Jasper Alberta Index
Alberta Basic History
1886
Catherine Blandion, Metis, b-1886 St. Albert (Alberta), daughter Antoine Blandion, b-1833 and Josephte Klyne, b-1855, Red River.
Rhrophile Boucher, b-1866 son Narcisse Boucher Sr., b-1827 Quebec and Judith McCarthy, b-1835 Athabasca; married 1886 Lac La Biche (Alberta), Elisabeth Cardinal daughter Louison Cardinal, b-1840 Whitfish Lake, Athabasca and Marguerite LaRocque, b-1847 Norway House.
Simon J. Clarke, a former member of the Canadian Mounties, was jailed just before the elections for interfering with a police raid on his saloon.
Betsy Courteoreille, Metis born September 25, 1886, Alberta daughter Louis Courteoreille, Metis born August 16, 1849 Alberta, married about 1877 Alberta most likely Lac Sainte Anne, Sophie Metis born May 19, 1849, Alberta, living La Sainte Anne 1901.
Ludger Gareau born November 29, 1855 Saint Jacques de I'Achigan, Quebec, son Antoine Gareau (1818-1890) and Marie Louise Robichaux; married Madeleine Delorme. Ludger was at Batoche (Saskatchewan) in 1878 and at Pincher Creek (Alberta) this year
John Leod McDonald joined the community of Stony Region west of Fort Edmonton and selected a homestead near Atim Ozwe Sipi (Dog Rump Creek), later known as the town of Stony Plain.
George Murdock became mayor of Calgary, but it was reported he had tampered with the voting list and was part of the Whiskey Ring that demanded bribes from saloon keepers. Judge Jerry Travis thereby disqualified Murdock and two of his councilors and appointed James Reilly as mayor. This resulted in two mayors and councils, neither of which could be effective until the next election.
Annie Quigley claims to live in Cochrane, (Alberta) area at this time.
Marriage, Theodore Savard, b-1864 St. Albert, son Alexander Savard Sr., b-1831, Slave Lake and Therese Bisson, b-1830 Peace River; married 1886 Emmerance Savard, born July 1869.
A fire in the town of Calgary destroyed 18 businesses, warehouses and homes in the down town area. This forced the merchants to make their buildings out of sandstone.
The Fort MacLeod Gazette, the 2nd Alberta Newspaper is first published this year. The Indians provided the manpower to work the printing press.
The Canadian Anthracite Co. opened a coal mine a few km. east of Banff, Alberta.
February 8: Egg Lake (Alberta), birth Lucy L'Hyrondelle, Metis, daughter Jean Baptiste L'Hrondelle, Metis b-1854 and Elizabeth Beaudry, b-1861.
March 16: Fort Edmonton, the population of the Edmonton Division is 5,616 people, including 2,000 Indians.
December 21: Lac La Biche (Alberta, birth Elizabeth Johnson, daughter Charles Johnson, b-1829 Red River and Agathe Anger, b-1848, Fort Vermilion, Peace River District (Alberta) daughter Baptiste Auger, b-1827 and Josephte Chalioux.
1887
David McDougall wintered near Morley, Alberta.
William Pearce arrived Calgary from Winnipeg an employee of the Federal Government.
We often envision a small backward community at Fort Edmonton, as the population counts exclude greater Edmonton, but the population of Edmonton proper numbered 150 and hosted weekly stage coach service to Calgary.
Banff National Park is established this year basically because of the hot sulfur springs of Sulfur Mountain.
A group of 41 Mormons from Utah under the leadership of Charles Ora Card established the town of Cardston. Charles Ora Card was wanted by the US marshals on charges of polygamy and had fled to Canada to avoid persecution.
A trading post called Kennedy's Post is located on the Wild Horse Creek, a tributary of the Milk River and five miles due north of Wild Horse Lake. G.E. Sanders noted that the post was in ruins when he visited the site in October of this year.
Between 1887 to 1896 Alberta suffered drought after drought.
March 6: Lac La Biche (Alberta) birth Patrice Boucher, Metis, son Narcisse Boucher Jr., b-1864 Athabasca District and Caroline Ladouceur, b-1862 Fort Pitt (Saskatchewan).
June: A group of forty Mormons from Cache Valley in Utah, under the leadership of Charles Ora Card, traveled the long trail to the Foothills (southern Alberta). Five inches of snow greeted them on their first morning, at the present town of Cardston. The Roman Catholic Church was against the immigration of any Jew or Mormon. A local rancher, Billy Cochrane, uttered these famous words to his help: "leave 'em be boys, they'll winter-kill, anyway." Soon after the Mormons arrived, a party of painted Blood warriors rode up. Their leader, Red Crow, demanded that the settlers get off the reserve. The Mormon served food to the Blood, suggesting the Government decide whether they were trespassing on Indian land. This simple act forged a bond of friendship with the Blood that has endured throughout the years.
