This became very long so is a two part post.

There were many marriages between the British fur traders and native women in the Western Canadian fur trade. The men would marry these women in the style of the country and the women were called "Country Wives." They, along with their children, accompanied their husbands as they travelled throughout the fur trading posts. The Northwest Company and the Hudson's Bay Company allowed their Gentlemen, or senior officers, living in the country to have wives but discouraged or forbade the voyageurs and junior officers from doing so.

The customs of the western tribes back then held the husbands responsible for raising their children. If a girl became pregnant without having a husband the burden of raising this child would be her responsibility alone unless her next husband chose to provide assistance as well. If a junior fur trader had a brief fling with a girl that produced a child it was her responsibility to raise it. If the child was born while the fur trader was in a marriage in the style of the country its upbringing became the husband's responsibility. This was seen as an unnecessary expense and burden which lowered Company profits so the junior men were banned from getting married in the fur trading districts.

The Gentlemen earned considerably more than the junior officers. They were permitted to have native wives but they were expected to pay for any costs incurred by them and their children. There were many circumstances where the Gentlemen were encouraged to marry daughters of the major chiefs. This encouragement was brought forth by both senior company officers and the tribal chiefs themselves as it was a common method of cementing alliances between the two people's.

When the men retired from the fur trade and returned to civilization they had the choice of bringing their wives and families with them or abandoning them and starting a new family with a proper lady. Some men brought their wives and children home with them, some abandoned all of their country families and some returned with just a favorite child or two.

In the early years of our fur trade the abandoned women and children would often become destitute and be reduced to begging for food at the trading posts. More often than not they were rejected by their own people after they were abandoned by their European husbands. Some of my journals written by the early fur traders share a common theme mentioning how the abandoned wife of one Gentleman or another had become reduced to prostitution. Rejected by their own families they resorted to their bodies to the voyageurs and junior officers in order to feed and clothe themselves and their children. When the men weren't interested in paying for their bodies the abandoned women resorted to begging at the trading posts. When George Simpson became the governor in charge of the Hudson's Bay Company's fur trade he made a rule that any man leaving his wives and children behind had a portion of his pension taken away which was used to provide for his family. One would like to think that this rule was brought forth by altruistic reasons, but sadly it was not. The frugal Scottish governor had simply determined that providing for the abandoned families was too great of a burden that reduced the Hudson's Bay Company's profits.

It appears to me that the common theme was that the fur traders who married full blooded Indians most often abandoned their wives and children while the men who married half breed women were more likely to remain faithful to their wives and families.

Dr John McLaughlin, called the father of Oregon had a native wife who was the mother of his children. She was said to be very large, extremely ugly and a terrible at holding a conversation with. Even so he loved her and would savagely beat anybody who made a disparaging remark about her then give the person the most unpleasant or gruelling tasks about the fort as additional punishment.

William Connolly married a native wife in the style of the country. When he retired from the fur trade he brought his wife and family back to Canada with him. Once back in Canada he disavowed this marriage as it wasn't a proper Christian marriage then married his cousin and started a new family. He did provide his wife and family with financial support though and they remained in Canada, but moved to a different town.

James Douglas, who later became the governor of the colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia, married Connolly's half breed daughter Amelia. He remained faithful to her throughout his life. His notes show that he often consulted with her on how to deal with local Indians and provide fair treatment to them from his government. When Douglas became the governor of Vancouver Island he built a school to educate the children. As there were no white women in the Pacific Northwest at this time it is obvious that the school was built for the children of the white traders and their Indian wives.

