Duncan McDougall

Duncan McDougall
Died	1818-10-25 Fort Bas-de-la-Rivière (Fort Alexander), Manitoba
Occupation	Fur trader
Father	Duncan McDougall (lieutenant)
Mother	Shaw McDougall
Partner	Comcomly's daughter

Duncan McDougall (born Scotland, date unknown – 25 October 1818) was a Scottish-born fur trader who served as a clerk and later partner in the North West Company, and as a co-founder and managing partner of John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company at Fort Astoria on the Columbia River.

Early life

McDougall was born in Scotland; his father was a lieutenant in the 84th Foot, and his mother was a member of the Shaw family. Both parents died during his childhood. He was taken in by his uncles — Angus Shaw and Alexander McDougall, both partners in the North West Company — and through their influence entered the NWC as a clerk around 1801.

Career in the fur trade

James Bay operations

In the spring of 1803 the North West Company, under Simon McTavish's direction, moved to challenge the Hudson's Bay Company in James Bay. McDougall was assigned to establish a post on the Fort George River, working alongside John Hester, while John George McTavish built Fort St Andrews on Charlton Island. The local HBC trader George Atkinson (known as Sneppy), who had deep ties among the Indigenous population, provided stiff competition. By the summer of 1804 McDougall had begun constructing winter quarters at the mouth of the Great Whale River but was recalled to Charlton Island shortly afterward. He managed the Fort George River operation through 1804–05, competing against Atkinson and Thomas Alder, but the venture proved unprofitable, and by mid-1806 the Nor'Westers abandoned it entirely. McDougall left two children, George and Anne, with Nancy Hesther before departing the region.

Pacific Fur Company and Fort Astoria

McDougall next appeared as one of the co-founders of Pacific Fur Company under New York merchant John Jacob Astor. He signed on as a partner on 10 March 1810 and sailed from New York aboard the Tonquin under Captain Jonathan Thorn on 6 September of that year. The ship reached the mouth of the Columbia River in late March 1811, and McDougall oversaw the construction of Fort Astoria and organised inland exploration parties.

On 15 July 1811 a party led by David Thompson of the North West Company arrived briefly; the two companies reached an informal understanding to avoid encroaching on each other's territories west of the Rocky Mountains. Later that summer news reached Astoria of the loss of the Tonquin in Clayoquot Sound, along with the death of partner Alexander MacKay. Desertions, illness, and supply shortfalls through 1811 and 1812 steadily undermined the enterprise. The supply vessel Beaver arrived from New York in May 1812 but could not make the return voyage that year owing to damage sustained during a voyage to Alaska.

In January 1813 Donald McKenzie arrived overland with word that Britain and the United States were at war and that a British warship was en route to interdict American trade on the coast. John George McTavish confirmed this intelligence in September, arriving with a Nor'Wester contingent and camping near the fort. Facing an apparently hopeless military situation, McDougall entered negotiations with the NWC. An agreement transferring the post to the Nor'Westers was signed on 16 October 1813, and HMS Racoon arrived on 30 November to assert British control formally. The post was renamed Fort George, and on Christmas Day 1813 McDougall rejoined the North West Company.

The sale of Fort Astoria was later criticized, and McDougall's conduct became a subject of controversy. In his will he insisted that he "did every thing in my power to do the utmost justice to the trust and confidence reposed in me by John Jacob Astor," and complained bitterly of "how much and how unjustly my character and reputation has suffered and been injured by the malicious and ungenerous conduct of some of my late Associates."

Marriage and later NWC service

On 20 July 1813 McDougall married a daughter of the Chinook chief Comcomly, cementing an important alliance with one of the most powerful trading families on the lower Columbia. The trader Alexander Henry recorded that a bride-price of fifteen guns, fifteen blankets, and considerable additional property was formally exchanged, with the arrangement concluded on 26 April 1814.

McDougall was made a full partner of the North West Company in 1816. He left Fort George on 16 April 1817 in company with Angus Bethune, Ross Cox, and others, travelling east. At Fort William he accepted responsibility for the Winnipeg River district and proceeded there in August 1817.

Death

McDougall died on 25 October 1818 at Fort Bas-de-la-Rivière (present-day Fort Alexander, Manitoba). Contemporary accounts described his end as miserable, though the cause of death is not recorded.

His will, dated 28 March 1817, named his two sisters, a maternal aunt and her daughters, and his "reputed or rather adopted son George McDougall" among the beneficiaries. A codicil dated 15 October 1818 — just ten days before his death — expressed concern for "my little Daughter in James Bay."

External links

• Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography