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McKENZIE Rodericks

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don_niagara
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Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2010 8:21 am

McKENZIE Rodericks

Post by don_niagara » Wed Dec 22, 2010 11:20 am

Hiya Gary,

you asked for any comments re your files and page sent to this forum, a good idea, as there are probably others who might see it, and add their own notes.

Great stuff! Well presented. Here are a few points;

yes, interesting the two Rodericks had parents with matching names, but that was not a rare occurance in that part of Scotland. I think it very likely Alexander, father of "your" Roddy, as well as being a Merchant at Ullapool was of the Tacksman class. In Scotland most land was owned by a small number of people, they would rent the various farms to Tacksmen, who in turn would farm the best land and sublet the rest to other familys, sizes varried but usually
no more than a few dozen subtenant familys. The MacKenzie landowners tended to favour other MacKenzies as Tacksmen, and the relationships between the familys were often complex.

The village of Ullapool was founded 1789 by the British Fisheries Society, the Merchants of the village mostly came from Tacksman familys. Your Alexander as burried at Lochinver ("Inverassynt") in Assynt Parish, which borders Coigach to the north, my guess is your Alex was of the family there, probably Ledbeg (Ardloch Lochinver), or Stronchrubie, I have only passing knowledge of the familys there, but there was intermarriage to the Achiltibuie and Langwell MKs in Lochbroom I am more familiar with, and could see entry into the fur trade for your Alex coming through ties to those familys.

As for the stone noting Alex of thr HBCo rather than NWco, at time of the inscribing they were combined. At Ullapool was George Simpson, father of the HBCo Govenor of same name. On Simpson`s 1830 trip to Scotland he wrote to Roderick of Terrebonne that he hoped to see his old friends at Ullapool, I wonder if he brought the commission for the stone with him then, and it took another four years for Simpson`s father to get around to it (Simpson Sr was quite busy as representative of the BFS)

By the way, you often refer to Roderick of Terrebonne as "Sir", he was not knighted, he did own for a period the Seigneurie of Terrebonne, and so might have after his name `Sr``, which numerous historians over the years mistake for "Sir".

All the best,

Donald.

gnstill
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Re: Rodericks

Post by gnstill » Wed Dec 29, 2010 7:12 pm

Thanks very much Don!

I will use this information to revise and update my narratives in the near future.

One thing that still sticks in my craw though: My info indicates that Roddy of Terrebonne retired from the NWC in 1803, long before the HBC take-over, and long before George SIMPSON came on the scene. The Ullapool headstone for Alexander was erected by a son Roderick who was Chief Factor with the HBC. That almost has to by MY Roddy!

don_niagara
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2010 8:21 am

Re: Rodericks

Post by don_niagara » Wed Dec 29, 2010 8:03 pm

Hiya Roddy, you wrote:
gnstill wrote:Thanks very much Don!
My info indicates that Roddy of Terrebonne retired from the NWC in 1803, long before the HBC take-over, and long before George SIMPSON came on the scene. The Ullapool headstone for Alexander was erected by a son Roderick who was Chief Factor with the HBC. That almost has to by MY Roddy!
Absolutely. My guess is your Roddy commissioned the stone, Simpson hoping to go to Ullapool in 1830 (as he told the other Roddy, Terrebonne), bringing the request. Though there was interchange back and forth from the north-west to Scotland, and your Roddy may have sent the request a few years later through someone other than Simpson. I may be wrong in my guess...

Though Roderick of Terrebonne retired as a Nor-Wester, his brothers continued with the HBCo, and he was an occasional correspondant of Simpson, as well as being the pre-eminant historian of the fur trade.

Amazing the connection to Canadian history all these people had. Consider John Stuart, who raised two of Roderick of Terrebonne;s daughters; he was well acquainted with Sir Alex, first European to cross the continent north of Mexico, and in his later years sponsored his own nephew, Donald Smith, into the fur trade, under James MacKenzie (brother of Roderick of Terrebonne, cousin of Sir Alex). Young Donald Smith grew to become Lord Strathcona, the guy who hammered the last spike on the C.P.R. Railway.

Donald.

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