John McIntyre (fur trader)

John McIntyre
Born	1817-08-08 Glenorchy, Scotland
Died	1899-07-09
Occupation	Hudson's Bay Company factor

John McIntyre ((1817-08-08)8 August 1817 - 1899-07-09) GXVB-FD5 was the Hudson's Bay Company factor in charge of the post at Fort William from 1855 to 1878, the last officer to manage it under Company control.

Early life and travels

• Born 8 August 1817 at Glenorchy, Scotland; a Scotch Presbyterian.
• Emigrated to Canada in 1841 and joined Sir George Simpson and his party at Montreal, travelling from Lachine to Fort Garry by bark canoe manned by French Canadian and Iroquois voyageurs.
• Continued across the plains and over the Rockies on horseback to Astoria at the mouth of the Columbia River, then visited San Francisco, Santa Barbara, and the Sandwich Islands before sailing north to Sitka, Alaska, aboard the steamer Beaver.
• Crossed the Bering Strait into Russia and journeyed on horseback across Siberia to Moscow, returning to Canada after twenty months of travel.

Hudson's Bay Company career

• Arrived at Fort William in August 1855 and remained in charge of the post, and later the district, until he left the service in 1878 when the post was practically closed. The post had passed from the North West Company to the Hudson's Bay Company in 1821.
• In the early years there was no church at Fort William; McIntyre invited Rev. Dr. Topp of Toronto to hold services, conducted in the store between 1856 and 1859 and attended by residents of all creeds, at which the ordinance of baptism was administered.
• Was one of only a few white families resident in the district in 1863, alongside Captain Robert McVicar.
• As the officer in charge — known locally as "Governor" — he exchanged the first messages over the newly completed telegraph line with S. J. Dawson, M.P., in 1877.
• In 1872 came out in a sailboat with his men to meet the steamer Chicora, which could not enter the Kaministiquia River because of a sandbar at the main mouth, and facilitated a landing at the Fort.
• A contemporary account describes him as the "worthy manager" of the Fort William premises.
• "In retirement, McIntyre served as magistrate and Justice of the Peace for his community and as a municipal councillor. His friends in Fort William called him “Governor” for the rest of his life.
• In 1880, he was appointed Indian Agent for the Treaty No. 3 Indians, a position he held until 1897.[1] He died in 1899 in Fort William.[1]"
• He died 9 July 1899 in Fort William

Mining interests

• As early as 1864 he was a member of a mining company — with Messrs. Walbridge and Herrick — that engaged Peter McKellar to carry on mining explorations in the Thunder Bay district, McKellar to receive one third of the profits.

Family

• His wife came to Fort William in 1855, having previously spent six years at Brunswick House, a Company post near James Bay, and crossed Lake Superior in a birch bark canoe with four small children.
• Three sons and one daughter were born at Fort William; his wife died 23 July 1886.
• All of his children appear to have left the Thunder Bay area and dispersed to Southern Ontario and America, leaving no roots in Thunder Bay.