John and Mary Inkster had eleven children. Nine of them survived to adulthood.
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1). Margaret “Maggie” (24 April 1827 - 14 December 1904)
2). Charlotte (6 February 1829 - 5 July 1845)
3). John George (30 December 1830 –14 September 1898)
4). Mary “Marak” (18 December 1832 12 August 1912)
5). James (6 March 1834 - September 1834)
6). William (15 May 1836 -15 May 1869)
7). Jane (17 November 1838 –1926)
8). Ellen “Nellie” (20 December 1840 - 24 December 1912)
9). Colin (8 August 1843 –28 September 1934)
10). Harriet (18 October 1846 - 12 May 1922)
11). George Thomas (12 December 1849 - December 1901)

​Many of the Inkster men became noted politicians and businessmen. They were influential, and their exploits were well recorded by contemporary sources. The story of the Inkster women is more difficult to tell. In many cases they have only been recorded as a footnote in the story of their husbands and children. For the lucky few, society pages talked about their looks and clothing. Research into their lives continues.

Today, Inkster descendants live across North America, Scotland, and as far away as New Zealand.

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Additional geneaological files are available in the museum's archives.
Please contact us if you have any additional family resources or information that you'd like to share.

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Margaret Inkster Sutherland
1827 - 1904

Margaret was born on April 24, 1827 and baptized on the 1st of July in the Church of St. John. Margaret married William Richard Sutherland (1833-1906) on 21 October 21, 1859 in St. Mary's Church, Portage la Prairie.

They had eight children: Alfred, George Thomas, Mary, Isabella Ann (Bella), John, Colin, Robert James, and Elizabeth Jane Victoria.
​
Margaret lived much of her adult life in St Andrews. She suffered a stroke in 1903 that left her partly paralyzed on her left side. She died the following year on December 14, 1904 at the age of 77. William died two years later at the age of 72. Both are buried at St. Andrew's Church along with children, Victoria and Robert.​​

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Charlotte Inkster
1829 - 1845

Charlotte was born on February 6, 1829 and baptized five days later on February 11 by Rev. William Cockran. Charlotte died in 1845 at the age of 16.

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John george inkster
1830 - 1898

John George was born on December 30, 1830.
At the age of 19, he traveled to New Orleans, Louisiana. John worked for many years as an Engineer on different steamships on the Mississippi River, including the Morgan’s Louisiana and Texas Railway and Steamship Company. 

He married Mary Fogarty, a native of Ireland, on March 7, 1857. They had five children: William Aaron (born 1858); John; Mary (married G. H. Walker of Winnipeg in October 1881); Richard; and a child who died in infancy.

Mary died in New Orleans when the children were young. John sent the children to his parents at Seven Oaks, where the boys attended St John’s School and daughter Mary attended St. Mary’s Academy. John George died in New Orleans on September 14, 1898.

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Mary 'Marak' inkster
1832 - 1912

Mary, called “Marak” by her family, was born on her mother’s birthday: December 15, 1832. Well educated and well read, she was active in the church and a pillar of her community.

She had musical talents, playing the organ at St. John’s Cathedral for many years. She traveled around Great Britain with her mother, but little else is known about her life.

Marak never married and she became the keeper of Seven Oaks as her parents aged.  Of her, her mother wrote in a letter to sister/daughter Harriet McMurray in 1869:
“Your father felt Marak’s illness very deeply – God has delt mercifully with us in restoring our useful member once more, for you can imagine what the Lodge of Seven Oaks would be without her.”
​
She remained in Seven Oaks House until her death on August 15, 1912. She willed her property to the City of Winnipeg, ensuring it would be preserved for her community as a park and museum.

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Bobs the dog
c.1890 - 1910

This photo of Bobs was taken some time between 1894 and 1912. Based on these dates, we believe he was Marak's dog.

Bobs is posing on a bear skin rug. He appears to be a Rat Terrier -- powerful, fast dogs that were bred for hunting and pest control. They were popular on farms from the 1890s until the 1940s.

