Family shaped by rivers, migrations, kinship, and the meeting of worlds

The story of this family does not begin in one place.
It begins in three worlds at once.

In the hedged fields and parish lanes of England and Wales.¹
In the wind‑carved stone and cold seas of Orkney.²
And across the vast interior of Rupert’s Land, where Cree, Saulteaux, and other Indigenous nations had lived for countless generations.³

Across more than two centuries, these worlds converged through the engine that reshaped the North: the Hudson’s Bay Company and the fur trade.⁴

From that convergence emerged a new people — the Métis — and from those Métis families came generations who would move westward through Red River, Saskatchewan, and finally British Columbia.⁵

This is their story.

I. England, Wales, Orkney — and the call of the North

In the mid‑18th century, young men from three very different homelands began entering HBC service:

• England, where rural life was changing and opportunities were limited
• Wales, where families like the Thomases lived in a world of chapel, trade, and migration
• Orkney, where endurance, seamanship, and hard weather shaped generations⁶

The HBC recruited heavily from Orkney, valuing the islanders’ maritime skill and resilience.⁷
From these three regions, young men boarded ships and vanished into the fog of the North Atlantic, bound for a world they could scarcely imagine.⁸

II. Rupert’s Land — where worlds intertwined

When these men arrived in Rupert’s Land, they entered a world already rich with Indigenous nations, languages, and political systems.⁹

The Hudson’s Bay Company could not function without Indigenous knowledge, diplomacy, and kinship.¹⁰

In this world:

• English and Welsh officers managed posts and brigades
• Orkney labourers paddled, hauled, hunted, and built
• Cree and Saulteaux women formed the matrilineal heart of emerging families
• alliances were made through marriage, partnership, and kinship obligations

These unions — sometimes formal, sometimes à la façon du pays — were not only personal relationships but political and economic alliances.¹¹
They created children who were at home in both Indigenous and European worlds.
From these children, the Métis Nation began to emerge.¹²

III. Red River — treaties, conflict, and community

By the early 1800s, the fur trade had moved inland. Posts along the Saskatchewan, Churchill, and Nelson rivers became centres of trade, diplomacy, and conflict.¹³

At Red River, the families who would become your ancestors:

• intermarried
• farmed
• hunted buffalo
• served as interpreters
• built churches
• shaped early governance
• and formed one of the most influential Métis communities in the West¹⁴

Here, English officers, Orkney labourers, Cree and Saulteaux matrilines, French‑Métis families, and HBC administrators converged into a dense kinship web.
Red River became the central hub of the ancestral network.¹⁵

IV. Northern rivers — Cook, Cocking, Spence, Batt, Hourie

While the Bird–Thomas–Sutherland families shaped Red River, another set of ancestors lived further north.

In this northern arc:

• the Cook and Cocking families formed one of the most influential Métis lineages of the inland trade¹⁶
• the Spence and Batt families carried Cree and Métis matrilines into the 19th century¹⁷
• the Hourie line, rooted in Orkney, married into Cree and Métis communities and later merged with the Cromarties¹⁸

These northern families lived at the heart of the inland trade, where rivers were highways and kinship was currency.¹⁹

V. The Cromartie–Park line — from Fort Severn to the prairies

Another major branch begins with the Park family of Red River and the Cromarties of Orkney.²⁰

Their descendants lived at Fort Severn — one of the most remote HBC posts — before moving south and west into the Saskatchewan River corridor.²¹
There, the Cromartie line merged with the Houries, linking northern and prairie worlds.²²

VI. Prairie homesteads — the Bird line continues

By the late 1800s, the fur trade era faded. Railways and homesteads replaced canoes and brigades.²³

In this new world:

• the Bird line carried the Red River heritage into the prairie settlement era
• the Cromartie–Hourie–Park–Cook–Cocking–Spence–Batt ancestry converged in the same region
• Métis, settler, and Scandinavian families lived side by side in the Birch Hills district²⁴

This prairie cluster became one of the strongest geographic convergences in the entire ancestry.²⁵

VII. The Brager line — Norway to North Dakota to Alberta to Saskatchewan to BC

Parallel to the Métis and HBC lines, another migration thread enters the story.

The Bragers were part of the great Norwegian migration that reshaped the northern Plains.²⁶
They followed a corridor used by many Norwegian families:

• Norway
• North Dakota
• Alberta
• Saskatchewan
• British Columbia

When Ingvald Brager married Elsie Evelyn Bird, the Scandinavian‑American thread joined the deep Métis–HBC–Cree network of the Birds, Cromarties, Houries, Cooks, and others.²⁷
Their descendants carried this blended heritage into British Columbia, where the family lived and fished in Steveston and Richmond.²⁸

VIII. A river of stories flowing forward

Today, descendants of these families live across Canada and beyond.

Their story is one of:

• migrations
• alliances
• treaties
• resilience
• cultural blending
• and the creation of new identities

It is a story that begins in England, Wales, Orkney, and Cree homelands —
moves through the fur trade and the birth of the Métis Nation —
and flows westward into Saskatchewan and British Columbia, including the prairie homestead cluster where multiple ancestral lines converged.²⁹

The story does not end here.
It continues with every person who reads it, remembers it, and carries it forward.

