Connaught
Connaught is located
in Northern Ontario situated on the south shore of the Frederick House Lake.
The Story Behind The Story
One only has to attend a court of law to understand how one event, witnessed by more than one person, can appear quite different to each. Such is the case of the Frederick House Massacre.
One story is a result of research by Elaine Allan Mitchell, who was a graduate in history from McMaster University. In 1973, the results of her research were published in The Beaver, the official organ of the Hudson’s Bay Company. Much of Mitchell’s research materials were obtained from journals and archives of that company.
The other story is a verbal retelling of the event by the daughter of an Ojibwe man, Bazil Buffalo, who was there. Mary Buffalo’s story was recorded by Dan O’Connor, who sent it in the form of a letter to J.B. Tyrell, author of Journals of Hearne and Turnor.
It is known that New Year’s Day was a time when the Post would have been opened, in British tradition, to those who traded there. Although one story alludes to the day of the massacre as Christmas, it seems more likely that the event might have occurred a week later. The number of dead also differs in each story. The true count will never be known. Each story has the rescuers coming from different directions – one from the west, at Kenogamissis Lake, the other from the north, at Moose Factory. Perhaps they came from both.
