Thanks to Blanche Cowley-Head for permission to share this piece that grew from a tangent related to “Big Lie Day” (April 1st) and 1885 Resistance History. In the process, she recovered the actual identity and connections of a Cree woman enmeshed in the events. Here’s what she wrote:
Written Canadian (colonial) history has historically been dominated by the male narrative, written by men about men’s doings. First Nation women and their names were usually absent from the historical landscape.
As a First Nation woman, I have spent years looking beyond the surface of these written histories, to find the backstories about First Nations women’s lives.
Jane Quinn (Owl Sitting) was a very important historical figure of the 1885 Resistance. She was the niece of Lone Man (mistahi maskwa’s son-in-law) but no one has written history about her. Yet.
Big Lie Day. This was the day before the troubles broke out at Frog Lake in 1885. The men were getting angry and fed up with the Government’s “no work no rations” policy when their families were starving. This hard-handed policy was being locally enforced by the Indian Agent at Frog Lake named Thomas Quinn.
Local people at Frog Lake had received news that there had been a fight at Duck Lake between the Metis and police and that policemen had been killed. Tensions were at a boiling point.
I remember reading Radison’s book Kâ-pêpâmahchakwêw (2006) about Frog Lake. A paragraph caught my eye about how Ayimisîs (Little Bear) and Chaquapocase were sent to capture Thomas Quinn to prevent him from leaving for Onion Lake:
“They entered Quinn’s home through a window but on the upper level where Quinn slept they encountered Lone Man and Sitting Horse, relatives of Quinn’s wife. Challenged by Lone Man, the two intruders left.” (p. 125).
After that, I had to find out the story of Thomas Quinn’s wife. Why were Lone Man and Sitting Horse in her house that fateful night/morning? She led me on a long chase through records and documents.
I discovered she was the daughter of Tchi-tchi-meh Morin and Paskosh-ti-kea-nish St. Math [documented in the 1880 Catholic church records shown above]. In 1880 she married Thomas Truman Quinn and had one daughter with him. Catherine Littlejohn interviewed Four Souls (Little Bear’s son) for in her 1975 thesis, The Indian Oral Tradition: A Model for Teachers. Although Four Souls didn’t know her name, he knew that Mrs. Quinn had a brother. His name was Baptists Sammatt. She ended up having three boys with other husbands: John Parker, Frank Billy or Billie and James Arkinson. These men would end up on Rocky Boy census rolls.
Most written (colonial lens-sensationalized) Frog Lake history focuses on the activities of the men, but the back story of the women’s movements is just as compelling for me.
Image above downloaded from “Canada, Saskatchewan Catholic Church Records, 1846-1957 FamilySearch,
https://www.familysearch.org/
(c) BCH Research and Publishing 01 Apr 24
3 Responses
So true that the “herstory” rarely gets recorded with the same frequency or attention. I think what challenges the women must have faced whether First Natiions or settler and what influence they had on events. In my own family I’ve been on the hunt to see who and what I can learn about the great grandmothers lives
This is my ancestor.
I would like more information on Jane Quinn, she is my great great grandmother. My great grandfather was John Parker. I did know that somehow she is also related to the Gladstone’s from Pincher Creek, Canada. But would like more information.