James Leith
| James Leith | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1777 Glenkindie, Scotland |
| Died | 1838-06-19 Torquay, England |
| Occupation | Fur trader; wintering partner; chief factor |
| Father | |
| Mother | |
James Leith (1777 – 19 June 1838) was a Scottish-born fur trader who served as a wintering partner in the North West Company and later as a chief factor of the Hudson's Bay Company in Rupert's Land.
Early life
Leith was baptized on 3 August 1777 in the parish of Strathdon, Glenkindie, Scotland, the son of Alexander Leith and Mary Elizabeth Gordon.[1] He arrived in Lower Canada around 1794, making the voyage with George Leith, a Detroit merchant.[1]
Fur trade career
By December 1799 Leith had become a wintering partner in the New North West Company (the XY Company).[1] When that company merged with the North West Company in 1804, he continued as a partner and was stationed on the Peace River by 1801.[1]
Over the following years he wintered at a succession of posts: Folle Avoine (1806–07), Michipicoten on the north shore of Lake Superior (1807–10), Rainy Lake (1810–11), Red River (1811–12), Monontagué and Lake Nipigon (1812–15), and Rainy Lake again (1815–17).[1] In 1815 Leith and John Haldane created tension on the North West Company council through disagreements with the Montreal agents.[1]
During 1816–17, Leith was caught up in the conflicts between the Nor'Westers and Lord Selkirk's Red River settlement. He accompanied Archibald Norman McLeod to distribute gifts to Métis in the aftermath of the Seven Oaks killing of Robert Semple, the HBC governor.[1] In 1817 he assisted commissioners William Bacheler Coltman and John Fletcher in reconciliation efforts.[1]
Leith attended trials at York (present-day Toronto) in October 1818 and worked with McLeod to secure trials or obtain dismissals of charges against Nor'Westers in 1819.[1] The NWC council selected him in 1820 to manage the Athabasca River department.[1]
Following the 1821 merger of the North West Company and the Hudson's Bay Company, Leith was appointed chief factor.[1] Colin Robertson praised him for his "strong natural acquirements, good sound sense, and highly honourable principles."[1] He spent one season at Athabasca (1821–22), then managed the Cumberland House district in present-day Saskatchewan until 1829.[1]
Later life and retirement
Leith received furloughs in 1829 and 1830, sailing for London on 15 September 1829 and officially retiring on 31 May 1831.[1] He transferred his Colquoich estate of about one thousand acres to his elder brother, Sir Alexander Leith, and settled at Torquay, England.[1] In 1836–37 he toured the Continent in the company of Chief Factor John Stuart.[1]
Throughout his career Leith held a deep interest in religious education and indigenous welfare; he canvassed on behalf of the Rupert's Land Bible Society.[1] His 1823 observations on the indigenous people of the Cumberland House district reflected a sympathetic outlook that attributed their difficulties to circumstances rather than any natural deficiencies.[1]
An unverified tradition holds that indigenous people killed Leith's wife and children at The Pas in present-day Manitoba, and that this tragedy motivated his later charitable endowment.[1] The account was recorded by historian Henry Budd, who passed it to John Henry Lefroy at The Pas in 1843, but no contemporary documentation corroborates it; if such an event occurred, it likely predated 1805.[1]
Death and legacy
Leith died on 19 June 1838 at Torquay.[1] His will established a trust for "establishing propagating and extending the Christian protestant Religion in, & amongst the native aboriginal Indians in . . . the Hudson's Bay Territory," with trustees including his brother William Hay, the Anglican Dean of Westminster, the Bishop of London, and the governor and deputy governor of the HBC.[1] Two trustees declined to serve and family disputes sent the estate into the Court of Chancery.[1] Approximately £15,000 was eventually released in 1848 to endow the Anglican Diocese of Rupert's Land, and the HBC pledged £300 annually in 1849 to help launch the charity.[1] A portrait of Leith hangs at Bishopscourt in Winnipeg.[1]
References
External links
- ↑ Philip Goldring."Philip Goldring, "LEITH, JAMES," Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 7."[website].Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 7 (University of Toronto/Université Laval).1988.University of Toronto/Université Laval.Link.(Rights: copyrighted | Access: open)
- ↑ "PAC, MG 19, A35, 7, pt.iv; E1, ser.1; E2; MG 24, A2; L3; RG 4, B46."[record].Library and Archives Canada.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ "HBCA, A.36/8; A.38/27–30; B.39/e/4; B.49/a/42–44; B.49/e/3; C.1/916."[record].Hudson's Bay Company Archives, Provincial Archives of Manitoba.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ "Notes on James Leith, ms coll. 31, box 24."[record].University of Toronto Fisher Library.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ Ross Cox."The Columbia River: or, scenes and adventures during a residence of six years on the western side of the Rocky Mountains."[book].1957.ed. E. I. and J. R. Stewart (Norman, Okla., 1957).(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ W. S. Wallace (ed.)."Documents Relating to the North West Company."[book].(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ "Papers Relating to the Red River Settlement."[record].House of Commons Papers, 1819, no. 584.pp. 195–97, 200.Great Britain, Parliament, House of Commons.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ John Halkett."Statement Respecting the Earl of Selkirk's Settlement upon the Red River."[book].1817.enlarged ed., London, 1817; repr. Toronto, 1970, app. EE.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ "Hudson's Bay Record Society, vols. 2 and 3."[book].vol. 2 (Rich and Fleming); vol. 3 (Fleming).(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ "Quebec Gazette, 3 July 1794."[newspaper].Quebec Gazette.1794-07-03.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ R. A. Pendergast."The XY Company, 1798 to 1804."[record].1957.PhD thesis, University of Ottawa, 1957, p. 64.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ J. N. Wallace."The Wintering Partners on Peace River from the Earliest Records to the Union in 1821; with a Summary of the Dunvegan Journal, 1806."[book].1929.Ottawa, 1929.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ H. B. Willson."The Life of Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal, G.C.M.G., G.C.V.O. (1820–1914)."[book].1915.London and Toronto, 1915.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ E. R. Bagley."James Leith Takes His Revenge."[newspaper].The Beaver, outfit 274 (June 1943).1943-06.pp. 36–37.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)