| Marie Fisher Gaudet (1843-1914): "la Providence du fort Good Hope" |
by Diane P. Payment,Parks Canada, Winnipeg
I would like to thank Marie's descendants who inspired me to tell "herstory", in particular Pierrette Gaudet of St. Lambert (Québec) and Richard Hardy of Yellowknife (Northwest Territories). This account is still work in progress as more information on the Gaudet family, in particular the fascinating "hidden" women, comes to light.
Silence surrounds the lives of Aboriginal women
in North America. [1] We rarely hear their voices and much of their lives
are left to the researcher's imagination. In Western literature, we reconstruct
them through our own cultural biases and often inadvertently misinterpret the
reality of their everyday lives and values. The stereotypes of Aboriginal women
as beasts of burden or princesses may have been largely dispelled but we are
still in the process of documenting them as players in their own societies.
Marie Fisher Gaudet's life story is that of a Northern Métis woman who walked
two worlds, blended elements of the two and found her own in the society of
the time. She was a strong and powerful woman although she demonstrated public
respect and deference towards men according to 19th century Métis custom. Her
life probably had little in common with women who lived off the land or worked
in the bush as she lived in the manager's residence of a Hudson's Bay Company
(HBC) trading post. But it was not only a life of domesticity in the Western
tradition, as Marie processed raw materials, produced goods and maintained kinship
networks indispensable to the fur trade. The Gaudet family considered themselves
part of the landed elite [2] and it seems that
Marie outwardly conformed to the role of the commissioned officer's wife. She
also found a special mission in the propagation of the Roman Catholic faith
and on that issue she was resolute and outspoken, and the missionaries acknowledged
her invaluable contribution. As a woman, however, she was largely ignored by
the numerous male visitors to the HBC post and not surprisingly, it was the
women who observed her or who provided us with some insights into the life of
Marie and her daughters.
Marie,
the "country" daughter of HBC Chief Trader Alexander Fisher [3] and Élise Taupier was born in the
vicinity of Fort Liard/Fort Simpson (Northwest Territories). Fisher was a Montréal
fur trader whose Loyalist family had settled in the Lake Champlain district
in the mid-18th century, while her mother was the daughter of a French Canadian
voyageur [4] and an
unidentified Aboriginal woman of Beaver or Slavey ancestry. Marie's birth was
the result of a brief relationship between Fisher and Taupier and illustrates
the racism and double standard which dominated many relationships between fur
traders and Aboriginal women in the 19th century North West. Alexander Fisher
exhibited the rather condescending attitudes and licentious behaviour of many
of his peers. He was also reportedly a rather flighty and disreputable character.
Governor George Simpson, whose comments were admittedly rarely complimentary
and who particularly disliked former Canadien Nor'Westers, described
him as a "trifling thoughtless superficial lying creature."
[5] Other correspondents support these claims, referring to him as
an unscrupulous and vindictive man. Fisher had reportedly assaulted Charlotte,
a Cree woman, around Norway House in 1829 and was censured and fined for the
abduction of a labourer's wife at Fort William in 1830. In letters to his nephew
Henry Fisher, a fur trade clerk in the Saskatchewan district, Alex Fisher revealed
his perception of Aboriginal women and marriage à la façon du pays:
You must not on any account get yourself entangled with the squaws for if you do, you are a lost man, you will get a family and of a spurrious kind, that you will regret as long as you live. Now if you have any send them from you. Do not let such a weakness get the better of you. It would require a chapter to write you the evils that attend such a concubinage... [6]
Alexander Fisher did not heed his own advice and contracted a customary marriage with a Métis woman, Angélique Savard, in New Caledonia in the early 1830s. The relationship lasted over ten years and they had at least eight children. She was recognized in fur trade society as Mme Fisher and Fisher referred to her as "milady" and the mother of my "adopted" children. [7] But she may have been insecure in the marriage as the following events illustrate. In 1840, Fisher was transferred to the Athabasca district and the following year he was demoted to the remote Mackenzie district, at Fort Good Hope. Perhaps not wishing to bring his family to such an isolated post, he left Angélique and the children to winter at Fort Chipewyan. Possibly fearing abandonment or uneasy about her future, as Fisher had already advised her of his plans to retire to Canada, the vulnerable Angélique had a relationship with the local postmaster and became pregnant. When a pregnant Angélique and the children arrived in Fort Good Hope in the summer of 1842, Fisher could not forgive his wife who had committed "a woman's greatest sin" and summarily left her at Fort Chipewyan on his return to Montréal in 1843, taking their children with him. Fisher's colleagues applauded his behaviour, stating that he "was obliged to leave his wife if she deserves the name" and "if there is hell on this earth to a man it must be the bitter