History of Chautauqua County, New York, and its people, Volume I, Part 99

Author: Downs, John Phillips, 1853- ed. [from old catalog]; Hedley, Fenwick, Y., joint ed. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Boston, New York [etc.] American historical society, inc.
Number of Pages: 649

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Shahaptan. His trading settlement was considered an encroachment upon the territory of earlier and rival companies. He was burdened, too, by constant fights with Indians in that region. Supplies did not arrive and the opposition of the rival companies increased. Donald went to the nearest trading post of his associates for conference. While in consultation with Messrs. Clare and Stuart, a partner of the Northwest Com- pany, Jolin George M'Tavish, arrived from the region of Lake Winnipeg, bearing the news that war had been declared between the United States and England. He added the true or false information that an English ship had been sent to seize Astoria. Mackenzie deter- mined to break camp and return to Astoria. There a conference between the Astoria coterie ensued during the summer of 1812. It was decided to abandon Astoria. M'Dougal and Mackenzie argued for abandonment in view of all the circumstances, while less influential partners were against immediate departure. But the will of the stronger men prevailed, and the return was made over the Rockies in several parties. While Wash- ington Irving speaks in terms of personal praise of Donald Mackenzie, he reflects the attitude of his patron, John Jacob Astor, in severely criticizing the position of M'Dougal and Mackenzie in persuading the co-partners to abandon Astoria. This critical view of the decision of Mackenzie and associates finds favour in the "His- tory of the Lewis and Clarke Expedition," published by direction of the United States Government in 1842. The Historian Ross takes a sounder view of the decision of Mackenzie, and he is inclined to look at the vexa- tious question from the standpoint of the whole issue, rather than to determine it from the viewpoint as to whether Mr. Astor lost money and suffered in prestige. There can be no question but what the decision of Mac- Kenzie in relation to Astoria was a source of long resentment; but after the War of 1812, Mr. Mackenzie joined with Mr. Astor in seeking to impress upon the United States Government the need of renewed efforts in the Oregon region. The abandonment of Astoria did not mean the downfall of the entire Pacific Fur Company project. In fact Hunt and Mackenzie laid the foundation for the large Astor fortune on that very trip over the Rockies.

But it must not be inferred that Mackenzie and his friends accepted in silence the Washington Irving ver- sion of the betrayal of Astoria. The Astoria money and portable properties were delivered to Mr. Astor in New York by Mackenzie, and the home view of this debatable question may be gleaned from an obituary tribute appearing in the "Mayville Sentinel" the week of his death. "Washington Irving in his Astoria," writes the editor of "The Mayville Sentinel" on January 25. 1851, "has in his own happy style narrated a few of these adventures, which in one of the most important transactions of his life, relative to the betrayal of Astoria, he has done him great but undoubtedly unde- signed injustice. To him, and to him alone, was Mr. Astor indebted for all that was saved from the ruin which treason had wrought."

But the days of personal vexation are over for both men. The Astoria episode adds to the fame of both Astor and Mackenzie. The trip over the Rockies and the assertion of American title to the mouth of the Columbia laid the foundation for the otherwise dubious 54 degrees 40 minutes fight in later years. It is true that the contest well nigh precipitated another war be- tween the United States and England.

The part that our Scottish hero, and subject of the King of England, played in laying this foundation was recognized by Daniel Webster when he visited Mac-

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Kenzie at Mayville for the purpose of securing data for the diplomatic contest which culminated in the settle- ment of the boundary dispute in a manner satisfactory to the United States in what is known as the Webster- Ashburton Treaty.

Beckles Willson, in writing the "History of the Hud- :son's Bay Company," in 1900, pays an unwitting tribute to the services of Astor and Mackenzie, when he says :

"This brings us to the whole point Involved in the American contention, which deprived Great Britain of a vast territory to which the United States possess- ed no shadow of right. A year before the amalgam- ation of the rival companies, the northwest coast for the first time engaged the attention of the American Government, and what came to be known as the Ore- gon question had its birth. The States possessed no title to the country, but a strong party believed that they had a right to found by occupation a legitimate title to a large portion of the territory in question. A bill was introduced in Congress for the occupation of the Columbia River region. It is curious to reflect that the restoration of Fort George (Astoria) by the British was one of the strong arguments used at that time."

