Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
History
Wilfred Prosper, son of Peter Prosper and Clara Young, was born in 1927 in Potlotek. Wilfred lived in Potlotek until 1947, at which time he and his parents were relocated to Eskasoni as a part of the Centralization initiative of the Department of Indian Affairs. There he met and married his wife Bessie Stevens and together they had 9 daughters and 6 sons. Within the community he served several roles throughout his life including Chief of Eskasoni. He also served as Spiritual Leader of the Mi’kmaq Grand Council, and worked as a carpenter. He started out on the guitar and eventually switched to the fiddle at the age of sixteen. He was influenced by Simon Cremo who was a Mi’kmaw fiddler and would often perform with Lee Cremo. He was well known as a fiddler to the Mi’kmaq and non-Mi’kmaq communities and won many awards. In the 1960s he was awarded the title of former Maritime Fiddling Champion and was a long standing member of the Cape Breton Fiddlers Association. In 1998, he was recognized for his accomplishments and was awarded the Grand Chief Donald Marshall Sr. Elders Award. Wilfred was also a well respected Mi'kmaw elder and translator and spent his lifetime preserving and teaching Mi'kmaw Hymns and Mi'kmaw Traditions. He passed away on March 25, 2005 at the age of 77.