McLeod, Archibald Norman, 1772-appoximately 1840

Archibald Normal McLeod was born in 1772 in Kilfinichen, Scotland, and died around 1840 in Sunnybank, Aberdeenshire. He was the fifth son of Neil McLeod (1729-1780) and Margaret MacLean (1737-1789). McLeod married an unknown Indigenous woman. He entered the North West Company as a clerk sometime before 1793 and became a partner in 1796. From 1794 to 1795, he was stationed in the Lower Fort des Prairies department and in 1800 to 1801, oversaw the Swan River district, wintering in Fort Alexandria, where he kept a journal that survives. From 1802 to 1808, McLeod was working in the Athabasca district and in 1805, he established Fort Dunvegan, named after his family’s ancestral home, Dunvegan Castle. McLeod retired from wintering in 1809. That same year, he was named justice of the peace for the western territories and in 1810, was named justice of the peace for Montreal. In 1816, McLeod was one of the instigators at the massacre of Seven Oaks, where the rivalry between the North West Company and the Hudson’s Bay Company left twenty settlers killed. McLeod later served as master of the barracks in Belfast until around 1838.

Revised on June 11, 2024, by Leah Louttit-Bunker

https://www.assnat.qc.ca/en/deputes/mcleod-archibald-norman-4447/biographie.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archibald_Norman_McLeod