Roderick Mackenzie

Roderick Mackenzie
Roderick McKenzie
Born	c. 1761 Near Inverness, Scotland
Died	1844-08-15 Terrebonne, Lower Canada
Occupation	Fur trader; militia officer; justice of the peace; legislator; author
Father	Alexander Mackenzie
Mother	Catherine
Partner	Rachel Chaboillez
Siblings	Alexander Mackenzie

Roderick Mackenzie (also written McKenzie; c. 1761 – 15 August 1844) was a Scottish-born fur trader, partner in the North West Company, legislator, and author who played a significant role in establishing Fort William (present-day Thunder Bay) as the principal depot of the North West Company.

Early life

Mackenzie was born around 1761 near Inverness, Scotland, the son of Alexander Mackenzie and Catherine. He was a first cousin of the explorer Sir Alexander Mackenzie. He arrived in Quebec in 1784, likely through his cousin's connections, and by 1785 was working as a clerk and assistant to Alexander in Gregory, MacLeod and Company (see John Gregory; Normand MacLeod).

Gregory, MacLeod and Company had shifted its attention to the northwest in the winter of 1783–84 but struggled to compete against the superior resources of the North West Company. In the winter of 1786–87, Mackenzie was posted to Snake (now Pinehouse) Lake, Saskatchewan. The following summer at Grand Portage, he reported that the rivalry had led to the killing of John Ross, a wintering partner in his firm. Acting on Simon McTavish's invitation, Gregory, MacLeod and Company merged with the North West Company in 1787.

Career in the fur trade

Although Mackenzie had grown disillusioned with his position as a clerk — which afforded him no share of the profits — his cousin Alexander persuaded him to remain in the trade. In 1788 he joined Alexander in the Athabasca department, where he established Fort Chipewyan at the southwestern end of Lake Athabasca and managed the post during Alexander's extended absences in 1789, 1791–92, and 1792–93. When Alexander ceased to be a wintering partner in 1794, Roderick took over leadership of the department and became a North West Company partner in 1795.

During a furlough in 1798–99, Mackenzie rediscovered an old French canoe route that allowed the North West Company to relocate its trans-shipment base from Grand Portage — which lay in American territory — north to Kaministiquia at the mouth of the Kaministiquia River, the site of present-day Thunder Bay, Ontario. This discovery was instrumental in the Company's establishment of Fort William as its new principal depot.

In November 1800 Mackenzie became a partner in the reorganized McTavish, Frobisher and Company alongside William and Duncan McGillivray and William Hallowell. He agreed to spend one final winter (1800–01) in the west before settling permanently in Terrebonne, Lower Canada. He subsequently surrendered his North West Company shares, the second relinquished in 1805 when the Company absorbed the New North West Company (XY Company). On 1 December 1806, the firm became McTavish, McGillivrays and Company, with Mackenzie among the partners. He continued attending the annual North West Company meetings at Fort William until 1808, but by 1813, past the age of fifty, he declined to renew his partnership. His one-fifteenth share sold for £10,000 paid in annual instalments.

Possibly from 1805, and again during 1812–13, Mackenzie was also a partner with his brother Henry, the Hallowells, and others in Mackenzie, Oldham and Company, which had connections to the trade. When McTavish, McGillivrays and Company went bankrupt in 1825, Mackenzie sued its partners — including his brother Henry — and eventually won a judgment of £7,308 plus interest in 1828. Unable to collect, he sold the claim to Samuel Gerrard in 1832 for £6,500.

Literary and scholarly interests

Mackenzie was notable among fur traders for his literary interests. He arranged regular shipments of books to himself in the northwest and reportedly established a library at Athabasca for North West Company employees. After retiring to Terrebonne he assembled extensive materials on the fur trade, Indigenous peoples, and the natural history of the west. In 1806 he prepared a sixty-page questionnaire for distribution to fur traders, though printing delays forced him to issue a condensed circular instead. His grandson-in-law Louis-François-Rodrigue Masson eventually published much of this accumulated material in Les bourgeois de la Compagnie du Nord-Ouest.

Mackenzie contributed the history of the fur trade to the introduction of his cousin's Voyages from Montreal and authored "A brief account of the fur trade to the northwest country," published anonymously in the Canadian Review in 1824. He was elected a fellow of the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec, the American Antiquarian Society, and the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries at Copenhagen.

Public roles

After settling in Terrebonne, Mackenzie received a series of appointments reflecting his standing in the Montreal merchant community. He was commissioned lieutenant-colonel in the Terrebonne militia in 1812 and served as justice of the peace for Indian Territory from 1804 to 1816, and for the districts of Montreal, Quebec, Trois-Rivières, Gaspé, and Saint-François from 1821 to 1839. He was appointed road and bridge commissioner for Effingham County in 1817 and in 1819 promoted improvements to the Rivière des Prairies to ease the passage of timber rafts. He also sat on commissions for free schools in the Terrebonne-Effingham area (1809) and for a proposed bridge connecting Montreal to the mainland (1832).

On 10 May 1817, Mackenzie was appointed to the Legislative Council of Lower Canada, a seat he held until March 1838. He was particularly active in the 1820s and maintained cordial relations with Governor-in-Chief Lord Dalhousie. His political positions reflected those of the Montreal merchant community: he strongly supported the proposed union of the Canadas in 1822 and steadfastly opposed the Patriote majority in the House of Assembly.

In 1814 he purchased the Terrebonne seigneury from the McTavish estate for £8,000 plus annual payments totalling £28,000, intending to continue its commercial development. However, in 1824 a court action brought by McTavish's widow nullified the purchase on the grounds that the estate's executors had exceeded their authority. Despite the cancellation, Mackenzie continued to reside in Terrebonne for the remainder of his life.

Personal life

Around 1788, Mackenzie entered a country marriage (à la façon du pays) with an Indigenous woman, with whom he had three children. One daughter, Nancy, later married fur trader John George McTavish in a similar country union; another daughter, Louisa, married Angus Bethune.

On 24 April 1803, Mackenzie married Rachel Chaboillez, daughter of Charles-Jean-Baptiste Chaboillez, in a formal ceremony in Montreal. They had at least two sons and three daughters who survived infancy. His son Alexander became a British army officer; his son Charles Roderick became a lawyer. His daughters married prominent businessmen or lawyers.

Mackenzie's brothers Donald, James (died 1849), and Henry were all involved in the fur trade. He remained close to his cousin Sir Alexander Mackenzie until a falling-out in 1799, when Alexander left McTavish, Frobisher and Company following disputes with Simon McTavish; the cousins did not correspond again until 1805.

Death

Mackenzie died on 15 August 1844 at Terrebonne, Lower Canada, at approximately 83 years of age.

External links

• Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography