Alexander Henry was an American fur trader and explorer. He was one of the leading pioneers of the British-Canadian fur trade, a partner in the North West Company, and a founding member and vice-chairman of the Beaver Club.
Background
Alexander Henry was born in August 1739 in New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States, to an educated merchant family related to Matthew Henry. He was the eldest son of John Henry, a merchant whose father, Alexander Henry, who emigrated to British North America from the West of England to seek his fortune.
Education
Henry received a good education and afterward took an apprenticeship in business.
Career
In 1760 Henry joined Amherst's army advancing upon Montreal, not as a soldier, but as a merchant. Having lost his goods in the rapids of the St. Lawrence River, he proceeded to Albany and obtained a permit from General Thomas Gage to carry goods to Michilimackinac. He was thus one of the first British traders at this post. His business prospered until the outbreak of Pontiac's Conspiracy, when he would have lost his life had it not been for Charles de Langlade, former French commandant at this post.
Later Henry was spirited away to Sault Ste. Marie and disguised as a Frenchman. There he spent the winter and accompanied the chiefs to Niagara in 1764 when the treaty of peace was made by Sir William Johnson. Henry marched with John Bradstreet to Detroit in 1764 and the next year entered into a partnership with Jean Baptiste Cadotte of the Sault to trade in Lake Superior. Finding the Indians at Chequamegon Bay starving because of lack of traders, he built a log hut on the shore and spent the winter there. He returned in 1765 to Montreal with his furs and reported the existence of copper on Lake Superior. A company of English was formed to exploit the mines, but when this enterprise proved unprofitable, Henry reengaged in the fur trade, as a partner with the Frobishers. They pushed into the far Northwest and the plains of the Saskatchewan, whence in 1776 Henry returned to Montreal; thereafter while he continued in the trade he did not in person undertake Northwest voyages.
For the remainder of his life he made his home in Montreal. He served as captain in the local militia, calling himself the eldest officer of that rank during the War of 1812. He was sent in 1788 to Mackinac on a government errand; thereafter he is not known to have visited the scene of his early adventures.
In 1809 he published in New York his book, Travels and Adventures of Alexander Henry. The work has long been considered a classic and was regarded by Francis Parkman and other historians as a reliable authority. There are some reasons to question Henry's accuracy. His animosity against Langlade who saved his life is evident, and his exploits with the Indian Wawatam have been considered mythical. The book was doubtless written long after the events narrated and his recollections were colored by his prejudices and dimmed by the mists of memory. The main part of the narrative is dependable, however, and his later letters (many published in The John Askin Papers, post) show him to have been a good citizen of Montreal, devoted to his former fur-trade friends and to his family.
At age 85, he died at his home on Notre-Dame Street, Montreal.
(This book is a facsimile reprint and may contain imperfec...)
Membership
Henry was an original member of the Beaver Club, formed in 1786 by men who had been personally in the Northwest fur trade.
Personality
A middle-sized man, easy yet dignified, Henry had been called by the Indians "the handsome Englishman. "
Over the years Henry maintained close personal ties with John Askin, who was also a fur trader.
Connections
As was the custom with early fur traders, Henry had taken a "country wife, " a Native Indian whose sister was in the same way married to Simon McTavish. By her he was said to have fathered several children, but only one daughter is recorded. In 1785, having by then returned to society at Montreal, he married Julia Calcutt Kittson, "a woman of considerable personal fortitude. " Mrs Julia Henry was the godparent with Sir Isaac Brock of William McGillivray's youngest daughter. It is open to debate whether Julia and Alexander met in Canada, England or Ireland around 1780, but they were the parents of several children, two of whom were born before they were married. Henry was the father of six known children.