sting of a wife's infidelity." [8] During his separation from Angélique, or perhaps seeking revenge after her "falling", the sanctimonious Fisher sought another companion. Élise Taupier was one of the few Métis women who were hired by the HBC as a "bully" (disciplinarian) on the boats between Fort Liard and Fort Simpson. She was described by the Oblate missionaries as a statuesque and strong-minded woman who carried a dagger on her belt and was respected and feared by all, especially her faltering husbands. [9] She met the older (59 years of age) Alexander Fisher in the summer of 1842 when he was in the Fort Simpson region and in June, 1843 she gave birth to their daughter, Marie. Fisher did not mention this relationship in his subsequent correspondence nor is this daughter named in his will [10] and it appears that he regarded it as temporary. But he was a rich man and it is probable that he provided for Élise and his child before he left the country. Elise Taupier married Métis interpreter François Houle [11] and although Marie was raised by her mother and step-father and is occasionally identified by the surname Houle, she was acknowledged as the daughter of Alexander Fisher. [12] According to missionary accounts, Élise Taupier Houle went to meet Father Thibault at Portage la Loche around 1845 and subsequently travelled to the Red River Settlement (St. Boniface) where she received religious instruction and was baptized. [13] Alexander Fisher had many relatives at Red River among the extended family of his nephew, Henry Fisher, who also became a HBC Chief Trader, [14] while Houle was originally from Red River and was there on leave in 1848-50. The scarcity of records for this period make it almost impossible to confirm these activities but it is probable that Élise Taupier Houle brought her daughter Marie with her to Red River and met her relatives. In 1850, the Houle family returned to Fort Liard/Fort Simpson, where François resumed his work as an interpreter for the HBC. A devout Catholic, Elise Taupier Houle became very active as a missionary assistant. She taught the Oblates the Chipewyan and Slavey languages and customs, and acted as their interpreter, in short their teacher and broker.
Not much is known about Marie's youth. Her strong-willed mother probably inculcated similar values to her daughter who also became a zealous Catholic. As the daughter of an HBC commissioned officer or bourgeois, Marie was a member of the fur trade elite, a position which probably helped her secure a husband of the same rank. In 1858, at the tender age of fifteen, the pretty Métis girl married Charles-Philippe Gaudet, [15] the HBC postmaster at Fort Resolution in a Catholic ceremony in Fort Simpson. Gaudet, was a French Canadian trader who had come North from Montréal in the employ of the Company in 1851. He was fifteen years her senior and had a daughter, from a previous relationship. [16] Fur traders usually sought very young Aboriginal women as "helpmates"to survive and prosper and Marie brought indispensable economic skills and social networks to the union. She had relatives among the Slavey and Gwich'in and was fluent in Chipewyan, Slavey and French (probably Michif French). She was an expert in dressing hides and had mastered the art of silk embroidery and beadwork, skills that were highly valued in the production of clothing and household articles. [17] Her formal education was probably limited to religious instruction until the1860's. Father Gascon who was at at Fort Good Hope reported that he gave her daily lessons in French reading and writing. The couple lived at Fort Resolution in 1858-59, and at Peel's River (Fort McPherson) from 1859 to 1863 where C. P. Gaudet occupied the position of postmaster. In 1863 he was appointed clerk at Fort Good Hope where the couple spent most of their lives. In 1878, Gaudet was promoted to Chief Trader, a position which he owed to his ability and dedication to the Company but also to Marie and her extended family's knowledge and skills.
There is evidence that the first years of her marriage were difficult for Marie.
Gaudet was an amiable and hard-working man but family tradition and accounts
also suggest that he was a strict disciplinarian and "loyal in the extreme to
the HBC." [18] It
was traditional for the father or pater familias to rule in French Canadian
society but inter-racial marriages could accentuate social tensions. C. P. Gaudet
was a French Canadian employed by a Company where very few reached the rank
of officer. It seems that Gaudet felt that if he was to rise in the ranks he
had to adopt the dominant language and religion of the HBC. In 1859 he followed
the orders of anti-Catholic Chief Factor Bernard Ross and refused hospitality
to the admittedly disagreeable Father Henri Grollier who had married him a year
earlier and openly supported the Anglican priest, Rev. Kirkby. He also subjected
Marie to an Anglican ceremony or "second" marriage which undoubtedly caused
some anguish to his devoutly Catholic wife (even though this may have been merely
a formality to appease the anti-Catholic Chief Factor). Marie gave birth to
eleven children between 1860 and 1877 and even though her husband did not reconcile
with the Church until the early 1870s, she ensured that her children born in
the 1860s were baptized and instructed in the Catholic faith. It also seems
that her parents, François Houle and Élise Taupier were often close by for support.
