Charlie Stewart (b. 1873)
Charlie Stewart was the son of Alexander Stewart, a Scot who worked for the Hudson’s Bay Co. in the north. His mother was Gwich’in woman who taught her husband her language. Charlie Stewart married Martha Kaye of Old Crow and their daughter, Sarah (Simon), was born in 1901.1)
Charlie Stewart was a Royal North-West Mounted Police special constable in Dawson and Fort McPherson in the early 1900s. Catherine Mitchell is Charlie's daughter and a Gwich'in elder from Inuvik. She said that her dad moved the family of five kids between Dawson and McPherson.2)
Stewart was the guide for Sergeant Dempster in 1911 when they found the Lost Patrol.3) He talked to the guide that was sent back thirty-five miles out of McPherson. He was from Hershel Island and he was told that the police members knew the way and to return home.4)
Charlie Stewart made many patrols by dog team and boat. He was a good interpreter, and his daughter Sarah Simon remembered him as a good dancer and a happy man.5)