As the Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay fades relatively quietly into that still night, it seems appropriate to look back on the fur traders who were instrumental in the early development of Prince Albert and area. One of those individuals was John Edward Sinclair.
Born July 11th, 1855 at St. Andrew’s, Manitoba, Sinclair’s Canadian ancestry extended back to 1790 when his grandfather came to Canada with the Hudson’s Bay Company. William Sinclair, a lineal descendant of the Earl of Orkney, became the chief factor of York Factory. His marriage to the daughter of the governor of Fort Churchill resulted in four sons and six daughters. The third son, Thomas, was the father of John Edward.
Sinclair received his early education at St. Andrew’s school, before attending St. John’s College, Winnipeg. At St. Andrew’s, he received some of his education from John Alexander MacKay (who later became principal of Emmanuel College in Prince Albert). The Reverend Samuel Pritchard, S.B. Matheson (later the archbishop of Rupert’s Land and Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada) and John McLean (the first bishop of the Diocese of Saskatchewan) were some of his teachers at St. John’s College.
After completing his education at the age of seventeen, Sinclair farmed for two years before, as had his father and grandfather before him, accepting an appointment with the Hudson’s Bay Company. Sinclair worked for the Company of Traders for four years, serving at Fort Francis, Kettle Falls, Northwest Angle of the Lake of the Woods, Rat Portage, Leseul, and Trout Lake. While at Rat Portage, he became acquainted with another fur company, William Stobart & Company. This led to his eventual termination of employment with the Hudson’s Bay Company and his appointment as Stobart’s agent in Prince Albert which for years had been a fur trading post.
Sinclair made Prince Albert his headquarters, acting as manager for Stobart & Company throughout the northern portion of the Saskatchewan district. At the end of ten years, he bought out the Prince Albert interests of the firm and became an independent operator for the next fourteen years.
Sinclair is credited with being the first to open the route north of Prince Albert into the hinterland, extending his trading posts up to the Churchill River and Reindeer Lake. At a meeting of the Prince Albert Historical Society in January, 1924, Sinclair stated the following:
“In the month of October, 1883, I was sitting on the platform before the store of William Stobart & Company, general merchants and Indian traders, conversing with an Indian, Nesscheatch. of Sturgeon Lake. At that time there was a large bush fire raging in the north: immense clouds of black smoke could be seen directly to the north of Prince Albert. I asked the Indian if he knew about where that fire was and he said that he was well acquainted with that northern country and was pretty sure that the fire was between the crossing of Red River and Red Deer Lake…I became deeply interested in the Indian’s description of the country and asked him if that part was a good fur bearing country. He said that it was for fine furs such as beaver, bears, mink, marten, otter, lynx, and fox, and that the Hudson’s Bay Company had a monopoly of the fur trade there, being no free traders in there. I then made up my mind that I was going to get a share of those furs.”
Sinclair’s first trip in, accompanied by John Saunders and James Stevenson, with Nesscheatch as a guide, took six days. A store and trading post was established on the Narrows of Red Deer Lake (we know it as Waskesiu), and Sinclair took a major step towards becoming, as Agnes Laut referred to them, one of the Lords of the North.
As he had decided, Sinclair did get a good share of “those furs”, and made many friends amongst the First Nations people, whom he found “honest, hospitable, truthful, and good Christians” He traded throughout the first winter, eventually travelling as far as Stanley Mission where he encountered Chief Trader John McCauley (also known as John Macaulay). In his reminiscences, Sinclair would tell of the time a member of the First Nations arrived when Sinclair was visiting McCauley. The new arrival tricked McCauley into leaving him alone with Sinclair, at which time he asked Sinclair to follow him across the river. When they got there, he showed Sinclair some very fine furs. Trading them to Sinclair, he advised him that he was willing to trade whatever furs he was able to secure. He trusted Sinclair. He no longer trusted McCauley.
Sinclair managed Stobart’s company for ten years, after which he bought out the operation, acting as an independent fur trader for fourteen years. For the next three years he worked for Revillon Freres, building up that company and establishing ten posts throughout the north for them. After that, he acted as an active factor for two years while founding the Veteran Trading Company. For another three years, he was a buyer for the MacMillan Fur and Wool Company of Minneapolis, prior to ending his fur trading career with a final two years buying for R.S. Robinson of Winnipeg.
In 1912, Sinclair went into the real estate business with a man named Weaver but, although he was highly successful to begin with, the depreciation of land resulting from the La Colle Falls debacle and the beginning of the Great War, resulted in heavy losses for Sinclair. This difficulty was offset by his appointment in 1914 as an inspector for the Dominion Fisheries branch. (Some records suggest that this appointment occurred in 1911). This was later followed by an appointment as a ranch land inspector for the Dominion government. Sinclair retired in 1924 after what can only be deemed to be a varied and interesting career which also included holding the appointment of Justice of the Peace, an office which he held under four lieutenants-governor.
Sinclair, known to many as Jocky, was twice married. In 1883, he married Miss Lydia McKenzie in Prince Albert. Three sons and two daughters resulted from this marriage. After his first wife’s death in 1892, he married again, this time to Miss Myrtle Armstrong. One daughter and one son were born from this union.
After being seriously ill for about a week, Sinclair died at home at 7:00 a.m. on March 24th, 1933. His funeral took place at St. Alban’s Cathedral on Monday, March 27th, with Archdeacon Hedley Holmes and Canon Strong officiating. The pallbearers were Mayor Hugh Sibbald, William Traill, George Will, Harry Ross, Angus McKay, and Fred Wright.
John Edward Sinclair is buried in the family plot at St. Mary’s cemetery. His wives, Lydia and Myrtle, as well as his niece, Muriel, and her husband, George Powles, are also interred in that plot.
fgpayton@sasktel.net
