Meeting of the Lagimodieres and First Nations People

Marie-Anne Lagimodière (née Gaboury; 15 August 1780 – 14 December 1875) was a

French-Canadian French Canadians (referred to as Canadiens mainly before the twentieth century; french: Canadiens français, ; feminine form: , ), or Franco-Canadians (french: Franco-Canadiens), refers to either an ethnic group who trace their ancestry to Fr ...

woman noted as both the grandmother 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 ...

, and as the first woman of

European descent White is a racialized classification of people and a skin color specifier, generally used for people of European origin, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, and point of view. Description of populations as " ...

to travel to and settle in what is now

Western Canada 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� ...

.Lester, Tanya. "A Strong Woman".
Indian Record
'. Vol. 48–50. Oblate Fathers; 1985. p. 10.

Early life

Gaboury was born in

Maskinongé, Quebec Maskinongé is a municipality in the Mauricie region of the province of Quebec 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 ...

, a village near modern

Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières (, – 'Three Rivers') is a city in the Mauricie administrative region of Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice River, Saint-Maurice and Saint Lawrence River, Saint Lawrence rivers, on the north shore of the Sain ...

.Maggie Siggins.
Marie-Anne: The Extraordinary Life of Louis Riel's Grandmother
'. McClelland & Stewart; 13 October 2009. . p. unpaged. As a young woman, she kept house for a priest there until her marriage on 21 April 1806 to

Jean-Baptiste Lagimodière Jean-Baptiste Lagimodière (25 December 1778 in Trois-Rivières, Quebec – 7 September 1855 in Saint-Boniface, Manitoba) was a French-Canadian trapper employed in the fur trade by the Hudson's Bay Company in Rupert's Land. Lagimodière ...

.Historical and Scientific Society of Manitoba.
Transaction[s]
'. 1888. p. 23–. Lagimodière was originally from nearby Saint-Ours; he had become a

coureur des bois A coureur des bois (; ) or coureur de bois (; plural: coureurs de(s) bois) was an independent entrepreneurial French-Canadian trader who travelled in New France and the interior of North America, usually to trade with First Nations peoples by e ...

employed 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 ...

by 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 ...

Rupert's Land Rupert's Land (french: Terre de Rupert), or Prince Rupert's Land (french: Terre du Prince Rupert, link=no), was a territory in British North America which comprised the Hudson Bay drainage basin; this was further extended from Rupert's Land t ...

Travels in the west

Immediately following their marriage, and in defiance of the custom of the time, Gaboury travelled to the west with her new husband. They went first to the area near the confluence of the

Assiniboine The Assiniboine or Assiniboin people ( when singular, Assiniboines / Assiniboins when plural; Ojibwe: ''Asiniibwaan'', "stone Sioux"; also in plural Assiniboine or Assiniboin), also known as the Hohe and known by the endonym Nakota (or Nakoda ...

and Red Rivers near what would later become the

Red River Colony The Red River Colony (or Selkirk Settlement), also known as Assiniboia, 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 Hud ...

and eventually modern

Winnipeg, Manitoba 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 749,6 ...

. They wintered at 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 ...

encampment near Pembina (under British sovereignty at the time but now in

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the Native Americans in the United States, indigenous Dakota people, Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north a ...

), where the first of her eight children was born on 6 January 1807.
Inspiring Women: A Celebration of Herstory
'. Coteau Books; 2003. . p. 17–. The following spring, the Lagimodières travelled to the valley of the

Saskatchewan River The Saskatchewan River (Cree: ''kisiskāciwani-sīpiy'', "swift flowing river") is a major river in Canada. It stretches about from where it is formed by the joining together of the North Saskatchewan and South Saskatchewan Rivers to Lake Winn ...

, settling eventually in what is now northern

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, 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 t ...

, where they remained until 1811, living a semi-nomadic lifestyle among other French-Canadian trappers and their native wives. During this period, Marie-Anne accompanied her husband on many trapping and buffalo hunting expeditions, often venturing as far west as present-day

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

.Susan E. Merritt.
Her story III: women from Canada's past
'. Vanwell Publishing Limited; 1999. . p. 28–30.
The Story of Canada
'. Scholastic Canada, Limited; 27 September 2016. . p. 114–. Her second child was born on the open

prairie 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 ...

shortly after her horse had bolted towards a herd of buffalo,Nancy Millar.
Once Upon a Wedding: Stories of Weddings in Western Canada, 1860–1945, for Better Or Worse
'. Bayeux Arts; 2000. . p. 158–. and on another occasion she fought and shot a large

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Nor ...

that had attacked one of their companions. The young family was once taken prisoner while trapping by Tsuu T'ina tribesmen because of their association with local

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 ...

. Although they managed to escape on horseback, they were pursued for five days until reaching the safety of Fort des Prairie (also known as Fort Augustus, a counterpart to

Fort Edmonton Fort Edmonton (also named Edmonton House) was the name of a series of trading posts of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) from 1795 to 1914, all of which were located on the north banks of the North Saskatchewan River in what is now central Alberta, ...

