Maria Barclay

Maria Barclay, circa 1873.

Oregon Historical Society

Quick Facts

Significance:

Resident of Fort Nez Perces, Fort Vancouver, and the Barclay House in Oregon City

Place of Birth:

Fraser Lake, British Columbia, Canada

Date of Birth:

October 5, 1826

Place of Death:

Portland, Oregon

Date of Death:

April 2, 1890

Place of Burial:

Oregon City, Oregon

Cemetery Name:

Mountain View Cemetery

Early Life

Maria Pambrun was born on October 5, 1826, at Fraser Lake in what is now known as British Columbia, Canada. Her mother was Catherine Humpherville, a Métis woman of Indigenous and European descent, who was often called "Kitty." Maria's father was a French-Canadian clerk working for the Hudson's Bay Company named Pierre Chrysologue Pambrun. Pambrun was a British Army veteran who had served in the War of 1812 before joining the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), a British fur trade company that operated throughout North America. Pierre and Catherine Pambrun were initially engaged in a "country marriage" or marriage à la façon du pays - a common fur trade-era arrangement wherein fur traders and Native or Métis women entered into marriage agreements without the involvement of a church or government, both of which could be hard to find in the North American West at that time.

In the early years of Maria's life, she, her parents, and her siblings (older brothers Andrew Dominique, b. 1821, and Pierre, b. 1823, and younger brother Alexander, b. 1829) moved from post to post as her father rose through the HBC ranks. From Fraser Lake, they moved to the HBC's Fort Babine in 1830, where Pierre Chrysologue Pambrun served as the clerk in charge. Shortly after that, they relocated to Fort Nez Perces, where Maria's father became the Chief Trader.

Fort Nez Perces was a fur trading fort located on the north side of the Columbia River, near present-day Wallula, Washington. Fort Nez Perces had been built in 1818 by the North West Company, the HBC's main rival in North America. When the North West Company and the HBC merged in 1821, the HBC took over operations at the North West Company's existing forts, including Fort Nez Perces. In the winter of 1824-25, Fort Vancouver was built in present-day Vancouver, Washington, to oversee all the posts in the region.

At Fort Nez Perces, four more children were added to the Pambrun family: Thomas, b. 1832, Ada, b. 1835, Harriet, b. 1837, and Jean Baptiste, b. 1839.

In 1836, American missionaries Narcissa and Marcus Whitman established the Whitman Mission at Waiilatpu, not far from Fort Nez Perces. The missionaries often relied on Fort Nez Perces for supplies and used the HBC's overland express to carry their mail. Catherine Pambrun also helped Narcissa Whitman after Narcissa gave birth to a daughter at the mission in March 1837. Narcissa wrote to her family:

"[Catherine Pambrun], with my husband, dressed the babe. Mrs. P. never saw one dressed before as we dress them, having been accustomed to dress her own in the native style."

Catherine Pambrun was known for retaining the Cree traditions she had been raised with, but like many Euro-Canadian fathers of Métis children, Pierre Chrysologue Pambrun hoped that his daughter would assimilate into Canadian and American culture as a way to safeguard her against discrimination for her Indigenous heritage. He persuaded Narcissa Whitman to give Maria reading lessons and attempted to found a school at Fort Nez Perces.

In November 1838, Maria and her siblings watched as their parents were married by Catholic priest François Norbert Blanchet. Father Blanchet was visiting Fort Nez Perces from Fort Vancouver, where he and Father Modeste Demers had recently arrived to establish a Catholic mission. On this same visit, the Pambrun children were baptized.

Earlier in 1838, additional American missionaries arrived at Waiilatpu, a group that included a bachelor named Cornelius Rogers. In early 1841, Maria's father decided that Rogers would be an ideal husband for his 15-year-old daughter. The American missionaries, including the Whitmans, strongly opposed the match, principally because the Pambruns were Catholics and because of their racist attitudes towards Métis women like Maria. Additionally, the Pambrun family were mainly French-speaking, and the Whitmans did not consider Maria to be suitably educated, though she could read and write. In May of that year, Pierre Chrysologue Pambrun was horseback riding with Rogers when he fell from his horse and suffered an injury that resulted in his death. Pambrun had made arrangements to have Rogers and Maria married before he died, despite the Whitmans' objections, including giving Rogers "a hundred pounds sterling" in his will. But after her father's death, Maria refused to marry, and Rogers returned the money to the Pambrun family. Maria's mother was pregnant at the time of her father's death, and the youngest Pambrun child, Sara, was born later that year.

