Sara Mary Moore was born in Moose Factory in 1818. Her Métis father, George Moore Jr., was a steersman with the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC), who had entered the company’s employ as a labourer half a decade earlier.  George and his wife, Emma, raised Sara Mary within the vibrant Métis fur trade world of traders, guides, and woodsmen along western James Bay. In 1833, George briefly moved east “to Canada” before retiring to the Red River in 1834.  Then, about 16, Sara Mary moved

Métis women played an essential role in provisioning the fur trade posts of the Abitibi Inland and western James Bay regions. Métis women from the Abitibi Inland Métis Community are documented hunting, trapping, and snaring a variety of birds and game, including geese, partridges, beaver, martins, and rabbits. Fishing—especially for whitefish—was common too. In addition to hunting, snaring, and fishing, Métis women actively participated in maple sugar production, as well as o

Métis couple, Annie McDonell and Walter Ferris, were married on July 28, 1864, in the Mattawa region. Annie McDonell was born around 1844 in Moose Factory to Mary Ann (nee McKay) and Alexander McDonell, a lifelong Métis Hudson’s Bay Company employee whose career and connections spanned the Métis Homeland, including the Swan River, Lac la Pluie, and Abitibi Inland regions. By 1848, Annie and her four siblings had relocated to the Mattawa region with their parents, where they b

On May 18, 1870, John Saunders married Frances Swanson in Moose Factory. Their union of proud Métis families both reflected and continued to strengthen the enduring kinship networks of their Métis fur trade community in the Abitibi Inland region.  Frances herself came from a Métis fur-trading family, making the union of the two families a continuation of a familiar way of life shaped by shared work, culture, and community ties. John Saunders was born in 1845 in Matawagamingue

On October 20, 1920, Charles Douglas Swanson and Isabella Mabel Saunders were married in Chapleau, uniting two Métis families already long connected through shared marriage, mutual support, and kinship within the Abitibi Inland Métis Community. Charles Douglas was born around 1892 near James Bay. Like his brother William, his early life was centred within the Abitibi Inland Métis Community. By 1901, Charles was living with his Métis family in Chapleau, where he later grew int

On November 7, 1916, Abitibi Inland Métis Community members, William Henry Swanson and Ester Edna Saunders were married in Chapleau. William Henry Swanson was born in 1883 on James Bay, the son of George Swanson and Marie McLeod. Working as a laborer for the Hudson’s Bay Company, George Swanson introduced his Métis children to a life deeply rooted in their Métis community. By the 1901 census, William Henry was living in Chapleau alongside many other Métis families, reflecting