Robert Terrill Rundle

Last updated


Robert Terrill Rundle
Portrait of Reverend Robert Terrill Rundle A2335.jpg
Robert Terrill Rundle
Born18 June 1811
Mylor, Cornwall, England
Died4 February 1896(1896-02-04) (aged 84)
Garstang, Lancashire, England
SpouseMary Wolverson
Children9 (4 survived to adulthood)
Parent(s)Robert Rundle Sr. and Grace Carvosso
Church Wesleyan Methodist
Ordained8 March 1840
Congregations served
Various throughout present-day Alberta and Saskatchewan, Canada; other circuits in England.
Offices held
Methodist minister in Fort Edmonton

Robert Terrill Rundle (18th June 1811 4th February 1896) was a Cornish Methodist minister missionary from Cornwall, England. His most noteworthy activities relate to his missionary work in Western Canada between 1840 and 1848.

Contents

Early life

Rundle was born in Mylor, Cornwall in 1811. As the grandson of the noted Methodist lay minister William Carvosso and nephew of Carvosso's prominent missionary son, Benjamin, religion, in particular Methodism, was an obvious influence on Rundle's life from early on. [1] Rundle's father kept his family within the Church of England. This Anglican influence stayed with Robert even after he joined the Methodist church in later years, as he still relied on documents such as the Book of Common Prayer in his ministry.

Robert Rundle enrolled in a business school near Boscastle, Cornwall in 1837. Once describing himself as a "radical", he felt that he would, "be transformed into a Tory before long," by the influence of his instructors. [2] While at Boscastle, Rundle took an interest in the Wesleyan Church affairs there. Eventually Rundle joined the Wesleyan Church in a more active role; he undertook several months of missionary training, and was ordained on 8th March 1840, in London after being approved for a missionary assignment in Rupert's Land.

Travel to Rupert's Land

In 1840, the Hudson's Bay Company reached a deal with the Wesleyan Missionary Society that several Methodist missionaries would be dispatched to the western districts of Rupert's Land. This was spurred in part by pressure from Evangelical groups in England, as well as from a desire by the company to improve its public face by improving the standard of living in Rupert's Land. Ultimately, it was also meant to keep the British Government sympathetic to the HBC in case another party tried to stake a claim on Rupert's Land. The company's Governor in Rupert's Land, Sir George Simpson, wanted to avoid giving ground to the Roman Catholic missionaries, who were backed by the French Government and already had a presence in the eastern districts, and maintain the HBC's control over the west. [3] Robert Rundle was among the four who were invited, and after only two months of training, he was ordained. Just over a week later on 16th March 1840, he shipped out from Liverpool.

When Rundle landed in New York City, he travelled first north to Montreal, and then started westward on his long journey across the expanse of Rupert's Land. He encountered natives during this travel, and quickly found that the apprehensions that he had had of meeting them contrasted with the delight he felt at being in their company. He arrived at Fort Edmonton, the center of the Hudson's Bay Company Saskatchewan District, in October 1840.

Years in Saskatchewan

Rundle arrived in Fort Edmonton on 16th October 1840, after almost a month and a half travelling by river. He remained in the Saskatchewan District for eight years before his permanent departure.

Rundle's contemporaries

Several persons were crucial to Robert Rundle's missionary work and professional growth during his eight years in Rupert's Land. They are listed below.

Governor Sir George Simpson – Governor-in-Chief of Rupert's Land, Simpson was the head of the HBC's operations there. He met Rundle on at least one occasion in July 1841, and the two shared correspondence during Rundle's tenure at Edmonton. Privately, Simpson criticized Rundle's wanderings amongst the First Nations, and like his subordinate John Rowand, questioned Rundle's aptitude for missionary work. [4] However, Simpson had worked tirelessly in service of the HBC and expected the same from those around him, and that his criticisms came very early in the then-inexperienced Rundle's career. Governor Simpson later professed support for a school in the area to be taught by Rundle with native children attending, but this did not materialize.

Chief Factor John Rowand – As Chief Factor of Saskatchewan, Rowand, who ran the District from Edmonton, was a reputed businessman and firm disciplinarian. Rowand expressed fear that conversion by missionaries would distract the natives from the trapping and trading of animal furs, which was vital to the company's operation. Nevertheless, he took a liking to Rundle early on, despite opinions that the missionary was too young for his charge [5] and ill-suited to pioneer living. [6] Rundle held a form of school and instructed those of Rowand's children who still dwelled in Edmonton. Rowand also provided one of his horses for Rundle's use, named 'Little Black'. [7]

Chief Trader John Edward Harriott – As John Rowand's second-in-command, and also Rowand's son-in-law, Harriott was a valuable benefactor for Robert Rundle. He assisted Rundle in the translation of a prayer book to Cree language, and was known to have helped the mission's endeavours in various ways. He was the first person on record to be married by Rundle in the Saskatchewan District, having sanctified his wedding vows to John Rowand's daughter Nancy in 1841 (whereas he and Nancy had been engaged in a country marriage since the late 1830s [8] ).