July 4: Fort Calgary, marriage Campbell Deschamps, b-1845 son Francois Deschamps alias Rabasca Jr. and Marguerite Heneault dit Canada, (1829-1870); married Mary Beauchamp daughter Pierre Beauchamp Jr., b-1837 son Pierre Beauchamp Sr., b-1812 and Marie Morin, b-1810 and Nancy Ward, born June 1844.
September 1: St. Albert (Alberta), birth Magdeleine L'Hyrondelle, Metis, daughter John L'Hyrondelle, b-1851 St. Albert (Alberta) and Angelique Callion, Metis, b-1865 Lac Ste Anne (Alberta).
September 12: Egg Lake (Alberta), birth John L'Hyrondelle, Metis, son Jean Baptiste L'Hrondelle, Metis b-1854 and Elizabeth Beaudry, b-1861.
November 1: Alex Taylor of Edmonton and Hugh Richardson of Battleford made telephone Albertahistory.com">history , completing the first long distance call made on the North West Territories Prairies.
1888
Pierre Blandion, Metis, b-1888, St. Albert (Alberta), son Antoine Blandion, b-1833 and Josephte Klyne, b-1855, Red River.
Lesser Slave Lake (Alberta) marriage William Chalifoux dit Labouteille, Metis, son Pierre Chalifoux, Metis born March 20, 1806 Lac Poisson Blanc and Marie Cartier b-1821, Lesser Slave Lake; married Marie Gladu, Metis, born August 1889, Lac La Nun, (Alberta) daughter Toussaint Gladu (1843-1898) and Angelique Atonkapow Cree b-1939.
Fort MacLeod, birth Alexander Gladstone son William Gladstone Jr., (1845-1891), and Marie Samat Vandal, b-1855.
Jack Gregg settled at Prairie Creek (Alberta) aka Mas-koo-te-oo Se-pee (Muskuta Creek) or later Meadow Creek on the Jasper Trail.
Frank Oliver (1853-1933) having successfully driven the Indians from south Edmonton, is elected to the Legislative Assembly of the North West Territories (1888-1894). It is noteworthy that the overwhelming majority of inhabitants did not have a right to vote.
Dr Edouard Rouleau (1843-1912) and wife Catherine built a modest house in the Metis village of Calgary. It would later becalled Rouleau Village and then the Mission District of Calgary. His original house was still standing in 2003.
June: The first group of Icelandic settlers had reached the Red Deer River on their way to homesteads a few miles north. There were 50 of them, 11 families and 4 single men. They had first emigrated to North Dakota but found it not suitable to their needs. They sent scouts out like Sigrudur Bjornson to find more suitable land and traveled as far as Vancouver. Returning to Fort Calgary he joined S. Goodman and together they explored land 100 miles north of Calgary and found it suitable. They lived off prairie chicken, partridge, ducks and rabbits. Mostly they lived off salted fish caught in Medicine River and Sylvan Lake. They were ill prepared to homestead. They knew little about working with wood so built sod huts and dug caves into hill sides. The weren't grain farmers because grain doesn't grow in Iceland. They called their new home Markerville (Alberta).
October 28: Edmonton prostitute Nellie Webb, shot and wounded three drunken Mounted Police Constables: Thomas, Carney and Cudlip, from Fort Saskatchewan. She wouldn't let the drunken police in, and they threatened to wreck her house. They had previously blundered into three private homes, but were run off by the angry householders. She is arrested on malicious shooting. She shot Carney in the leg. While she is being held in jail, the RCMP stationed two more Mounties in her house to protect her possessions. They got drunk on Nellie's booze and passed out, allowing some stranger to enter and steal their guns.
November 19: The Papaschase Indian Reserve #136 is listed for sale. The folks of Edmonton quickly forget their peaceful neighbors which they drove from the land.
1889
Maggie Brayson b-1889
Flora Brayson b-1884 Saskatchewan daughter James Brayson b-1851 Saskatchewan, an interpreter and Louisa b-1858 Saskatchewan, all living Calgary 1891.
Saskatchewan daughter James Brayson b-1851 Saskatchewan, an interpreter and Louisa b-1858 Saskatchewan, all living Calgary 1891.
Dave Cochrane stole an RCMP kitchen stove piece by piece at Fort MacLeod. He used extortion methods to get what he wanted and was involved in whiskey smuggling. He told Dr. McEachran that if he didn't buy his holdings one matcj could burn down McEachran's holdings. Lou Murry, John Heron and Billy Hyde acted as arbitrators to determine a transfer price of $2,700.00.
Mary Courteoreille, Metis born November 23, 1878, Alberta daughter Louis Courteoreille, Metis born August 16, 1849 Alberta, married about 1877 Alberta most likely Lac Sainte Anne, Sophie Metis born May 19, 1849, Alberta, living La Sainte Anne 1901.
Maggy Gray, Metis born November 8, 1889 daughter Magloire Gray, Metis born May 15, 1849, Alberta married about 1877 most likely Lac Ste Anne, Genevieve Metis born April 30, 1850 Alberta, living Lac Sainte Anne (Devils Lake) 1901.
Sigurdur Grimson b-1861 Iceland arrived Canada 1885 settled Burnt Lake, Alberta 1889.
