True Story of Orphan

“True Story of Orphan,” as told by William Toulouse of Sagamok in Peter Di Gangi,

“Regina Flannery Herzfeld Fieldwork on the North Shore Summer 1939: Biographies,

Field Notes and Published Material” (Sicani Research: Ottawa, 2019) at 91.

A young orphan was left in the bush by herself. Her parents and brothers died off, and she was

left alone in the camp. She travelled 3 days and the 3rd day she came to a trail which she

followed and came to another camp.

The people in this camp had lost a girl, so when they heard this girl’s story they took her in as

their own and she called “the lady of the house” by term “Mother.”

In those days women trapped just the same as men. So she trapped with this woman. She was 13

when she came to them. She stayed with them two winters. Each winter she got between $200 -

$250 worth of fur. They took their fur to the Soo [Sault Ste Marie]. Then she had $500. These

people put her in school at the Soo (this was about 50 years ago [circa 1889]) and there she

stayed seven years. It was the first school that was built in these parts, Cîgam Kwom School

(something like the one at Spanish).

Then she got a job in the office and later met a man whom she married. She was well off.

This story was just to show how good they are to their own. This girl was no relation to the

people who took her in.