James Douglas (governor) - Early Life and Fur Trader

Early Life and Fur Trader

James Douglas was born in Demerara (now part of Guyana) to John Douglas, a Scottish planter, and Martha Ann Tefler, or "a Miss Richie", according to Dictionary of Canadian Biography a Creole originally from Barbados. Telfer was free coloured, which in her time and place meant a free person of mixed European and African ancestry. Thus, James Douglas - as all her children with John Douglas - was part black. The couple had a number of children together, but were not formally married. In 1812 James was sent to Lanark, Scotland to be schooled. It is also believed that he went to school in Chester, England, where he learned to speak and write in fluent French.

At the age of sixteen Douglas left Britain to enter the fur trade in the employ of the North West Company. He left Liverpool for Lachine, Lower Canada (now part of Montreal) in the spring of 1819. From 1819 until 1820 Douglas was stationed at the Fort William, Ontario (now part of Thunder Bay) as a clerk. In 1820 he was transferred to Île-à-la-Crosse on the Churchill River in northern Saskatchewan. The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) was also active in this area and Douglas was caught up in at least one confrontation with the rival fur traders. At this post Douglas continued a policy of self-education by reading books brought over from Britain and meeting with many First Nations people.

In 1821 the North West Company was merged into the Hudson's Bay Company and Douglas' contract was placed onto the HBC's payroll. He quickly moved up the strict structure of the company, and in 1825 was put in charge of the foundation of the Fort Vermilion trading post in what is now northern Alberta. He was then stationed at Fort St. James on Stuart Lake, headquarters of the Company's New Caledonia District. In 1827 he established Fort Connolly on Bear Lake. On April 27, 1828, Douglas married the daughter of New Caledonia's Chief Factor William Connolly, Amelia Connolly. Amelia's mother had been Cree. Douglas was very close to William Connolly, his superior. Connolly was impressed by Douglas' skills and they got along well, resulting in Connolly agreeing to the marriage between the two.

In 1828, while Douglas was in charge of Fort St. James in Connolly's absence, two Hudson's Bay traders were murdered with the help of a Stuart Lake native. In one of the most controversial moments of Douglas' life he marched into the village and seized the accused murderer. Unfortunately the exact events of the day are not clear. In some accounts Douglas shot the native in the head on the spot with everyone watching. In others, Douglas simply dragged him out of the village to be executed at a later time. Another story is that Douglas attempted to shoot the man in the head but missed and had to get his partners to beat the accused before dragging him out of the village. Various stories were passed around the area and Douglas soon acquired a negative reputation among the local First Nations. Connolly, fearing for Douglas' life, asked HBC Governor George Simpson to transfer Douglas elsewhere. He was thus moved to Fort Vancouver, headquarters of the Company's Columbia District, located near the mouth of the Columbia River in present-day Washington. His wife joined him after the death of their first child in 1830. While in Fort Vancouver she gave birth to ten more children (five died in infancy).