At Fort Vancouver

After Pierre Chrysologue Pambrun's death, Catherine Pambrun and her children moved to Fort Vancouver. There, Catherine, and perhaps Maria too, supported the family by doing "fine needlework." They likely lived in an apartment in the fort's Bachelors' Quarters, a long building divided into apartments for the fort's clerks and guests. The Bachelors' Quarters also included a lending library - the first in the Northwest. The building was not just home to bachelors - clerks' wives and children also lived with them there.

At Fort Vancouver, Maria met Dr. Forbes Barclay. Barclay came from the Shetland Islands, and had received his medical training at Edinburgh University and the Royal College of Surgeons in London. He joined the HBC in 1839, and arrived at Fort Vancouver in March, 1840. There, he fulfilled many roles. Barclay oversaw both the hospital inside the fort, which served the HBC officers and their families, and a second hospital near the Columbia River waterfront, at the southern end of the Village. The Village was where HBC tradesmen, laborers, fur trappers and traders, and other employees lived; this second hospital served those working class employees and their families. Barclay was also in charge of the fort's Indian Trade Shop, where furs could be traded for goods imported from England. Finally, Barclay served as the librarian of the fort's library. In 1842, he and Maria were married. She was sixteen; he was thirty years old.

For the next eight years, the Barclays and Pambruns lived at Fort Vancouver. In 1845, Maria and Forbes Barclay's son, Jean Jacques, was born. Barclay asked his superior, Chief Factor Dr. John McLoughlin, who also had medical training, to assist with the birth, but McLoughlin simply replied that he would pray for the Barclays, and Forbes was left to deliver his son alone. Jean Jacques Barclay died at the age of two from diphtheria and was buried in the Hudson's Bay Company cemetery on the slope to the northwest of the fort.

In 1844, Pierre Chrysologue Pambrun's remains were brought to Fort Vancouver and buried in the HBC cemetery. Maria's youngest sister, Sara, died in 1844 and was also buried there.

Maria had two more sons at Fort Vancouver: Peter Thomas, b. 1847, and Alexander Forbes, b. 1849. Between periodic disease outbreaks and the everyday dangers of living and working at Fort Vancouver before the advent of modern medicine, it was not uncommon for children living there to lose one or both parents. Dr. McLoughlin established an "orphans fund" to help care for these children, and some HBC officers at the fort, including Forbes Barclay, took in orphaned children to care for them. In addition to their two sons, the Barclay home was "always filled with orphans."

The Move to Oregon City

In 1850, Forbes Barclay retired and the family moved to Oregon City, Oregon. Oregon City was also the place where Dr. John McLoughlin had retired in 1846, and by 1850 it was considered a bustling city, and a popular destination for American emigrants crossing the Oregon Trail. Maria's mother, Catherine, and her younger sisters also moved to Oregon City. In the 1850 federal census, the Barclays and Pambruns are listed as neighbors. In one home were Maria, Forbes, and their two young sons; in the other were 42-year-old Catherine Pambrun, her daughters Harriet, 14, and Ada, 16. In 1851, the Barclays welcomed Maria's older brother, Andrew Dominique, to their home. As a boy, Andrew had been sent to be educated at the HBC's Red River Settlement, and Maria offered him a home upon his return to the Northwest. After a brief time looking for work as a teacher in Oregon City, Andrew joined the HBC and moved to Fort Vancouver.

As at Fort Vancouver, in Oregon City, Forbes Barclay continued to serve in many positions. He worked as a family doctor, a coroner, a school superintendent, a city councilman, and even the mayor of Oregon City from 1864 to 1873.