Marie also endured the long absences of her husband whose
business required visits to other posts in the district. Gaudet aimait rôder
or loved to go off on his own and participated in many hunting expeditions among
the Gwich'in and the Inuit to the north. [19] It was not unusual
for him to leave the family for a New Year's day celebration with friends or
colleagues at some distant place. This left Marie alone to ensure the well-being
of the family although she had at least one servant or hired help in the "Big
House" and probably did not have to perform rigorous household chores. Slavey
women at Fort Good Hope filleted and dried fish which was the main staple and
snared rabbits. Many also trapped small fur bearing animals. Marie's parents
had a fishing camp at some distance from the fort and travelled on hunting and
trading trips and it is possible that she occasionally accompanied them. C.P.
Gaudet went on furlough in 1867-68 and the family which then included Marie
and five children "went down" or travelled "outside" to Ottawa and Montréal
via Red River to visit his elderly mother, Elizabeth Shortt Gaudet, and other
family. The trip was a long and arduous one undertaken before the advent of
steamboat and rail transportation in the North West. The Gaudets travelled
to Red River via Norway House by York boat and then to St. Paul (Minnesota)
either by steamboat or stage coach. [20] From St. Paul they could travel by rail to Ottawa.. [21] The joy of family
reunions however was soon shattered by the death of three of her six children
during the trip: "le bon Dieu les prit tous, mes trois jolis enfants". [22] A daughter Sara died in Ottawa
at the age of 5 in the Spring of 1868 and two other daughters, Elisabeth aged
8 and baby Marie died during the return trip in June, 1868 and were buried at
Cumberland House on the Saskatchewan River. It was a devastating blow to the
couple and illustrates the high incidence of death from childhood diseases such
as measles, diptheria and whooping cough at the time as well as the dangers
associated with rigorous long-distance travel. Marie did not leave the North
after that unhappy experience and did not even accompany her husband when he
attended the Officers council meeting in Winnipeg in 1887, and visited their
sons who attended college in neighbouring St. Boniface. [23] Marie had five
more children between 1869 and 1877. Another infant daughter died of whooping
cough at Fort Good Hope in 1874 and in 1909, she suffered the loss of two adult
daughters: Christine died in St-Boniface at the age of 45 in October, a death
that the family did not learn about until the following year's mail and Dora
died suddenly of "la grippe" in Fort Good Hope at the age of 32 a month later. [24] Only one daughter, Isabelle (known
as Bella) [25] survived to old
age. Four sons survived and followed their father's footsteps in careers with
the HBC as post managers and clerks.
[26]
Mme Gaudet wanted a French Catholic education for her children while her husband favoured an English one. In 1870 Marie and her young children (including her step-daughter) travelled to the mission of Ile à la Crosse to ask for help in resolving her plan. She wrote to Bishop Taché in St. Boniface, entreating him to take her son at the college and added that she wanted to send her daughters to be educated by the Grey Nuns. She pleaded the Bishop to assist her so that the children could go to Red River: "j'ai été heureuse de les éloigner de leur pauvre père...le plus vite que mes enfants seront à la Rivière-Rouge, le mieux je crois ce sera, car je crains que mon époux vienne les chercher." [27] Her letter confirmed her strong will and resolution on this matter and she succeeded in her mission as her daughters attended the Grey Nuns boarding school at Île à la Crosse until 1876. They were also taught English by Sister Sara Riel (sister of Louis Riel). The sons were sent to college in St. Boniface in the 1880s and the younger daughters went to school in Fort Providence. Marie returned to Fort Good Hope and it appears that Mr.Gaudet was reconciled with the Church when it became more politically acceptable for him to do so in the early 1870s. Missionary accounts confirm that he was never a devout Catholic although very generous and supportive. The daughters adopted the religious zeal of their mother but the sons had other priorities and outlets, as was often the case in French Canadian and Métis Catholic families.
