Owen Keveny
| Owen Keveny | |
|---|---|
| Died | 1816-09-11 Winnipeg River |
| Occupation | HBC accountant, Red River settlement officer |
Owen Keveny (born Sligo, Ireland; died 11 September 1816 at the Winnipeg River) was an Hudson's Bay Company employee and officer of the Red River Colony who played a significant role in early settler expeditions to the Canadian west and was murdered during the fur-trade conflict of 1816.[1]
Early life and recruitment
Keveny was originally from Sligo in Ireland. Thomas Douglas recruited him to gather colonists in western Ireland for the proposed Red River settlement, describing him as coming from "a good family" with four years of counting-house experience and a character marked by steadiness, activity, and integrity.[1]
Service at Red River
In 1812, Keveny led a second party of settlers to Red River Colony as second-in-command under Governor Miles Macdonell. The sixty-one-day voyage to York Factory established his reputation as a strict disciplinarian; settlers lodged complaints about his methods, which he defended as necessary to maintain order among difficult passengers. The approximately seventy settlers arrived at York Factory in August 1812 and reached the settlement by late October. The following winter, spent at Fort Daer near present-day Pembina, was marked by food scarcity, and Keveny travelled to Brandon House in the spring of 1813 to obtain pemmican.[1]
Governor Macdonell found Keveny "distant and reserved" and reported he was "extremely unpopular among the people on account of his discipline." Despite his dedication to the settlement's success, Keveny wished to return to Britain, sensing that Selkirk disapproved of his conduct and that Macdonell had treated him unfairly. When Macdonell indicated his services were no longer needed, Selkirk later reprimanded the governor for dismissing so capable a man.[1]
Keveny departed Red River on 2 June 1813 and reached York Factory within three weeks. That summer he oversaw the dispatch of Red River supplies and helped organize a third settler party. In September he travelled to Churchill to meet the group led by Archibald McDonald, then returned to Britain aboard the HBC vessel Prince of Wales.[1]
Later HBC service
In early 1815, Keveny approached Selkirk seeking a company posting and was assigned to Moose Factory as an accountant. On learning that the Red River settlement had been dispersed and Governor Macdonell taken prisoner by North West Company operatives in June 1815, he volunteered to lead men west to restore order, convinced he could overcome those responsible for the settlement's ruin.[1]
Death
In the summer of 1816, Keveny departed Fort Albany with a party that included prospective settlers. His harsh treatment of the group allegedly provoked desertions along the way. When news arrived of Governor Robert Semple's death at Battle of Seven Oaks in June 1816, a portion of the party refused to proceed.[1]
On 16 August at Bas-de-la-Rivière (Fort Alexander, Manitoba), North West Company magistrate Archibald Norman McLeod arrested Keveny under warrant. Guards were then escorting him eastward toward Fort William (present-day Thunder Bay, Ontario) — the North West Company's headquarters on Lake Superior — when the party reversed course upon learning that Lord Selkirk had captured Fort William. Internal quarrels and Keveny's declining health led his escort to abandon him on an island.[1]
Nor'Westers under Archibald McLellan subsequently recaptured Keveny above The Dalles (Ontario). On 11 September 1816, he was murdered at the Winnipeg River by a Métis man named Mainville and by Charles de Reinhard, a former sergeant of De Meuron's Regiment who was then employed by the North West Company. McLellan was believed to have instigated the killing.[1]
De Reinhard confessed, was tried in Lower Canada, convicted of murder, and sentenced to death — a sentence never carried out owing to jurisdictional disputes about where the crime had occurred. Among the approximately 150 charges brought against North West Company men in connection with the Red River conflict, De Reinhard's conviction remained the only guilty verdict.[1]
Historical significance
Keveny's murder, together with the killing of Governor Semple and roughly twenty others in 1816, marked the violent climax of the western fur-trade struggle between the Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company. This prolonged conflict contributed directly to the two companies' amalgamation in 1821.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 Hartwell Bowsfield."Hartwell Bowsfield, "KEVENY, OWEN," Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 5."[website].Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 5 (University of Toronto/Université Laval).1983.University of Toronto/Université Laval.Link.(Rights: copyrighted | Access: open)
Sources consulted by Hartwell Bowsfield in the DCB article include:[1][2][3][4][5][6]
External links
- ↑ "Selkirk Papers, MG 19, E1."[record].ser.1, vols. 1–8, 36, 41, 52 (transcripts).Library and Archives Canada.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ Colin Robertson; ed. E. E. Rich with R. H. Fleming."Colin Robertson's correspondence book, September 1817 to September 1822."[book].1939.pp. 8, 225–28.London; repr. Nendeln, Liechtenstein, 1968.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ George Simpson; ed. E. E. Rich; intro. C. B. Martin."Journal of occurrences in the Athabasca Department by George Simpson 1820 and 1821, and report."[book].1938.pp. 213n., 444.London; repr. Nendeln, 1968.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ M. A. MacLeod and W. L. Morton."Cuthbert Grant of Grantown, warden of the plains of Red River."[book].1963.pp. 54–55, 68.Toronto.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ C. B. Martin."Lord Selkirk's work in Canada."[book].1916.pp. 51, 56, 59–61, 128–29, 155.Toronto.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ J. P. Pritchett."The Red River valley, 1811–1849: a regional study."[book].1942.pp. 93–99, 107, 123–24, 126, 192, 194, 212.New Haven, Connecticut.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)