The Nolin Siblings’ Enduring Connections

In the decade following the War of 1812, Métis siblings Louis, Augustin, Adolphus, Marguerite, and Angelique Nolin extended their family’s connections from Sault Ste. Marie in the Upper Great Lakes across the Métis Homeland through lives defined by shared purpose, responsibility, and service. Their paths took them in different directions, but the siblings carried forward a family tradition and legacy rooted in diplomacy, trade, education, and leadership.

Following in his father’s footsteps, the eldest son, Louis Nolin, worked for the Hudson’s Bay Company and travelled west as an interpreter for Lord Selkirk during the negotiations for the Peguis-Selkirk Treaty, opening pathways his siblings would later follow and build upon. His brother Augustin served in the War of 1812, after which he also joined the HBC as a trader, working in Michipicoten, and in the 1820s relocated to Pembina, and later to Red River. Their other brother, Adolphus, remained in Sault Ste. Marie, marrying Julia Sayer. Though separated by vast distances, the brothers remained connected through shared work, reputation, and commitment to Métis interests, each reinforcing the others’ contributions across the homeland.

That same spirit of mutual support and shared responsibility extended beyond the brothers. Marguerite and Angelique Nolin expressed their leadership through education, establishing the Red River Settlement’s first girls’ school in 1829. Through this work, the Nolin sisters educated young Métis women and passed on the cultural values and knowledge they had been raised with. Their influence reached into future generations, including Josephte Siveright, mother of Métis leader Elzéar Goulet.

Even as individual siblings moved westward or took on distinct roles, the Nolin family maintained strong ties to the Upper Great Lakes and to one another, with their enduring sibling connections sustained through kinship, collaboration, and shared values. Together, the Nolin siblings demonstrate how a single Métis family, united across distance, could shape the Métis homeland for generations to come.

See Our Sources

• Nolin Family Vignette

• Angelique and Marguerite Nolin

• Hudson’s Bay Company Record for Augustin Nolin

• Louis Nolin Testimony

• Peguis-Selkirk Treaty

• Red River Disturbances

• Northwest Angle Treaty

• Genevieve Nolin’s Scrip Records: Page One / Page Two

Mini Word Search

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