McKenzie, Alexander, approximately 1767-1830

Alexander McKenzie was born around 1767 in Stornoway, Scotland, and died in 1830 in Montreal. He was the nephew of fur trader and explorer Alexander Mackenzie. It is possible that he came to North America with his family during the mass exodus of the Mackenzies from the Isle of Lewis during the widespread poverty in the 1770s. He may have settled in New York and after the War of American Independence, moved to Montreal. McKenzie married Isabella Latour, likely “a la façon du pays,” and had one son and one daughter. In 1790, McKenzie began trading in the environs of Detroit and became associated with the Montreal firm of Forsyth, Richardson and Company. McKenzie left the Detroit region for north of Lake Superior in 1796, when Forsyth, Richardson and Company began trading in this area in 1793. He was one of the first six wintering partners in the New North West Company (also called the XY Company). In 1799, McKenzie and his men built a post near Edmonton House (near Fort Saskatchewan). From 1804 to 1808, McKenzie oversaw the Athabasca department, where his high-handed manner earned him the titles of “the Emperor” and “the Baron.” He commanded the North West Company post in Pic River (Ontario) on Lake Superior in 1809 and in 1811, he became the company’s agent at Fort William (now known as Thunder Bay). However, in 1815, a crisis between the North West Company and the Hudson’s Bay Company developed around the Red River (Manitoba) settlement established by Lord Selkirk (1771-1820, Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk), and McKenzie was sent as an agent of the North West Company to hasten its destruction. He persuaded Miles Macdonell, governor of Assiniboia, to surrender that year and McKenzie helped escort him to Fort William. For his complicity in this action, McKenzie was arrested by Selkirk at Fort William on August 12, 1816. He, along with other North West Company partners including John McDonald, Simon Fraser, John Siveright, and John McLoughlin were tried in York (Toronto) in October 1818 on charges relating to the violence in Red River. They were all acquitted and their trials are known as one of the most controversial series of trials in Canadian legal history. After this, McKenzie was no longer a wintering partner of the North West Company, and in 1821, he worked as an agent in Fort William for McTavish, McGillivrays and Company. Since 1808, McKenzie was a member of the Beaver Club and became a major in the militia.

Revised on June 10, 2024, by Leah Louttit-Bunker

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