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Searching for
Robert Rundle
by
Gerald Hutchinson
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In 1973, my wife and I managed the British trip. We visited the Rundle
grand-daughter, who gave us pictures and letters, as well as family background.
We also visited the Mylor Church and Dowstall farm, on Falmouth Bay, where the
Rundle family had lived. We spent four weeks in the Archives of the British
Wesleyan Society collecting copies of the correspondence to and from the
missionaries and the Society, as well as letters written by the Native
Christians who maintained the Pigeon Lake mission. By 1977 Hugh Dempsey and I
had combined our efforts and had the Rundle journals published, including diary,
letters, occasional notes, and the entire Baptism and Marriage Registers for
1840-48. In effect, we had published the known archives of Robert Rundle, thus
making them available to the public for the first time.
The British Wesleyans had not been interested in his material, the
granddaughter said. It was just as though he had done something wrong. The HBC
mission had been a great disappointment. Superintendent Evans was recalled in
1846 amid a flood of scandalous reports, and died of a heart attack. George
Barnley returned to England in 1847, angry and complaining publicly. So when
Rundle returned with a broken arm in 1848, the British had already decided to
turn the mission over to the Canada Methodist Conference. He moved quietly into
the circuit ministry of the Methodist Church. He died in retirement in 1896.
The search for Robert Rundle has been an experience, an education, an
inspiration and a resource to be shared with all who will listen or read. His
records reveal clearly the importance of the northern route into Western Canada
— Hudson Bay and the great Saskatchewan River. The fur companies pioneered the
route opening the north, with Fort Edmonton as the centre of the empire. The
entire area south of the Saskatchewan River system was solely and entirely
occupied by the aboriginal tribes. Rundle developed a special ministry by going
to them, depending on their hospitality and generosity, making the Gospel
available to them in their own language, and developing teachers and leaders
from among them. Superintendent Evans had recently perfected the use of the
syllabic alphabet so that Rundle could copy out "Sunday books" to be read in
their own language in their own camps. For 30 years the Native Christian
movement grew without having a church at all, or a budget, or an organization.
He seemed to have introduced the greatness and goodness of the Spirit of Christ
into the profound spiritual beliefs of an ancient people.
Thirty years later, the scene changed dramatically with the Confederation of
Canada, and the sale of the HBC rights to Canada, so that the West became the
Northwest Territories of Canada under the occupation and domination of the
"white" culture. The entry to the West was no longer the river. All supplies now
entered by way of St. Paul, Minnesota, then Winnipeg, and hence overland. Police,
the railway, troops, and settlers followed the trails across the prairies, and
eventually Calgary became the centre of the southern empire to establish the
strong, dynamic rivalry so constant in the Alberta story. However, Rundle has
provided the documents — especially the invaluable Registers — by which native
Christians are now able to discover their roots and sustenance in their own
people.
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From: Aspenland 1998 — Local
Knowledge and Sense of Place
Edited by: David J. Goa and David Ridley
Published by: The Central Alberta Regional
Museums Network (CARMN) with the assistance of the Provincial Museum of Alberta
and the Red Deer and District Museum.
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