I departed from the consecutive tracing of MacKen- zie's career for the purpose of picturing such distant but dependent and related events as the trip over the Rockies in 1810, and the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842. It is evident that Mackenzie realized that he had participated in a history-making enterprise, despite the charges and counter-charges of treason and bad faith. This conclusion is attested by the repeated ef- forts of Mackenzie to renew the interest of Astor af- ter the war of 1812, and the latter attempt to induce the President of the United States to afford proper diplo- matic and military support for this continental enter- prise. But Mackenzie re-entered the employ of the Northwest Fur Company as a confidential agent. He was a leader in the fight between that Company and the Hudson's Bay Company for exclusive trading priv- ileges in the Canadian Northwest. The fight was just as keen as the pre-war contest between the trading companies of England and Germany for the explora- tion of Central Africa. The commercial battle raged in various forms and at distant points in the wilderness for a decade. Then the usual thing happened. The ri- val companies consolidated. They signed a deed poll, realizing that co-operation between outsiders is better than competition, in exploiting the natives of the wilderness. The development of Western Canada dates from the day that the rival companies perceived that the untapped wealth of that region was so enormous that competition for an unquestioned surplus was futile.

The amalgamation of the two companies provided the high water mark of opportunity for the career of Mackenzie in Canada, just as the founding of Astoria marks the distinctive feature of his American achieve- ments. His experience and skill were recognized; his name was powerful in the wilderness. He became a chief factor of the Hudson's Bay Company. He journ- eyed from the Pacific Coast to York Factory in 1822, and the same year he was appointed councillor of the Governors of the Company's Territories. When Gov- ernor Bulger departed, he was sent to the Red River settlement to supervise the Company's affairs and to seek an adjustment of the long standing differences be- tween the Scotsmen and the natives. In June, 1825, he was appointed governor of the Hudson's Bay Com- pany, and at 42 years of age he became the commer- cial and semi-political ruler of a region, now divided into three Canadian Provinces, and as large in extent a many of the major European states.

His Governor's seat was at Fort Garry, now Win-

nipeg, and there during eight years of rule, he ap- proached the high tide of life. I cannot enter into the many events in the life of a man charged with business responsibilities and the maintenance of civil order in a wilderness. But my researches have com- pelled me to do what I have long planned to do in connection with my studies of Western Canada: to procure and examine the records of the Hudson's Bay Company in general and especially as bearing upon the governorship of Donald Mackenzie. It is one thing to read a polished and complete governmental code such as Macaulay wrote for India and Root penned for the Philippines ; but it is another, and equally interesting, to read the records of men grappling with order and disorder in a wilderness, and making their government as the occasion arose. This is the revelation which has come to me in examining the legislative records of the Red River Colony and the Hudson's Bay Posts.

Thus in the legislative records, we find Donald Mac- Kenzie under date of August, 1826, addressing a mem- orandum to A. Colville, Esquire, Hudson's Bay House, Fenchurch street, London, dealing with his difficulties in keeping order among certain Swiss colonists. On May 4th, 1832, the records indicate that he is sitting in Council for the consideration and adoption of regu- lations, to protect the woods from fire. In 1833 there are resolutions of the Hudson's Bay Council, assign- ing Mackenzie to the Fort William District, which indicates that he was preparing to wend his way down the Great Lakes to Chautauqua county. The records indicate an important meeting of the Council of the Red River Settlement in 1833, with Governor-in-Chief George Simpson presiding, and the following minute is entered: "A medical certificate being received from Dr. Hendry of Chief Mackenzie's ill-health, which ren- ders it necessary for him to visit the civilized world to obtain the benefit of medical advice-Resolved, that leave of absence be granted to Chief Mackenzie for the current year."

And thus Donald Mackenzie faded from his tri- umphs in the Northwest. He had handled the distress- ing situations which followed the Red River flood in 1826 and the tragedy of the flight of the Swiss set- tlers. "This benevolent gentleman," says the Cana- dian historian Gunn, in discussing Mackenzie's gover- norship, "not only made use of the stores under his charge for the relief of the sufferers, but aided by the influence of his high position and personal character to induce others to join in the good work."

