Origins of Some of Our Northern American Indian Ancestors

How did many of the Scottish and French surnames of contemporary tribal families enter the rolls of the various tribes of the northern tier United States and Canada? Often, through the Fur Trade. The fur traders, especially in the Hudson's Bay Company, of Scottish and French descent, married the daughters of the Indian chiefs, with whom they traded furs.

 In my own family, scattered among tribes of Washington, Idaho, Montana and Oregon, our first non-Indian surname was Gingras. Jean Gingras, born 1802 in Yamaska, Quebec, Canada, joined the Hudson's Bay Company as a young man and lived the remainder of his days in the old Columbia District of the Pacific Northwest, dying in St. Paul, Marion, Oregon, in the 1850's. His many sons and daughters left Marion County, Oregon, during the 1860's and went in all directions: to the Roseburg, Oregon, area; to the Pendleton, Oregon, area; to the Flathead Reservation, as well as other reserves: Puyallup, Spokane, Colville, Yakima, Kalispell and Coeur d'Alene.

Jean married a very young Okanogan girl, named Charlotte, by the priests, and called "Skialks" by the Indians. Skialks, in Salish, denotes a wife of a white man, specifically referring to her "striped dress", marked by soot from the white man's wood stove.

(Painting by Peter Rindisbacher, ca. 1825-26)

Following are some of my research notes:

 Munnick, Harriet Duncan. CATHOLIC CHURCH RECORDS OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST:  Binford and Mort, Portland, Oregon; 1972;  Vancouver Register, Vol. I; Biographies A-31

Gingras, Jean (I) 1802-1856
"A handy man", Governor Simpson recorded in 1828, " more interested for the service in the absence than before his superiors".  All Gingras's years of service were spent at inland posts between the Rockies and the Cascades.  In 1841 he rose to the position of Post Master at Fort Okanogan.  Within a few years he retired to French Prairie, taking a claim on the river west of the Mission of St. Paul, St. Louis and Roseburg registers.

In the St. Paul Register is the following bio:

Page A-36
"A handy man," Governor Simpson recorded in 1828, "more interested for the service in the absence than before his superiors."  All Gingras's years of service were spent at inland posts between the Rockies and the Cascades.  In 1841 he rose to the position of Post Master at Fort Okanogan.  Within a few years he retired to French Prairie, taking a claim on the river west of the Mission of St. Paul, embracing a part of Hoseshoe Lake.  After the death of his wife, Charlotte Okanogan, he married Olive Forcier.  He is buried in the Old cemetery at St. Paul, where no markers remain.



Many of the early mixed blood Indian families were formed before the appearance of the priests in the Pacific Northwest and had children when they came forward to be married in the church. Hence, the couple would have to separated for two weeks prior to the marriage, then baptized (though most of the men had already received this ordinance in Quebec), then, married. At the same time as the marriage, their children, born previously, were legitimized. Here is the record for Jean Gingras and Charlotte Skialks Okanogan.

 Munnick, Harriet Duncan. CATHOLIC CHURCH RECORDS OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST:  Binford and Mort, Portland, Oregon; 1979; St. Paul Register; page 31-17, M-6
Jean Gingras and Charlotte Okanogan
This 2 August, 1841, in view of the dispensation of one ban granted by us undersigned, and the publication of two others between jean Gingras, formerly of Petit Maska in Canada and domiciled in this place, on one part; Charlotte Okanogan, Indian woman of the country of that name, on the other part; nor any impediment being discovered, we priest undersigned have received their mutual consent of marriage and have given them the nuptial benediction in presence of Luc Gagnon and of Joseph Groslouis, witnesses, before whom the said spouses have legitimatized the following children who were born to them before their marriage, namely:  Joseph aged 13 years, Jean aged 9 and 1/2; narcisse aged 7 years and 1/2, Angele aged 6 years, and finally Marguerite aged 3 years and 1/2; the said spouses and the witnesses have not known how to sign.  F.N. Blanchet, priest.

 St Michel de Yamaska church as it stands today, the birth and baptismal place of Jean Gingras.

Interior of St Michel

Choir at St Michel (Photos courtesy of Pauline Courchene)

 Munnick, Harriet Duncan. CATHOLIC CHURCH RECORDS OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST:  Binford and Mort, Portland, Oregon; 1979; St. Paul Register, S-12, P. 82:

The 7 October, 1856, we undersigned have buried in the cemetery of this parish, the body of Jean Gingras of this place, deceased the 5 of this month aged....years, in the presence of Francois Bernier and of Amable Petit.  L.A. LeBas, priest, miss., apost.

