THANADELTHUR, a Chipewyan (Dene) interpreter and diplomat known as the Slave Woman in the records of the HBC, suggesting her origins as being from the indigenous people around Great Slave Lake; Thanadelthur, meaning “marten shake,” was given to her in the oral tradition of the Chipewyan people; d. 5 Feb. 1717.
In the spring of 1713 a party of Chipewyan (known as Northern Indians to the HBC) was attacked by a party of Cree. At least three women were taken captive. Thanadelthur and another woman escaped from their Cree captors in the fall of 1713 and attempted to make their way overland to rejoin their people. Cold and hunger forced them to turn back, and they searched for York Fort, which they had heard of but had never seen. A year of hardship and starvation caused the death of the companion five days before Thanadelthur encountered some York Fort servants who brought her to the fort on 24 Nov. 1714. Governor James Knight found her arrival timely for he desperately needed an interpreter if he hoped to establish trade with the Chipewyan, who were reluctant to come to York Fort because their primitive weapons were no defence against the guns of the Cree.
On 27 June 1715 Knight sent William Stuart, Thanadelthur, and a party of 150 Cree on a peace-making mission to the Chipewyan. Sickness and starvation forced the expedition to break up into small parties in order to survive during the merciless winter. Most of the parties made their way back to York Fort and one of them murdered a group of Chipewyan, in self-defence they claimed later. Stuart’s party came upon the scene of the massacre a few days later and were horrified at the failure of their peace mission. Thanadelthur, indomitable and indefatigable, was determined that peace should be made. She persuaded the frightened Cree in Stuart’s party to remain on the spot for ten days while she set off in pursuit of her countrymen. She followed their tracks until she found a large party of Chipewyan who had gathered for revenge. She talked until she was hoarse to persuade them to go back with her to meet their traditional enemies. On the tenth day she returned with a large group of her countrymen to the place where she had left the apprehensive Cree, and the palaver began. The Cree in Stuart’s party protested their innocence of the massacre and invited the Chipewyan to smoke the pipe of peace. After the peace-making ceremonies were completed, some of the Chipewyan accompanied Stuart’s party to York Fort. One’s admiration is aroused by the determination of this remarkable woman who by “her perpetual [sic] talking” persuaded 400 Chipewyan to return with her to make peace. Both James Knight and William Stuart, no less impressed by her eloquence than her own countrymen, gave her the chief credit for establishing peace.
On 7 May 1716 Stuart and his party regained York Fort. Knight was overjoyed at the success of the mission and prepared plans to send Thanadelthur and some of her countrymen across the Barrens in the spring of 1717 to announce to the Chipewyan the establishment of a fort at Churchill River, to be called Prince of Wales Fort. Thanadelthur was most enthusiastic about the plan, but unfortunately she became ill during the winter and after lingering seven weeks died on 5 Feb. 1717. Governor Knight, never one to praise unduly said: “She was one of a very high Spirit and of the Firmest Resolution that every I see in any Body in my Days and of great Courage.”
HBC Arch. B.239/a/1–3 (York Fort journals, 1714-17). Founding of Churchill (Kenney). HBRS, XXI (Rich); XXV (Davies and Johnson). E. S. Curtis, The Chipewyan, ed. F. W. Hodge (The North American Indian, XVIII, Norwood, Mass., 1928), 8–9. Morton, History of the Canadian west. A. M. Johnson, “Ambassadress of peace,” Beaver (Winnipeg), outfit 283 (December 1952), 42–45. K. E. Pincott, “What Churchill owes to a woman,” Beaver (Winnipeg) outfit 263 (September 1932), 100–3.
Bibliography for the revised version:
Sylvia Van Kirk, “Thanadelthur”. The Beaver (1974) :40
Patricia A. McCormack, “Visioning Thanadelthur: Shaping a Canadian Icon” Manitoba History (Winnipeg), 55 (June, 2007) 2–6.
Geiger and Beattie, Dead Silence: The Greatest Mystery in Arctic Discovery (Toronto, 1993).
James G. E. Smith, “Chipewyan, Cree and Inuit Relations in the West of Hudson Bay, 1714–1955” Ethnohistory (Durham, North Carolina) 28, (Spring 1981), no.2: 133–56.
Thanadelthur (the slave woman), 49, 52n174, 99–100, 115, 141, 143,146, 148, 213, 223, 227, 233n101, 235–36, 244, 259, 277;illness and death of, 335, 339–42, 344, 347, 352–55, 358–59in Life and Death on the Frozen Sea
G. E. Thorman, “THANADELTHUR (Slave Woman),” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 2, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed February 19, 2025, https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/thanadelthur_2E.html.
Permalink: | https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/thanadelthur_2E.html |
Author of Article: | G. E. Thorman |
Title of Article: | THANADELTHUR (Slave Woman) |
Publication Name: | Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 2 |
Publisher: | University of Toronto/Université Laval |
Year of publication: | 1969 |
Year of revision: | 1982 |
Access Date: | February 19, 2025 |