Tepastenam

Tepastenam[1] was a respected leader[2] of the Pimicikamak indigenous people in the 19th century. He was born about 1805.[3] From oral history accounts he may have been a Midewiwin leader or Kiseman. The record of his baptism in 1875 describes him as "A noted conjurer for many years, who long resisted the teachings of Christianity."[4]

Family

Tepastenam's family had its wintering grounds at "John Scott's Lake".[5] This has been identified as Setting Lake on the Grass River.[6] He and his family members traded at Nelson House[7] until 1843. Later he began trading at Norway House.[8] Beginning in 1861, some of his children and grandchildren were baptized at Rossville.[9]

English name

In 1875, Tepastenam was baptized as Donald William Sinclair Ross.[10] He was listed in the 1881 register of the Cross Lake Methodist congregation as "chief" and his wife May was listed as "chiefess".[11] Ross first appears on the government of Canada paylist as "chief" in 1876. However, he "was a leader both before and after [Pimicikamak] entered treaty.".[12]

Treaty 5

Tepastenam was notable as the lead signatory to Treaty 5 on behalf of the Pimicikamak people on September 24, 1875 in Norway House.[13] Neither of the other two signatories[14] matched his stature as a leader of the Pimicikamak people.[15] His mark [an X] granted Treaty rights to the Crown in an area of the Northwest Territories that was twice the size of the Province of Manitoba at the time.

Notes
  1. Transliteration from oral Cree, also transliterated as "Tapastanum"; may be translated as: "Shining light".
  2. The Cree term for such a leader is "kisayman".
  3. Noted as 70 years of age in Wesleyan-Methodist Register of Baptisms Norway House 1840-1889, United Church Archives, Winnipeg, on July 11, 1875; cited in Margaret Anne Lindsay & Jennifer S.H. Brown, The History of the Pimicikamak People to the Treaty Five Period, The Centre for Rupert's Land Studies at The University of Winnipeg (2008), Appx. F.
  4. Wesleyan-Methodist Register of Baptisms Norway House 1840-1889, United Church Archives, Winnipeg.
  5. See, e.g., Wesleyan-Methodist Register of Baptisms Norway House 1840-1889, United Church Archives, Winnipeg, no. 1582.
  6. James Vidal Dillabough, Transportation in Manitoba, Manitoba Economic Survey Board, Winnipeg (1938), p. 127.
  7. Nelson House Indian Survey, Archives of Manitoba/Hudson's Bay Company Archives, B239/z/10, York Factory Miscellaneous Records, f. 88.
  8. Archives of Manitoba/Hudson's Bay Company Archives, B.154/a/43 Norway House Post Journal, 1844-1845, f. 30.
  9. Wesleyan-Methodist Register of Baptisms Norway House 1840-1889, United Church Archives, Winnipeg.
  10. He was reportedly named after two Hudson's Bay Company Chief Factors: Donald Ross and William Sinclair; see Archives of Manitoba/Hudson's Bay Company Archives, Norway House Post Journals, B.154/a/71, 1874-1877, Roderick Ross, f. 18.
  11. Norway House Mission Journal, United Church Archives, Winnipeg (1881-85), no. 16, April, 1881.
  12. Lindsay & Brown, The History of the Pimicikamak People to the Treaty Five Period, p. 82.
  13. Alexander Morris, The Treaties of Canada with the Indians, Belfords , Clarke & Co., Toronto (1880); and see John Miswagon, "A Government of our Own", Frontier Centre for Public Policy, 21 April 2005, http://www.fcpp.org/main/publication_detail.php?PubID=1043, accessed 24 September 2008.
  14. They were George Garrioch and Proud McKay.
  15. Lindsay & Brown, The History of the Pimicikamak People to the Treaty Five Period.
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