born 1848, shetland islands
First came to western Canada in 1867 as employee of Hudson's Bay Co.
kept a journal of events
stationed at Fort Qu'Apelle where he served as apprentice clerk,1867-1872, then as clerk in charge of the post, 1872-1874
Manitoba House 1874-1876
Isle a La Crosse 1879-1880
Ft. McMurray 1880-1888
Norway House /Isle a La Crosse 1889-1890, 1890-1891.
retired 1891, left not on the most agreeable of terms
heavily in debt but HBC did not help him. (the tone of his remarks about the Company may reflect this.)
he and family moved to Edmonton
real estate and speculation
founder, secretary and president of the Edm. Board of Trade
served on Edmonton town council 1895-ish
inttermittently wrote promotional pamphlets
(see page 19-20 for titles of the pamphlets he wrote)
1892 anthropologist Franz Boas worked with him to record and catalogue Plains Cree material culture
wrote pamphlet All Red Route to the Arctic, about land link between Edmonton, MacKenzie River system and the to Far North
(all Red being totally within Canadian/British Empire territory (see Company of Adventurers, p. 14)
1901 his wife died.
he moved to Winnipeg to care for his chldren who had been lodged there with the mother-in-law.
freelance writer, researcher, amateur historian and copyist
friends with John W. Dafoe, publisher of Manitoba Free Press (since 1931 known as the Winnipeg Free Press)
contributed serialized columns on his service with HBC. Later these were made into a book The Company of Adventurers, A Narrative of Seen Years in the Service of the HBC during 1867-1874. book printed by William Briggs, Toronto, 1913. Some copies bound by Briggs; others by Ryerson Press in 1930s) (see Company of Adventurers, p. 21)
Reprinted by University of Nebraska Press, 1993.
contributed the article "The Half-Blood Indian - an anthropomorphic Study" (Free Press, Aug. 14, 1915)
worked on manuscripts about his later career with the HBC and his experiences in early Edmonton 1891-1901, but neither manuscripts survive.
died in 1917.
highligths of book The Compnay of Advnautrd
p.230 Indian debt book not all Natives the same
p. 289 my firs summer trip to the palins
young bucks slaughtering the Buffalo
p. 292 ride back and forth across trail as signal
native see better withouthan he acan with telescope
p. 294 indian legends Cowie met up with Cree who had fled from Blackfoot 24 years earlier.
p. 381 Qu'Appelle Natives vaccinated
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