Farmer, merchant, Metis leader.
Born at the Red River Settlement on 11 December 1833, son of Donald Gunn and Margaret Swain (?-?), he was a Poplar Point merchant and farmer. On 16 November 1869, he and his father were among the English Members who attended the Convention of Twenty-four held in the Court House, adjoining Upper Fort Garry. The younger Gunn participated as elected representative for St. Ann’s, the elder for St. Andrew’s. George Gunn was also present, in the same capacity, at the Convention of Forty.
On 23 February 1870, the people of his parish declared him their choice for representation in the Legislative Assembly of Assiniboia. Gunn, however, objected to the informality of the proceeding and insisted on another election. On 28 February, after receiving the “majority of votes” taken at the St. Anne’s schoolhouse, he was re-elected and the parishioners formally acceded to the rule of the Provisional Government. He was a candidate in the 1870 provincial general election but was defeated by David Spence.
By 1879, he was living at the Forks of the Red Deer and South Saskatchewan rivers. He was recorded as a “freighter” in the Maple Creek district in the 1891 federal census and a “rancher” in the Eagle Quill Lake district in the 1901 census. He and wife Sarah ? (1861-?) had three children: Donald Gunn (1879-?), Catherine Gunn (1881-?), and William Gunn (1890-?).
He died at his home near Swift Current, Saskatchewan on 13 December 1901.
1891 Canada census, Ancestry.
“Death of George Gunn of Swift Current,” Regina Leader-Post, 2 January 1902, page 8.
Dictionary of Manitoba Biography by John M. “Jack” Bumsted, Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 1999.
This page was prepared by Brian Cyr, Glen Belbeck, and Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 25 April 2023
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