in the two decades previous to that time. If Mathew was associated with Edward earlier, he had spent much of the last decade in the vicinity of Cypress Hills.
Again, the connection between Edward and Mathew is Mathew's sister, Caroline, married to Edward. Edward is William Mckay's brother. Two articles by the same author, published in the same journal in 1947, attempt to detail the life of Edward McKay. From "The Story of Edward McKay," parts 1 and 2, it is possible to glean some detail about Caroline. They married in Red River in the winter of 1847/48, and built a house there for use in the winter (June, pg. 20). They spent summers on the plains, buffalo hunting, until 1858 when Edward "re-entered the Hudson's Bay Company service as some of his children had reached school age and he had to settle down. He was put in charge of Fort Pembina . . . He stayed there for ten years." ( ibid. pg. 21) "He moved his entire outfit up to Fort Qu'Appelle in . . . 1868" (ibid. pg 40). He next moved to Cypress Hills in 1872, where he built cabins, barns, outbuildings and "broke a garden and barley patch with the walking plow which he had brought from his farm in [Red River]" (September, pg. 77) Caroline Cook was noted for her skill in making jams and preserves. (ibid. ) The story of the NWMP meeting with the family in the early summer of 1875 testified to her skill as cook, baker and seamstress. The guests were fed a meal of "buffalo meat and potatoes, onions, well-baked bread, with fresh butter and raspberry jam with real thick cream, also good tea and fresh milk for those who cared to drink it." (pg. 101) The account includes a description of women and girls dressed in muslin and calico and speaking English. (The articles mentioned were found in the Denney Papers from the Glenbow Archives.) They mention many other men associated with these families. The Canadian Cattlemen articles also include a lot of detail on the early settlement of the southern prairies of western Saskatchewan.
Thank you to all those who have sent in submissions. I apologize for my tardy responses, but our household has been out of commission with the flu for almost a month. To those so eagerly awaiting the next issue, I remind them that this is a bi-monthly publication, publishing six times a year. It is nice to know that you all look forward to each issue.
My special thanks to Harriet McKay for her unfailing interest and contributions, and to Zee Chevalier for the article on Peggy Taylor.
Thank you to Adele Johnson and others who took me to task over some apparent mistakes in the January issue: one of the apparent mistakes was over some quotes I extracted from the Many Trails to Manitow-Wapah community history book. I quoted them as having said that Catherine (Caroline) Cook was married to Edward McKay. I erred in not reassuring my readers that, as far as I knew, the name was Caroline. I also mentioned another error they made, but was unclear in exactly what the error was. In an article outlining the McKay family, they implied that the Marriage Certificate of Harriet McKay and John Dougal McKay was that of Harriet Ballendine and John Richards McKay, parents of Harriet McKay. John Dougal McKay is of course the son of William McKay, son of "Mad" Donald McKay and married to Julie Chalifoux.
A reminder to those sending submissions previously published elsewhere. Please, as much as possible, send the name of the publication, author and publication date, so that sources may be properly acknowledged.
In the above-named article by James McCook in the Beaver, Autumn, 1968, are detailed some of the everyday activities of this post during the 1860s. As well as the Reverend Thomas Cook and William McKay, mentioned in an earlier article in this edition, McCook focused on the activities of two of the men of the fort. Henry Millar was known for his work on the land and his care for the livestock. Jacob Beads he calls "a carpenter of genius often borrowed by other posts with building problems"(pg 34).
The author begins his discussion of these men and their work, as revealed in the Fort Ellice Journals as found in the HBC Archives, with remarks on the organization of the place. In one paragraph he comments:
"From the remnants of their journals . . . can be built an astonishing picture of the agricultural activity, the ceaseless building and improvement of transportation and the attention to spiritual and educational needs in a prairie community generations before the flood of settlers appeared" ( ibid.).
Another paragraph declares:
"The staff at the fort ranged between ten and thirty and was thoroughly organized. There were no idlers. In normal times they lived well but occasionally they had short rations, chiefly due to generosity in feeding starving Indians who gathered about the stockade when the hunt failed" (ibid.).
The details he gives on Millar's work cover the time from May of 1858 when he guided the men and women "who were cutting potatoes for seed" to his death and burial in early April 1859. Other tasks he performed were plowing and sowing the fields, milking and planting gardens, supervising haying, and the spreading of dung on the fields after harvest (pg 35, 36).
The article gives no family information on John Millar, but I would not be surprised if he were old. He could be the son of Thomas Millar who shows up in the Brandon journals on an irregular basis from 1794 to 1810 or so. [If anyone has family data on this individual, it would be welcomed.
The author introduces Jacob Beads by declaring him the counterpart of John Millar in industry. He reveals Jacob as being involved in the production of carts, boats, sleds as well as buildings. "Completion of the new fort on the Assiniboine, planned in 1862, took years and Jacob Beads was involved in every part of the operation" (pg 37). An entry for 6 January 1863 has Jacob going with sleds to look for wood to make the staircase for the Big House. In March he put facings on windows, between making boats. He had a hand in the new buildings at Fort Qu'Appelle after the completion of the new fort at Ellice in 1866( pg 37-39).
The account of Jacob Beads is completed with the notation that:
"In St. Lazare even to this day there is recollection of the fine workmanship in the Big House observed by the pioneers and described to their children. In a "History of Fort Ellice" mimeographed by the St. Lazare High School, Jacob Beads is remembered as the Builder of the Big House, "a halfbreed carpenter of great skill."" (pg 39).
Again, there is no family information on this man. Any information would be welcome.
An article titled "Country wives helped open West. Peggy Taylor's story typical of their contribution" by Eileen Burnett (Winnipeg Real Estate News, Friday March 26, 1993)
was sent to me by a contributor. I found it very interesting but space and copyright prohibit the inclusion of it here. I would like to discuss it as an example of some of the pitfalls in fur trade family history.
When one who is serious about factual information reads articles in the popular press, difficulties in accuracy intrude.
The article begins with a dramatized version of Peggy Taylor's childhood at York Factory. That section includes this statement:
"From its inception, York Factory became a bustling centre of activity. All of the early fur trade was funnelled through it. All of the early settlers, including those sponsored by Lord Selkirk, passed through its gates."
This statement dismisses the presence of Moose Factory, Fort Albany and Fort Prince of Wales, all active at the time covered by the article. Finding mistakes of this kind should set off alarms and suggest the need to do confirmatory research.
The article contains much rich detail on the siblings of Peggy Taylor and her children with Governor Simpson, but again errs in characterizing the relationship as not recognized by whites, and by characterizing Peggy as representative. Historians have shown that Governor Simpson was exceptionally cavalier in his attitude toward relationships for fur trade country in the early 19th century (Brown, 1976: p 250 - 276; Van Kirk, 1980: pg 161).
Problems again arise as the author discusses Peggy's choices when Simpson brought his white wife to Rupert's Land. She states that women "turned off " in this way could go to white relatives in Britain. I have never seen such an arrangement. She then says of children educated in Britain, that "with their education, manners and expectations, they were apt to meet with a lukewarm reception from whites and Natives alike. Not too many followed this route." In fact, this was a common and accepted arrangement, and many sons of company officers went this route. They were accepted by fur trade society, if not by Simpson and his elite, and in time found place in fur trade employment.
In the rest of the article, she does a fair job of describing the life of Peggy with Amable Hogue. If any part of her life is representative, this part is.