But now in the prime of life, he headed for civiliza- tion. He never returned to the region of his triumphs; and the story of his last decade in Chautauqua county is just as little known in Western Canada, as the rec- ord of his earlier achievements in the West is not ap- preciated by the people of Chautauqua county. Just why he went to Chautauqua county is not known. It is believed by many of the older settlers that while stopping at Fort William, he met a young geologist, Douglas Houghton, who described to him the splendors of Mayville Hill between the lakes. Alexander Mac- Kenzie, of Toronto, who is now writing "Life of Don- ald Mackenzie," says that he came to the United States because he loved Republican institutions.

He spent the ebbtide of his life at Mayville from 1833 until his death on January 20, 1851. He became an intimate friend of Judge Peacock, the agent of the Holland Land Company, and he secreted that gentle- man in his house on the high ground, back of the May- ville Academy, when the infuriated tenants from Hart- field mobbed the land office. William H. Seward, then a young attorney representing the Holland Land Com-

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409

DONALD MAC KENZIE, KING OF THE NORTHWEST

pany, and later Lincoln's Secretary of State, was sent to Mayville, remaining there for more than a year in adjusting the disputes between landlords and ten- ants. Peacock, Seward and Mackenzie became cron- ies; one wonders whether Donald in describing the contests between the English and Russian companies for the fur trade of Alaska during the period of his Pacific Coast activities, turned Seward's thought to the possibilities of annexing that territory in later years.

Donald was the character of the Northern Chautau- qua region, and he was the subject of numberless myths and gossip as to his deeds. But he came to Mayville to escape the excitement of his early career. It cannot be said that he invited the intimacy of a large number of his fellow citizens: the records of the Pea- cock Lodge of Masons do not indicate that he joined the craft, but doubtless, in common with other leading spirits of the Hudson's Bay Company, he had become a member of the ancient Brotherhood earlier in life. He journeyed to Buffalo, where his judicious mind made investments in that promising canal town; he worked on his memoirs, but his wife found that writing did not add to the amiability of a man of deeds. She burn- ed the half-finished manuscript. He conducted a large correspondence, and leading men from the East to the West visited liim. The venerable Obed Edson credits the story of the Civil War days that John Jacob Astor visited his former partner at Mayville. This gives colour to the conclusion that after the dispute about Astoria, and a lawsuit, in which Donald secured judg- ment against Jacob, the men were friends in the last decade of life. Donald Mackenzie lived the conven- tional life of the wilderness. The inter-marriage of Hudson's Bay Company agents with Indian women was a common event. While this domestic system had the elements of individual romance, it was in part the basis of that collective tragedy which ensued when many half-breed children joined the Riel rebellion in the false hope that a successful revolt would establish their title to the lands of their fathers. One surviving Indian child came to Mayville with Donald MacKen- zie and his Swiss wife and white family. I speak with no words of disparagement, because in the Anglican churches of the Canadian Northwest, I have seen these Indian children of Scots fathers leading in the choir service. Indecd, a situation which the Northwest ac- cepted as one of the necessities of a primitive country was given some recognition on that eventful day in Buckingham Palace when Sir Donald Smith played the man, banker. railroad builder, Hudson's Bay Governor, Canadian High Commissioner. Sir Donald Smith had married an Indian girl while in the Northwest. The English Cabinet desired to give him recognition, and suggested to Queen Victoria that she elevate him under the title of Lord Strathcona. Then the gossips of London whispered to the Queen that Sir Donald had married the Indian girl according to the rites of the wilderness. The Queen proposed their remarriage in the Anglican Church, but Sir Donald declined to taint the first rite by admitting the need of a second; Vic- toria countered with the suggestion that the patent of nobility be granted to Sir Donald alone, but the latter

insisted that it be issued to Lord and Lady Strath- cona, and to the heirs of their body. These were the days when Canada was being made to feel her place in the Empire. The necessities of imperial politics im- pelled the Queen to grant letters patent to Lord and Lady Strathcona.

