Fort William

Fort William was a city in Ontario, Canada, located on the Kaministiquia River, at its entrance to Lake Superior. Incorporated as a town in 1892 and as a city in 1907, it was amalgamated with Port Arthur and the townships of Neebing and McIntyre to form the city of Thunder Bay in January 1970.

In 1803 it was named Fort Kaministiquia, but by 1807 at the summer rendezvous the fort was renamed Fort William for its superintendent, William McGillivray.

Thunder Bay connections: Fort Kaministiquia; Fort William Historical Park; Neebing; Oliver Paipoonge; Joe Comuzzi; Jeff Heath; Bora Laskin; Paul Shaffer.

Fort William is one half of Thunder Bay before it amalgamated with Port Arthur in 1970.

Named individuals connected to the Fort William fur trade post

This lists documented, named people with a direct connection to the North West Company depot / Hudson's Bay Company post at the mouth of the Kaministiquia River (1803–1883), grouped by era and role. The voyageur, tradesman, and labouring ranks who made up the bulk of the workforce are largely anonymous in accessible sources and are not individually named here. Demographic notes ("Indigenous" / "non-Indigenous") reflect the categories used in the cited sources.

Background

The NWC was a closed network of Scots (mostly Highland clan networks via blood/marriage) who brought capital and rose via kinship. Of ~128 leading figures, ~77 were of Scots descent. Wintering partners/bourgeois (often Scots) managed departments; clerks started as apprentices (5–7 years) and hoped to advance. Many began at Grand Portage before the 1803 move to Kaministiquia (Fort William).

North West Company era (depot built 1803; named Fort William 1807; to 1821)

• William McGillivray — Highland Scot, non-Indigenous. NWC chief superintendent; the post was renamed in his honour at the 1807 summer rendezvous. Arrested by Lord Selkirk at Fort William on 13 August 1816.
• Simon McGillivray — Scot, non-Indigenous. Younger brother of William McGillivray and the NWC's principal agent in London (McTavish, Fraser and Company); a leading partner of the firm that ran the Fort William depot, he later negotiated the 1820–1821 amalgamation with the Hudson's Bay Company.
• Simon McTavish — Scot, non-Indigenous. Leading figure of the NWC who oversaw the relocation from Grand Portage to the Kaministiquia before his death in 1804; William McGillivray succeeded him.
• Kenneth MacKenzie — Scot, non-Indigenous. Entered the NWC in 1800; clerk at Kaministiquia from c.1803 and later the resident proprietor at Fort William; died 1816 near Sault Ste. Marie.
• Daniel McKenzie — Scot, non-Indigenous. NWC wintering partner; the only partner Selkirk did not send to Upper Canada for trial after the 1816 seizure.
• Alexander McKenzie — Scot, non-Indigenous (distinct from the explorer Sir Alexander Mackenzie). NWC partner; escorted the captured Miles Macdonell to Fort William and was himself arrested there on 12 August 1816.
• John McLoughlin — born Lower Canada, of Irish/Scottish descent, non-Indigenous. Physician and NWC partner stationed at Fort William, where he served as both medical officer and a fort manager; arrested by Selkirk in August 1816 and later known as the "Father of Oregon."
• Simon Fraser — non-Indigenous (born in present-day USA to Scottish parents). Explorer and NWC partner; among the partners arrested by Selkirk at Fort William in 1816, then taken to Montreal and released on bail.
• John McDonald (le Borgne) — Scot, non-Indigenous. NWC partner arrested at Fort William in 1816; became a Hudson's Bay Company chief factor at the 1821 merger.
• John Siveright — Scot, non-Indigenous. NWC partner often listed among the partners later tried at York, but he was in fact seized with Duncan Cameron at the NWC's Fort Gibraltar (Red River) on 17 March 1816, not at Fort William; charged as an accessory in the death of Robert Semple after Seven Oaks, he saw the charge dropped once the principals were acquitted.
• Hugh McGillis — Scot, non-Indigenous. NWC partner present during Selkirk's 1816 takeover, who called on the voyageurs to take up arms (they declined).
• David Thompson — English-born (Welsh family), non-Indigenous. NWC surveyor/cartographer; learned of his promotion to wintering partner on arriving at the newly built Fort William in 1804, and his great map of the Northwest later hung in the fort's Great Hall.
• Duncan Cameron — Scot, non-Indigenous. NWC partner whose theatre in the conflict was the Red River colony and Fort Gibraltar rather than Fort William; he signed his letters as "Captain, Voyageur Corps" and was seized at Fort Gibraltar by Colin Robertson in March 1816, then detained and sent to England.
• Daniel Williams Harmon — non-Indigenous (born Vermont). NWC clerk recorded crossing Lake Superior to the company depot in 1800 with a party of fellow clerks.

