Part 2 — The First Marriage: Brulé Family Struggles

 🌺 Part 2 — The First Marriage: Brulé Family Struggles

At just fifteen years old, Mary Ann Maranda dit le Frisé was married to Joseph Brulé. Still barely more than a child herself, she entered into the life of a wife and mother under the watchful eye of the Catholic Mission that had baptized and schooled her.

Marriage for Indigenous girls in those years was rarely a matter of choice. The pressures of colonial society, the authority of the church, and the merging of French Canadian and Indigenous families all shaped her path. For Mary Ann, marriage meant not only survival but also a way of binding families together in uncertain times.

Mary Ann and Joseph began their family in the Oregon Territory. Their lives were marked by constant change — movement from settlement to settlement, uncertainty about land, and the looming shadow of colonial expansion. For a young mother, each birth was both joy and risk.

Together, they had six children, though tragedy soon struck: four of them died in infancy or early childhood. Such loss was heartbreakingly common at the time, especially for Indigenous and mixed families who often lacked stable homes, medical care, or community support.

Only two daughters survived — one of them was Ellen Brulé, Mary Ann’s daughter who would later marry Joseph Poirier and continue the line that leads to me today.

The Brulé years tested Mary Ann deeply. By her twenties, she had endured the loss of multiple children, the instability of migration, and the burdens of adulthood placed on her since she was only a girl. Yet through Ellen and her surviving children, her bloodline and resilience carried forward.

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✒️ Historical Note: Indigenous Women & Early Marriages

In the mid-1800s, many Indigenous girls were married in their early teens. This was not always Indigenous tradition but rather a consequence of colonial influence. Catholic missionaries encouraged early marriages to “stabilize” families under European values and to prevent unions outside church control.

For Indigenous women like Mary Ann, these marriages often meant heavy responsibilities at a young age, frequent childbearing, and little say in their futures. Despite this, they found ways to nurture culture, strength, and survival in their children — even when much was taken from them.

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🌿 Reflective Questions

1. How might Mary Ann have felt, being married at fifteen and losing four of her six children?
2. In what ways did the Catholic Church’s influence shape family life in the Oregon Territory?
3. How does Ellen Brulé’s survival and later marriage to Joseph Poirier symbolize resilience across generations?
4. What lessons can we learn today from the strength of young Indigenous women who endured so much at such an early age?