His collar is held in the Museum's collection. Its engraved gold nameplate reads:
Bobs
Seven Oaks

It's obvious that Bobs was a cherished member of the family and his story is probably the oldest pet-history preserved in Manitoba!

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james inkster
1834

James was born on March 6, 1834. He died 6 months later.

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william inkster
1836 - 1869

William was born on May 15, 1836. He was educated at St. John’s Parochial School and St. John’s College. He married Mary Todd (1839-1916), daughter of Isabella Elizabeth Dennet and Chief Factor Dr. William Todd. They had six children: John Hector (b. 1859), Harriet Louisa (b.1861), Ellen Isabella (b.1863), Florence (b.1865), Agnes (b.1867), Alfred William (b.1868).

He worked as a teacher, general merchant, public surveyor, census taker and politician. He was a leader in the English Metis (Halfbreed) community, and was appointed to the Council of Assinboia in 1868.

He received the degree of Craft of Free Masonry in 1864 and helped found the Northern Lights Lodge (today's Masonic Grand Lodge of Manitoba).
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In 1857 William built a home along the river south of St. John's Cathedral, which became known as Redwood, as it was reportedly the only house in the settlement with a red-painted roof. Today's Redwood Avenue and the 1908 Redwood Bridge (now called the Harry Lazarenko Bridge) were named after his home.

He died an untimely death on his 33rd birthday.

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jane inkster Tait
1838 - 1926

Jane was born on November  17, 1838.
She studied at St. John’s School where she learned to write with goose quill pens and ink powder. She later attended St. Cross Ladies’ School; a two story building that was heated with Carron stoves and later became St. John’s Boys College.

In the book Women of Red River, author A. J. Healy writes, “Mrs. Tait still has her wedding dress, which is of silk taffeta in shades of mauve in a plaid pattern.” She married Robert Tait (1833-1912) in the Church of St. Andrew on December 16, 1858.

Jane and Robert made their home in St. James near Deer Lodge Hospital. They kept horses and she was an avid rider. They had six children: Thomas, Timoleon, Colin, Ellen-Harriet, Mary, and Adelaide.  Jane died at 87 on August 7, 1926 and was buried in St. James Cemetery.

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Ellen inkster mcdonald
1840 - 1912

Ellen, known as “Nellie”, was born on December  12, 1840. She studied at St. John’s School and the St. Cross Ladies’ School with sister Jane. On September 3, 1863 she married Archibald Grieve McDonald (1836-1915) in the Church of St. John. They had six children.

Archibald was a Scotchman from Inverness and servant of the Hudson’s Bay Company. They resided in various HBC posts in which Archibald was in charge: Manitoba House, Touchstone Hills, Fort Qu’Appelle, and Fort Ellice.

Nellie died on December 24, 1912 in the home of her son at 555 Wellington Crescent, and was buried in St. John’s Cathedral cemetery.

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the honourable
​ colin inkster
1843 - 1934

Colin was born on August 8, 1843. He studied at St. John’s Parochial School and later St. John’s College. He married Ann Tait (1852-1925) on March 16, 1874 in St. John’s Cathedral. Ann was the younger sister of Robert Tait, husband to Colin’s elder sister Jane.

They had twelve children, but only five survived to adulthood:
Rupert Finleyson Inkster, Colin Robertson Sinclair Inkster (1876-1961), Myra Jane McMurray Inkster (1878-1938), Annie Sibyl McKay Inkster (1880-1974), and James Richard Hardisty Inkster (1886-?).

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 ”After I had been through St. John’s College, I was keen on going across the plains, and in 1863 I made my first trip to St. Paul."
...
"I will never forget the extraordinary excitement of my first experience as a buffalo hunter,” he said. “I yelled louder and louder to my horse, I tore off my coat, I was amazed in my own mind at the fury in my voice, I felt so light the wind seemed to be blowing through me. I was beside myself in the frenzy of the chase. Now I only go duck-shooting.”
From Eighty Years on the Red River
MacLeans, Feb 15, 1926

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Colin started working for his father's freighting business, traveling and hunting across the plains. He was asked to represent St. John's on Louis Riel's Provisional Government in 1869-70, but he "declined election". 

