Harriet Goldsmith (Sinclair) Cowan (1832 - 1926)

Born 9 Jul 1832 in Manitoba, Canada

Ancestors

Wife of William Cowan — married 30 Sep 1852 in Upper Church, Red River Settlement, Rupert's Land

Died 9 Sep 1926 at age 94 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

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Biography

Harriet (Sinclair) Cowan was a Canadian First Peoples and member of the Metis Nation.

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Harriet was born in 1826. She is the daughter of James Sinclair and Elizabeth Bird.

Harriet Sinclair at the age of fourteen went to the Red River Academy, when Miss MacKenzie was in charge of the girls’ house

She married physician William Cowan in 1852 and had four children: Anna Cowan, Harriet Cowan, John Cowan, and Alexander Cowan

In 1856 Dr. Cowan was appointed to Moose Factory. He and his family made the journey of twelve hundred miles to that post in four weeks. “The next six years Mrs. Cowan spent at Moose Fort. “I was happy there,” the old lady said. “My husband and I had everything to make us contented. Our children were young.

After the return from Moose Fort, Mrs. Cowan lived within the walls of Fort Garry until 1864, when Dr. Cowan and herself, with their three children, went to England in order to leave their children there to be educated.

in 1902 her husband and she were preparing to celebrate their golden wedding, but Dr. Cowan died only a few weeks before that anniversary. She died at the Winnipeg home her son Alexander,

Quality Sources

Married at “Red River Church” or “Upper Church” as it was known then. http://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_reel_h1344/3548?r=1&s=2

Canada Census, 1881," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MVDB-J11 : 20 May 2019), Harriet Cowan in household of William Cowan, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; from "1881 Canadian Census." Database with images; citing William Cowan, citing Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, Ontario.

United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M93J-Q2R : accessed 26 July 2020), Harriet Cowan in household of William Cowan, Election District 4 St. Paul city Ward 8, Ramsey, Minnesota, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 126, sheet 16A, family 315, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1972.); FHL microfilm 1,240,785.

Other Sources

Record of her resting place in Winnipeg * https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/50969533/harriet-goldsmith-cowan

Domestic dispute in her ex-husband and custody of her two children * https://www.newspapers.com/clip/56090187/the-saint-paul-globe/

http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/people/cowan_hgs.shtml

Women of Red River Being A Book Written From The Recollections Of Women Surviving From The Red River Era, recollections start on page 7 http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/books/womenofredriver.pdf