Tag Archives: Desmarais

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

Dearest Mother Pt 3: Imagine Me Walking About This Place

Postcards from a Métis Trooper in the First World War In 2024, my father shared with me some postcards he had kept. They were passed down by his great-grandmother, Eliza Scheer (nee Desmarais) a Métis midwife who ran a boarding house in Fort MacLeod in the early decades of the 20th century. Most were fromContinue reading “Dearest Mother Pt 3: Imagine Me Walking About This Place”