Colin was then elected as a member of the First Legislative Council of Manitoba in 1871, becoming Minister of Agriculture in 1875. In 1876 he cast the deciding vote to abolish the Legislative Council, which  had been equivalent to a provincial senate. 

He later served as the Sheriff of Manitoba for 51 years, from 1876-1927. He also held the position of Rector’s Warden for St. John’s Cathedral for over 60 years.

He was a founding member of the Manitoba Historical Society, and erected the Monument to the Battle of Seven Oaks (the oldest historical marker in western Canada) on his property in 1891. 

Colin and Ann built their home in 1874, on Lot 6, west of Seven Oaks House. His sister Jane once said in an interview
​“...that were no trees about it and for that reason suggested it be named Bleak House.” 
His home still stands near the museum. It is a municipal heritage site and active seniors' centre.
Learn more.

Colin died on September 28, 1934 after suffering smoke inhalation during a fire at his hunting lodge on the Delta Marsh. He was 91 years old. ​

The Manitoba Historical Society unveils the Seven Oaks Monument (19 June 1891)
Archives of Manitoba

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Colin in front of Bleak House, 1930

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harriet inkster mcmurray
1846 - 1922

Harriet was born on October 8, 1846 and baptized on December 14th. She studied at St. John’s School and later St. Cross Ladies School.

On July 13, 1868 Harriet married William McMurray (1824-1877), a widower 22 years her senior. It was William’s 2nd marriage; his first wife Anne Christie Ballenden died in 1862. William was a trader for the Hudson's Bay Company and oversaw a number of trading posts in the North West Territories. Fort McMurray, Alberta was named in his honour in 1875.

Their son, John Dougald, was born on October 17, 1870 at Fort Chipewyan on the western tip of Lake Athabasca in northern Alberta. In 1871 William was promoted to Inspecting Chief Factor and they relocated to Ile-â-la-Crosse in the English River District.

In June of 1872, Harriet delivered Mary Louisa at Seven Oaks and sadly buried the infant the following year. A third child, James Hamilton, arrived in 1875. William died suddenly on March 7 1877, at Seven Oaks House, “by choking, with a portion of the food he was partaking of at supper.” Following his death, Harriet, a widow at 31, lived in a small house on the Inkster homestead. She died on May 12, 1922 at the age of 75.

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george thomas inkster
1849 - 1901

George Thomas was born on December 12, 1849. He studied at St. John’s Parochial School and later St. John’s College. George T. worked with his father's freighting business, and in the early 1870s helped mark the International Boundary between the United States and Canada by building earth mounds, rock Cairns, and iron pillars. 

While in Pembina (Dakota Territory) he met Caroline Chercote/Turcotte, a French Métis woman. They married in 1875. In 1878 they moved to the Dakota Territory and built the log cabin seen here on land they did not own. In spite of his Métis ancestry, George is known in American history as the first "white" settler in the area. He became the namesake for Inkster township, North Dakota.

Some of the communities of residence for George and Caroline include: Inkster, Red Lake River, Grand Forks, Forest River, and Towner in McHenry County.

George and Caroline had at least ten children, four of whom died in 1892/3. After the loss of all these children, another daughter Isabelle was born in 1896.

The following year, George traveled north to the Yukon Territory to take part in the Klondike Gold Rush. During the winter of 1898, food became scarce and he joined a group of people walking to Skagway (Alaska), a distance of 600 miles, for supplies. While he was away, his wife Caroline died. He left the north and returned to Towner and lived at the home of his son Colin until his death on December 31, 1901. He was buried beside Caroline in Union Cemetery, Towner.
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"Their home has been made desolate"
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Life was difficult on the frontier, and death from sickness, starvation or accident was common.

