Archibald Norman McLeod was the son of Neil MacLeod [1729-1780], a teacher & clergyman.
He was born on the Isle of Skye in the Scottish Hebrides.
As he was writing his Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland, Dr Samuel Johnson visited MacLeod and described him asthe clearest-headed man he had met with in the Western Isles
Archibald Norman was born in Scotland [17th March 1772].
He moved to Canada and became a clerk [by 1796], then a partner in the Canadian North West Company fur trading company [by 1799]. It is possible that he was a relative of Normand McLeod of Gregory, McLeod & Company.
It is recorded that during his time in the north-west of Canada, he married a native woman, and had a mixed-race son Alexander McLeod [b 1796].
He worked in the Athabasca region [1802]
In 1808, he became a partner in McTavish, McGillivray & Company, and a member of the Beaver Club.
He was a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Canadian Voltigeurs militia, a group of French-Canadians raised to fight alongside British troops defending Montréal and lower Canada against American invasion in the War of 1812.
In 1815-1818, he took a prominent part in the hostilities at the Selkirk Concession.
In 1821, the North West Company merged with their competitors, the Hudson Bay Company.
He then left the fur trade and returned to Britain, settling at Sunnybank, Scotland.
On 26th February 1811, he married Margaret Burnett in Aberdeen.
Margaret was the daughter of John Burnett of Elrick, Aberdeenshire
Child: Margaret Hay [1817-1849] who married Rev Harcourt Norris Torriano Busfeild
In 1837, he was barrack-master at Belfast.
Archibald Norman died 28th April 1841.
Margaret died 12th March 1845.
There is a memorial for them in Coley Church.
His name appears in many geographical features in Canada:
Although his surname would be written MacLeod in Scotland, it is recorded as McLeod in all the historical sources about Archibald Norman.
The surname appears as MACLEOD on the memorial at Coley
This & associated entries use material contributed by Lesley Abernethy, Nancy Marguerite Anderson, Carole Edwards Caruso & Allan Dowson
Page Ref: Y26
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