Marie Rose (Delorme) Smith (18 October 1861 – 4 April 1960) 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 ...
ranch
A ranch (from es, rancho/Mexican Spanish) is an area of land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of a farm. These terms are most often ...
er/
homesteader
Homestead may refer to:
*Homestead (buildings), a farmhouse and its adjacent outbuildings; by extension, it can mean any small cluster of houses
* Homestead (unit), a unit of measurement equal to 160 acres
* Homestead principle, a legal concept ...
,
medicine woman
A medicine man or medicine woman is a traditional healer and spiritual leader who serves a community of Indigenous people of the Americas. Individual cultures have their own names, in their respective languages, for spiritual healers and ceremo ...
,
midwife
A midwife is a health professional who cares for mothers and newborns around childbirth, a specialization known as midwifery.
The education and training for a midwife concentrates extensively on the care of women throughout their lifespan; co ...
, and author who was noted for her work chronicling the daily life of Métis women. She was declared a
Person of National Historic Significance
Persons of National Historic Significance (National Historic People) are people designated by the Canadian government as being nationally significant in the history of the country. Designations are made by the Minister of the Environment on the re ...
by
Parks Canada
Parks Canada (PC; french: Parcs Canada),Parks Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Parks Canada Agency (). is the agency of the Government of Canada which manages the country's 48 National Parks, th ...
Manitoba
Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...
,
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 ...
) . Her father was Urbain Delorme II and her mother was Marie Desmarais. Her father died while she was young, leaving money for her and her sister to attend the
Grey Nuns
The Sisters of Charity of Montreal, formerly called The Sisters of Charity of the Hôpital Général of Montreal and more commonly known as the Grey Nuns of Montreal, is a Canadian religious institute of Roman Catholic religious sisters, founde ...
boarding school
A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...
in Saint Boniface, Manitoba. She attended from the ages of 12 to 16, where she learned to speak and write both
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
and
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
. She also remained fluent in
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 ...
, and likely
Michif
Michif (also Mitchif, Mechif, Michif-Cree, Métif, Métchif, French Cree) is one of the languages of the Métis people of Canada and the United States, who are the descendants of First Nations (mainly Cree, Nakota
Nakota (or Nakoda or Nakona) ...
, while attending the school. She spoke about missing the annual routine of traversing the western plains with her family in order to hunt and trade with First Nations people. After four years at the school she returned to her mother, who had remarried.
Marriage and homestead
Marie Rose was married to Charlie Smith, a robe and whiskey trader who was 17 years older than her, in 1877 following an agreement where her mother would receive 50 dollars. They settled on the
Pincher Creek
Pincher Creek is a town in southern Alberta, Canada. It is located immediately east of the Canadian Rockies, west of Lethbridge and south of Calgary.
History
For centuries before European settlers reached this area and inhabited it, Indigen ...
in
southern Alberta
Southern Alberta is a region located in the Canadian province of Alberta. In 2004, the region's population was approximately 272,017. Together they had 17 children.
Charlie was often away for long periods of time leaving Marie Rose to raise their children and tend to livestock. She also managed a small home business where she made traditional indigenous clothing and items. She was contracted to make goods for 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 div ...
and to sew tents for the
Canadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...
.
Charlie Smith died in 1914. Following this Marie Rose established a second homestead as well as a boarding house in the town of Pincher Creek. She also served as both a midwife and a medicine woman. She was given the nickname of "Buckskin Mary" due to her skills in making gloves and other leather goods. She was one of the few Euro-Canadian and Indigenous women to own property at the time.
Writing
While raising her children, managing the homestead, and working as a midwife and a medicine woman she also wrote her memoirs, which were never published in full. She had several articles published in the '' Canadian Cattleman'', an early prairie ranch periodical. Her writing is noted as being a rare example of a Métis
chronicle
A chronicle ( la, chronica, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and lo ...
r specifically writing about the roles of Métis women during 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 ...
,
buffalo hunting
Bison hunting (hunting of the American bison, also commonly known as the American buffalo) was an lifeway, activity fundamental to the economy and society of the Plains Indians peoples who inhabited the Great bison belt, vast grasslands on the ...
, and homesteading periods, and during cultural changes on the
prairies
Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...
. She also wrote details about the plants and animals around her that were used for food, medicine, and shelter.
Later life and death
In the later part of her life she spent time with her children, mainly in
Lethbridge
Lethbridge ( ) is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada. With a population of 101,482 in its 2019 Alberta municipal censuses, 2019 municipal census, Lethbridge became the fourth Alberta city to surpass 100,000 people. The nearby Canadian ...
and
Edmonton
Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...
. She died on April 4, 1960, at the age of 98.
Legacy
Her original log cabin from the Jughandle Ranch is found at the Kootenai Brown Pioneer Village in
Pincher Creek
Pincher Creek is a town in southern Alberta, Canada. It is located immediately east of the Canadian Rockies, west of Lethbridge and south of Calgary.
History
For centuries before European settlers reached this area and inhabited it, Indigen ...
.
Archives of her writing can be found in the Glenbow Museum in
Calgary
Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...
.Canadian Cattleman also republished two of her articles in 2014 as part of their history section.
A biography about Marie Rose, ''Fifty Dollar Bride: Marie Rose Smith, a Chronicle of Metis Life in the 19th Century'', was written by her granddaughter Jock Carpenter and published in 1988. Historian Doris Jeanne MacKinnon has written multiple works about Smith after first learning about her during her post-graduate studies at the
University of Calgary
The University of Calgary (U of C or UCalgary) is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The University of Calgary started in 1944 as the Calgary branch of the University of Alberta, founded in 1908, prior to being ins ...
. These include the 2012 book ''The Identities of Marie Rose Delorme Smith: Portrait of a Metis Woman,'' the 2018 book ''Metis Pioneers: Marie Rose Delorme Smith and Isabella Hardisty Lougheed,'' and an article in the December 2017-January 2018 issue of ''
Canada's History
''Canada's History'' () is the official magazine of Canada's National History Society. It is published six times a year and aims to foster greater popular interest in Canadian history.
Founded as ''The Beaver'' in 1920 by the Hudson's Bay Comp ...
.''
In January 2023
Steven Guilbeault
Steven Guilbeault (born June 9, 1970) is a Canadian politician and former activist who has served as Minister of Environment and Climate Change since October 26, 2021. A member of the Liberal Party, Guilbeault has sat as a member of Parliament (M ...
,
Minister of Environment and Climate Change
The minister of environment and climate change (french: ministre de l'environnement et du changement climatique) is a minister of the Crown in the Cabinet of Canada. The portfolio is responsible for the Environment and Climate Change Canada, as ...
Parks Canada
Parks Canada (PC; french: Parcs Canada),Parks Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Parks Canada Agency (). is the agency of the Government of Canada which manages the country's 48 National Parks, th ...
's National Program of Historical Commemoration following a recommendation by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada. As of June 2023 her plaque has not yet been installed.