As an HBC officer's wife, Marie was reportedly very loyal to the Company although this may have placed her in a somewhat awkward position with her independent Métis relatives. A local free trader remarked that "she doesn't approve of me and makes a point of not seeing me as she passes here". [28] Daughters Bella and Christine worked with their brothers at various posts. Ed Nagle, a free trader in oppostion to the HBC in the Mackenzie in the 1890s early 1900s, reported that Fred and his spinster sister [Bella] were from the old HBC school and worked actively against him and other traders. He referred to Bella as a snob who ostracised him although he gudgingly admired her business skills and the fact that she generously and capably nursed Mrs. McKinley (the Anglican missionary's wife) backed to health at Fort Resolution. [29]
The Oblate missionaries acknowledged the crucial role of women in the spread
of Catholicism in the North West. Father Giroux summed it up when he wrote to
Bishop Grandin that "gagner les femmes c'est gagner la partie" (if you
win the support of the women your success is ensured). [30] Métis women were and remain the
transmitters of culture [31]
and Marie followed the example of her mother in her support of the
Church and education of her children. Women's role, in the context of Roman
Catholic church tradition and hierarchy was theoretically that of auxiliary
[32] but in practice, many Métis women assumed leadership roles 
similar
to that of a deacon. Father Séguin and Brother Kearney who were at Fort Good
Hope during most of Marie's lifetime, praised the generosity and piety of "l'excellente
dame Gaudet, quel coeur d'or", and her invaluable influence "rien de
plus fort que la parole de la grosse bourgeoise".
[33] Mme Gaudet "prenait les devants" or preached to the women
and her word was law while M. Gaudet would round up people in the community
for Sunday Mass. Marie memorized the catechism in Slavey and Gwich'in so she
could teach it in the priest's absence. She also settled questions of conscience
and her judgements were accepted as final, a rare position for Catholic women
in the 19th (and 20th) century. [34] She provided on-going economic
support to the mission in the form of mass offerings and altar linens which
she sewed and embroidered (as well as laundered). Marie and her daughters were
sacristines or responsible for the decoration and maintenance of the altar and
liturgical articles. The Gaudets donated a valuable statue of the Virgin Mary
to the Church and made regular gifts of food staples such as flour, caribou
tongues and dried meat as well as luxuries such as syrup and tea. In recognition
of the family's services, Mme Gaudet's in particular, Bishop Faraud gave them
a special blessing and indulgence. [35]
Marie Gaudet's apostolate extended to the teaching and training of Dene women to combat inkonze or the teachings of the so-called "medicine men" and indegenize Catholicism. Slavey women were known for their strong and independent character. In his writings, Father Petitot noted that they were headstrong women who resisted outsiders and Christianity. [36] The broker role of Catholic Métis women such as Marie who spoke their language and shared their culture was indispensable to the missionaries. Marie's influence on the Gwich'in at Fort McPherson and in particular the training of a Gwich'in auxiliary, Cécile Uzpichi'è, helped the Oblates secure a foothold among them despite the very strong Anglican presence. Cécile was reportedly a chief of her people and Marie called her Cécile "the mother of the Gwich'in" in acknowledgement of her power and influence. [37] Marie also adopted or took in local orphaned women, of which at least two later became Grey Nuns.
The Gaudet daughters played musical instruments and sang in the choir and Bella, a gifted artist, decorated the interior of the church at Fort Good Hope with Father Petitot in the late 1870s, an achievement which has never been officially acknowledged. According to Brother Kearney, she did the painting of Jesus Christ, frescoes and decorations on the communion table. [38] Bella, Christine and Dora's lives were dominated by service and dedication to the mission at Fort Good Hope. When the Gaudet family retired to Montréal in 1917, the sole surviving daughter, Bella, donated valuable household articles to the mission and a bursary of $2000. for the training of priests for the North. In contrast, the Gaudet men developed more social relationships with the missionaries, which were possible between men. C. P. Gaudet and sons Fred and Léon often visited with the priests in the evenings, discussing various issues and listening to music on the phonograph while imbibing "un p'tit coup". [39]
Although ethnically Métis and living among her Dene relatives, there is evidence that Marie Fisher Gaudet increasingly identified (at least outwardly) with her French Canadian or "white" roots. This may have been the result of her husband's origins and influence on the family. The missionaries and outside visitors who wrote about her are either silent on her Métis or Aboriginal heritage or refer to her as French Canadian. Fathers Duchaussois and Dugré [40] identified her as French Canadian in their publications in the 1920s, possibly out of deference to the family because of the prejudice towards les sauvages (Indian heritage), especially in southern Canada (Québec) where her family, except two sons, were now living. Even in western Canada, this was a time when Métis women married to French Canadian men were pressured to integrate into the so-called dominant group and would claim "on n'est pas mitchifs nous-autres". [41] An account by Father Séguin in the late 1880s illustrates Marie's sensitivity on this issue. Bishop Faraud had sent a number of gifts to Mme and her daughters in return for their dedication and service to the Church. A beautiful shawl and religious pictures were destined for Marie but fearing offense, the priest decided not to give her the shawl claiming "elle ne l'aurait pas prise à sa valeur, qui sait même si ça ne l'aurait pas choquée. J'ai préféré le garder que de m'exposer." [42] Elizabeth Taylor, daughter of American consul James Wickes Taylor of St. Paul who stopped at Fort Good Hope during her travels in the Mackenzie region in 1892, was greeted warmly in French by the Gaudet women whom whe described as "kindly, bashful and simple". She noted that the mother was dressed in the dark Victorian colours of the period and wore a small black cape made perfectly plain (not the traditional Métis shawl or couverte) and the daughters were dressed in brightly coloured 1860s European style hooped skirts! [43]
