Memorable Manitobans: James McKay (1828-1879)

James McKay Click to enlarge

Trader, politician.

Not to be confused with judge James McKay (1861-1931).

Born at Edmonton House in 1828, the eldest son of James McKay of the Hudson’s Bay Company, brother of Angus McKay, he was a mixed-blood whose “father was Scotch, his mother French Half-Breed and though himself a Catholic he has two brothers Presbyterian.” He was educated at Red River, and became employed by the Hudson’s Bay Company.

McKay was described by George Simpson as “Immensely broadchested and muscular ... he weighed eighteen stone; yet in spite of his stoutness he was exceedingly hardy and active, and a wonderful horseman. His face -- somewhat Assyrian in type -- is very handsome: short, delicate, aquiline nose; piercing dark gray eyes; long dark-brown hair, beard, and moustaches; white, small, regular teeth; skin tanned to red bronze from exposure to weather.” He favoured Red River dress -- a capot (hooded frock-coat), flannel shirt, moccasins, trousers of homemade woollen material, and a sash. A “quasi-king among halfbreeds,” he had great authority with Aboriginal peoples, having mastered several Aboriginal languages. He served as a guide on several scientific, missionary and pleasure expeditions and assisted the Canadian government in the negotiating of Treaty Numbers 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6.

McKay was appointed to the Council of Assiniboia in 1868 and was a member of the Famine Relief Committee of 1868-1869. His mixed-racial status made him an ideal member of the Manitoba Legislative Council, serving until its abolition 1876, and its Speaker from 1871 to 1874. He was returned by acclamation for Lake Manitoba constituency in the by-election of January 1877. He served as Minister of Agriculture from 1874 to 1878 before retiring due to ill health. He was one of the founders of the Winnipeg Board of Trade, in 1873.

In 1859 he married Margaret Rowand (1825-1879), third daughter of HBC Chief Factor John Rowand Sr. (1787-1854).

He died at his home Deer Lodge on 2 December 1879.

See also:

The Stable Lantern by Helen Waugh
Manitoba Pageant, Volume 19, Number 2, Winter 1974

The Honourable James MacKay
Manitoba Pageant, Volume 19, Number 3, Spring 1974

Review: Agnes Grant, James McKay: A Metis Builder of Canada by Ruth Swan
Manitoba History, Number 33, Spring 1997

Historic Sites of Manitoba: James McKay Plaque (2109 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg)

“‘A Wearer of Moccasins’: The Honourable James McKay of Deer Lodge” by N. Jaye Goossen, The Beaver (Autumn 1978): 44-53.

James McKay, Dictionary of Canadian Biography X, 473-75.

Sources:

The Canadian Parliamentary Company, 1874. Canadiana.org.

“Death of Hon. James McKay”, Manitoba Free Press, 3 December 1879, page 2.

Pioneers and Early Citizens of Manitoba, Winnipeg: Manitoba Library Association, 1971.

Dictionary of Manitoba Biography by J. M. Bumsted, Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 1999.

This profile was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Profile revised: 1 October 2012

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