Reverend James Evans – Evans was the supervisor of the Wesleyan missionaries in Rupert's Land. A linguist, Evans is credited with devising the syllabics, which constitutes a written language for the Cree and was subsequently taught by Rundle and others. [9] Evans' removal to face trial for a sexual misconduct, and untimely death, in 1846, left Rundle and his Methodist colleagues unsupported. [10]

Father Pierre-Jean De Smet – A fellow Missionary, De Smet acquainted Rundle in autumn of 1845 at Rocky Mountain House. Though De Smet was Catholic and Rundle was a Methodist Protestant, the two managed to debate theology in a cordial manner despite the sometimes-contentious divisions of the Christian schism. This is especially remarkable considering Rundle's personal wariness of Catholic missionaries.

Missionary work

Robert Terrill Rundle and his wife Mary Wolverson ca. 1860 Rundle and wife det.jpg
Robert Terrill Rundle and his wife Mary Wolverson ca. 1860

Initially optimistic about his work in the District, Rundle was slowly demoralized on several fronts. The religious denomination most prevalent in Fort Edmonton was Catholic, thus few people attended Rundle's Protestant services. Within the Fort, Rundle often attempted, with limited success, to teach the labourer's children about the gospel. He held services throughout the week, especially on the Christian Sabbath (Sunday), which would often include a Cree service. Rundle urged that no work be done in observance of the Sabbath and himself avoided travel on that day; in this, Rundle had John Rowand's support, but some of the workers were too used to their routines to pay the missionary any mind.

Rundle often wintered at the Fort, and visited with the natives through the spring and summer to preach the gospel and educate them in the Cree syllabics invented by his Wesleyan missionary colleague, Reverend James Evans. In this way, Rundle became extremely well-travelled, having gone the distance between the HBC's larger trading posts in what is present-day Alberta, and having sought out the natives who lived in the country along the way.

In 1843, the Hudson's Bay Company erected a small chapel which Rundle boasted could seat 100 people. Described by Rundle in a letter home, the structure served not only as a Chapel, but had a small lodging for Rundle including a study space.

Health issues

Possibly due to his constant and laborious travel, Robert Rundle was prone to recurrent headaches and a bleeding nose. Rundle persevered for eight years in Rupert's Land until he suffered a more serious injury from a horse-riding accident – a fractured wrist – in July 1847. Even after 12 months Rundle's injury did not heal properly, rendering his left hand essentially useless. Rundle decided to return home to seek treatment; he reached England in September 1848. While he had intended to go back to Rupert's Land, he never did again.

Later years

Return to England

After regaining his health, Rundle was prepared to do missionary service abroad again. He was evidently offered a missionary post in Australia; [11] however, his plans changed when he married a woman named Mary Wolverson in 1854, and he stayed in England. Robert and Mary had nine children, though only four of them survived to maturity: Martha Anne, Rupert, Mary Grace and Sarah Alice. [11]

Rundle continued to serve as a minister in England until his retirement. He died on 4th February 1896, in Garstang, Lancashire. His epitaph is located in Blackburn, Lancashire, at the Whalley New Road Cemetery. [12]

Legacy

Rundle's Mission

In 1847, Reverend Rundle received permission to create a mission site at Pigeon Lake. After Rundle's permanent departure to England the following year, his follower Benjamin Sinclair attempted to keep the Methodist church alive. Sinclair oversaw the construction of mission buildings at the behest of Rundle in 1848, and was left in charge in the missionary's absence. The mission served the Cree, Stoney, and Blackfoot peoples, instructing them not only in Christianity, but in reading and writing in syllabics, and growing crops. [13]

Unsupported, Sinclair abandoned the mission in 1851 and continued his work elsewhere; [13] the structures were inhabited again by Rundle's Methodist successors, Rev. Thomas Woolsey and Henry Steinhauer from 1856 to 1858. [14] Woolsey found the area was prone to a poor growing season to due a colder climate, had poor soil conditions, and due to a shrinking Bison population, there was violence amongst the native tribes in the area who relied on it for food. [14] Thus, Woolsey eventually opened a new mission near Smoky Lake in 1861. [14] Sinclair and Woolsey maintained Rundle's remaining followers, and the Methodist church in central Alberta survived and grew into the 20th century. Eventually the Methodists joined with the Presbyterians and Congregationalists to form the United Church of Canada in 1925.

Incidentally, Woolsey later married Rundle's sister-in-law, Sarah Wolverson. [15]

The Rundle Mission site was declared a National Historic Monument in 1965, and the site, its buildings and cemetery were designated a Provincial Historic Site in 1997. Though the original buildings no longer survive, there is a retreat house present.