Daniel Harmon was a fur trader for the Northwest Company during the first twenty years of the nineteenth century. He lived in the New Caledonia fur district from 1811 to 1821, just six years after the traders made first contact with the local Indians. Harmon married the daughter of an Indian chief. The chief encouraged this union as a means of strengthening the bonds between his band and the Northwest Company's traders. In his journal he seldom mentions his wife and when he does he calls her the mother of my children instead of by her name. When his children were of age he sent them back East to live with his brother and receive a Christian education. As his journal progresses we see him disturbed by the idea of living with a woman in a non-Christian marriage. On hearing that a missionary had arrived at his company's fur trading post at the mouth of the Columbia River he brought his wife there and had a true Christian marriage. When it became time for him to retire he again agonizes over what the proper course of action would be for him to take. He thought about taking his children with him but leave his wife behind. He was fearful of what the people would think about him if he returned with an Indian wife. He did not wish to tear his children away from their mother nor did he wish to see their mother be left alone in the wilds without even her children accompanying her. Then he notes that he married her in a Christian marriage so could not bring himself to divorce her so he could leave her behind. He ended up bringing his wife and family back East with him when he left and remained true to her until departed by death.

Jerry Potts was the son of Crooked Back, a Blackfoot woman, and the Scottish fur trader Andrew Potts. His father died in 1840 while Jerry was still an infant. His mother then married Alexander Harvey, an American fur trader. Harvey was known to be a violent and abusive man so Crooked Back left him and returned to her people. Knowing that her half breed son would not be accepted by her tribe would make her return more difficult she chose to abandon her son and left him with Harvey. When Jerry was five he was adopted by Andrew Dawson, another American fur trader. Dawson was said to be a kind and fair man. He encouraged Jerry to spend time with his people and learn their customs and language, which he did. Jerry became a man through the Sundance ritual, became a warrior and battles against the Crows, his people's traditional enemies and hunted down and killed the man who murdered his mother. His mother's brutal and callous murder started Potts on a personal war against all whiskey peddlers. His half brother was killed by a Crow Indian while members of the two tribes were drinking outside of a trading post. Upset his mother, confronted the murderer who then beat her to death then drug her body off and fed it to the dogs. After her murder Potts would not hesitate to kill a whisky peddler, but also would not refuse a drink. When the Northwest Mounted Police first arrived in the prairies to stop the whiskey traders they hired Jerry as a guide where he quickly gained notoriety. On one occasion he was with the police when they caught a whisky peddler with his wares. The Mounties had Potts escort the trader and evidence back to Calgary to be placed in jail and wait for trial. Along the way Jerry and the trader started drinking the whiskey and he was so drunk that he fell off his wagon when they reached their destination. The trader had to be released because he and Jerry drank all of the evidence. I'm straying off topic though (I really enjoy talking about Potts) so will move on.

Alexander Caulfield Anderson was a fur trader for the Hudson's Bay Company in the mid 1800's. He took an Indian wife while he was living in-country but abandoned her and his children when he retired from the fur trade. He searched many rivers, valleys and mountain passes in search of an easy trail to move goods from the Okanogan to the mouth of the Fraser River when the Hudson's Bay Company realized that they might lose the Columbia to the Americans. He brought his wife and children with him on many of these excursions.

The pre-contact Native American population of the eastern seaboard was much much lower than that of many areas of present-day Latin America. It didn't take long for disease and warfare to greatly reduce the Native American population. At the same time very large numbers of British (broadly defined) settled in the area. Mixing did occur, but statistically speaking the chances of it were very very low.

It did occur though. Pocahontas's second marriage was to an Englishman. One can find examples of Scottish traders marrying into various southeastern Native American tribes. Two of the main Creek military leaders during the Creek War were Peter McQueen and William Weatherford who had as much, or more, British ancestry as Native American.

As I was reading of Samuel Black's death this morning I learned of an legal battle that occurred between his mixed blood wife and children and his relatives in Scotland for his sizeable estate. The story does not say how the estate was finally settled but does cite a book as one of its sources.

Jennifer Brown wrote Strangers in Blood, a look at mixed marriages between the fur traders and native women. It looks like something you might be interested in reading. I ordered a copy of it to add to my collection this morning.

As I was looking for this book I came across two other titles that I ordered which might interest you as well. Indian Women and French Men: Rethinking Cultural Encounter in the Western Great Lakes by Susan Sleeper-Smith and Many Tender Ties by Sylvia van Kirk.