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Introduction / Families / Sinclair / William Sinclair / Robert Sinclair and Jane Drever Robert Sinclair and Mary ReidRobert Sinclair (b. 27th March 1828) was a son of Robert Sinclair and Jane Drever of Windywa. He married Mary Reid on 15th January 1864 at Groatha, Eday. Mary (b. 24th November 1834) was a daughter of Robert Reid and Betsy Louttit. Robert and Mary had six children:
The family were at Green, in 1871 and 1881, where Robert and his parents had moved to from Windywa some time prior to 1851. The family left Eday on 15th September 1884, arriving in Glasgow on 19th September to board the “Siberia” and sailing to Canada. They arrived in Yorkton, Saskatchewan on 12th October. They were accompanied by Mary’s niece, Ann Reid together with her husband, Matthew Peace, and their family. Mary’s nephew, John Flaws Reid, had emigrated two years previously. He had been apprenticed as a cabinetmaker in Edinburgh for two years and there read pamphlets on free homesteading and gone out to York Colony. His widowed mother, Charlotte Stevenson, had left Eday in May 1883, with three of John’s brothers to join him. Robert and Mary and their family spent the first winter with the Reids. They built a shanty on their own land and moved there in March 1885. The Riel Rebellion broke out that year and Mary and William were forced to yoke up the oxen and take refuge with the family within the stockade in Yorkton. James and sons Robert and James were at the time on volunteer service. Leach Lake and File Hill native people killed some of their cattle and stole many articles. In 1888, Robert donated 2 acres of land as a site for a school. This was a log structure at first but subsequently a stone school was built. By 1894, Robert had 640 acres of land of which he was cropping 105 acres. He died on 14th November 1911 and Mary on 9th July 1916. Both are buried in the Orkney Cemetery in Yorkton. | |||
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