Simon McTavish

Simon McTavish was a Scottish-born fur trader and the chief founding partner of the North West Company.

Simon immigrated to North America at age of 13 working as an apprentice to a merchant. Eventually he joined the lucrative fur trade and in the mid-1770s he moved to Montréal. In that area he also had the saw-mill, cookie factory (cookie for voyageurs) and a coopery. He also financed various trading expeditions to the Saskatchewan River and to the Northwest in general.

McTavish is regarded the key figure in the establishment of the first North West Company in 1779. He also set up his own company in London named McTavish, Fraser and Company, which handled resupplying, credit and insurance. For his eminent position in the fur trade and his refined style of living, he became known as the “Marquis”.

He died in Montréal in 1804.