John Saunders Pt. 2: Love and Learning

After spending his formative years with his Métis family at small inland Hudson’s Bay Company posts, like Matawagamingue, John Saunders’ parents sent him to Moose Factory for schooling. 

At just nine years old, John made the difficult and lonely 500-mile journey to Moose Factory in a Hudson’s Bay Company canoe. As John would later recall in his 1876 autobiography: 

“After bidding fare-well to my parents, brothers, and sisters with a heavy heart I left them, taking my passage on the H.B. Company’s canoe… During that time many tears rolled down my cheeks and I felt as if my youthful heart was ready to break. Were it only possible, I would have returned, but, knowing it impossible, the tears ceased, and the heavy heart became lighter.”

Awaiting John in Moose Factory was his grandmother, who had arranged to care for him while he attended the local school. John later remembered meeting his loving grandmother for the first time upon his arrival in Moose Factory:

“A little before the sun sank down below the horizon we arrived safely at Moose Factory. No sooner had we reached the beach than several persons came down… As I looked up the bank I saw a pleasant looking old woman approaching. She came limping towards where I was standing, and, with a smile on her face, seized my hand saying ‘Ah Nooseeseim’ (O My grand child) and kissed me… Then my grandmother took me by the hand and led me away to her own little comfortable house, where I spent two happy years with her.”

In Moose Factory, John attended the Anglican school run by Reverend John Horden—who would become one of John’s most important future mentors. During that time, John received formal instruction in a variety of subjects, providing him with a limited ability to read and write in English.

However, John’s education was often interrupted by daily responsibilities, such as cutting firewood and helping his grandmother hunt. Although outside of the formal classroom setting, these activities—overseen by his grandmother—enabled John to further absorb and build upon the important traditional knowledge and family-focused values previously instilled in him by his father, Valentine.

However, after only two years, John’s time at Reverend Horden’s school—and with his grandmother—came to an abrupt end:

“In the year 1856 to my grandmother’s great sorrow, I left her and returned to my own home once more. My arrival at Flying Post was a happy one. My parents, brothers, and sisters were glad to see me… Here I lived within the circle of a large family, often in want of food, and other common necessaries of life.”

See Our Sources

• Saunders Family Vignette

• John Saunders, “My Autobiography, July 18, 1876” General Synod Archives

• Saunders-Leblanc VMFL Document

Mini Word Search

Have fun with the facts by completing today's mini word search.