Louis Riel Sr. (''père'') (July 7, 1817 – January 21, 1864) was a farmer, miller, Métis leader, and the father of

Louis Riel Louis Riel (; ; 22 October 1844 – 16 November 1885) was a Canadian politician, a founder of the province of Manitoba, and a political leader of the Métis people. He led two resistance movements against the Government of Canada and its first ...

Life

Born in

Île-à-la-Crosse Île-à-la-Crosse, or ''Sakitawak'' ( Cree name: sâkitawâhk ᓵᑭᑕᐚᕽ), is a northern village in Division No. 18, northwestern Saskatchewan, and was the site of historic trading posts first established in 1778. Île-à-la-Crosse is th ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dak ...

, Riel was the eldest son of Jean-Baptiste Riel, '' dit'' L’Irlande, a

voyageur The voyageurs (; ) were 18th and 19th century French Canadians who engaged in the transporting of furs via canoe during the peak of the North American fur trade. The emblematic meaning of the term applies to places (New France, including the ...

, and Marguerite Boucher, a Franco-

Chipewyan The Chipewyan ( , also called ''Denésoliné'' or ''Dënesųłı̨né'' or ''Dënë Sųłınë́'', meaning "the original/real people") are a Dene Indigenous Canadian people of the Athabaskan language family, whose ancestors are identified ...

Métis. The Riel family moved back to

Lower Canada The Province of Lower Canada (french: province du Bas-Canada) was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence (1791–1841). It covered the southern portion of the current Province of Quebec an ...

while Louis was a child. He was educated in

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 ...

, learning the trade of carding

wool Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool. ...

. He joined the fur trade with the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business di ...

in 1838 and was stationed at Rainy River,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, where he fathered a daughter named Marguerite in 1840. He left the HBC in 1842 and returned to Quebec with the intention of joining the priesthood at the

Oblates of Mary Immaculate The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) is a missionary religious congregation in the Catholic Church. It was founded on January 25, 1816, by Eugène de Mazenod, a French priest born in Aix-en-Provence in the south of France on August 1, ...

at Saint-Hilaire, but withdrew a year later.Goldsborough. "Memorable Manitobans: Louis Riel Sr. (1817-1864)", Manitoba Historical society
/ref> He returned to the

Canadian West Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West or the Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a Canadian region that includes the four western provinces just north of the Canada– ...

, settling in the

Red River Colony The Red River Colony (or Selkirk Settlement), also known as Assinboia, was a colonization project set up in 1811 by Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk, on of land in British North America. This land was granted to Douglas by the Hudson's Bay ...

on a river lot in Saint-Boniface (now a district of modern

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749, ...

Manitoba , image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg , map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada , Label_map = yes , coordinates = , capital = Winn ...

). He married Julie Lagimodière, daughter of voyageur Jean-Baptiste Lagimodière and

Marie-Anne Gaboury Marie-Anne Lagimodière (née Gaboury; 15 August 1780 – 14 December 1875) was a French-Canadian woman noted as both the grandmother of Louis Riel, and as the first woman of European descent to travel to and settle in what is now Western Canada ...

in January, 1844. Together they had eleven children, and by all accounts formed a devout and close-knit family. Riel established a number of businesses in the Red River Colony. In 1847, he opened a small mill on his farm with the support of chief factor

John Ballenden John Ballenden ( – 7 December 1856) was one of the Scottish fur traders that the Hudson’s Bay Company recruited to administer that trade in North America. Ballenden started as an apprentice at York Factory, Rupert's Land in 1829 and was ...

with the hope of establishing a

fulling Fulling, also known as felting, tucking or walking ( Scots: ''waukin'', hence often spelled waulking in Scottish English), is a step in woollen clothmaking which involves the cleansing of woven or knitted cloth (particularly wool) to elimin ...

mill operation in the settlement. However, Riel had little success with his fulling mill. He also attempted to open and operate a carding and grist mill to grind grain and card wool for the Grey Nuns of St. Boniface,"Grey Nuns", ''Canadian Encyclopedia''
/ref> hence his title of "miller of the Seine", but to little success. Finally, in 1857, Riel attempted to establish a textile industry in the settlement, but the venture failed. Although he was not a successful businessman, he showed great leadership within the Métis community. Louis Riel Sr. was an active participant in the Red River Métis community. Riel emerged as a Métis leader in the defence of

Guillaume Sayer Pierre Guillaume Sayer (October 18, 1799 – August 7, 1868) was a Métis people (Canada), Métis fur trader whose trial was a turning point in the ending of the monopoly of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) of the fur trade in North America. Life ...

in his trial in May 1849. This trial was a defining moment in the fall of the

's monopoly of the fur trade. Riel continued to fight for the rights of the Métis and was instrumental in them gaining representation on the

Council of Assiniboia The Council of Assiniboia (french: Conseil d'Assiniboine) was the first appointed administrative body of the District of Assiniboia, operating from 1821 until 1870. It was this council who is credited for the arrival of a functioning legal system, ...

and for French to be used in the

Assiniboia Assiniboia District refers to two historical districts of Canada's Northwest Territories. The name is taken from the Assiniboine First Nation. Historical usage ''For more information on the history of the provisional districts, see also Distri ...

courts as well as English. His son Louis was likely influenced greatly by his father's actions. Louis Jr. continued in his father's steps to become the most famous Métis leader and the " Father of Manitoba". When Louis Riel Sr. died January 21, 1864, his death was mourned by the entire settlement.

References

External links

Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Riel Sr., Louis 1817 births 1864 deaths Métis politicians Canadian Métis people Louis Sr

Life

See also

References

External links