British traveller and author, Agnes Deans Cameron, who visited Fort Good Hope on her northern journey in 1908 was also impressed by the Gaudet women, the queen-like matriarch Marie, in particular. She recalled "one of the sweetest homes in the world" [44] and Mme Gaudet, "a dear old lady with a black cap, the pinkest of pink cheeks, and the kind of smile that brings a choky feeling into your throat and makes you think of your mother". [45] Marie served the visitors Métis specialties: home-made wine (piquette) and bannock (galettes) and they engaged in a long conversation about the North. Oblivious of her heritage, Miss Cameron summed up Marie's life as mother-love and devotion to The Company. [46] The last years of Marie's life were tumultuous. She lost two daughters in 1909 and her daughter-in-law and her newborn child died in 1913. [47] The family "adopted" a grandson who brought them comfort and joy in their last years at Fort Good Hope [48] and the Gaudet couple lived to celebrate their golden wedding anniversary, a rare achievement at the time. Marie continued to attend church twice a day and when she was incapacitated, the priest would bring her daily communion. On April 26, 1914 he reported that Mme Gaudet's wish to leave this world had been fulfilled and that she had died like a saint. All the people came to pay their respects: "Mme Gaudet est morte ce soir à 7 heures. Elle a fait une mort bien édifiante. La mort ne l'a pas surprise, elle la désirait depuis longtemps. Elle avait communié hier matin. On a envoyé avertir les sauvages des environs et ils sont tous venus prier pour la défunte". [49] Marie Fisher Gaudet was almost 72 years old and weary beyond her years. A few years later, in 1917, the elderly Mr. Gaudet, accompanied by his son, daughter and grandson left Fort Good Hope to retire in Montréal. C.P. Gaudet died en route in St. Boniface, far from "the solitudes [of the north] which he loved so dearly" [50] .
Although we can document Marie's activities and lifestyle quite extensively,
her personal life remains largely unknown. She left one written account (possibly
dictated) and a few family photographs, but is largely forgotten in family
history and HBC records. Perhaps inevitably, she was eclipsed by her formidable
husband and sons who in their own words, 
"gave
one hundred and ninety years of service to the Honourable Company by one family
in two generations" [51]
although Marie and her daughters also "served" unofficially. The father's obituary
does not mention his late wife and surviving daughter and except for the Oblate
missionary records references to them are comparatively sparse in the comparatively
substantive literature on the Gaudet men . Marie's life was one of devotion
to Church and family (probably in that order) and deference to men in the Francophone-Métis
Catholic tradition of the time although she was outspoken on relious and social
issues. Her grand-daughter who was interviewed in the 1970s, noted a Slavey
tradition of respect for man as provider and certains rituals which were observed
by her mother and grand-mother's generation.
[52] Women were required to wash men's clothing separately and could
not touch their personal belongings.
Marie's life illustrates the complex intersection of the dynamics of ethnicity, class and gender and many questions remain unanswered. Her descendants in the Northwest Territories maintain a strong Métis heritage [53] , while those in Québec are francophone [54] , although both share a proud family history and first names have been passed on from generation to generation. Marie's three daughters who lived to adulthood did not marry. Was it because, as suggested by Sylvia Van Kirk in a recent article on late 19th century Métis families, [55] because miscegenation was feared and racist attitudes intensified during that period and the acculturated and socially respectable Mlles Gaudets could not find suitable mates? Two sons married Métis women and one experienced some ostracism because his spouse was Anglican. The other sons were over forty when they married or waited until a trip or relocation to Québec enabled them to select French Canadian spouses. Was this due to family and social pressures? An account of one son's marriage in a Montréal newspaper in 1913 carefully avoids his northern Aboriginal origins, mentioning that he had returned east after a long absence. [56]
The Fisher Gaudet family history illustrates the complex dynamics of Métis Canadien (francophone) identity and culture from the mid-nineteenth century to the present.The Métis experience still remains largely "hidden" in the memory of family and community. Marie's life provides a glimpse of a Métis woman who walked "both worlds", Aboriginal and Eurocanadian, and forged an identity of her own. Today, her indomitable spirit lives on in the memory of her descendants and her little grave in Fort Good Hope lies amidst the wild roses and blue columbines in the portal of the Arctic, which was her beloved home for over half a century.
