DOCUMENT NAME/INFORMANT: INFORMANT'S ADDRESS: MRS. MCLEOD ROBERTSON BAY INTERVIEW LOCATION: TRIBE/NATION: LANGUAGE: DATE OF INTERVIEW: INTERVIEWER: INTERPRETER: TRANSCRIBER: SOURCE: ENGLISH MARGARET STOBIE JOANNE GREENWOOD MARGARET STOBIE TAPE COLLECTION ARCHIVES AND SPECIAL COLLECTIONS ELIZABETH DAFOE LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA WINNIPEG, MANITOBA R3T 2N2 IH-MS.004a TAPE NUMBER: DISK: TRANSCRIPT DISC 43 PAGES: 5 RESTRICTIONS: THIS MATERIAL MAY BE USED WITHOUT RESTRICTION BY THE INDIAN HISTORY FILM PROJECT FOR RESEARCH PURPOSES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF A FILM SERIES DEPICTING THE HISTORY OF CANADA FROM THE INDIAN POINT OF VIEW. IT MAY BE USED BY THE PUBLIC AND FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES SUBJECT TO THE FOLLOWING RESTRICTIONS: 1. COPYRIGHT REMAINS WITH PROF. STOBIE AND/OR THE UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA 2. NO DUPLICATION OF TAPES WITHOUT PERMISSION OF PROF. STOBIE AND/OR THE UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA 3. NO PUBLICATION WITHOUT PERMISSION OF PROF. STOBIE AND/OR THE UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA 4. WHEN QUOTING PLEASE CREDIT THE "MARGARET STOBIE COLLECTION, DEPARTMENT OF ARCHIVES AND SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA" 5. ANY AND ALL ROYALTY AGREEMENTS TO BE NEGOTIATED WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA. This is a brief visit with Mrs. McLeod. Margaret: And you met Mr. McLeod here? Mrs. McLeod: Yes. He was christened at York Factory and his mother is my godmother, you see. And we came here before they came up. Margaret: And you say it was his grandfather who came over from Scotland?
Mrs. McLeod: His dad. Margaret: His own father? Mrs. McLeod: His own father. That is where my father was from too. Margaret: They came from the same part of Scotland? Mrs. McLeod: No, different parts, I guess. Margaret: Well, as a young girl here, what sort of thing would you do? Mrs. McLeod: When I was young here? I was working out all the time. I went to school just for a while and then I went out working. I was in the boarding school for about a year, I guess. I didn't go back there. I didn't like the rules. (laughs) Margaret: How old were you when you were married? Mrs. McLeod: I was about nineteen. Margaret: And your husband was...? Mrs. McLeod: Twenty-five. Margaret: And was he with the Bay or was he...? Mrs. McLeod: He was working all the time. Margaret: What sort of thing? Mrs. McLeod: Whatever he had to do. Trapping and fishing and stuff like that. Margaret: Well, did you have celebrations of any kind? Mrs. McLeod: No. Margaret: New Year's? Mrs. McLeod: Oh yes, New Year's and Christmas. (laughs) Margaret: Where would you gather then? Did you just have it in your own home? Mrs. McLeod: We gathered at the old chief, Sinclair's, and the old chief, you know, way up by Paupanakis's there. He had this house and he used to have the New Year's feast. Margaret: And everyone came around for that? Mrs. McLeod: And everybody came, even the Hudson's Bay people came up from the outposts.
Margaret: And how did you go, by dog? Mrs. McLeod: Yes, by dog team. And carryalls, by nice carryalls and nice dogs, you know. Not like around here, nobody has a nice team of dogs or anything. Margaret: And you would have skins for robes and...? Mrs. McLeod: Yeah. Eiderdowns. Some had robes made out of rabbit skin, you know. The women used to make those robes out of rabbit skin, they were nice. They colored them, the material. Margaret: Would be quite a handsome sight. Mrs. McLeod: Yeah. The carryall is all decorated and everything, you know. Bells on the dogs and it used to be nice. Margaret: Oh, it would be. And then the whole family would go visiting? Mrs. McLeod: Yes, we would all go up there for supper. And they used to have dances and we danced there till midnight. Margaret: And there would have fiddlers? Mrs. McLeod: Yes, fiddlers. Margaret: Were there any particular fiddlers around here that...? Mrs. McLeod: There wasn't any that time but there are some around here now, you know. Margaret: Well, how many children have you? Mrs. McLeod: I have ten. (Inaudible). They are all married. Margaret: Boys and girls? Mrs. McLeod: Yes, I had three boys out there, and one here and the other one there. And another one way out there. And two is fishing. (Inaudible) my grandson that I had my daughter passed away, I had my grandson, his name is Alfred. He was just a little baby starting to walk and his mother died so she told me that I would have to keep him so I did. He is a big boy now. He is about seventeen. He will be seventeen in November. He's out fishing too. Margaret: And he is still with you? Mrs. McLeod: Yes, he is still with us. Margaret: Well, do you do much? I noticed you have some very attractive moccasins on. Did you make those?
Mrs. McLeod: No, I didn't make these. Margaret: Do you do that sort of thing? Mrs. McLeod: I used to do it but I don't do it now. I never did bead work but I did silk work. But I didn't do this. These moccasins are from Island Lake. Margaret: Oh, are they? Mrs. McLeod: Yeah, they do good work up there. Margaret: Do they do different kinds of work in the different places? Mrs. McLeod: Yes. This is from Island Lake. Margaret: Would you just looking at it know that that's from Island Lake and not from...? Mrs. McLeod: No, I knew because I got these from Island Lake. Cross Lake, they do some work too. Margaret: Mrs. Balfour and Mrs. McKay over at Rossville yesterday morning were telling me about the Powwow club that they started and that they are trying to do the old bead work again. And Mrs. Balfour said that she and her husband made a full war bonnet and so on for the dances and so on. But those are most attractive. And I met Mrs. Paupanakis yesterday and she said she was, she had been making some bonnets. Mrs. McLeod: Yes. Margaret: Well, with that number of children, you must have had quite a time when your children were being born. Mrs. McLeod: Yes, but we had lots of work to do. We had cows and horses but I managed, you know. I had all the girls working and the boys working, helping. Margaret: Were there doctors around within call? Mrs. McLeod: Yes, there were doctors. Margaret: A large family does manage to help each other. Mrs. McLeod: Yes. Margaret: What about the, were there any particular things that you remember? I mean were there any difficult times that you remember or any exciting ones that you recall? Mrs. McLeod: I don't remember anything like that. Margaret: When was your first child married? Mrs. McLeod: He was married... I don't know. I can't
remember. (End of Interview)