Guillaume Sayer

Pierre Guillaume Sayer (October 18, 1799 – August 7, 1868) was a Métis fur trader whose trial was a turning point in the ending of the Hudson's Bay Company's (HBC) monopoly of the fur trade in North America.

Life

Sayer was born October 18, 1799, "[t]he natural son of John Sayer of the parish of Sainte Anne." and an Ojibway woman named Marguerite. Records from Pointe-Claire,Quebec indicate that he was baptized July 21, 1815.

Sayer enlisted as a voyageur with the McTavish, McGillivray & Company on April 7, 1818. His inscription was registered by the notary public J.-G. Beek at Ste Anne, Bout de l'Isle at the western end of the Island of Montreal. He was hired to work in the areas controlled by the North West Company. The contract is preserved in the Archives Nationales du Quebec.

According to the Hudson Bay Archives, Pierre Guillaume worked for the North West Company at Cumberland House from 1818 to 1821, the year of the union of the North West and Hudson Bay Companies. From 1828-1829, he worked for the Hudson Bay Company as a Bowsman at Fort Pelly in the Swan River District and then stayed on as a Steersman from 1829-1832. In 1832, he was freed from his service in the Hudson Bay Company and moved to Grantown near the Red River Settlement.

On March 2, 1835, according to the St. Francois Xavier Catholic Church marriage records:[1] Sayer married Josephte Frobisher, elder daughter of fur trader Alexander Frobisher and his Cree wife, on March 2, 1835 at St. Francois Xavier. Josephte who was born about 1795-1807 was baptized the same day as the wedding. She and Sayer had eight sons and four daughters.[2]

Trial

Sayer had been trading to Norman Kittson in Pembina, North Dakota, which was in direct violation of the HBC monopoly. In 1849, Hudson’s Bay Company Chief Factor John Ballenden arrested Pierre Guillaume Sayer, André Goulet, Hector McGinnis and Norbert Larond of Grantown as they were about to leave on a trading trip to Lake Manitoba. They were subsequently brought to trial before the General Quarterly Court of Assiniboia on May 17, 1849. [3]

Sayer was backed by Métis leader Louis Riel Sr.. On the day of During the trial, a crowd of armed Métis men gathered outside the courtroom, ready to support their Métis brother peacefully or by force if necessary. They demanded that Sayer be tried by a jury of his own choosing and that he be allowed to take fellow Métis into the court with him. Although being allowed to select a jury of his own, he was still found guilt by them. Judge Adam Thom, under immense pressure from the overwhelming number of armed Métis, levied no fine or punishment. With the cry, "Le commerce est libre! Le commerce est libre!" ("Free Trade! Free Trade!"), the HBC could no longer use the courts to enforce their monopoly on the settlers of Red River. In 1870 the trade monopoly was abolished and trade in the region was opened to any entrepreneur. The company relinquished its ownership of Rupert's Land under the Rupert's Land Act 1868 enacted by the Parliament of the newly formed Dominion of Canada.

According to the church records at St. Laurent, Manitoba, Pierre Guillaume died August 7, 1868 and was buried at St. Laurent the next day, August 8, 1868, at the age of 75 years. Father Laurent Simonet OMI, who started the Mission and became the first parish priest in 1864, officiated. The witnesses were Baptiste Lavallée and Pierre Chartrand.

Birth dates

Sayer's birth year varies between 1779 and 1807 in other original sources.

  • 1779 - appears in the Manitoba census of 1834 and in the update of 1835. However, this seems to be a copyist error as the name above his is missing its date and this is given to Pierre instead. This error is corrected in the formal census of 1835.
  • 1793 - is the date given in the registry of his death and burial at St. Laurent, Manitoba.
  • 1796 - is given on the census of 1849, the year that he was tried in court.
  • 1801 - when he enlisted with the Hudson Bay Company in 1828, he stated that he was 27 years old. This is shown on the HBCo Servants list of 1828 and gives him 1801 as the year of his birth.
  • 1803 - is found on the censuses of 1833 and 1838. Pierre’s grandson, Alexander Henry Sayer, also stated that his grandfather was about 14 years old when he enlisted as a voyager in 1818.
  • 1807 - comes from the censuses in 1835 and 1843.
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References
  1. Public Archives of Manitoba St. François Xavier Catholic Church marriage record, M 15 page 21
  2. Barkwell, Lawrence. http://www.metismuseum.ca/media/document.php/14587.Sayer,%20Pierre%20Guillaume%20(b.%201803).pdf
  3. Regehr, Ted D., "Pierre-Guillaume Sayer Trial", Encyclopedia of the Great Plains, (David J. Wishart, ed.)

Sources
  • Goulet, George R.D. and Terry Goulet. “Free Trade and the Sayer Trial” in The Métis: Memorable Events and Memorable Personalities. Calgary: FabJob Inc., 2006: 101-108.
  • Morton, W.L. (1988). "Sayer, Pierre Guillaume". In Halpenny, Francess G (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. VII (1836–1850) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
  • Stanley, Della M. M. “Pierre-Guillaume Sayer.” Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Vol. VII (1836-1850). Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1988: 776-777.
  • Stubbs, Roy St. George. “Adam Thom” in Four Recorders of Rupert’s Land. Winnipeg: Peguis Publishers, 1967: 1-47.
  • Western Law Times, Vol. 2, 1891: 12-15.
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