Alexander Ross

Alexander Ross

and his Country-Born Family from Columbia Country to Red River

By Irene Ternier Gordon

Published by Ternier Gordon Publishing, 2021

Alexander Ross was one of the many Scottish Highlanders who immigrated to North America and became a fur trader. The following are only a few of the many adventures he experienced over his long life in America:

  • Almost being abandoned on the Falkland Islands while sailing to Cape Horn
  • Losing nine shipmates while sailing into the treacherous mouth of the Columbia River
  • Being driven from home by the notorious Red River flood of 1826
  • Accompanying the 1840 buffalo hunt

After spending 15 years as a fur trader in what was then known as Columbia Country — now British Columbia and the American states of Washington and Oregon – Ross moved to the Red River Settlement in the 1820s.  There, over the next 30 years, he farmed, worked as a trader, was active in local politics, and wrote a number of books about his experiences.

He and his First Nations wife Sally raised a large family, at least four of whom took an active public role in Red River society and the formation of the province of Manitoba.  The Ross family is representative of a group sometimes ignored in the history of the Red River – people of mixed First Nations and British ancestry.

© Copyright 2022 Irene Ternier Gordon All rights reserved