Mapmaker: Philip Turnor in Rupert’s Land in the Age of Enlightenment

In this reflective biography, Mitchell (The Years of Fame) traces her family back to Phillip Turnor, an influential surveyor who explored Canada’s far north for the Hudson’s Bay Company in the late 18th century, and the Cree woman (whose name has been lost to history) who was his country wife, a term used by Europeans for Indigenous women with whom they entered into a kind of marriage that was often dissolved or unacknowledged when they returned to Europe. Through painstaking archival work, Mitchell was able put together an account of Turnor and his experience mapping much of what was then called Rupert’s Land, and she shows the important role he played in opening up the interior of northern Canada for the company and colonization. As Mitchell charts her ancestor’s work and experiences, she is also able to more fully map her family tree and fill in some of the blanks that begin with Turnor. Mitchell discovered that Turnor was aided in his exploration by his wife’s local knowledge, and this aspect of Mitchell’s book adds layers of interest and value, as it reveals the mixture of culture and heritage that truly embody the northern experience of two traditions and the impact of their collision down through generations. (Oct.)