Marie Rose (Delorme) Smith facts for kids

Marie Rose (Delorme) Smith (born October 18, 1861 – died April 4, 1960) was an amazing Métis woman. She was a rancher, a homesteader (someone who settles on land to farm it), a medicine woman, a midwife (someone who helps deliver babies), and an author. She is famous for writing about the everyday lives of Métis women. In 2022, Parks Canada named her a Person of National Historic Significance, which means she was very important to Canada's history.

Marie Rose Smith's Life Story

Her Early Years

Marie Rose Delorme was born on October 18, 1861. Her birthplace was Saint François-Xavier in the Red River Colony. This area is now part of Manitoba, Canada. Her parents were Urbain Delorme II and Marie Desmarais.

When Marie Rose was young, her father passed away. He left money for her and her sister to go to a Grey Nuns boarding school. She attended this school in Saint Boniface, Manitoba, from age 12 to 16. There, she learned to speak and write both English and French. She also kept speaking Cree and probably Michif, which are Indigenous languages. Marie Rose often talked about how much she missed traveling the western plains with her family. They used to hunt and trade with First Nations people every year. After four years at school, she went back to live with her mother, who had remarried.

Marriage and Building a Home

In 1877, Marie Rose married Charlie Smith, a trader who was 17 years older than her. Her mother agreed to the marriage. They settled near Pincher Creek in southern Alberta. There, they built a house and a barn on what was called the Jughandle Ranch. Marie Rose and Charlie had 17 children together!

Charlie was often away for long periods, so Marie Rose was in charge of raising their many children. She also took care of the farm animals. She ran a small business from home, making traditional Indigenous clothes and other items. She even made goods for the Hudson's Bay Company and sewed tents for the Canadian Pacific Railway.

Charlie Smith died in 1914. After his death, Marie Rose started a second homestead. She also opened a boarding house in the town of Pincher Creek. She continued to work as a midwife and a medicine woman, helping people in her community. People gave her the nickname "Buckskin Mary" because she was so good at making leather goods like gloves. Marie Rose was one of the few women, both European-Canadian and Indigenous, who owned property during that time.

Her Important Writings

Even with raising her children, managing her homestead, and working as a midwife and medicine woman, Marie Rose found time to write her life story. Her full memoirs were never published, but some of her articles appeared in the Canadian Cattleman magazine. This was an early magazine about ranching on the prairies.

Her writing is very special because it's a rare example of a Métis person writing about the lives of Métis women. She wrote about their roles during the fur trade, buffalo hunting, and homesteading times. She also wrote about how their culture changed on the prairies. Marie Rose also included details about the plants and animals around her. She explained how they were used for food, medicine, and shelter.

Her Later Years and Passing

In her later life, Marie Rose spent time with her children, mostly in Lethbridge and Edmonton. She passed away on April 4, 1960, at the age of 99.

Marie Rose Smith's Legacy

Marie Rose's first log cabin from the Jughandle Ranch can still be seen today. It is located at the Kootenai Brown Pioneer Village in Pincher Creek.

You can find her writings in the archives of the Glenbow Museum in Calgary. The Canadian Cattleman magazine even republished two of her articles in 2014 in their history section.

Her granddaughter, Jock Carpenter, wrote a book about Marie Rose called Fifty Dollar Bride: Marie Rose Smith, a Chronicle of Metis Life in the 19th Century. It was published in 1988. A historian named Doris Jeanne MacKinnon has also written several books and articles about Marie Rose Smith. These include The Identities of Marie Rose Delorme Smith: Portrait of a Metis Woman (2012) and Metis Pioneers: Marie Rose Delorme Smith and Isabella Hardisty Lougheed (2018).

In January 2023, Steven Guilbeault, who is the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, announced that Marie Rose (Delorme) Smith was chosen as a Person of National Historic Significance for 2022. This was a recommendation from the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada. A special plaque to honor her has not yet been put up.