Yukon who is who

Vincent Collier Sim (1855 - 1885)

Vincent Sim was born in England, possibly near Bledlow and Windsor where his sister Frances Mary Sim lived.¹⁾ He was the fifth child of William and Eliza Sim. He attended a preparatory school in 1875 and the Church Missionary Society College in Islington, London in 1876. In 1877, he was ordained an Anglican Deacon by the Bishop of Rupert’s Land and was appointed to the Athapascan Mission with an annual stipend of £150. He remained at this Mission until 1881 when he was sent north to learn Tukudh [Gwich’in] and assist Archdeacon Robert McDonald.²⁾ Vincent Sim travelled north to Fort McPherson with Reverend Thomas Henry Canham. Sim graduated from the Church Missionary Society College the year before Canham and their friendship dated from that time in England.³⁾ Sim spent several months at Fort McPherson and then went to Rampart House in 1882 to establish a mission – the first parish in the Diocese of the Yukon.⁴⁾ He met Joseph Hodgson, Hudson’s Bay Company clerk in charge of Old Rampart House, at Fort McPherson as Sim was leaving to take up his position.⁵⁾

In the spring of 1883, Sim was living at LaPierre House and came down the Porcupine River to Rampart House, Alaska from the Peel River to await the breakup. He was very busy as the Indigenous trappers were bringing in their winter’s fur. He left on June 15th and returned on August 25th travelling with three Tukudh speakers in a bark canoe. The went down the Porcupine stopping at groups along the way but never stopping long as rations were short. The buildings at Fort Yukon are still standing and are occupied by Chief Sanyooli. The chief gave them a generous welcome and they feasted, partly at Sim's expense. They did not stay long as the salmon had not arrived, ducks and geese were scarce, and no moose had been killed. Everyone crowded around and wanted to buy books.⁶⁾ [Archdeacon Robert McDonald’s translations of the bible, Book of Common Prayer, and hymnals.]

Sim and his companions paddled hard [up the Yukon River] for four days before coming to another party and the Upper Ramparts. The head man was the eldest son of Sanyoolyi. He had two wives. Before Sim left, he had convinced the chief to give up one of his wives. Two men from this camp travelled with Sim for the next 300 miles to receive religious instruction. Three more days brought them to a band of Hän Hwëch’in (River Indians) or Gens des Fous, as they are also known. These were the first local people Sim saw who lived in houses. This was probably only in the summer, as they moved about in the winter. They welcomed Sim and provided him with a large tent.⁷⁾

Three more days brought Sim to another group of Hän and he stayed there a week. It was four days to the next group and on the way they met the US Survey party. {This was a privately sponsored survey of the Yukon River headed by Lieutenant Schwatka.] Two days later they met the largest group of Hän at Fort Reliance. They had a reputation of being troublesome with the traders. Sim was ill there. This group is called the Trodh tsik Kuitchin [Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in] and there were people there from other tribes there as well. Some from further up the river and some from the Tanana and they had never seen a minister before. Sim met Mr. Carr from Arizona, there. Sim was waiting for the steamer that comes every year to trade and hoped to go farther upstream but it didn't turn up. He then travelled down and found that some accident had happened to the machinery in the steamer and she could go no farther. When it was repaired to some extent, McQuesten gave Sim passage to Fort Yukon. Sim and his companions travelled up the Porcupine by canoe for ten days through bad weather to reach the Ramparts.⁸⁾

Sim left Rampart House on May 26, 1884 with one First Nation boy and engaged another on the trip downriver. They arrived at Fort Yukon on the fourth day. There was a good number of First Nation people assembled there, mostly from the upper river, all in expectation of a visit from the American traders from Noukelakayet [near the mouth of the Tanana River]. Fort Yukon was abandoned; the buildings used for firewood. Chief Sanyootyi retained his wives, despite all that Sim had said to him. This time he avoided Sim, who hurried on to meet the First Nations people at Noukelakayet. The next group spoke Tetsi Kwitchin and it was quite a different language, but Sim had the Archdeacon's manual on Tetsi and they managed to understand one another. A few hours below they met a family where everyone was deaf and dumb. The next group was a man with two women and a child, the sole survivors of a sickness that killed the rest of the small band in 1882. Sim arrived at Noukelakayet on 7 June 1884, and he was the guest of the traders who treated him kindly. They had a blind Christian leader. Some of the Hän had spent the winter among them and they had brought their books [Gwich’in bibles]. They travelled up the Tanana with a growing number of people on their way to the summer fisheries. After 200 miles, the numbers started dropping away and at the end they had but a small number. When they stopped, others came in for instruction and Sim stayed ten days there. There was very little to eat there.⁹⁾

Game was scarce in 1885. Sim was anxious to get a church built at Rampart House, Alaska and asked Loola to get some men to help him. They all needed to go hunting so Sim said he would give them food from his cache. Soon the food was so low that the men went hunting and the minister became ill. Mr. Canham had been taking McDonald's place at Fort McPherson and hurried to Rampart when he heard that Sim was ill. To lift his spirits, Canham went back to Fort McPherson to get the mail but when he returned Sim was too weak to listen to his message. They buried him in May on the hill above the mission.¹⁰⁾ Sim died on 11 May 1885 at Rampart House of a prostrating illness brought about by overexertion and starvation.¹¹⁾