John McDonald (1770–1828)

John McDonald
McDonald le Borgne
Born	1770 Munial Farm, Loch Hourn, Scotland
Died	1828-02-27 near Kempenfeldt Bay, Upper Canada
Occupation	Fur trader, NWC partner, HBC Chief Factor
Father	Angus Ban McDonald
Mother	Nelly McDonell
Partner	Marie Poitras
Siblings	John McDonald (le Borgne)

John McDonald (1770 – (1828-02-27)27 February 1828), also known as McDonald le Borgne, was a fur trade partner in the North West Company and later a chief factor of the Hudson's Bay Company, active across the northwestern interior of Canada during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He is connected to Thunder Bay through his arrest at Fort William in 1816 during Lord Selkirk's seizure of the North West Company post.

Early life

McDonald was born in 1770 at Munial Farm on Loch Hourn, Scotland, to Angus Ban McDonald and Nelly McDonell. The family emigrated to Glengarry County in 1786, joining the large Scottish Highland community that settled there. By 1791 McDonald was working as a clerk at Lachine.

Fur trade career

In 1798 McDonald became a wintering partner in the New North West Company (also called the XY Company), a rival firm to the North West Company. When the XY Company and the NWC merged in November 1804, McDonald represented six wintering partners alongside Sir Alexander Mackenzie in the negotiations.

He spent the winter of 1804–05 near the source of the Red River, then rendezvoused at the river's mouth in the spring. Over subsequent years he managed several NWC departments in succession: Fort des Prairies (1806), Fort Dauphin (1808–1810), and Swan River (1810–1813). During his time in the Swan River district, his rivalry with the Hudson's Bay Company was intense enough that HBC counterpart Alexander Kennedy described him in notably hostile terms.

Fort William and the Selkirk affair

In August 1816, McDonald was among the North West Company partners arrested at Fort William by Lord Selkirk. He was charged with treason, conspiracy, and as accessory to the killing of Robert Semple and others during the events at Red River in the spring of 1816. McDonald was transferred to Montreal and subsequently tried at York (present-day Toronto); he was acquitted in 1818.

HBC service

When the NWC merged with the HBC in 1821, McDonald was appointed a chief factor. He managed the Upper Red River district in 1821–22 and then took charge of the Winnipeg River district, operating from Fort Alexander, from 1823 to 1827. In July 1827 HBC Governor George Simpson granted him furlough on account of serious ill health.

McDonald had earlier rendered assistance to explorer Sir John Franklin during Franklin's 1825 overland journey. In recognition, Lady Franklin later erected a monument to McDonald at the Church of England graveyard in Newmarket.

Personal life and death

McDonald married Marie Poitras, a Métis woman, according to the custom of the country. They had at least six children together, including a youngest daughter named Catherine McDonald.

After leaving active HBC service, McDonald settled on a land grant that the NWC had provided him, situated near present-day Barrie on Kempenfeldt Bay. He maintained an active interest in both trade affairs and farming, corresponding with colleagues about the Winnipeg River district's returns and about his crops at Fort Alexander. In January 1828 his wife died following a miscarriage; her death contributed to a rapid decline in his own health. McDonald died intestate on 27 February 1828. A neighbour, John Spencer, wrote warmly of him as a man whose example had inspired others around him.

After McDonald's death, a prolonged dispute over his estate arose among his brothers James and Finan, involving questions of landholding and the guardianship of his children, and the matter was not fully resolved for more than two decades.

External links

• Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography