William Fox Pinhey & Family: Cumberland House

The Revillon Freres Trading Post, Cumberland House 1914

My father's memoirs recall how Thomas and Daisy moved to Cumberland House around 1913:

"My parents (Thomas Knevitt Pinhey and Daisy) moved to Prince Albert, Saskatchewan and my father made a living at various jobs. He worked part-time as a stagehand, sold flour for a milling company and did some accounting for Revillon Freres (Revillon Brothers), a French fur trading and luxury goods company whose headquarters were in Paris and also New York. They were in competition with the Hudson Bay Company. Revillon Freres sent him to Cumberland House, their central post, to audit and manage while the “factor” was on vacation (a factor, from Latin for ‘doer or maker’ is a mercantile fiduciary who receives and sells goods on commission). I forgot to mention that my brother, Thomas Shellard Pinhey was born in Prince Albert in November 1911.

Apparently my father’s audit revealed the fact that something was wrong in the management of the Revillon post at Cumberland House and he was offered the job as factor of the post. This involved trading with the Cree Indians, primarily for muskrat pelts. Flour, tea, tobacco, clothing and other necessities were traded for the furs. Father did well and after the first two years contract; he signed up for another two years.

I, Edward Shellard Pinhey, was born Sept 10, 1914 at Cumberland House. The main building was not complete and I was born in a sort of log cabin. My parents had canoes posted down the river (Saskatchewan) to create relays to get mother to Le Pas, the closest place where a doctor was available, but I arrived early and the canoe men had a nice holiday while my mother was availing herself of the services of “old Nokom” the one midwife. Nokom was not a painless practitioner, but with my father as an assistant, brought “Little Musquasis” (little bear) into this world. I earned the name Musquasis by grunting a lot. A six ounce lead fishing weight was placed on my navel while mother was being attended to and I can thank my father and Nokom (grandmother) for my “shapely” navel. The relays of canoe men were recalled and all went well."

A note of interest - when Thomas K. Pinhey worked as a stagehand, he saw Charlie Chaplin perform as a member of the Karno comedy troupe in Canada around 1911. My grandfather was not impressed with Charlie because, as he said, Charlie's idea of comedy was to eat soda crackers and then spray them out of his mouth (spit take?) onto another of the actors as part of a comedy routine. T.K. considered this to be a bit uncouth. Charlie, of course, went on to be a mega-star in silent films.