Silas Tertius Rand

author

Silas Tertius Rand

1810–1889

A self-taught Nova Scotian minister, linguist, and translator, he devoted much of his life to learning and documenting the Mi'kmaq language. He is especially remembered for recording Mi'kmaq stories, including the legend of Glooscap, and for producing important language works in the 19th century.

1 Audiobook

The Dying Indian's Dream: A Poem

The Dying Indian's Dream: A Poem

by Silas Tertius Rand

About the author

Born in Cornwallis, Nova Scotia, on May 18, 1810, he had little formal schooling and first worked in his family's bricklaying trade. He was ordained as a Baptist minister in 1834, serving several congregations in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island before turning his attention more fully to missionary work among the Mi'kmaq.

Beginning in the 1840s, he studied the Mi'kmaq language in depth and became known for his unusual gift for languages. Over time he produced translations, religious texts, and a major Mi'kmaq-English dictionary, while also writing down stories and traditions that might otherwise have gone unrecorded in print. He is often noted as the first person to record the legend of Glooscap.

His legacy is complicated as well as significant: he worked within a missionary movement shaped by 19th-century colonial attitudes, yet his writings remain an important source for the study of Mi'kmaq language and oral tradition. He died on October 4, 1889.