Charles Patterson: (? - 1788)
Patterson began trading in the west about
1770 and in 1772 he is found at Michilimackinac going to his wintering
ground. In the fall of 1774 & 1775 he is at the Cumberland House with
Frobisher, William Holmes, Peter Pond, Alexander
Henry & Samuel Hearne and wintering (1775/76) on the Assiniboine with
Henry & Holmes. In 1780 he is found returning to Michilimackinac with
his furs from the season as a partner of James McGill. By 1783 he seems
to have severed his ties to the North West Company & James McGill,
taking up the trade in the Upper Mississippi region by establishing a post
on the Upper Minnesota River. In 1785 Patterson organizes The Sioux Outfit
(he is financed by the Patterson & Mason Co.) for the Mackinac Company
and builds a stockade on the Minnesota River to trade with the Sisseton
& Wahpeton [Murdoch Cameron & Joseph Renville
had brigades above Patterson, trading with the Teton & Yankton; Alexander
Laframboise & Jean Bte.Perrault were
in charge of another brigade on the Chippewa River; James Aird & Joseph
Larocque had charge of a brigade trading with Wabasha's
Band some where north of the Minnesota River]. From 1786 to 1788 he is
involved with the "General Company of Lake Superior and the South"
(also known as the General Society) with partners including James Aird,
Etienne-Charles Campion, Charles
Chaboillez & John Sayer. In July of 1787
Charles is at a council at Mackinac with the British Indian Department
Commissary, John Dease, where western tribes mutually agree to maintain
peace & acknowledge the King of England as their Father. Later that
fall he signed a petition (sent to British Commander Thomas Scott), accusing
Ainse of selling Indian Dept. goods for profit
while he was on a peace mission on the Upper Mississippi region. In 1788
Patterson is granted a license to trade at Mackinac (with Allen Paterson),
financed by Joseph Frobisher & Isaac Todd
(Frobisher received three shares in the growing North West Company that
year). On the 10th of September in 1788, Charles drowned off Patterson
Pointe in Lake Michigan.
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