Mission Life in Cree-Ojibwe Country Our Lives: Diary, Memoir, and Letters Social history contests the construction of the past as the story of elites — a grand narrative dedicated to the actions of those in power. Our Lives seeks instead to make available voices from the past that might otherwise remain unheard. By foregrounding the experience of ordinary individuals, the series aims to demonstrate that history is ultimately the story of our lives, lives constituted in part by our response to the issues and events of the era into which we are born. Many of the voices in the series thus speak in the context of political and social events of the sort about which historians have traditionally written. What they have to say fills in the details, creating a richly varied portrait that celebrates the concrete, allowing broader historical settings to emerge between the lines. The series invites materials that are engagingly written and that contribute in some way to our understanding of the relationship between the individual and the collective. Manuscripts that include an introduction or epilogue that contextualizes the primary materials and reflects on their significance will be preferred. series titles A Very Capable Life: The Autobiography of Zarah Petri John Leigh Walters Letters from the Lost: A Memoir of Discovery Helen Waldstein Wilkes A Woman of Valour: The Biography of Marie-Louise Bouchard Labelle Claire Trépanier Man Proposes, God Disposes: Recollections of a French Pioneer Pierre Maturié, translated by Vivien Bosley Xwelíqwiya: The Life of a Stó:lo¯ Matriarch Rena Point Bolton and Richard Daly Mission Life in Cree-Ojibwe Country: Memories of a Mother and Son Elizabeth Bingham Young and E. Ryerson Young Edited and with introductions by Jennifer S.H. Brown Memories of a Mother and Son Elizabeth Bingham Young AND E. Ryerson Young EDITED AND WITH INTRODUCTIONS BY Jennifer S. H. Brown Copyright © 2014 Jennifer S. H. Brown Published by AU Press, Athabasca University 1200, 10011 – 109 Street, Edmonton, ab t5j 3s8 Cover map © Marzolino / Shutterstock.com Printed and bound in Canada by Friesens doi: 10.15215/aupress/9781771990035.01 Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Mission life in Cree-Ojibwe country : memories of a mother and son / Elizabeth Bingham Young and E. Ryerson Young ; edited and with introductions by Jennifer S.H. Brown. (Our lives: diary, memoir, and letters) Includes bibliographical references and index. Issued in print and electronic formats. isbn 978-1-77199-003-5 (pbk.).— isbn 978-1-77199-004-2 (pdf).—isbn 978-1-77199-005-9 (epub) 1. Young, Elizabeth Bingham. 2. Young, E. Ryerson (Egerton Ryerson), 1869–1962. 3. Missionaries—Manitoba—Biography. 4. Methodists—Manitoba—Biography. 5. Methodist Church—Missions—Manitoba. 6. Mothers and sons—Manitoba— Biography. 7. Cree Indians—Missions—Manitoba. 8. Ojibwa Indians—Missions— Manitoba. i. Brown, Jennifer S.H., 1940–, editor ii. Series: Our lives (Edmonton, Alta.) bv2815.m3m58 2014 266'.7092 c2014-905549-8 c2014-905550-1 We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund (cbf) for our publishing activities. Assistance provided by the Government of Alberta, Alberta Multimedia Development Fund. This publication is licensed under a Creative Commons licence, Attribution– Noncommercial–No Derivative Works 4.0 International: see www.creativecommons.org. The text may be reproduced for non-commercial purposes, provided that credit is given to the original author. To obtain permission for uses beyond those outlined in the Creative Commons licence, please contact AU Press, Athabasca University, at [email protected]. The Indian Story-teller, J. E. Laughlin, watercolour on paper. The painting shows the Ojibwe leader Zhaawanaash (“Souwanas”) with E. Ryerson (Eddie) and Lillian Young, the two eldest children of Egerton R. Young and Elizabeth Bingham Young, at Berens River. rom 2008.10.1, with permission of the Royal Ontario Museum (photograph copyright rom). Laughlin illustrated several of Egerton R. Young’s books; this image appears opposite page 222 in Young’s Algonquin Indian Tales (1903). Eddie’s jacket, doubtless made by “Little Mary” Robinson, is now in the Royal Ontario Museum (see figure 7 in this volume). doi:10.15215/aupress/9781771990035.01 Contents List of Abbreviations xi Foreword Donald B. Smith xiii Acknowledgements xvii Introduction 3 PART I Untitled Memoir of Elizabeth Bingham Young, 1927 “1859 & Sixtys” 31 Leaving Home 32 The Invitation to the North West 34 From Hamilton to Detroit 34 The Travelling Party 36 Detroit to Milwaukee, St. Paul, and Red River 37 Sojourn at Red River 41 From Red River to Norway House 42 Settling in at Rossville Mission 45 The First Cree Visitors 46 September 1868: A Brief Separation 47 The Chief Factor’s Cariole Ride 50 “Giving Out Medicines” 51 More on the Women 54 The Visit of Tapastanum 55 Queen Victoria’s Picture 56 Fish, More Fish, and Household Help 57 The Annual Requisition for Supplies 60 Christmas, a Recent Introduction 61 The New Year’s Feast 62 Smallpox and Measles 64 The Arrival of Eddie, June 1869 66 Little Mary and Eddie 69 Winter Travel and the Home Front 71 Prayer Meetings and Parcels 72 The Arrival of Lillian 73 Special Potatoes 75 “Still at Norway House” 77 The Birth of Nellie and the Pitfalls of Hospitality 78 Two Farewells 80 Back in Ontario, 1873– 74 82 From Ontario to Berens River 84 “Where Are My Quilts?” 