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1850 US Census; Marion Co., Oregon Territory; Page 100:
404-404
Jean Gingras 49 M Farmer 1000 Canada
Olive Gingras 16 F OT
Jos. Narcisse Gingras 18 M OT
Lizette Gingras 9 F OT
Louis Gingras 3 M OT
Francis Gingras 1 M OT
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Note:

During the early 1970's, I lived in the Willamette Valley and passed by St. Louis and St. Paul and drove through Woodurn, Oregon, many times; not knowing that my ancestors had lived there.  A few years later, I was teaching school in Athena, Oregon, near the Umatilla Reservation.  I lived on the reservation and passed by St. Rose Mission and burial grounds, often, not knowing that some of my ancestral uncles and aunts had lived and died there.  In school, some of my students were Picards, my distant cousins.  But, again, I was unaware of my own heritage and connections with those dear people.

In the 1980's, I learned that the claim of Jean Gingras encompassed Horseshoe Lake.  In the work of helping patrons in the Family History Center in Spokane, I helped a young man from Mt. Angel, Oregon, a student at Gonzaga University, find his native roots.  I asked him if he knew Horseshoe Lake.  He told me he fished it every once in a while, that it was a favorite haunt.  Small world.  K.D.


Jean Gingras's Parents' Family Group

Joseph Gingras was born on 13 Jan 1774 in Saint Michel d'Yamaska, comte de Yamaska, PQ. He was also known as Joseph Gingras. He was a cultivateur = farmer.
He was married to Gertrude Letendre in 1824 in Saint Michel d'Yamaska, comte de Yamaska, PQ. Gertrude Letendre was born about 1775.
He was married to Reine Dumont in 1835 in Saint Michel d'Yamaska, comte de Yamaska, PQ. Reine Dumont was born about 1775.
He was married to Marguerite Beliveau on 2 Jul 1798 in Saint Michel d'Yamaska, comte de Yamaska, PQ. Marguerite Beliveau was born on 30 May 1774. She was baptized on 31 May 1774 in Becancour, PQ. She was also known as Marguerite Beliveau. Joseph Gingras and Marguerite Beliveau had the following children:

579 i. Joseph Gingras was born about 1799 in Yamaska, PQ. He died about 1801 in Yamaska, PQ. He was also known as Joseph Gingras.
+580 ii. Joseph Gingras was born about 1800. He was also known as Joseph Gingras.
581 iii. Marguerite Luce Gingras was born about 1800. She was also known as Marguerite Luce Gingras.
582 iv. François Gingras was born about 1800. He died on 28 Apr 1832 in Yamaska, PQ. He was also known as François Gingras.
+583 v. Jean Gingras 1 was born on 15 Apr 1802 in Yamaska, PQ. He emigrated about 1820 from Saint Michel d'Yamaska, comte de Yamaska, PQ. He appeared on the census in Mar 1845 in Champoeg County, Oregon Territory, OR. He appeared on the census on 30 Jan 1851 in Marion County, OR. He died in 1856 in St. Paul. He was a Post Master, employed by the Hudson Bay Company, in Fort Okinagan. He was also known as Jean Inigras. He was also known as Jean Gengras. He was also known as Jean Gingras.
584 vi. Antoine Gingras was baptized in 1804 in Yamaska, PQ. He was born about 1804. He was also known as Antoine Gingras.
+585 vii. Marie Gingras was born on 5 Mar 1810 in Yamaska, PQ. She died in Feb 1880 in Little Canada, MN. She was also known as Mary Gingas. She was also known as Marie Gingras.
586 viii. Augustin Gingras was born about 1814 in Yamaska, PQ. He died about 1819 in Yamaska, PQ. He was also known as Augustin Gingras.
+587 ix. Marie-Louise Gingras was born on 7 Mar 1817 in PQ. She died on 17 Apr 1867 in Little Canada, MN. She was buried on 17 Apr 1867 in St. John the Evangelist, Little Canada, MN. She was also known as Marie Louise Mary Gingras. She was also known as Marie-Louise Gingras. She was also known as M.-Louise Gingras.



Other Records for Jean Gingras

          Spokane Indian Reservation Records
          Office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs
          Wellpinit, WA
          Joseph GANGRO (GINGRAS) Allotment Record

Following are the earliest pictures I have of my native family, who were members of the Spokane Tribe of Indians.

Great Granddaughter of Jean Gingras and Charlotte Okanogan, Mary Heller Haines, fourth from left, with her children. My grandfather, George Haines, first, on the left. Lucy, about age 3, with her kitten, last on the right.

Great Granddaughter of Jean Gingras (right), Mary Heller Haines, with her husband, Charles Haines, and their youngest child, Lucy Haines (later, Lucy Cary) in the yard at their home ranch, six miles north of Ford Washington, about 1910. Charles Haines' mother was a full blood Okanogan called Es-pes, by the Indians, but described in records as Esther, sister of Little Aneus of the  Aneus Valley.

George Albert Haines, Great, Great Grandson of Jean Gingras, about 1918, a World War I veteran. He was my grandfather, son of Charles and Mary Haines.