Memorable Manitobans: Henry Bird Steinhauer (1818-1884)

Missionary, linguist.

Born near Lake Simcoe in the Chippewa tribe, he adopted the name of the German family that raised him. In 1840 Steinhauer went with the Rev. James Evans to Norway House and was instrumental in helping Evans develop the Cree syllabic alphabet. He did much of the translation of the Bible into Cree. Posted to Lac la Biche (in present day Alberta) in 1855, he was ordained a minister of the Methodist Church in 1858 and spent the last years of his life at Whitefish Lake, now in the North West Territories, where he died on 29 December 1884. His papers are in the Alberta Archives.

See also:

“The Prayer Man” by Gayle Simonson, The Beaver, 68, no. 5 (October/November 1988): 28-33.

Henry B. Steinhauer, his work among the Cree Indians of the western plains of Canada by John Maclean (no date).

Henry Bird Steinhauer, Dictionary of Canadian Biography XI, 848-50.

Sources:

A Political Manual of the Province of Manitoba and the North-West Territories by J. P. Robertson, Winnipeg: Call Printing Company, 1887.

Dictionary of Manitoba Biography by John M. “Jack” Bumsted, Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 1999.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 14 October 2014

Memorable Manitobans

Memorable Manitobans

This is a collection of noteworthy Manitobans from the past, compiled by the Manitoba Historical Society. We acknowledge that the collection contains both reputable and disreputable people. All are worth remembering as a lesson to future generations.

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