Selkirk's capture and occupation (1816–1817)

• Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk — Scot, non-Indigenous. Controlling HBC shareholder who seized Fort William on 12–13 August 1816 in the wake of the Battle of Seven Oaks, arrested the partners, and occupied the post for about ten months.
• William Coltman — non-Indigenous. Special commissioner appointed to investigate the fur-trade violence; his official report put the number of occupants at Fort William at roughly 250.

Indigenous leaders associated with Fort William (Ojibwe / Anishinaabe)

• Peau de Chat (Chief) — Ojibwe (Anishinaabe), Indigenous. A principal chief of the Fort William Ojibway who traded furs and fish at the Hudson's Bay post and was a leading signatory of the 1850 Robinson-Superior Treaty.
• Illinois (Chief) — Ojibwe (Anishinaabe), Indigenous. Co-leader with Peau de Chat of the Fort William Ojibway present at the Robinson-Superior Treaty negotiations of 1850.

1. 1. Additional named individuals connected to Fort William and the Thunder Bay area (pre-1900)

North West Company and early fur trade era (pre-1821)

• Edward Harrison — Trader/clerk (European descent with mixed family). Near Grand Portage by 1797; active at Fort William by 1806; documented with six children by an Aboriginal (Ojibwe/Anishinaabe) wife by 1816. Early example of mixed-ancestry family persistence in the district.

Hudson's Bay Company era and mid-to-late 19th century

• Henry Connolly — Son of an NWC clerk (mixed/non-Indigenous background). Visited Fort William in the 1830s and left descriptive accounts of the HBC-era post.

Mixed-ancestry and Métis family networks (additional branches)

• Collin family (Antoine Collin Sr./Jr., Michel Collin and related) — Mixed-ancestry freemen, canoe builders, and fishermen. Roots in the Grand Portage/Kaministiquia area by late 18th/early 19th century; multiple generations resident or employed at Fort William into the 1850s and beyond.
• Vezina / Vesinat family (François Vezina, Jean-Baptiste Vezina / Baptiste Vesinat Jr.) — Mixed-ancestry freemen and HBC employees. Active as fishermen, bark procurers, and canoe builders at Fort William in the 1820s–1840s; family maintained by the post.
• LaGarde / Lagarde family (Joseph LaGarde Sr., Paul/Sanson LaGarde) — Mixed-ancestry ("half-breed") hunters, freemen, and HBC servants. Documented in Fort William and Michipicoten area from the early 19th century onward; large family networks persisted locally.
• Boucher family (Joseph Boucher and related) — Mixed-ancestry freemen and servants. Active at Fort William from the 1820s; family members noted as fishermen and laborers into the mid-19th century.
• Robertson family (various "half-breed" branches, e.g., John, William, Alexander Robertson) — Mixed-ancestry clerks, interpreters, and servants brought up in NWC/HBC service. Active in the Fort William/Lake Superior district from the early 19th century; multiple family members documented through the 1840s–1850s.

Notes

The majority of the pre-1900 population (voyageurs, laborers, women, children, and many Indigenous traders) remains anonymous in European records. Cross-reference with Métis Nation of Ontario historic community reports, HBC post journals (Fort William/Michipicoten), Thunder Bay Museum archives, and Robinson-Superior Treaty documents for further names. This list prioritizes non-redundant additions to support the goal of accumulating every documented named person pre-1900 in the NW Ontario/Thunder Bay area.

Notes on the unnamed majority

The post's everyday workforce — French-Canadian, Métis, and Iroquois voyageurs, plus the resident blacksmiths, coopers, carpenters, boatbuilders, and labourers — numbered in the dozens year-round and swelled past a thousand during the summer rendezvous, but these individuals are rarely named in published sources. Many wintering partners married Ojibwe women, and the descendants of the labouring men and their Indigenous wives formed the local Métis population.

Named individuals in the Robinson-Superior Treaty

In the treaty document itself, only nine Ojibwe individuals are named: the four chiefs (Joseph Peandechat, John Iuinway, Mishe-Muckqua, Totomencie) and five principal men (Jacob Warpela, Ahmutchiwagabou, Michel Shelageshick, Manitshainse, and Chiginans). The "1,240" appears separately, as a demographic basis for the annuity formula — the treaty fixes the present number of members of the First Nations above Lake Superior at twelve hundred and forty and ties the full annuity to their staying above two-thirds of that figure; Métis were not included in this 1,240 but were far less numerous at the time.

