Brenda Macdougall
The HBCA E Private Records (E.1-E.227) contain myriad types of records created between 1811 and 1890, generated by individuals and families, organizational bodies, and significant events. They include everything from indexes for births, marriages, and deaths to census returns, land registers, memoranda on land (and the sale of), surveys, maps, account books, deeds, wills, and correspondence.[1] The Registers of Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials (1841–51, 1938) are particularly interesting because, much like the volume, Catholic Church Records of the Pacific Northwest: Vancouver, Vols I and II, and Stellamaris Mission, they represent a history of the people—Metis/Half-breed and Indian/First Nations—of the Anglican Parishes within the Red River Settlement and the spaces they occupied.[2]
According to the HBCA’s description of the fond, most of the ceremonies recorded in the registers were performed in the Red River area, but chaplains also travelled to HBC posts at Norway House, York Factory, Churchill Factory, Brandon House, and Pembina. People from outside Red River likewise travelled to the parishes and engaged with religious ceremonies during those visit. These records comprise an important record of the lives of the people that the Anglican ministers characterized as the English-speaking, Protestant Half-breeds of Red River. However, the details found within the Catholic registers are largely absent in the Anglican records. For instance, in the case of baptisms, while fathers and their professions (e.g., trader, hunter, settler/farmer) are recorded, the maiden names of mothers are absent, making it more difficult to cross-reference the maternal lineages of families. The register for burials is largely just a list of who died and was buried, with no significant reference points for understanding the fuller context of people’s lives. In the case of marriages, while witnesses were identified (usually male), parents were not. For instance, the 18 December 1835 marriage record for Thomas Truthwaite and Catherine McDermott notes that their witnesses were James Sinclair and John Gunn but there’s no indication about why those two men were present (see below).[3] As a result, to know more about families like the Truthwaites we need to look to other sources.
T. Truthwaite & C. McDermott marriage. Extracts from registers of baptisms, marriages, and burials, HBCA E.4-2 copy.
According to the HBCA Biographical Sheets for Thomas’s grandfather, Matthew, and his father, Jacob (see below) we can see when and how the Truthwaites arrived, first, at Fort Albany and then at Red River. Englishman Matthew Truthwaite entered the service of the HBC in 1782 as a carpenter at Fort Albany. He married Pocathea by custom of the country, and they had two sons. Younger son Jacob was born approximately 1786 at Gloucester House in the Albany district and, after Matthew died in 1793, Pocathea raised her sons in her homeland. As a result, Jacob was a fluent Cree speaker by the time he was hired by the HBC as a carpenter in 1800. Jacob married Elizabeth Vincent, the daughter of Fort Albany’s Chief Factor, according to custom sometime before 1816. The couple subsequently began moving around through Rupert’s Land based on his contracts and, consequently, not all their children were born at Fort Albany. After he retired, Jacob took Elizabeth and their children to Red River. Here the couple and their five eldest children were baptized and the couple were married in the Anglican Church on 12 March 1830. The marriage record of Jacob and Elizabeth has been digitized (see below) as a part of those registries. All of Jacob and Elizabeth’s children, including Thomas, married into prominent Anglican Metis-Cree families at Red River—McDermotts, Andersons, Norquays, Richards, Mowats, Prudens.
Matthew Thruthwaite, HBCA Biographical Sheet.
Jacob Truthwaite, HBCA Biographical Sheet.
J. Truthwaite & E. Vincent Marriage, HBCA, E-4-1b. Digitized version available here.
In its recent submission to the Metis National Council’s Expert Panel, Abitibi Inland Métis Community, the Métis Nation of Ontario (MNO) makes the argument that the Vincents—Elizabeth and her family—were part of the founding of a northern Metis community along James Bay, but ignores the broader historical context.[4] Although the submission acknowledges the movement of people engaged in the fur trade as the Vincent’s were, it fails to account for the changes such behaviour brought to families, especially in contrast to those who remained behind. It further fails to account for the intermarriage between those families at Red River who were established and well-known within the region and newcomers. As people born into, and working within the fur trade, it seems obvious to note that families like the Truthwaites moved around because of the nature of that work but significantly we should be aware that they were also subject to some restrictions on their movement. After 1821, for example, retired servants were not permitted to remain inland at the posts. They could either return home or they could retire with their families to Red River. It seems likely that the Truthwaites, including Elizabeth Vincent Truthwaite, made their way south to the Red River Settlement because the option to remain together at Fort Albany was unavailable. As they moved into Red River, they joined other families facing similar realities. Arguably, their engagement with the Anglican Church opened up new opportunities for building their lives alongside families from other regions.
Furthermore, while the submission focuses on genealogies and trade and political records related to treaties, it fails to consider how those who stayed behind were eventually absorbed into First Nations communities, and how those who left became something else entirely. This is because it overlooks historical scholarship on homeguard Cree, the roles of women who remained in their territories after their husbands left or died, and the large-scale migrations into Red River after 1821 that shaped the creation and survival of the Metis nation. Perhaps most importantly, it overlooks when and how colonial forces changed irrevocably the lives of fur trade families. When the HBC ceded control of Rupert’s Land to Canada in 1869, Ontario—unlike what happened in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, or Alberta—began assuming substantial authority and control over natural resource extraction and development to grow its economy. As a result, provincial authorities had to power to redefine not only how people lived but how the population was, could be, defined. It is easy to read historical records and assume we know what they mean based on how we want the world to look, but context matters and for families like the Truthwaites, who they are is dependent on where they are and when they leave, arrive, and are compelled to stop moving.
[1] You can access information about the totality of the series online at https://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/resource/priv_rec/index.html.
[2] PDFs of the registers are available at the HBCA website. https://pam.minisisinc.com/SCRIPTS/MWIMAIN.DLL/321639269/1/3/1665472?RECORD&DATABASE=LISTINGS_WEB_INT
[3] HBCA E.4/2 Registers of Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials (1841-51, 1938).
[4] Métis Nation of Ontario, Abitibi Inland Historic Métis Community: Unabridged Written Submissions to the Métis National Council Expert Panel, 2024. https://www.metisnation.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Abitibi-Submission.pdf, accessed online 7 June 2025.