Journal and registries

Robert Rundle documented his work in Rupert's Land in his journals. Included in this are two sets of registers: one set documenting hundreds of baptisms and dozens of weddings all performed by Rev. Rundle. Each ledger typically notes the first and last names of the persons involved (including parents of children for the baptisms), the age of the child (for baptisms), the date of the ceremony, and the precise location when applicable (although occasionally he broadly refers to the location as "Saskatchewan District" when the ceremony was performed away from a Hudson's Bay Company post or body of water).

Additionally, Rundle kept an anecdotal record in his journal, shedding light on his experience as a missionary and a Christian, and on life within Hudson's Bay Company posts.

Things named in Rundle's honour

Exterior of Fort Edmonton Park's reconstruction of Rundle's chapel, c. 1846 RundleChapel1.jpg
Exterior of Fort Edmonton Park's reconstruction of Rundle's chapel, c. 1846

Bibliography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rupert's Land</span> Territory of British North America (1670–1870)

Rupert's Land, or Prince Rupert's Land, was a territory in British North America which comprised the Hudson Bay drainage basin; this was further extended from Rupert's Land to the Pacific coast in December 1821. It was established to be a commercial monopoly by the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), based at York Factory. The territory operated for 200 years from 1670 to 1870. Its namesake was Prince Rupert of the Rhine, who was a nephew of King Charles I and the first governor of HBC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Rundle</span> Mountain in Banff National Park, Canada

Mount Rundle is a mountain in Canada's Banff National Park overlooking the towns of Banff and Canmore, Alberta. The Cree name was Waskahigan Watchi or house mountain. In 1858 John Palliser renamed the mountain after Reverend Robert Rundle, a Methodist invited by the Hudson's Bay Company to do missionary work in western Canada in the 1840s. He introduced syllabics there—a written language developed for the Cree, as part of his missionary work. He only visited the Stoney-Nakoda of the area around what is now called Mount Rundle in 1844 and 1847.

Fort Edmonton was the name of a series of trading posts of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) from 1795 to 1914, all of which were located on the north banks of the North Saskatchewan River in what is now central Alberta, Canada. It was one of the last points on the Carlton Trail, the main overland route for Metis freighters between the Red River Colony and the points west and was an important stop on the York Factory Express route between London, via Hudson Bay, and Fort Vancouver in the Columbia District. It also was a connection to the Great Northland, as it was situated relatively close to the Athabasca River whose waters flow into the Mackenzie River and the Arctic Ocean. Located on the farthest north of the major rivers flowing to the Hudson Bay and the HBC's shipping posts there, Edmonton was for a time the southernmost of the HBC's forts.

John Rowand was a fur trader for the North West Company and later, the Hudson's Bay Company. At the peak of his career, he was Chief Factor at Fort Edmonton, and in charge of the HBC's vast Saskatchewan District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marie-Anne Gaboury</span> French-Canadian settler and grandmother of Louis Riel (1780–1875)

Marie-Anne Lagimodière was a French-Canadian woman noted as both the grandmother of Louis Riel, and as the first woman of European descent to travel to and settle in what is now Western Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Edmonton Park</span>

Fort Edmonton Park is an attraction in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Named for the first enduring European post in the area of modern-day Edmonton, the park is the largest living history museum in Canada by area. It includes both original and rebuilt historical structures representing the history of Edmonton, and is staffed during the summer by costumed historical interpreters.

Anthony Henday was one of the first Europeans to explore the interior of what would eventually become western Canada. He ventured farther westward than any white man had before him. As an employee of the Hudson's Bay Company, he travelled across the prairies in the 1750s, journeyed into what is now central Alberta, and possibly arrived at the present site of Red Deer. He camped along the North Saskatchewan River, perhaps on the present site of Rocky Mountain House or Edmonton, and is said to have been the first European to see the Rocky Mountains, if only from a distance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Pitt Provincial Park</span> Historic trading outpost and provincial park in Saskatchewan, Canada

Fort Pitt Provincial Park is a provincial park in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. Fort Pitt was built in 1829 by the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) and was a trading post on the North Saskatchewan River in Rupert's Land. It was built at the direction of Chief Factor John Rowand, previously of Fort Edmonton, to trade for bison hides, meat and pemmican. Pemmican, dried buffalo meat, was required as provisions for HBC's northern trading posts.

Rundle Heights is a residential neighbourhood overlooking the North Saskatchewan River valley in the City of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, named for Methodist missionary Robert Terrill Rundle. While the neighbourhood didn't develop until the 1960s and 1970s, the area is closely associated with the Town of Beverly, a working class community that amalgamated with Edmonton in 1961. A number of the Beverly coal mines were located in the area.

