Mackenzie, Roderick, approximately 1761-1844

• McKenzie, Roderick, 1761-1844

Roderick McKenzie, a cousin of Sir Alexander McKenzie, came to Canada from Scotland in 1784 and entered the service of the Montréal fur-trading firm of Gregory, McTavish and Co. He accompanied his cousin to the West in 1786, built the original Fort Chipewyan in 1788, and was in charge of the post during Alexander McKenzie's expeditions to the Arctic in 1789 and to the Pacific in 1792. In 1800 McKenzie became a partner in the North West Company. A year or two later he retired from active fur trading, but he continued to be a dormant partner in the firm of McTavish, Frobisher and Co. (later McTavish, McGillivrays and Co.) until its failure in 1825. In his later years he gathered material for a history of the North West Co., which he never completed. He served on the Legislative Council of Lower Canada from 1817 to 1838.