In Oregon City, the Barclays had four more children: Adrienna Catherine (known as Katie), b. 1852, Harriet, b. 1854, William Charles, b. 1856, and Edmund, b. 1859. The 1860 federal census reveals that by that year, the Barclays had taken in Catherine and Harriet Pambrun. The extended family was still living together in 1870, though Maria's son Peter Thomas had moved to San Francisco.

The Barclay, Pambrun, and McLoughlin families living in Oregon City remained close, bound together by their shared experiences at Fort Vancouver. When McLoughlin's daughter, Eloisa, and her husband had their first child in 1852, John McLoughlin served as the child's godfather (and grandfather) and Catherine Pambrun was named godmother. When Maria and Forbes' daughter Harriet was born in 1854, Dr. McLoughlin served as a witness at her baptism.

In 1873, Forbes Barclay died, and was buried in Oregon City's Mountain View Cemetery.

Later Years

By 1889, Maria had moved to Portland, Oregon, possibly to be closer to her children, Katie and Alexander, who also lived in Portland. By that time, her sister Harriet, who had lived with her for many years in Oregon City and was likely the namesake of her daughter, Harriet Barclay, had married and moved to Yamhill, Oregon. Their mother had gone with Harriet. Catherine Pambrun died in 1886, and was buried in Yamhill.

Maria Barclay died in Portland on April 2, 1890, at the age of 63. She was buried with her husband in Oregon City.

On April 5, 1890, an obituary of Maria Barclay was published on the front page of the Morning Oregonian newspaper. It contained the following passage:

"Mrs. Barclay was a woman of strong will and sterling integrity, accompanied with a kind disposition and a loving heart. Associated intimately with the people who lived the history of Oregon as a territory and a young state, and possessed of a wonderful memory stored with the facts and associations of pioneer life, she could talk by the hour of those early times...Among the earliest pioneers, she labored zealously, doing so far as she was able the part allotted her in life...She leaves none but friends, who will long remember her many excellent qualities and kind acts."

Tracing Her Steps

Today, the National Park Service cares for three places that were important to Maria Pambrun Barclay's life.

At Whitman Mission National Historic Site in Walla Walla, Washington, get a sense for Maria's early years in the eastern part of Washington State.

At Fort Vancouver National Historic Site in Vancouver, Washington, visit the fort's Indian Trade Shop and Hospital to see a recreation of where the Barclay family lived inside the fort, and where Forbes Barclay worked.

At the McLoughlin House Unit of Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, see the historic Barclay House. This home was saved from destruction in the early 20th century and relocated to a City of Oregon City park. It now houses a ranger office, exhibits, and a gift shop operated by the McLoughlin Memorial Association.
 

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Bibliography

Barclay, Maria (Pambrun). Photograph, cartes-de-visite. ba000045. Oregon Historical Society Library. Access online here.

Letters and Journals of Narcissa Whitman. New Perspectives on the West. Access online here.

McIntyre Watson, Bruce. Lives Lived West of the Divide: A Biographical Dictionary of Fur Traders Working West of the Rockies, 1793-1858. Kelowna, BC: The Centre for Social, Spatial, and Economic Justice, the University of British Columbia, Okanagan, 2010.

"Mrs. Maria Barclay: Brief Biographical Sketch of One of the Noted Pioneer Women of Oregon." Morning Oregonian, April 5, 1890. Vol. XXX, No. 9206.

Nichols, M. Leona. The Mantle of Elias: The story of Fathers Blanchet and Demers in early Oregon. Portland: Binfords & Mort, 1941.

Pollard, Juliet Thelma. The Making of the Metis in the Pacific Northwest, Fur Trade Children: Race, Class, and Gender. Ph.D. thesis, University of British Columbia, 1990.

Portland City Directory for 1889. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

Year: 1850; Census Place: Oregon City, Clackamas, Oregon Territory; Roll: 742; Page: 27A.

Year: 1860; Census Place: Oregon City, Clackamas, Oregon; Page: 67; Family History Library Film: 805055.

Year: 1870; Census Place: Oregon City, Clackamas, Oregon; Roll: M593_1285; Page 139A; Family History Library Film: 552784.