86 A Mother’s Crisis 87 Christmas Anxiety, 1875 88 The Birth of Florence and Other Memories 89 Witnessing Treaty 5 (and Two Mysterious Deaths) 89 Comment: Elizabeth Young’s Berens River Experience in Retrospect 91 Leaving Berens River, 1876 93 Life in Ontario Parsonages: Port Perry, Colborne, and Bowmanville 94 Our Last Two Children and Another Loss 97 Postscripts Elizabeth Bingham Young: Method in Her Methodism 99 Mission Wives at Rossville: Some Comparisons 108 doi:10.15215/aupress/9781771990035.01 PART II “A Missionary and His Son” and Subsequent Reminiscences, by E. Ryerson Young Introduction 119 A Missionary and His Son 131 1 Born at Norway House 131 2 So Little to Do With 136 3 Going to Church 141 4 “ Lend Me Your Little Boy” 146 5 Scientific Evenings 152 6 The Food Supply 156 7 My Mission Sisters 163 8 Talking 172 9 Operations 176 10 Pemmican 178 11 The Fish Pond 180 12 The Big Bad Wolf 182 13 Dogs 185 14 Welcome Home 190 Reminiscences of 1962 for the Years 1876 to 1898 197 Leaving Berens River, 1876 197 School in Port Perry, 1876–79 198 Other Memories of Port Perry 202 School Troubles and Father’s Response 221 Grace Amanda and the Death of Jack 223 Colborne, 1879–82 224 Bowmanville, 1882–85 238 Meaford, Brampton, and a Family Reunion 239 Four Decades in Methodist Church Ministry, 1892–1932 241 “ As Darkness Steals upon Mine Eyes” : A Poem by E. Ryerson Young, on His Blindness 247 doi:10.15215/aupress/9781771990035.01 PART III Supplementary Documents and Excerpts 1 Resolution, Quarterly Board of Hamilton City East Circuit, 4 May 1868 249 2 The Rope from Hamilton, by Egerton R. Young 250 3 Adventure with a Bull at Norway House, by Egerton R. Young 253 4 Letters of Clarissa Bingham and Sarah Bingham to Elizabeth and Egerton Young, 1868–69 255 5 “ A Great Surprise to the Missionaries Wife” : Moss 262 6 Women’s Work 263 7 Sandy Harte 266 8 Egerton R. Young’s Illness with Typhoid, 1872 275 9 Schooling in Rossville: The “ Infant Class” and Miss Batty’s Thoughts on Shawls 277 10 “Thanks to the Kind Ladies of Canada” : Egerton Young to the Christian Guardian 280 11 Transitions, 1873–74: Letters from Egerton to Elizabeth Young 281 12 Elizabeth Young’s Second Account of Ontario and Berens River, 1873–76 294 13 Two Letters from the Reverend Enoch Wood Regarding the Youngs’ Appointment to Berens River 299 14 Letter from Little Mary to Egerton R. Young, 1887 301 15 Letter from Alex Kennedy, the Youngs’ Dog Driver, to Egerton R. Young, 1890 302 16 Elizabeth Bingham Young: Appreciations and Memories 303 Illustrations follow page 204 Index 309 doi:10.15215/aupress/9781771990035.01 Abbreviations hbc Hudson’s Bay Company hbca Hudson’s Bay Company Archives jshb collection Young family materials in possession of Jennifer S. H. Brown Norway House Wesleyan Methodist Register of Baptisms, Norway House, baptismal register 1840–89. Baptisms solemnized in the Wesleyan-Methodist Chapel, Rossville, deposited in the uca, Conference of Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario. Copy in Jennifer S. H. Brown collection. oed Oxford English Dictionary rom Royal Ontario Museum uca, Winnipeg United Church Archives, Conference of Manitoba and North- western Ontario, Winnipeg ucca, Toronto United Church of Canada Archives, Toronto ucca, Young fonds Egerton Ryerson Young Fonds, no. 3607, accession no. 94.030c, United Church of Canada Archives, Toronto doi:10.15215/aupress/9781771990035.01 Foreword The Reverend Egerton Ryerson Young, a prolific writer on Methodist mission work, and his wife, Elizabeth Bingham Young, lived in what is now north- ern Manitoba from 1868 to 1876, first at Rossville, the Methodist mission at Norway House, and then at the newly founded mission station at Berens River. Mission Life in Cree-Ojibwe Country combines a memoir by Elizabeth, written in 1927, and the reminiscences of her son, Eddie, also recorded many years after the events described, in 1935 and 1962. Supplementary documents serve to deepen our understanding of the two main texts, as do the introductory materials, editorial annotations and documentation, and extended commentaries, all expertly prepared by Jennifer Brown. The writings of Elizabeth Bingham Young introduce us to a female dimension totally lacking in most missionary accounts. She had just mar- ried and was only twenty-four years old when she travelled from Ontario to Norway House.