Dearest Mother: Appendix 1 – A “Royal” name for the Desmarais.

Eliza’s grandfather chooses a grander name than his brothers.

The following comes from the Memoirs of George Sanderson. Sanderson was an anglophone Métis born in Athabasca Landing to a mixed-blood family and grew up in Portage La Prairie. He was involved tangentially in the 1870 resistance in Red River. His autobiography provides a wonderful account of frontier Métis life in the west, and includes mention of the Desmarais family.

(While he names the brothers in his story as “Demers”, a footnote suggests this is a shortened form of Desmarais.)

Among the French Canadians who settled at the Red River, was a family named Demers….They came from the far north, somewhere within the Arctic Circle. The father was with the French trading company. There was no church or missionaries where they had been stationed, so the sons, though nearly grown up, were not baptized until they got to the Red River Settlement. These boys were lucky enough to be able to choose their own Christian names. On the Sunday morning they were to be baptized, they were discussing suitable names for themselves, and each other. One said he would name himself Jean Baptiste, that was the name he liked. One said he would have the name of Francois, another said he would take the name, Michael. The other lad said he would not give himself such a common name as his brothers were choosing for theirselves [sic], he would have a royal name. They all received the names that they had chosen, but imagine the surprise and consternation of their parents, when the youngest whispered something to the priest, and the priest said, “King Charles” I baptize thee, etc.

Years afterwards, a newcomer said to him, “It must vex you when people make fun of you, calling you “King Charles,” he replied, “Why should I be vexed, that is my name, I chose it myself, and if you don’t believe me, go and look in the church records, and the Hudson’s Bay Company books.”

George Sanderson

Eliza (Desmarais) Scheer’s grandfather is named in my family tree as Charles “King” Desmarais (b. 1806, m. 7 Feb 1833 to Harriet C. Favel). His mother was Saulteaux (a branch of the Ojibwe, or Anishinaabe nation). Charles and Harriet’s daughter Eliza Desmarais I (b. 1844) and Francois St. Denis are believed to have produced Eliza Desmarais II (b. 1861), who took her husband’s name and became Eliza Scheer, according to my family tree. This does differ somewhat from the description on Red River Ancestry. Family trees from this period are spotty, and genealogists must often work with incomplete records. I trust my tree.

Sanderson identifies King Charles’ brother as Jean-Baptiste Desmarais. There are two Jean Baptiste Desmarais listed in the HBC archival biographies. One worked for the North West Company in the Athabasca district from 1811-1821. The other was a voyageur at Lower Red River, Fort Des Prairies, Fort William, and even for a time in Montreal. It was not uncommon for Catholics to use names like Jean-Baptiste frequently.

Because it was based in Montreal and often staffed by Francophone Canadiens, the North West Company is likely the “French company” that Sanderson refers to, but it was owned primarily by anglophone Scots, and founded after the Treaty of Paris 1763 (when Quebec was ceded to Britain by France). This is probably also linked to Sanderson calling King Charles and his brothers French-Canadians, when their descendants identified more fully as Metis. The conflation of French-speaking Catholic Metis with French-Canadians or Canadiens is common in historical documents.

In 1821 when the Northwest Company merged with their rivals, the Hudson’s Bay Company, the West was changed forever. The new entity, called the HBC, released the contracts of hundreds of “surplus” employees – most of them Métis. Many made their way to Red River and the area and laid further foundations for the Métis Nation (although the nation existed across the prairies and into the North-West Territories, B.C., Ontario, and the northern United States).

Sanderson dictated his memoirs to his niece, Mary Sophia Desmarais Campbell, so he was also related to the Desmarais family.

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I am indebted to historian Matt Hiltermann, who told me this story and sent me Sanderson’s memoirs, and who has also been unfailingly supportive through this project.

Irene Spry, ed., “The ‘Memories’ of George William Sanderson 1846–1936,” Canadian Ethnic Studies/ Études ethniques au Canada 17, 2 (1985): 122.

Archives of Manitoba, Hudson’s Bay Company Archives Biographical Sheets. https://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/biographical/index.html

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I am a descendant of Eliza (Desmarais) Scheer through her daughter Mary, grandson Laurence, and great-grandson Richard. I am a storyteller and amateur historian. This story is part of my online exhibition Dearest Mother: Postcards from a Métis Trooper in the First World War.