Fur trader, author.
Born at McConnellstown, Huntington County, Philadelphia on 10 March 1812, son of Dr. George Denig, he was married to Hai-kees-kak-wee-yah (Deer Little Woman), the daughter of an Assiniboine chief. They had four children, including Alexander Denig (c1851-1904), Adeline Denig (1856-1932, wife of Charles Simpson), and Sarah Denig (?-?).
In 1833, he went to the upper Missouri as a fur trader and Indian scout. For several years he was in charge of the American Fur Company’s post at Fort Union where, among other notable guests, he entertained naturalist John James Audubon, Swiss artist Friedrich Kurz, and the Belgian priest Father DeSmet. Sometime during 1854-1855, he migrated to the Red River Settlement, taking with him four cartloads of goods. He established himself as a private trader on the White Horse Plain. He died there on 4 September 1858 and was buried in the Anglican Church Cemetery at Headingley.
His will, discovered at Pilot Mound in 1946, led to the publication of a formerly anonymous manuscript on Indigenous peoples entitled Five Indian Tribes of the Upper Missouri: Sioux, Arickaras, Assiniboines, Crees and Crows, believed to have been written in Manitoba in 1856. From a copy of the will, the United States Bureau of American Ethnology identified the manuscript as Denig's work and published it in 1950.
“Old will identifies historic document” by Chris Vickers, Winnipeg Free Press, 25 April 1953, page 8.
Pioneers and Early Citizens of Manitoba, Winnipeg: Manitoba Library Association, 1971.
Obituaries and burial transcriptions, Manitoba Genealogical Society.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 1 November 2026
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