Marie Rose Swain (abt. 1862)

Born about 3 Feb 1862 in St. François Xavier, St. François Xavier, Manitoba, Canada

Ancestors

Wife of Francois Xavier Lapierre — married 25 Mar 1879 in Saint Peters Mission, Montana Territory, United States

Descendants

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Biography

Marie was born about 1862. She is the daughter of James Swain and Marie Arcand.

According to her scrip application she left St Francois Xavier, Red River settlement (now Manitoba) about 1865 with her parents, and lived in the area of Cypress Hills, Northwest Territories, currently southern Alberta/Saskatchewan. Her mother stated they left the Red River area to "live the life of a Plains hunter".

Marie Rose Swan stated that about 1878 the family went to Sun River, Montana Territory. She married Francois Xavier LaPierre (aka Frank LaPier) at St Peter's Mission which was a Jesuit mission and school (currently Cascade County MT, census district and other references have it as Lewis and Clark County), which served many Metis families as well as others in a large circuit around the area.

She was enumerated in the 1880 Montana Territory Census at St Peter's Mission, married, with a daughter born in Montana, with her parents and extended family.

The family were closely associated with Louis Riel when he taught at the mission school 1883-1884. He lived in her parents' home with his wife and young children. Riel left for Saskatchewan in June 1884 at the request of Metis in the NW Territories who were organizing and wanted his involvement.

The loss of the bison herds, hunger, influx of settlers, the railroads and rapid changes precipitated a crisis and the Northwest Resistance aka Rebellion in 1885.

Marie Rose Swan, her husband, parents and other family members also returned north in 1884. She stated in July 1885 at Duck Lake, she had been present in the NW Territories for the prior year and intended to permanently reside there. At that time she had 3 children.

By 1910 census the family was in Augusta, Lewis and Clark, Montana. She had borne 12 children, 7 of whom were living, five were at home. Her occupation was shown as laundress at home, Frank LaPier, her husband of 30 years, working as a laborer in woods/farm. He stated he was born in Montana. She was not a naturalized US citizen.

Sources

• Certificate of Baptism indicates baptism on 07 Feb, 1862 (found on Ancestry.ca website)18

1985, Duck Lake, Saskatchewan NW Scrip Application digital images (downloadable): Metis National Historical Online Database https://www.metisnationdatabase.ca/show.php?seq_no=26821&rec_type=01&source=Northwest%20Scrip

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cypress_Hills_(Canada)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Peter%27s_Mission_Church_and_Cemetery

https://www.britannica.com/event/North-West-Rebellion/Battle-of-Batoche

1996 Rosalyn R LaPier, Between Hay and Grass, (a chapter) Proceedings of the University of Great Falls Conference on the Metis People of Canada and the United States, ed. by William Furdell Downloadable PDF http://www.cas.umt.edu/facultydatabase/FILES_Faculty/1489/LaPier%20--%20BetweenHayandGrass.pdf