The unsettled conditions in Continental Europe, fol- lowing the French Revolution, caused the parents of Adelgonde Droze to bring her from Switzerland by way of Hudson's Bay to Fort Garry. She married Donald Mackenzie in 1825, and she shared with him the social responsibilities of his governorship of the wilderness. It is believed that her taste for European life and studies was one of the motives which started the gov- ernor toward civilization. The probate proceedings in the Chautauqua County Court on May 6, 1857, indicate that thirteen children were born of this union. Mrs. Jemima Mackenzie MacDonald, of Buffalo, Noel, Rod- erick, and Catherine, now dead, were born in Mani- toba, and accompanied the family to Mayville. The other children were born at Mayville. William P. Mac- kenzie now lives near Hartfield, overlooking Chau- tauqua Lake. Donald Mackenzie was thrown from his horse at Silver Creek, returning from Buffalo. He lingered for six months but he did not recover his clarity of mind, nor that physical power, which with his more than six feet, and 300 pounds in weight, made him feared in the hand to hand encounters in the North- west. He was buried on the high ground of his yard from which one looks down the Lake to the Chautauqua Assembly grounds. Later his body was removed to the Mayville Cemetery, where the Scots father, the Swiss wife, and the deceased members of the family sleep in peace together.

I contributed to the "Canada Magazine" in 1912 an article on "The Last Days of Donald Mackenzie." As intimated in an earlier portion of this paper, the de- parture of Donald for Fort Garry on a year's vacation, and his failure to revisit the scene of his achievements, left a blank in the record of his Northwestern career. The reprinting of portions of my article in the papers of Winnipeg and other cities is indicative of the in- terest of the Northwest in the final chapter of this man's career.

This leads me to a suggestion which will give this paper an air of practicality. The Scottish Society of Winnipeg is one of the strong racial and cultural bod- ies of the Northwest. The Hudson's Bay Company is still a power in that region, and it now maintains many of the trading posts frequented by Mackenzie. Vincent Astor is the representative head of the family whose wealth was founded in part on the activities of MacKenzie and associates, while the Chautauqua Coun- ty Historical Society is pledged to record the deeds of those who found birth or a haven in these parts. Why not, therefore, a common movement to secure the co-operation of those organizations in an effort to erect two substantial memorial tablets-one at Winni- peg to portray the deeds of the Scottish hero at Fort Garry, and the other at Mayville, to recall to Ameri- cans the memory of a King's subject who aided in mak- ing possible "fifty-four forty or fight."

THE "INDIAN WAR." By Theodore A. Case.

On Saturday the 6th day of January, 1838, near the same spot where a quarter of a century before the first settler in the town of Ellington felled the trees and erected his rude log cabin in the forest, originated one

of those amusing, yet at the time, seemingly serious events, that spread consternation among the then in- habitants of the eastern part of the county. The winter was one of extreme mildness and on the morning of

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CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE

the day of which I speak, the sun arose in a cloudless sky and its rays lay with almost summer warmth upon the bare earth and brown leaves.

Nearly a mile west of Olds' Corners, on the Cat- taraugus county line, and on the old Chautauqua road, in a little log cabin, lived one Eldred Bentley, Jr., with his family, among whom was a daughter named Mercy, a simple-minded girl. Eldred had married a daughter of one John Niles, whose wife had succumbed to the hardships of life, and the old man was then making his home with the Bentley family. His conduct was not at all times exemplary and Olds' Corners in those days afforded tempting opportunities to the old man's appetite, which met with feeble resistance upon his part. It is supposed he had taken an early morning walk to the tavern and upon his return had sat down by the roadside on the sunny side of a log to enjoy the open air and warm sunshine. The external and intern- al warmth both conspired to lift from his soul the oppressing cares of life and he soon passed into a hap- py slumber. At this opportune moment an Indian, from the neighboring Cattaraugus Reservation, came on foot along the highway and spied the old man resting by the roadside. He stopped momentarily, evidently tak- ing in the old gentleman's condition, which no doubt inspired his native thirst for the white man's "fire- water ;" and whether he instituted a search upon Niles' person for the coveted fluid or not, at all events under- neath the old man's outer garments showed conspicu- ously a red shirt.

As the Indian turned to pursue his journey, the girl Mercy appeared not far off and spying the Indian and her grandfather's form half reclining upon the ground, with his red shirt made more conspicuous as he lay in the bright sunshine, she in an instant, in her excited imagination, transformed the red shirt into a blood- stained garment and peopled the woods with savage Indians.

Without a second look she ran to Perry Bentley's, a near neighbor, where her uncle, Richard J. Hall, commonly known as John Hall, who lived about one and one-half miles west on the same road, happened to be calling that morning on horseback. She hur- riedly told him that her Grandfather Niles had been killed by the Indians and that the woods were full of them below the house and they were murdering all the white people. Hall, startled by the story of his niece, and not stopping to learn of its truth, sprang upon his horse and started upon a run west along the old Chautauqua road, calling loudly at every house that the Indians were down in the Bentley neighborhood and were murdering all the white people.

