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Dictionary of Miramichi Biography

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BARNABY, THOMAS (1841-1907)

BARNABY, THOMAS, Micmac Indian chief, Eel Ground, 1888-94; b. Miramichi, 17 Mar 1841, s/o Thomas Barnaby and h/w Pelonick; m. 1881, Moll Judick Swasson; d. Eel Ground, 23 Mar 1907.

In 1877 Thomas Barnaby's name headed a petition of would-be electors at Eel Ground who demanded that the tradition of hereditary chiefs be replaced by an elective system. After the hereditary chief John N. Julian died in the spring of 1888 the government acceded to this demand, and Thomas Barnaby became the first elected chief of the reserve.

Although Barnaby was a serious and determined chief who enjoyed the support of the Indian superintendents of the day and church and other leaders in the surrounding non-Indian community, he faced immense political opposition at Eel Ground, where a no-holds-barred brand of politics was practiced at the time. He was defeated when he stood for re-election in 1894, but because he was "one of the most intelligent Indians at Eel Ground," he continued to be consulted by government officials and others having business to conduct on the reserve. He and his wife, Moll Judick Swasson, were the parents of at least nine children, most of whom died young.

Sources

Sketch by W. D. Hamilton in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Vol. XIII, 1994


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