) near modern

Edmonton, Alberta 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 anchor ...

. Before his marriage, Jean-Baptiste had previously been involved (in the style of the country) with a native woman who had borne his children. Marie-Anne was tolerant and accepting of the children arising from this previous relationship, although the other woman was jealous and reportedly threatened to poison her.Doug Lennox.
Now You Know Absolutely Everything: Absolutely every Now You Know book in a single ebook
'. Dundurn; 6 December 2013. . p. 2520–. Despite this incident, the Lagimodières generally had good relationships with the

Aboriginal peoples Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

they encountered. Marie-Anne was often regarded as an object of curiosity by the Natives during her travels as she was invariably the first white woman they had ever seen (some were even led to believe that she possessed supernatural powers).

Return to the Red River

On hearing that Lord Selkirk was establishing a permanent colony at the Red River, they returned to help establish the new

in the spring of 1812.Brock Silversides.
Fort de Prairies: The Story of Fort Edmonton
'. Heritage House Publishing Co; 2005. . p. 6–. The early history of the settlement was characterized by struggles between the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) and its rival, the

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 ...

, culminating in the

Battle of Seven Oaks The Battle of Seven Oaks was a violent confrontation in the Pemmican War between the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) and the North West Company (NWC), rivals in the North American fur trade, fur trade, that took place on 19 June 1816, the climax of ...

in 1816. Although the Lagimodières managed to avoid involvement with the violent confrontations, Jean-Baptiste was asked by HBC representative Colin Robertson to take news of the events to Lord Selkirk. Over the winter of 1815–1816, Lagimodière travelled over 2,900 km on horseback and on foot in fulfillment of this mission. During this time, Marie-Anne was obliged to seek shelter among the aboriginal tribes when the Nor'Westers took possession of

Fort Douglas Camp Douglas was established in October 1862, during the American Civil War, as a small military garrison about three miles east of Salt Lake City, Utah, to protect the overland mail route and telegraph lines along the Central Overland Route. In ...

. On his return from the east, Jean-Baptiste was taken prisoner by the Nor'Westers and was imprisoned in Fort William until August 1816. The Lagimodières were not reunited until September 1816, after the unrest had subsided. In recognition of his service, Lord Selkirk awarded Jean-Baptiste a tract of land near the Red River, which the Lagimodières successfully homesteaded for many years.
Naming Edmonton: From Ada to Zoie
'. University of Alberta; 2004. . p. 278–. They had six more children, including, in 1822, Julie Lagimodière, the future mother of

.Joachim Fromhold.
Alberta History - The Old North Trail (Cree Trail), 15,000 Years of Indian History: 1750–1822
'. Lulu.com; . p. 177–. Dying at age 95 in 1875, Marie-Anne lived to see

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 ...

become part of the

Canadian Confederation Canadian Confederation (french: Confédération canadienne, link=no) was the process by which three British North American provinces, the Province of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, were united into one federation called the Canada, Dom ...

following Riel's actions during the

Red River Rebellion The Red River Rebellion (french: Rébellion de la rivière Rouge), also known as the Red River Resistance, Red River uprising, or First Riel Rebellion, was the sequence of events that led up to the 1869 establishment of a provisional government by ...

of 1869–1870.

Legacy

She is sometimes remembered as the "Grandmother of the Red River", and many of the

Métis people 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 ...

of the

Canadian Prairies The Canadian Prairies (usually referred to as simply the Prairies in Canada) is a region in Western Canada. It includes the Canadian portion of the Great Plains and the Prairie Provinces, namely Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. These provin ...

can trace their ancestry to her. École Marie-Anne-Gaboury, a

French immersion French immersion is a form of bilingual education in which students who do not speak French as a first language will receive instruction in French. In most French-immersion schools, students will learn to speak French and learn most subjects s ...

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...

in St. Vital,

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 749,6 ...

, was named in her honour, as is

Rue Marie Anne Gaboury ''Ruta graveolens'', commonly known as rue, common rue or herb-of-grace, is a species of ''Ruta'' grown as an ornamental plant and herb. It is native to the Balkan Peninsula. It is grown throughout the world in gardens, especially for its bluis ...

in Bonnie Doon,

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 ...

, which is the home to the French-language section of the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexander Cameron Rutherfor ...

, the Campus Saint-Jean. The 1978 Canadian feature film ''

Marie-Anne Marie Anne or Marie-Anne is the name of: Aristocrats *Princess Marie Anne of France (1664-1664?), daughter of King Louis XIV of France *Infanta Marie Anne of Portugal (1861-1942), Portuguese infanta and Grand Duchess consort of Luxembourg *Marie A ...

'' tells a fictionalized story of "the first white woman in Western Canada".

References

External links

Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''The Marie-Anne Gaboury cultural centre
(

French language French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Nor ...

) {{DEFAULTSORT:Gaboury, Marie-Anne 1780 births 1875 deaths Settlers of Canada French Quebecers People from Mauricie Explorers of Canada Female explorers Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada) Pre-Confederation Alberta people Riel family (Canada)