JAMES SETTEE (8397)

James Settee was born at Split Lake (Manitoba), of Swampy Cree and British ancestry. There is no documentation of his birth, but the year is estimated to have been between the years 1809 and 1816. In 1824, James left Split Lake and went to Red River under the auspices of the Church Missionary Society. He went to the Missionary Society School and was baptized in 1827.

James embraced the teachings of the Anglican Church and missionary work became his vocation. As well as his interest in converting the Indigenous people to Christianity, he also was deeply concerned with the loss of the Indigenous way of life and strove to help the native peoples adjust to the changes by working to establish agricultural settlements. In 1853 he was ordained deacon. In 1856, he was ordained priest. Settee’s relationship with the Church authorities was fractious at times, but his efforts on behalf of the people he served never wavered.

In 1835, James married Sarah (Sally) Cook, a granddaughter of Chief Factor William Hemmings Cook. His missionary work took the couple to various settlements in the Northwest, now Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Records show that they had 13 children, although some biographies suggest that at least one was an adopted child.

James died in Winnipeg in 1902 and was buried in St. John’s Cathedral churchyard. Sally died in 1911 and was also buried in St. John’s.

JAMES SETTEE JR. (10432)

James Settee Jr., son of James and Sarah, was born in 1836 at Red River Settlement. He was a teacher, interpreter and artist. As James travelled throughout the country, he made sketches and watercolours which provide an excellent illustration of Indigenous life in the mid-to-late 1800s.

Unfortunately not much of his work has survived. A few paintings and sketches are in the archives of the University of Birmingham, England. They were presented to the Church Mission Society by Arabella Cowley, wife of an Anglican missionary in the Red River area in the mid-1800s. The Royal Ontario Museum has a couple of his watercolours.  Manitoba Archives has one watercolour, and there is a rough sketch attributed to him in the BC Archives.

James died in 1914 at Cumberland House, SK.