[1] The silence or absence from Western literature, however, should not be interpreted as powerlessness. Power and gender have dominated the discourse on Eurocanadian and Euroamerican women in the last century but it may not be appropriate or relevant to many North American Aboriginal women. Scholars must search for culturally appropriate concepts and recognize the diverse experiences of each woman or group of women. For a valuable discussion on the above issues and an assessment of the current state of research see Laura F. Klein & Lillian A. Ackerman ed., Women and Power in Native North America (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1995), Introduction, pp. 3-16.
[2] This is frequently mentioned in the literature, for example by free trader Ed Nagle who knew the family. Jordan Zinovich, Battling the Bay: The Turn of the Century Adventures of Fur Trader Ed Nagle (Edmonton: Lone Pine Publishing, 1992), p. 149.
[3] Fisher (1783-1847) was the brother Henry Monroe Fisher (c. 1776-1827) who left descendants in the Great Lakes, Prairie du Chien (Wisconsin) and Canadian Prairies. Both became involved in the Western fur trade in the 1790s and sired Métis families. Alexander had entered the service of the North West Company (NWC) around 1815 and then the HBC in the English River and New Caledonia districts.
[4] It is not known if Taupier was her father or mother's surname. Taupier, Topier and Taupié dit Vigeant appears in R. Drouin, Répertoire des mariages des Canadiens Français 1760-1935, tome LX1 (Montréal, Éditions histoire et généalogie Pépin, 1998). The family was from the Montréal region. A François Taupié was hired by McTavish and Frobisher to go to Lac La Pluie in 1803 and many Métis from the Great Lakes eventually made their way to the North West. Archives de la Société historique de Saint-Boniface (ASHSB), Répertoires des engagements pour l'ouest.
[5] G. Williams ed., Hudson' Bay Company Miscellany 1670-1870 (Winnipeg: Hudson's Bay Record Society, 1975), Simpson's Character Book, No. 10, Alex Fisher, pp. 191-92.
[6] ASHSB, Fonds Fisher-d'Eschambeault, April 1820. He reiterated the same themes in other letters to his nephew in the 1830s and 1840s.
[7] Ibid., March 15, 1832.
[8] Reported in Sylvia Van Kirk, "Many Tender Ties": Women in Fur Trade Society, 1670-1870 (Winnipeg: Watson & Dwyer Publishing, 1980), pp. 166-67; p. 275, n. 73; G.P. de T. Glazebrook, The Hargrave Correspondence 1821-1843 (New York, Greenwood Press, 1968), p. 453.
[9] Adélard Dugré, "Les Missionaires Oblats de Marie Immaculée aux Glaces Polaires", Missions des Oblats de Marie Immaculée, juin, 1922, p. 374; R.P. Duchaussois, Aux Glaces Polaires (Ville La Salle, Oeuvre Apostolique, 1921), p. 348. She is also mentioned in Martha McCarthy, From the Great River to the Ends of the Earth: Oblate Missions to the Dene, 1847-1921 (Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 1995), p. 109.
[10] Provincial Archives of Manitoba (PAM), Hudson' Bay Company Archives (HBCA), A36/6, microfilm 426, will of Alexander Fisher drawn 1 May 1846 and probated in 1853. He lists his "adopted" children: Charlotte, Nancy, Elizabeth, Mary, John, Duncan, James and Donald, all living with him in Canada (Montréal) as his beneficiaries. Fisher had numerous properties in and around Montréal.
[11] It is not known if she was "turned off" by Fisher or subsequently married to François Houle. Houle (c. 1798-1885) was the son of Antoine of St. François-Xavier (Red River Settlement) who had participated in the battle of La Grenouillère (also known as Seven Oaks) in 1816. François Houle is listed as interpreter at Fort Simpson between 1821-48 in HBC Biographical files. One of his sons, François Jr. (c. 1827-68), interpreter at Fort Yukon, assisted Smithsonian ornithologist, R. Kennicott while he was in the Mackenzie district in 1859-62.
