Nahoway [i] was born in the Hudson Bay area. Estimates of her birth vary from the early 1770s to 1780. Her parentage is not documented, although her father was probably an HBC employee from Britain and her mother of Cree/European ancestry.[ii] About 1792, she became the ‘country wife’ of William Sinclair, a young Orkney man in the employ of the Hudson’s Bay Company at York Factory.
Sinclair had sailed for York Factory in 1782 as a servant to Chief Factor Humphrey Marten, but was taken prisoner by the French at sea, sent back to Scotland, and returned to YF in 1783. In 1786 he was taken on at YF as a labourer and worked his way through the ranks, eventually becoming Chief Factor at Oxford House in 1811. Ill health plagued William for the last few years of his life and he spent the season of 1814-1815 in Scotland. His role with the HBC was reduced to Inland Master when he returned in 1815. He died at York Factory in April 1818.
Nahoway accompanied her husband to his various postings and was mother to at least eleven children. Ten children (William, John, James, Thomas, Colin, Phoebe, Catherine, Jane, Ann, Mary) were named in William’s will, written in January 1818.[iii] One child had died in 1816. Through marriages with other HBC men or their children, the Sinclair family was connected to many early fur trade families. Phoebe and her husband Thomas Bunn came to the settlement in 1822. Catherine and husband Joseph Cook, as well as Nahoway with her children Mary and Thomas, arrived in 1824. James came to Red River in 1827.
Nahoway drew an annuity from William’s estate as Widow Sinclair. In 1827 this annuity was paid to John Forbes,[iv] so it can be assumed that she remarried about this time. An annuity continued to be paid to Nahoway Forbes or Sinclair until 1863.[v] She died in 1863 at Seven Oaks, the home of her daughter Mary Inkster, and was buried in the churchyard of St. John’s Cathedral. In 1897 a memorial stone was erected at St. John’s by her youngest son Colin.[vi] Colin died in 1901 and was buried at the same site.
[i] Also spelled Nahovway. She was baptised in 1825 as Margaret, but was always known as Nahoway.
[ii] Donna Sutherland, author of Nahoway. A Distant Voice, was unable to find anything conclusive regarding Nahoway’s birth or parents. Donna believes Nahoway was born near Prince of Wales Fort, although York Factory has also been suggested.
[iii] Elizabeth (Betsey) Sinclair, not included in the will, was perhaps William’s daughter by a different woman. Betsey had a daughter by George Simpson and later married Robert Seaborn Miles at York Factory.
[iv] HBCA B.235/d/34, Upper Fort Garry and Red River District settlers’ and retired servants’ accounts 1827-1828
[v] The annuity was not paid for a few years after the death of the executor, Alexander Kennedy, in 1832.
[vi] Colin Sinclair arrived in Winnipeg in 1881 after a sea-faring life and long separation from his family.