William Pearce, d-1830 of Calgary, Alberta built a 15 room sandstone residence that locals called Pearce's Bow Bend Shack. It was claimed the first Calgary home with indoor plumbing and hot and cold running water. It had 3 fireplaces, steam heating, natural gas, two panties, a billiard room and a wine/beer cellar. The house was located on a developed 80 hectare estate.
Bishop Tache, prior to 1870, conducted an effective campaign to discourage French immigration into the Canadian West, claiming to be protecting the Indians and Metis from the conceptions of White French Society. After 1870, the Church policy is reversed to encourage French settlers into the west. The new Church policy claims to protect the Indian and Metis from the English speaking, Protestant Ontarians. The past twenty years of Church effort had failed to attract many French settlers. The major reason for the poor immigration rate was because of the previous lies spread by the Church in Quebec to discourage colonization.
1889 TRAIN IN CALGARY
Photo of train station in Fort Calgary.
Bishop Vital Justin Grandin (1829-1902), of the Diocese of St. Albert, North West Territories, had been refused financial assistance from the Society for the Propagation of the Faith in Paris. He turned, on November 20, 1889, to start his own French settlement campaign, with his letter to Taschereau, Cardinal Archbishop and the Archbishops and Bishops of Quebec. This campaign would eventually undercut the Indian and Metis gains, especially at St. Paul de Metis. He complained that ninety percent of immigrants were English and Protestant; that the Dominion Government Indian Department was conducting war on the Church by taking the Indians out of their control and forcing them into Protestant Schools; and that the persecution of the Church is more keen than ever. Our Roman Catholic Schools are being hunted down. The Dominion Government marked out the electoral districts, dividing the French Catholic centers to ensure that there was no French representation. This is the same man who said: "We instill in them (the natives) a pronounced distaste for the native life so that they will be humiliated when reminded of their origin." This is also the same man who the Roman Catholic Church wishes, in 1937, to raise to sainthood? How can one forget the enormous suffering, and the contempt for the most basic human rights, which is inflicted upon the Native and Metis peoples by someone baptized under Christ's single commandment to love one another? Bishop Vital Justin Grandin (1829-1902) went on to say that most of the representatives of the Northwest, save two, demand the abolition of French language and the amendment of the school laws, in order to impose the anti-Catholic schools on us. As a result of being told by the Dominion Government that the Church is working against them, the Metis Catholics were believing them and losing trust in their clergy. He admitted that they had supported and sustained constituted authority in the past. He was implying, to the detriment of the Indians and Metis, who are second in consideration to the French. He considered the Mennonite and Mormon exposure to the Blackfoot a great evil. He concluded by requesting assistance in securing a great flow of French Catholics to the North West from Quebec in order to secure a majority or significant minority. Frank Oliver,(1853-1933), son Allen Bowsfield, February 15, 1890, directed the Federal issue of the teaching of French vs. English to the natives, especially at agriculture schools. He believed that the issue was the loss of Roman Catholic control over Indian Affairs and wanted to provide some influence through Quebec by way of Ottawa to compensate for lack of numbers of French Catholics in the North West Territories. Frank Oliver, (1853-1933), son Allen Bowsfield, therefore, opposed- to the fullest extent- the demands of Bishop Vital Justin Grandin (1829-1902) and his Quebec allies. The Oblate historians would have us believe he was dedicated to bringing Roman Catholicism to the Indians and Metis. His actions verify that he wanted to bring French Catholicism, in the form of settlers, at the expense of the Indians and Metis rights.
A small group of Austrian Germans settled at Josefsberg (Dunmore near Medicine Hat, Akberta). After 2 years of drought they abandoned this area for the Fort Edmonton area.
A group of 50 Icelandic settlers arrived Markerville (Alberta) to join the original 50 settlers to this area. Others trickled in mostly from North Dakota or Gimli (New Iceland) (Manitoba). Stephen Gudmundsson Stephansson, a poet, (1853-1927), married 1874, Wisconsin, Helga Jonson, and was among this second group of settlers.
The Oblate grand plan considered St. Albert, Grand Brule (Morinville), Lamoureux, Legal, Girouxville, Beaumont, and Picardville as their French settlement targets, and the priests would be happy if the French quietly settled on the land, retaining their French pride of being meek and their respect for Church authority. They settled unnoticed. St. Paul des Metis would be just one more that would be later added to the list. St. Albert and Egg Lake (Grand Brule (Morinville) and vicinity) are Metis communities, and the Church must move quickly to displace the Metis from these locations.
A fire destroyed much of the Calgary business district this year.
The Canadian Anthracite Co. opened a coal mine at Canmore, Alberta.
The 1889-90 flu effected 40% of the world population and killed seven million people world wide. Europe reported 250,000 people died from this influenza.
April 17: Lac La Biche (Alberta) birth Marie Boucher, Metis, daughter Narcisse Boucher Jr., b-1864 Athabasca District and Caroline Ladouceur, b-1862 Fort Pitt (Saskatchewan).