His course led up the hill which he pursued until he reached his own home, which was a log cabin near the top of what was then called "The Big Ridge," or, "Mutton Hill." Nearly opposite Hall's house was a new frame dwelling owned and occupied by Benjamin Ellsworth, which is still standing and habitable to this day. Under this house was a commodious cellar, and an arrangement was quickly made with Ellsworth, af- ter acquainting him with the gravity of the situation, whereby the women and children of the neighborhood should there congregate and take refuge in the cel- lar while the men, who were supposed to be made of sterner stuff, should be summoned from far and near to give battle to the Indians at this point. On the score of strategy the place was well chosen. No more commanding position could have been selected in all that section of country. Indeed, from this point an extended view can be had of the Valley of the Cone- wango for many miles and beyond of the distant hills

of Cattaraugus. The sloping hillsides in every direc- tion made approach doubly difficult by an advancing foe, beside, a little cemetery had been started near by where the bodies of the slain could be conveniently interred.

A few rods west of Ellsworth's was a log school- house, the first built in the town, where school was then in session. The little flock were quickly transferred to the cellar, save one of the larger boys, who was dispatched to the home of Captain Moses Ferrin about three-fourths of a mile north in the town of Cherry Creek, with request that he warn out his company of militia in that town and come with all possible haste to the place of rendezvous at Ellsworth's.

After making these preliminary arrangements, Hall continued his ride on horseback westward down the hill at breakneck speed, warning every settler of the impending danger and to proceed with their families immediately to Ellsworth's for safety and defence. Con- sternation seized the people; some were just sitting down to their mid-day meal, but sprang from the table, collected their firearms, if they had any, and a few personal belongings, leaving their meal all untouched, and with their wives and children hastened to the place of meeting. An eye-witness of this impromptu gather- ing on the hill, discussed years afterward, with much levity, the personal appearance of some of the women on that occasion, showing that no time had been wasted in the preparation of their toilet. Dressed in short home-spun skirts with pantalets and boots, some with their husband's striped jackets and old hats and caps, with hair flying, pulling along in frantic haste their frightened and sobbing children, in their wild rush for a place of safety. 'Tis said one young lady appeared upon the scene with three hoods upon her head, a pitch- fork in one hand and broad-axe in the other, and the strangest thing of it all was that she was unable to explain how she acquired the outfit. Almost as much disorder and confusion characterized the men who gath- ered on that memorable occasion ; some had guns with ammunition, some with no ammunition, some with swords, some with pitchforks and butcher knives, in- deed anything that might be turned into a weapon of defense. One man, who no doubt believed in fighting at close range, appeared with six butcher knives bristling from his person. So the inhabitants gathered as the news spread, and in the meantime Hall was speeding westward to the Bates Settlement, in the Clear Creek Valley. Here Carey Briggs was teaching school and it was the noon honr. He sat quietly in his schoolroom enjoying his mid-day lunch when he observed an un- usual commotion among the children in the yard, and that they were fleeing toward their homes with all possible haste. Soon a neighbor appeared and informed Mr. Briggs of the cause. School was over for that day and the master, not with rod and rule, but with a pitchfork over his shoulder, joined the party march- ing for the "Big Ridge."

From this point westward the news was carried by fleet-footed messengers to Gerry, Charlotte, Arkwright and other neighboring towns with orders to the several companies of militia to gather for battle. To the story was added the further intelligence that three thousand Indians from Canada had landed at the month of Cat- taraugus Creek and had made their way over into the Conewango Valley and were killing and scalping the white people as they went, and that Dwight Bates and family, who lived as near as the Bates Settlement, had already fallen victims to the wily foe. Many a home was barricaded against the invaders, while the thought- ful housewife hung her kettles of water to the swing-

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History of Chautauqua County, New York, and its people, Volume I, Part 99

Author: Downs, John Phillips, 1853- ed. [from old catalog]; Hedley, Fenwick, Y., joint ed. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1921 Publisher: Boston, New York [etc.] American historical society, inc. Number of Pages: 649

Author: Downs, John Phillips, 1853- ed. [from old catalog]; Hedley, Fenwick, Y., joint ed. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Boston, New York [etc.] American historical society, inc.
Number of Pages: 649