March 9, 2025 marked the 125th anniversary of Lewis Solomon’s passing, in his 80th year.
Lewis Solomon—known to many as Louie—was born into the Métis community at Drummond Island, in 1821, to government interpreter William Solomon and his Métis wife Marguerite (nee Johnston) of Mackinaw. Lewis and his family were among the Métis families living on Drummond Island to relocate to Penetanguishene in the spring of 1829, following the British surrender of the island to the United States after the War of 1812 and imposition of the international border.
Although Lewis grew up in an environment dominated by French and Indigenous languages, where most did not hear English until after their relocation to Penetanguishene, he pursued “a tolerably fair education” as a young adult that afforded him a “command of English [that] is somewhat above the average”.
In Penetanguishene, Lewis’ strong language skills, entrepreneurial spirit, and deep community connections would enable him to build a prosperous “jack-of-all-trades” career, in professions as diverse as guiding, interpreting, and captaining ships through the waters of Georgian Bay, of which he was deeply familiar. This eventful life enabled Lewis to amass decades of vibrant stories of his Métis community.
Lewis shared many of his life’s stories with journalist A.C. Osborne shortly before he died in 1900. This included stories of his family’s displacement from Drummond Island, his Métis community’s enduring spirit and identity in Penetanguishene, and his many career achievements such as captaining the Duchess of Kalloola on its maiden voyage to the ‘Sault’.
Lewis also recounted numerous stories of guiding and of his Métis community’s generous hospitality to visitors, treasure hunters, and dignitaries alike, through which Lewis served as one of his Métis community’s first ambassadors. Among them was the story of Lewis Solomon’s harrowing rescue of Lord Morpeth, that almost cost Solomon his life:
“While camped near the Hudson's Bay post at French River Lord Morpeth went in bathing and got beyond his depth and came near drowning. I happened to pass near, and reached him just as he was sinking for the last time, and got him to a safe place, but I was so nearly exhausted myself that I could not get him on shore. Mr. Jarvis came to his lordship's assistance and helped him on to the rock. Lord Morpeth expressed his gratitude to me and thanked me kindly, saying he would remember me. I thought I would get some office or title, but I never heard anything further about if Mr. Jarvis afterwards got to be colonel, and I suspect he got the reward that should have been mine by merit.”
Despite never receiving the recognition or reward he was promised, Lewis Solomon’s belief in earning only what was “mine by merit” highlights the deeply rooted values, principles, and hardworking spirit that enabled Lewis and the Georgian Bay Métis Community to endure and prosper for generations since.
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