James Sinclair

James Sinclair (1811 – March 26, 1856) was a trader and explorer with the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC). He twice led large parties of settlers from the Red River Colony to the Columbia River valley. These were both authorized by the HBC as a part of grandiose plans to strengthen British claims in the Oregon boundary dispute. Early life James Sinclair was born in 1811 in Rupert's Land. His mother was a Cree woman named Nahovway, his father was William Sinclair, a HBC factor from Eastaquoy in Harray, and his brother was William Sinclair, Jr. He was educated in Scotland at the University of Edinburgh. Red River colonists James Sinclair was appointed by Duncan Finlayson to guide the settler families to Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River. Most of the families were Métis, headed by men who were capable hunters and well-suited to living off the land. They were hired by the Pugets Sound Agricultural Company (PSAC) to settle at company stations in modern Washington state as agriculturalists or pastoralists. In June 1841, the party left Fort Garry with 23 families consisting of 121 people. They followed the Red River north, crossing Lake Winnipeg and traveled in the Saskatchewan River system to Fort Edmonton.