Red River Ancestry

New Family Page: NICOL FINLAYSON (1794-1877)

Please post comments and queries about Nicol FINLAYSON and his family here.

I am currently doing some research on the Davis family for my doctoral dissertation.

Today I was reading the Davis family files, and came across a couple of letters that might clarify which Nancy is the mother of Joseph Finlayson.

In the Davis Family Fonds at the Archives of MB (P2342/21, Finlayson Family Correspondence), there are two letters from Flora Finlayson (née Bell), the wife of Joseph Finlayson. The letters are addressed to Mathilda Davis, the daughter of the senior Nancy Davis. In the letters, Flora refers to Mathilda as "sister." Presumably, then, Flora is addressing Mathilda as her sister-in-law, making Joseph Finlayson the brother (and not the nephew) of Mathilda Davis.

Erin Millions
PhD Candidate
University of Manitoba

Hi Erin; nice to hear from you!

Confusing – Are you concluding that Joseph FINLAYSON (b-1830) was a child of Nichol FINLAYSON and Nancy DAVIS (b-1816), daughter of Nancy HODGSON and John DAVIS (1785-1824)??

gnstill wrote:Hi Erin; nice to hear from you!

Confusing – Are you concluding that Joseph FINLAYSON (b-1830) was a child of Nichol FINLAYSON and Nancy DAVIS (b-1816), daughter of Nancy HODGSON and John DAVIS (1785-1824)??

My apologies for the delayed reply.

I am concluding that sometime after John Davis's death in 1824, Nancy Hodgson Davis had a relationship with Nicol Finlayson that resulted in the birth of Joseph Finlayson (b. 1830). Nancy Hodgson Davis would have been about 40 yrs old at the time.

This makes Joseph Finlayson a half-brother to George, Matilda and Nancy Davis (and the other Davis siblings).

The evidence that I am basing this conclusion on is two letters in the Davis Family papers (Finlayson correspondence file) in the Archives of MB. These two letters are from Flora Finlayson, wife of Joseph Finlayson, to Matilda Davis at her Oakenfield School. In both letters, Flora addresses Matilda as 'sister'. If Nancy Hodgson Davis is the mother of Joseph Finlayson, this would make Flora and Matilda sisters-in-law, hence the "Dear Sister" in the letters.

The notes on the Nicol Finlayson entry state that the elder Nancy was at Ft Albany in 1829, so that would seem to support the evidence from the letters.

Thanks so much Erin - You seem to have solved the puzzle!

I will be busily updating my Family Pages relating to all these people, beginning with Nancy’s parents’ Page at this link: JOHN HODGSON (1763-1826)

I am now working on revisions for John DAVIS and Nicol FINLAYSON and will soon be updating those as well. Please ensure that I get the stories straight.
Gary

Happy to contribute! I'm finding the site very helpful

Hi all. I work at Fort Edmonton Park and specifically focus on our replica of the 1846 Fort Edmonton. Some of the information here is very useful to outlining the careers of Saskatchewan District Company men.

I've always been puzzled by Hector Finlayson. A letter from Chief Factor John Rowand in 1846 mentions that "H. Finlayson" has gotten very ill from the measles and died. Since Hector Finlayson’s HBC Bio sheet records further engagements after 1846, I thought there may have been another H. Finlayson resident at the Fort at this time. Or Rowand may have simply been wrong.

Anybody care to guess?

For reference to letter see Macgregor, John John Rowand Pg. 143.

erinmillions wrote:I am currently doing some research on the Davis family for my doctoral dissertation.

Today I was reading the Davis family files, and came across a couple of letters that might clarify which Nancy is the mother of Joseph Finlayson.

In the Davis Family Fonds at the Archives of MB (P2342/21, Finlayson Family Correspondence), there are two letters from Flora Finlayson (née Bell), the wife of Joseph Finlayson. The letters are addressed to Mathilda Davis, the daughter of the senior Nancy Davis. In the letters, Flora refers to Mathilda as "sister." Presumably, then, Flora is addressing Mathilda as her sister-in-law, making Joseph Finlayson the brother (and not the nephew) of Mathilda Davis.

Erin Millions
PhD Candidate
University of Manitoba

Its been a while since I delved into the records I've compiled, but the whole Anne "Nancy" Davis connection has never seemed quite right to me. let me take some time to sort through what I have and compare it to your information and i will get back.

I read on your Nicol Finlayson page that you have Nicol's oldest child being Anne Nancy born in 1818. That's interesting because I always thought that her name was Anne (Nancy) Mckenzie Finlayson and was born after Hector, John, and Benjamin, in fact I have her born after Joseph in 1831 which would mean that her mother was the same mother as Joseph's (Ann Nancy Davis)

Ann (Nancy) Davis* was d/o John Davis, [b. 1780, English, HBC employee d. Sept. 1824] & Ann (Nancy) Hodgson Metis b. ca 1789 [d/o John Hodgson I b. 1779 d. Feb. 1849 & Native woman]. Ann (Nancy) Davis* had a brother named George (b. 1824) and 3 sisters Mathilda Ann. (d. Dec. 6, 1873), Catherine [b. Dec. 1822 ma. John Hodgson III], and Francis or Fanny [b. 1818 NWT, ma John Mowat]. Nicol and Ann (Nancy) Davis had one son and one daughter.(Sources, 1870 Scrip Applications, Red River Baptism records, HBC records)

What source are you using for Anne Nancy Finlayson being the first born of Nicol's children in 1818.

Re: Joseph Finlayson -- I've done more work in the Davis papers since I wrote this original post, and there are letters in the collections directly from Joseph Finlayson to Matilda Davis, addressing Davis as "sister." I've found no evidence in the family papers of another daughter.

Re: children of Ann Nancy Hodgson and John Davis: In addition to the Davis siblings you have listed above, there was also another sister, Elizabeth. Elizabeth is a bit of a mystery. She was in England with Matilda, and Matilda returned to Red River after Elizabeth's death in (mostly likely) 1854. Elizabeth is not Nancy, Catherine or Frances (Fanny) called by a nickname, as all three of those sisters are addressed in the correspondence as being in Red River when Elizabeth and Matilda were in England. There is also a letter jointly written by Elizabeth and Matilda to their mother and siblings, and Elizabeth talks of an Uncle mismanaging the siblings' trust account. Elizabeth Davis is also listed as a beneficiary in John Davis's will.

For some reason, however, Elizabeth has been left out of the historical record as one of John Davis's children. Was she perhaps his daughter by another mother? Is it because she died in England, whereas all of the other children died in Red River/Manitoba? So far the reasons for this omission are unclear.