[12] She is identified as Marie Fisher in the parish register of Fort Good Hope and in her children's Métis scrip applications. See also, M. McCarthy, From the Great River, p. 227, note 9. In the one letter that she wrote that has survived, she signed Marie Gaudet née Topier, her mother's birth name.
[13] H. Grollier, "Souvenirs" in Missions des Oblats de Marie Immaculée, 24(1886), p. 147.
[14] Henry (Henri) Fisher (c. 1798-1871) was the son of Henry Monroe Fisher and Madeleine Gauthier, a Métisse from Makinac. Around 1810, Henry M. Fisher relocated to Prairie du Chien (Wisconsin) where he became a prosperous landowner and trader. As a result of the British American war of 1812-14, he went north to Red River (Pembina area) with his eldest sons, Alexander and Henry, and a nephew, Charles Brisebois. Henry fils remained in the Red River area, first working as a clerk for the NWC and then as an employee of the HBC and also as a free trader. He became one of the few francophones to achieve the rank of a commissioned officer in the HBC. He spent most of his career in the Saskatchewan district and retired to Saint-Boniface in 1855. He had numerous wives and children and left many Métis descendants in present-day Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
[15] C.P. Gaudet who was born in Montréal in 1828 and died in St. Boniface, Manitoba in 1917. The Gaudet family was of Acadian origin, the first male ancestor arrived in Port Royal in 1632. See HBCA Biographical and Search files and article written by his youngest son in 1935: J. Léon Gaudet, "Chief Trader Charles Philip Gaudet", The Beaver, September, 1935, p. 45. He is also extensively documented in Joanne Overvold ed., Our Métis Heritage: A Portrayal ((Yellowknife, Métis Heritage Association of the Northwest Territories, 1976).
[16] Eliza was born in 1857-58 and her mother, Natitele, was Slavey or Gwich'in. She grew up in Fort Good Hope and married Julien Denegouli (Passepartout) in 1872.
[17] The family in Montréal kept a collection of articles made by Mme Gaudet and her daughters which were deposited in the McCord Museum in the 1980s.
[18] This is the memory that has been passed on to his great grandson in the Northwest Territories and family in Montréal. His loyalty to the Company is corroborated in his son's account previously cited.
[19] There are numerous references to trips by the hardy and adventurous Gaudet to Fort McPherson on the Peel river and La Pierre House and Fort Yukon across the mountains on snowshoes during the winter months. Gaudet became fluent in Inuktitut and worked with Kennicott during his expedition in the Mackenzie in the early 1860s. In the summer he would make at least one trip to the district headquarters at Fort Simpson and other posts on Great Slave Lake.
[20] Steamboat travel on the Red River was available since 1859 but on an irregular basis until 1868.
[21] Newspaper article (which I have been unable to trace) and family photographs courtesy of Mme Pierrette Gaudet of St-Lambert, Québec. Family photographs which have survived were taken in an Ottawa studio: among them one of Mr. Gaudet in his so-called buckskin Indian outfit that Marie had made, an evocative photograph of Marie with her baby also named Marie, who was born during the trip east and one of Mr. Gaudet with their five other children.
[22] Cited in Agnes Deans Cameron, The New North: Being Some Account of a Woman's Journey through Canada to the Arctic (New York & London: D. Appleton & Co., 1910), p. 210.
[23] Archives des Soeurs Grises de Saint-Boniface, Registres des écoliers, 1844-94.
[24] Provincial Archives of Alberta (PAA), Fonds Oblats de Marie-Immaculée (OMI), 97.109, Codex of Mission of Fort Good Hope. The family was devastated by these two sudden deaths which probably affected Marie's health. Christine was buried in St. Norbert cemetery, just south of Winnipeg, Manitoba.
[25] Born in Fort McPherson on the Peel river in 1861 and died in St-Lambert, Québec in 1955, the same year as her brother, Frédéric, born in 1866, with whom she lived. Family genealogy courtesy of Mme Pierrette Gaudet and Diocesan Archives in Yellowknife, NT.
[26] PAM, HBCA, Biographical files; J. Léon Gaudet, The Beaver, September, 1935, p. 45.
[27] ASHSB, Fonds Taché, T8002, 25 septembre 1870.
[28] Cited in Agnes Deans Cameron, The New North, p. 210.
[29] J. Zinovitch, Battling the Bay, p. 191.
[30] PAA, Fonds OMI, 91.345, no. 24, 10 février 1890.
