Sally Wapisk

[terryt]

Donald Sutherland had 4 children with an Indian woman called "Sally Wapisk" in Canada in the early 1800's.
I think she was a Cree Indian. How do I find out more information about her?

terryt

[garstonite]

Hiya Terryt...do you know what province of Canada ?....allan

[terryt]

hi allan

the manitoba district.

terryt

[jorose]

This Donald?
http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/biographical/s/sutherland_donald.pdf
Considering his connection to Berens River you might want to look for info on Berens River First Nation.

[garstonite]

There is a SALLY WAPISK b 1795 Canada in a familytree on GenesReunited....the members name is Len...
there is also one b 1800 in Hudson Bay, which I think includes Manitoba ?...that members name is William.....allan
ADDED...Jorose - that`s great info, just looked at that link...gives the four childrens names  and yet doesn`t name the mum......?....am I right in thinking that Donald himself wrote this Journal ?....considering it started  over 220 years ago he was obviously a well educated man.......allan

[jorose]

The link is just a summary of the Hudson's Bay Company records on Donald Sutherland.
It sounds like he had all the children baptised together in 1821, the priest/minister might not have bothered recording the mother's name, it's also possible she was deceased at this point as it mentions him coming back with children but not with her?

The journals might contain a lot more info and tidbits, perhaps mentioning Sally and her family.
http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/ (home page of the HBC archives)

Google Books also shows some possibilities.
For example "The fur trade of the Little North:Indians, pedlars, and Englishmen, east of Lake Winnipeg" has some hits on him.

[J.J.]

Native women were often called "Indian woman" as my husband has some ancestors he'll never trace...
Having looked through several of the archives records, it is riddled with "Indian women"
Wapisk may have actually be the name of his wife. Sometimes the European husbands gave English or Scottish forenames..naming them after a sister or even their own mothers ( ick) to their "country" wives.... ( married by way of the country, in short not a religious ceremony ) Which may be another reason why the mother isn't mentioned.
Each of the HBCA Reference numbers in the document jorose found for you signifies an entry in the archives regarding the summary to the left.... the journals are also in a seperate file. There are likely many more files on him, but these are some that came up for them when looking through the files, and are certain to be his. Looks as though someone could have fun at the HBC archives....but I won't look up that many pages, sorry! ( you need to use those numbers to look for more numbers, etc....bit of a pain, actually...   J.J.

[J.J.]

 This person says has lots of info so may have done some searching through the archives already?http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Little_Dingo
altho email may not work anymore if it is live it will have been spammed to no end...but is a recent entry so you may be lucky..J.J.

also Simpson gives him permission to take children back with him http://books.google.ca/books?id=YUc-sAvji6QC&pg=PA200&lpg=PA200&dq=v=onepage&q=%22Donald%20Sutherland%22%20&f=false#v

Speaking of Gov. Simpson reminds me that he rejected his country wife ( & children)  to marry his cousin and had encouraged ( ordered ) the men in his employ to do the same ( especially those with titles )...Many men had already gone back home leaving their wives prior to this so she may not have died prior to his taking the children.

[J.J.]

Cree word. Wapiskaw—Wapisk—Clear, to be able to see through.  http://tansikiya.wordpress.com/