Toronto, Canada
Office of the Librarian
July 8th, 1974
Mrs. M. R. Sprague
77-HavelocK Street
Cobourg, Ontario
Dear Mrs. Sprague:
Henry Bird Steinhauer was an Ojibway Indian, born in 1820 near Rama on Lake Couchiching. His original name is apparently not known, but at a very early age he attended a Methodist school at the Credit Mission and travelled as a member of a boys' choir in the United States where a Mr. Steinhauer of Philadelphia undertook to sponsor his education provided he adopted the Steinhauer name. Henry Steinhauer attended Upper Canada Academy in Cobourg from about 1835 to 1837 and then taught school in connection with the Alderville Mission. In 1840 he set out with Rev. James Evans for the West, remaining for several years at Lac La Pluie before rejoining Evans at Norway House where he stayed until 1850. He was ordained at the Lon0on Conference of 1855 and was sent to Lac La Biche and later to Whitefish, Alberta. He married a Cree, and among his children were two sons, Robert Bird and Egerton Ryerson, both of whom became Methodist ministers [and a daughter who married John McDougall]. He died in 1884.
Robert Bird Steinhauer was born February 16, 1861 and, with his brother Egerton, came to Cobourg to be educated. He received his B.A. degree from Victoria in 1887 (in the same class as C.W. Brown, the father of your friend, Mrs. Morton). He was apparently a popular student, winning the Senior Stick. He also preached for many years at Whitefish. In 1937 Victoria conferred upon him an honorary D.D. degree. He died in July, 1941. He was, I understand, the father of the new Lieutenant-Governor of Albert.
This information, I think, confirms the stories that you and Mrs. Morton recall.
Yours sincerely,
(Miss) Lorna D. Fraser
Librarian