[31] See Jennifer s.H. Brown, "Women as Centre and Symbol in the Emergence of Métis Communities", The Canadian Journal of Native Studies, 3:1(1983), pp. 39-46.
[32] Term used by M. McCarthy in From the Great River, Chapter 8 "Métis Auxiliaries", pp. 107-117.
[33] P.E. Breton, Au Pays des Peaux-de-Lièvres (Edmonton: Éditions de l'Ermitqage, 1962), pp. 118-19, citing Father Séguin.
[34] R.P. Duchaussois, Aux Glaces Polaires, pp. 414-15.
[35] PAA, Fonds OMI, 91.345, Father Séguin to Bishop Faraud, 31 juillet 1889.
[36] E. Petitot, En route pour la mer glaciale (Paris: Letourzey et Ane, 1887), p. 375.
[37] R. P. Duchaussois, Aux Glaces Polaires, pp. 414-16.
[38] Journal of Brother P. Kearney cited in P.E. Breton, Au Pays des Peaux-de Lièvres, p. 93.
[39] PAA, Fonds OMI, 97.109, Codex of Mission of Fort Good Hope, 1879-1917 (Books 3-11), various entries.
[40] A. Dugré, "Les Missionaires Oblats de Marie Immaculée aux Glaces Polaires" in Missions des Oblats de Marie Immaculée, juin, 1922, p. 374; R..P. Duchausssois, Aux Glaces Polaires, p. 415. The former refers to her as French Canadian and the latter as of French origin although born in the Mackenzie.
[41] Diane P. Payment, "On n'est pas mitchifs nous-autres": relations entre les missionaires catholiques et les Métisses au Nord-Ouest entre 1818 et 1920", Western Oblate Studies/Études Oblates, 3(1994), pp. 139-158.
[42] PAA, Fonds OMI, 91.345, 31 juillet 1889.
[43] Grace L. Nute, "Down North in 1892" [Diary of Elizabeth Taylor], The Beaver, June 1948, p. 43. John W. Taylor was American consul at Winnipeg, Manitoba between 1870 and 1893.
[44] Agnes Deans Cameron, The New North, p. 208.
[45] Ibid. p. 208.
[46] Ibid., p. 210.
[47] Son Frédéric-Charles had married Frances Théroux while on leave in Montréal in January, 1913. She accompanied him to Fort Good Hope and died of the croup the following November. Her premature daughter, Nancy, died two days later. See Codex of Fort Good Hope, Book 10, Nov. 25-28, 1913.
[48] Frédéric-Alexandre known as Freddy (c. 1908-1981) was the son of Jean-Pierre (John Peter) Gaudet and Marguerite St. Germain who lived in the Peace River district. He went to Montréal with his uncle Frédéric and aunt Bella in 1917 and was raised by them in St-Lambert.
[49] PAA, Fonds OMI, Codex of Mission of Fort Good Hope, Book 10.
[50] He suffered a stroke during the journey and died in St. Boniface hospital on September 22nd. He was buried beside his daughter Christine in St. Norbert cemetery. See obituary in Manitoba Free Press, September 24, 1917.
[51] J. Léon Gaudet, "Chief Trader Charles Philip Gaudet", The Beaver, September, 1935, p. 45. In the article it is mentioned that he had four sons "all in the service", but there is no mention of the wife and daughters.
[52] Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, Métis Heritage Association Collection, Transcript of interview with Alice Hardy née Gaudet (daughter of Timothy Gaudet and Sarah Hardisty), Fort Norman, 1976, p. 14.
[53] Timothy Gaudet and family took Métis scrip rather than Treaty in 1921, stating that they wanted to remain "their own boss". A grandson, Richard Hardy, was president of the Métis Association of the Northwest Territories in the 1970s and remains active in Métis politics. He currently practices law in Yellowknife.
[54] Descendants of Léon Gaudet (1875-1943) and Georgine Rioux who were married in 1921 and had three children Amédée, Julien-Frédéric and Georgette. Julien Frédéric who married Pierrette Marquis perpetuated the family names of, Frédéric and Isabelle. Julien researched his family history and re-established contact with his northern relatives in the 1908s. He died in July, 1999 just before the author met the family.
[55] Sylvia Van Kirk, "Tracing the Fortunes of Five Founding Families of Victoria", B.C. Studies, 115-116(Autumn-Winter 1997-98), p. 176.
[56] See Montreal Daily Star, Feburary 1, 1913, The headlines read: "The bride and groom start on their journey to the frozen north where there is no other [white]woman within a thousand miles and family life in Great Bleak Land faces young wife."