Lac la Nonne is a lake in northern Alberta, Canada. It is located between Lac Ste. Anne County and the County of Barrhead No. 11, 85 km north-west from Edmonton, east of the Grizzly Trail.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rundle's Mission</span> Methodist Mission in Alberta, Canada

Rundle's Mission was established in 1847 on the shores of Pigeon Lake near Thorsby, Alberta, Canada, by a Methodist missionary named Robert Rundle. From the mission Rundle taught Cree people about Christianity and agriculture, refusing to acquiesce to pressures from the Hudson's Bay Company or the government to further influence local First Peoples.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Sinclair (fur trader)</span>

James Sinclair was a trader and explorer with the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC). He twice led large parties of settlers from the Red River Colony to the Columbia River valley. These were both authorized by the HBC as a part of grandiose plans to strengthen British claims in the Oregon boundary dispute.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">McDougall United Church</span> Church in Edmonton, Alberta

The McDougall United Church is a church located in Downtown Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, at 10086 MacDonald Drive NW.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Peter Pruden</span> Pioneer of western Canada, fur trader, and writer.

John Peter Pruden was an early pioneer of western Canada which at the time was known as Rupert's Land. During his many years of employment as a fur-trader with the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), he had extensive interactions with such First Nations as the Cree and Blackfoot. He was known to have spoken Cree fluently, a fact which was confirmed by HBC administrator Sir George Simpson in his famous but "sometimes erratic" 1832 Character Book.

Fisher River is a Cree First Nations reserve located approximately 193 km north of Manitoba's capital city, Winnipeg. The Fisher River Cree Nation is composed of two reserves; Fisher River 44 and Fisher River 44A. The reserve population is 1945, the off reserve population is 1934 for a total of 3879 band members as of June 2017. Fisher River is 15,614 acres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Revillon Frères</span>

Revillon Frères was a French fur and luxury goods company, founded in Paris in 1723. Then called la Maison Givelet, it was purchased by Louis-Victor Revillon in 1839 and soon, as Revillon Frères, became the largest fur company in France. Branches were opened in London in 1869 and in New York in 1878. At the end of the 19th century, Revillon had stores in Paris, London, New York City, and Montreal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Bird Steinhauer</span> Canadian missionary

Henry Bird Steinhauer (1820–1884) was a Canadian translator, missionary, and clergyman of the Methodist Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Constantine Scollen</span> Irish Roman Catholic priest

Father Con Scollen OMI. was an Irish Catholic, Missionary priest who lived among and evangelized the Blackfoot, Cree and Métis peoples on the Canadian Prairies and in northern Montana in the United States. He also ministered to the Ktunaxa people (Kootenay) on their annual visits to Fort Macleod, from British Columbia. Later he worked among the indigenous peoples in modern-day North Dakota and Wyoming, then Nebraska, Kansas, Illinois and Ohio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Flett</span>

George Flett was a Presbyterian missionary in what is now Manitoba, Canada. Flett was of Orkney and Cree descent. As a young man he farmed on the White Horse Plains, led a gold exploration party to Edmonton and then became the first post master for the Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Victoria, Alberta. Flett was an interpreter to the first Presbyterian mission to the northwest between 1866 and 1867. After serving as a delegate in the provisional government of Louis Riel during the Red River Rebellion, he became a missionary among the Ojibwa of Okanese Reserve, serving from 1873 to 1895.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Budd</span>

Henry Budd, the first Native American ordained an Anglican priest, spent his career ministering to First Nations people.

References

  1. Rundle, R: "The Rundle Journals", ix. Glenbow Institute, 1977
  2. Rundle, R: "The Rundle Journals", xi. Glenbow Institute, 1977
  3. Rundle, R: "The Rundle Journals", xvi–xvii. Glenbow Institute, 1977
  4. Rundle, R: "The Rundle Journals", xxxviii–xxxix. Glenbow Institute, 1977
  5. Rundle, R: "The Rundle Journals", xxxiv. Glenbow Institute, 1977
  6. Rundle, R: "The Rundle Journals", xliii. Glenbow Institute, 1977
  7. Rundle, R: "The Rundle Journals", xxxiii. Glenbow Institute, 1977
  8. Thomas, Lewis G. (1976). "Harriott, John Edward". In Halpenny, Francess G (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography . Vol. IX (1861–1870) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
  9. Rundle, R: "The Rundle Journals", xxx. Glenbow Institute, 1977
  10. Rundle, R: "The Rundle Journals", lii. Glenbow Institute, 1977
  11. 1 2 Rundle, R: "The Rundle Journals", lxiii. Glenbow Institute, 1977
  12. Searching for Robert Rundle
  13. 1 2 http://www.abertasource.ca/methodist/The_Missions/Pigeon_Lake_Establishment.htm [ dead link ]
  14. 1 2 3 http://www.abertasource.ca/methodist/Own_Voices/T_W_Mission_Work.htm [ dead link ]
  15. Thomas Woolsey

Sources