Charlotte Small (September 1, 1785 - May 4, 1857) was a

Métis The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United States. They have a shared history and culture which derives ...

woman who notably joined her

surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ca ...

, map maker, and

explorer Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

husband David Thompson on his expeditions.

Life

Charlotte Small was born on September 1, 1785 to

North West Company The North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in what is present-day Western Canada and Northwestern Ontario. With great weal ...

investor-partner Patrick Small and an unnamed

Cree The Cree ( cr, néhinaw, script=Latn, , etc.; french: link=no, Cri) are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada ...

woman. Her siblings were also involved in the

fur trade The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the mos ...

; Patrick Small Jr. was a

clerk and Nancy Small was the first wife of North West Company partner,

John MacDonald of Garth John MacDonald of Garth (1771 – 25 January 1866) was a colourful character involved in the Canadian fur trade. He was an enthusiastic duellist and a shrewd businessman who became a partner in the North West Company and a member of the Beaver C ...

. Small married

, map maker, and

David Thompson on 10 June 1799 at Île-à-la-Crosse, Saskatchewan. The two had 13 children, with whom Small often travelled to accompany Thompson on his expeditions ranging from the

Rockies The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Can ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. Small travelled 3½ times farther on these expeditions with Thompson than did the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

explorers

Lewis and Clark Lewis may refer to: Names * Lewis (given name), including a list of people with the given name * Lewis (surname), including a list of people with the surname Music * Lewis (musician), Canadian singer * "Lewis (Mistreated)", a song by Radiohead ...

.Aritha Van Herk, ''Travels with Charlotte'', Canadian Geographic Magazine, July/August 2007, p. 57 When Thompson wrote in his journal "Today wed Charlotte Small", few could have imagined just how long he would honour that commitment. At a time when European explorers and traders were abandoning their wives and children for lives and families in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, Thompson remained faithful to the promise he had made, staying by the side of "his lovely wife" and providing for her and their 13 children. The couple were married for 58 years until Thompson's death in 1857. Small died a few months later on May 4, 1857. They are buried together at

Mount Royal Cemetery Opened in 1852, Mount Royal Cemetery is a terraced cemetery on the north slope of Mount Royal in the borough of Outremont in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Temple Emanu-El Cemetery, a Reform Judaism burial ground, is within the Mount Royal grounds. Th ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

, Quebec,

References

Works

"Moccasin Miles - The Travels of Charlotte Small Thompson 1799–1812"
Contemporary and Historical Maps: Charlotte Small (S. Leanne Playter & Andreas N. Korsos, Publisher: Arcturus Consulting)

Contemporary and Historical Maps: David Thompson (Andreas N. Korsos, Publisher: Arcturus Consulting)

External links

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20090227122700/http://www.arcturusconsulting.net/products.htm Contemporary and Historical MapsMaps depicting Charlotte Small's travels, David Thompson's travels, Posts and Forts of the Canadian Fur Trade 1600–1870, and other explorations (Published Arcturus Consulting)
Find A Grave Charolotte Small Thompson Memorial

Parks Canada - Charlotte Small, Person of National Historic Significance
{{DEFAULTSORT:Small, Charlotte 1785 births 1857 deaths Canadian fur traders Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada) Canadian Métis people Métis fur traders Indigenous women of the Americas