ENDNOTES

1. English and Welsh origins of officer and settler lines (see Appendix A, item A1).
2. Orkney as a core recruitment region for HBC labourers (see Appendix A, item A2).
3. Cree and Saulteaux homelands as the Indigenous foundation of the fur‑trade world (see Appendix A, item A3).
4. Centrality of the HBC and fur trade in reshaping the North.
5. Westward movement from Red River through Saskatchewan into British Columbia (see Appendix A, items A5–A7).
6. Distinct social and economic conditions in England, Wales, and Orkney that fed HBC recruitment.
7. HBC preference for Orkney recruits due to maritime skill and endurance.
8. Out‑migration of young men from these regions into HBC service.
9. Pre‑existing Indigenous political and territorial systems in Rupert’s Land.
10. Dependence of HBC operations on Indigenous knowledge, trade, and diplomacy.
11. À la façon du pays unions as both personal and political alliances.
12. Emergence of the Métis Nation from intertwined Indigenous–European kinship networks.
13. Inland shift of the fur trade and importance of northern river systems.
14. Red River as a centre of Métis community, governance, and kinship.
15. Red River as a hub where officer, labourer, Indigenous, and Métis families converged (see Appendix A, item A5).
16. Cook and Cocking families as influential inland Métis lineages.
17. Spence and Batt families carrying Cree and Métis matrilines into the 19th century.
18. Hourie line linking Orkney service to Cree and Métis communities and later merging with the Cromarties.
19. Northern river posts as centres where kinship and trade were tightly intertwined (see Appendix A, item A4).
20. Park and Cromartie families as key links between Red River and northern posts.
21. Movement of Cromartie descendants through Fort Severn and into the Saskatchewan corridor (see Appendix A, items A4 and A6).
22. Merging of Cromartie and Hourie lines in the prairie region.
23. Transition from fur‑trade economy to railways and homesteads in the late 19th century.
24. Co‑residence of Métis, settler, and Scandinavian families in the Birch Hills district (see Appendix A, item A6).
25. High‑density kinship cluster formed by multiple ancestral lines in the same township group.
26. Norwegian migration patterns from Europe to the northern Plains (see Appendix A, item A8).
27. Marriage of Ingvald Brager and Elsie Evelyn Bird as the convergence point of Norwegian settler and Métis–HBC–Cree ancestries.
28. Residence and work of descendants in Richmond and Steveston (see Appendix A, item A7).
29. Overall westward flow from the three worlds into the prairie cluster and BC coast (see Appendix A, items A1–A7).

APPENDIX A — GEOGRAPHIC ANCHORS OF THE THREE WORLDS

A1. England & Wales
Origins of James Curtis Bird and Thomas Thomas documented in parish registers and Red River genealogical reconstructions.
Primary; parish registers (St. John’s, St. Andrews); Red River Ancestry: James Curtis Bird; Red River Ancestry: Thomas Thomas.

A2. Orkney
Origins of Sutherland, Hourie, Cromartie, and Spence families documented in Orkney parish registers and HBC recruitment patterns.
Primary; Orkney Parish Registers (Sandwick, Stromness); HBCA Biographical Sheets: John Cromartie; John Hourie.

A3. Cree & Saulteaux homelands
Territorial and cultural context for Indigenous nations central to the fur‑trade world.
Contextual; Brown, Strangers in Blood; Van Kirk, Many Tender Ties.

A4. Northern HBC posts
Fort Severn, Split Lake, and Grand Rapids documented in HBCA post journals and biographical sheets for Cook, Cocking, Spence, and Batt.
Primary; HBCA B.198/a/1 (Fort Severn Post Journal); HBCA Biographical Sheets: William Hemmings Cook; Matthew Cocking.

A5. Red River Settlement
St. Andrews, Point Douglas, and White Horse Plains documented in parish registers and genealogical reconstructions.
Primary; Red River Parish Registers; Red River Ancestry: George Bird; Red River Ancestry: Ann Thomas.

A6. Prairie homestead cluster (Birch Hills district)
Bird, Cromartie, and Hourie families documented in homestead records and early census data.
Primary; Saskatchewan Homestead Index; 1901 Census of Canada (District: Saskatchewan, Sub‑district: Birch Hills).

A7. British Columbia convergence (Richmond & Steveston)
Brager–Bird family presence documented in BC vital records and local histories.
Primary; BC Vital Records; Richmond and Steveston local histories.

A8. Norwegian migration corridor
Migration patterns documented in Norwegian‑American scholarship and Brager family records.
Contextual; Lovoll, The Promise of America; Alberta Vital Records (birth of Ingvald Brager).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Primary Sources

• HBCA Biographical Sheet: John Cromartie
• HBCA Biographical Sheet: John Hourie
• HBCA Biographical Sheet: William Hemmings Cook
• HBCA Biographical Sheet: Matthew Cocking
• HBCA B.198/a/1 — Fort Severn Post Journal
• Orkney Parish Registers (Sandwick, Stromness)
• Red River Parish Registers (St. Andrews, St. John’s)
• Saskatchewan Homestead Index (SHSI)
• 1901 Census of Canada — Saskatchewan, Birch Hills
• BC Vital Records
• Alberta Vital Records (birth of Ingvald Brager)

Genealogical & Archival Compilations (Used with Caution)

• Red River Ancestry: James Curtis Bird
• Red River Ancestry: Thomas Thomas
• Red River Ancestry: George Bird
• Red River Ancestry: Ann Thomas
• Red River Ancestry: William Hemmings Cook

Scholarly Works (Context Only)

• Brown, Jennifer S.H. Strangers in Blood
• Van Kirk, Sylvia. Many Tender Ties
• Lovoll, Odd S. The Promise of America
• Bumsted, J.M. The Red River Settlement

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