Lake Superior north-shore mixed-ancestry families

Documented in the 2007 federal study of the Lake Superior north-shore mixed European-Indian ancestry community (Joan Holmes & Associates). These families and individuals worked and lived at Fort William, the Pic, Nipigon House, Red Rock, Pays Plat and Michipicoten.

de Laronde family

• Louis Denis de Laronde — fur trader; patriarch
• Henry de Laronde — HBC clerk, Nipigon House
• Charlie de Laronde — labourer, postmaster, fisheries overseer
• Alexander de Laronde
• Catherine de Laronde
• Angelique de Laronde
• Louise de Laronde
• Mary Anne de Laronde

Bouchard family

• Louis Bouchard Sr. — patriarch
• Louis Bouchard Jr.
• Louisa Bouchard
• Joseph Bouchard — Nipigon River guide
• Jimmy Bouchard
• Francois Bouchard
• Nicholas Bouchard
• Gilbert Bouchard
• Michel Bouchard
• Antoine Bouchard
• Moise Bouchard
• Ambrose Bouchard

Deschamps family

• Jean Baptiste Deschamps — worked at Fort William
• Pierre Deschamps — chief of the Red Rock Band
• Denis Deschamps — Nipigon River guide
• John Deschamps — schoolteacher
• Michel Deschamps
• Alexander Deschamps
• Charles Deschamps
• Henry Deschamps

Other mixed-ancestry individuals

• Paul Auger
• Pierre Bonnecarre — Nipigon River guide
• Joseph Esquimau — hunter and schoolteacher
• Joseph Lasarge — chief of the Pays Plat Band
• Botique Lasarge
• David Mainville
• Charles McKay — Battle Island lighthouse keeper
• Alexander William McKay
• James McRay
• Jane Michelson
• John Michelson — Lamb Island lighthouse keeper
• J. B. Morrisseau
• Pierre Morriseau
• Alex Musquash
• Julian Poulin
• John Watt

Regional Hudson's Bay Company traders

• John Swanston — chief factor; pressed for "Halfbreed" treaty rights
• John Haldane — chief factor, Lake Superior District
• Donald McIntosh — clerk, Pic post
• George Keith — officer, Lake Superior District
• Thomas McMurray — chief factor, Pic post
• Roderick McKenzie — chief factor, Fort William
• Paul La Garde — servant, Pic post

First Nation bands

• Nipigon Band
• Red Rock Band
• Pays Plat Band
• Fort William Band
• Pic Band
• Michipicoten Band

Eras in the 19th century

The Quiet Era (1821–1867)

Estimated unique records: ~400 to 500 people.

For nearly half a century, the population barely budged. You are starting with your base of roughly 150 people (HBC staff, Fort William First Nation, and local Métis families). Over 45 years, you are basically just tracking natural births, marriages, and deaths across roughly two generations of those exact same families, plus a slow trickle of transient miners in the 1850s and 60s.

The Boom Era (1868–1880)

Estimated unique records: ~1,500 to 2,500 people.

The isolation ended violently in the late 1860s. Silver was discovered at Shuniah and Silver Islet, the Dawson Route construction began, and the early Canadian Pacific Railway surveyors arrived. By 1881, the new Prince Arthur's Landing settlement alone had over 1,200 residents, not counting the original Fort William side. You will be recording a massive influx of transient labourers, miners, merchants, and permanent settlers.

Simon Dawson and the "Empty" Forest

Vefore Simon Dawson, the site of Port Arthur was just bush. There was no town, no settlement, and no permanent infrastructure. It was just a stretch of shoreline on Thunder Bay frequented by Indigenous people and the occasional prospector.

Here is Dawson's exact timeline:

• 1857–1858: Dawson first arrived merely to survey the area as part of a Canadian government expedition looking for a route to the Red River. He left shortly after.
• 1867: Construction of the Dawson Road officially began.
• 1869: Dawson formally established the Department of Public Works depot at the eastern terminus of the route. This was the true "birth" of the settlement. When Colonel Garnet Wolseley arrived in May 1870 with his military expedition (and officially named the site "Prince Arthur's Landing"), he noted how bleak it was. A massive forest fire had just swept through the area days prior, burning everything black. The only things standing on the shoreline were a few surviving wooden shanties built by Dawson's road crew.
• The 1870s Sawmills: Local businessmen like George A. Graham and John T. Horne set up the very first commercial sawmills in Thunder Bay in the 1870s. They tapped into the exploding local market to build Prince Arthur's Landing and the Silver Islet mine structures.

References

[1] The corresponding Wikipedia article, whose full text covers the subject in greater detail.