Lakehead's First Inter-racial Marriages

[Alan Wade]

(1st of 5-part series)

Since the first Europeans who came to the Lakehead as fur traders were all men, their wives were all native women (with whom they usually lived “sous la couveture,” i.e. common law).

The companies which ran the Lakehead fur trade opposed such unions primarily because they did not want to be financially responsible for their employees’ dependents and issued several decrees to that effect, which were systematically ignored (as was- and is- often the case with declarations from far-away managers ignorant of local conditions.)

William McGillivray (after whom Fort William was named) had a Cree wife, Susan, in the 1780’s and 90’s, who bore him three children- Simon, Joseph, and one whose name as fallen through “the cracks of history.” After her death in 1819, she was buried in the cemetery, originally located at the present-day corner of George and Hardisty Streets, where the Canada Packers building was (presently occupied by Northern Windows.) Her grave was later moved to Riverview Cemetery where the tombstone can still be seen today.

Dr. McLouglin, the second doctor at the Fort William fur trading post, was married twice to a native woman. His first relationship with a woman whose name is unknown resulted in the birth of a son, Joseph. In the summer of 1811, just before his 27th birthday he got “re-hitched” to Marguerite, a woman with long black hair, eight years his senior. This was her second marriage as well. Her first relationship was with Alexander McKay, with whom she had three daughters: Nancy, Mary, and one whose name has been lost. She and the doctor had four kids- Joseph, John Jr., Elizabeth, and Eloisa. Marguerite’s gentleness helped dampen the fire in her husband’s personality.

Once married to a European man, native women changed their dress. If “hitched” to a trader they started to wear the high-waisted empire line; if to a voyageur, they began sporting a short gown and petticoat. They and their children were officially classed as white. As Jean Morrison points out in her book Superior Rendezvous, an 1805 report refers to every woman married to a European and to their children as “white.”

But were they accepted as the equals of European women in everyday life? A letter written by Lefroy, who passed through the Lakehead in 1843 would indicate No. He wrote: “The fur traders have a curious aversion to allowing their wives to be seen. At Fort William, although there two or three days, I could not get a glimpse of the lady (i.e. the wife of the man in charge).” Dr. McLoughlin’s daughter had a similar experience at Fort Vancouver: “When my father had distinguished visitors, he entertained them in the general mess room, and not in the family mess room. Gentlemen who came to the Fort never saw the family.”

The actions of fur traders when they left the fur-trading country would also indicate a No answer. William McGillvrary, mentioned above, dumped Susan on his departure and married a European woman, Magdeleine McDonald, the sister of his co-worker, John Macdonald of Garth.

But not all- or necessarily the majority- followed his pattern. Daniel McKenzie, for one, when forced by Lord Selkirk to go to Montreal insisted he be allowed to take his family with him. However, he was turned down. Mrs. Mackenzie and the children subsequently had a very rough time of it. She was left very little to feed herself and the children and once had to defend herself from Selkirk’s soldiers with pistols. Eventually the family reunited and end up settling on a farm near Brockville, Ontario.

[agjg55]

Big Al: These "sous la couverture" marriages had been going on for some time in Quebec too, since its early colonisation by the French. This is what prompted France to send "les filles du Roi" to Canada so that the men could marry women of their own race. The RC priests, in their church records, often changed the names of "Indian" wives to French to make them more "acceptable".
André.