George and Caroline were particularly unlucky, as their family was ravaged by the measles and whooping cough in 1892/93. Obituaries from this time often went into dramatic and even gruesome detail, re-creating the person's last moments for distant relatives and friends:

A log cabin built by George T. Inkster in 1878, in Inkster, North Dakota, USA. (Hand-coloured photo c.1910)
 Library of Congress

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In Memorium.
Within the past few weeks the relentless hand has been laid upon three children of the family of Mr. and Mrs. Geo. T. Inkster, and their home has been made desolate. A kind friend of the family, who was with them a great deal during this time has, by request, written the following notices of the three little ones who have put on the incorruptible and whose earthly remains now lay beside their brother Timoleon, who died last May:

Ettie Inkster: Born May 9, 1890, died February 19, 1893 aged 2 years, 9 months, 10 days.
Those who saw little Ettie three days before God called her to His home can never forget the glad happy way in which she greeted her mother, that particular morning when she brought her clothes to be dressed. She was sweet and smiling to everyone who addressed her on that morning, although she had been wakened many times during the night by those terrible spasms of coughing. Yet the messenger came quickly, and little Ettie Inkster was the first to be summoned as the brothers and sisters that remained after their little brother “Tim” was taken nearly one year ago.

Robert Inkster: Born March 31, 1888, died February 24, 1893. Aged 4 years, 10 months, 24 days.
Dear little “Bobby” – as he was affectionately called by all who knew him – struggled long and manfully with the angel Death, and when questioned if he felt sick or in pain he would always reply in the negative, and would say to his mother every day, “ I am better today" until two days before he died he told her that he was worse. “Bobby” was a patient little sufferer, and though he did not seem to be in pain he wasted away until at the time of his death he was but the former semblance of his physical self. He was a favorite with all of the neighbors and acquaintances of his father’s family. When asked by his mother about five minutes before he died if he were going to leave her and go and see “Tim” he nodded his head and murmured “yes”. He had said to his mother many times during the last summer that he was “going to heaven to be with Tim”, and take Tim’s little hatchet to him. Bobby was a very smart little boy – far beyond his years, but God saw fit to take him with the others.

Agnes Louisa: Born Oct. 28, 1891, died March 3, 1893, aged 1 year, 4 months, 3 days.
Little Agnes was the last to join the brothers and sisters gone before. A sweet little babe but sixteen months old, and though all were equally dearly, dearly loved who could forget “the baby?” And how she would reach out and cry for “Annie” – her little sister to take her! She would cling to Annie and be cared for by her for hours when she would allow no one else to care for her. She would reach with her little hands for water or food, but many times would turn her head away if given her by anyone but her sister Anna. Pity poor Anna Inkster, now that her sweet baby sister is gone."
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A little child of Geo. Gardner died at the home of G. T. Inkster one day last week. Mrs. Gardner is the sister of Mrs. Inkster, and the family came down from their home at Turtle Mountains to pay Mr. Inkster a visit. The little one contracted the measles and whooping cough, with the misfortunate result above stated.

DIED – On Sunday night last Ettie, the little daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Geo. T. Inkster. For several weeks the children of this family have been battling the disease, being first taken with measles, followed with whooping cough, to which little Ettie succumbed. The funeral occurred Tuesday, the little one being laid beside her brother, Timothy, who died last winter. The hand of affliction has rested heavily upon this family of late, and the sincere sympathy of many friends is extended to them in the night of their sorrow, while through the darkness gleams the light of Hope, and heard are the word of the Master, “I love thee: pass under the rod.”
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A Card.
The undersigned wish to extend their sincerest thanks to those friends who so kindly assisted them during the sickness and death of their son, Timoleon, and to assure them their assistance and kindly sympathy in this, their bereavement, is fully appreciated.
-Mr. & Mrs. Geo. T. Inkster

We are requested to announce that the contagious disease which for some time afflicted the family of Mr. and Mrs. Geo. T. Inkster, has been fully eradicated, and that neighbors and friends will now be welcomed at the home of the above.


From the McHenry County Independent, Towner, ND, United States