James Birnie (1804-1864) was born in Scotland and came to the Northwest in
1818 to work for the North West Fur Company and later for the Hudson's Bay
Company. In 1845 he left the employ of the H.B.C. and settled and farmed at
Cathlamet.
In 1845, he left the employ of the Hudson's Bay Company, and settled upon a tract of land at Cathlamet, and at once began its improvement. At that time, in the language of Robinson Crusoe, he was monarch of all he surveyed. There were no trespassers upon his holdings, save an occasional trader and now and then a roving Indian. Here he soon transformed the wilderness into a land of surprising productiveness, and made for himself and family a comfortable and happy home. At the time of his death, in1864, he was the father of thirteen children, - eight boys and five girls.
During his early struggles in Oregon, he made friend of nearly every acquaintance. Open-handed and generous to a fault, the stranger never came within his gates to be sent empty-handed away. He always had a word of cheer for all with whom he came in contact; and when neighbors began to settle about him he was the first to welcome them, and to extend to all whatever aid he could. Of him it may truly be said that his hand was against no man, and that no man's hand was against him. he possessed a loyal helpmeet in his most estimable wife. She was known only to be loved; and the day of her demise witnessed the taking off of one possessed of those many attributes of character that make the noblest of her sex so much revered. Oregon owes much of her greatness to her early pioneers; and to few does she owe more than to Mr. James Birnie, his most excellent wife and the sons and daughters they left behind them.
1860 Census, Washington Territory, Wahkiakum County, Cathlamet lists James Birnie as a Farmer by occupation (he retired from employ of Hudson's Bay Company back in 1846). Lists him as 65 years of age, with his wife Charlotte. Indicates their real estate was valued at $15,000, and personal estate at $500! Also lists children in the household as: Victoria (22 yrs), Alexander (18), Catherine (15) (whom I believe to be Caroline who was born in 1845 and would be 15 a this time - Catherine also shows up in the 1880 census married to Frank Illsley (2nd husband after the death of John Chipman Dorcy), Thomas (11). James Jr. and his wife, Julia Ann are listed in another household in Cathlamet.
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Probate of the Will of James Birnie
March 10, 1865
handwritten: transcribed by Daryl B. Dorcy
Cathlamet, Wahkiacum County, Washington, March 10, 1865
To: Amory Holbrook, Esq: Greeting,
I hereby deputize you to take and certify
the attestation of Hon. Wm. Strong, witness to
the last will and testament of James
Birnie of Cathlamet; deceased
Witness my hand and seal
Chas McCall
Probate Judge
Wahkiacum County, W.T.
Territory of Washington
County of Wahkiacum
Probate Court
One of the witnesses to the annexed will
having left the country, the testimony of the
other to the validity of the will is as
follows:
State of Oregon
Multnomah County
I William Strong of Portland
in said county, on oath, declare that James
Birnie signed the instrument annexed to the
within commission as his last will, that he was
then of sound mind, that I subscribed my name
thereto in the presence of said James Birnie,
the testator, and that these events occurred
on the day stated in said instrument.
signed: Wm Strong
State of Oregon
Multnomah Co.
I the within named commissioner ap-
pointed to take and certify the attestation
of Wm Strong, do hereby certify that on this 18th
day of March, A.D. 1865, the above named William Strong, personally
appeared before me, and subscribed and made oath to the foregoing
attestation. signed: Amory Holbrook
Therefore it is hereby ordered that said will be, and is hereby es-
tablished and admitted to probate, and Charlotte Birnie is hereby
appointed administratrix with the will annexed, which will is in
the words and figures as follows:
"I James Birnie of Cathlamet, county
of Wahkiacum, in the Territory of Washington,
of lawful age sound mind and memory,
aware of the uncertainty of life, and wishing
while in health to make suitable provision
for the distribution after my decease, of
my estate, do make and publish this my
last will and testament.
Item. After the payment of my just
and lawful debts and all specific legacies
hereinafter made I hereby give and be-
queath unto my beloved wife Charlotte
all my estate, real, personal and mixed,
of every name and kind and wheresoever
the same may be situated at the time
of my deceases. Having full confidence
in her judgement and affection, I do this
in order that she may keep the family
together at the homestead so long as it
shall be desirable and that she may be
enabled to provide suitably for the main-
tainance (sic) and education of my daughters
so long as they shall remain unmarried,
or require such provision, and also of
my sons Alexander and Thomas Lowe,
until they shall become of suitable
age and ability to provide for themselves.
My design being to preserve a home for my
said wife, my children, and grandchil-
dren (sic) who may require it. I give and
bequeath to my said wife the above de-
scribed property, to have and hold the
same during her natural life.
Item. At the decease of my wife I
give and bequeath all of my said estate
that may remain, unto my children
and their descendants in equal shares,
the descendants of any deceased child to
take the same share their parent if
living would have taken. As follows
viz: to my daughter Betsy, wife of
Alexander C. Anderson Esq. one share,
to my son Robert one share, to my grand-
children, Allan, James and Alexander,
children of my daughter Susan, late wife
of James A. Graham Esq. together one share,
to my son James one share, to my daughters
Amelia, Victoria, Mary Ann and Caroline
each one share, to my sons Alexander
and Thomas Lowe, each one share.
I desire that my wife in such advances
as she may from time to time make for
the benefit of any of my children, shall
be governed by principles of equality, not
advancing for any one more than her ________
will justify for all.
Item. I hereby give and bequeath to
such and every person to whom I have
made contracts for the sale or gifts of
any portion, lot, or tracts of land upon
my land claim where I now reside, the
land so contracted or given, to be held
in fee simple, and whenever I have
failed to execute suitable deeds of
conveyance for the same, I request my
said wife to do so.
Item. I hereby appoint my said wife
Charlotte sole executrix of this my last
will and testament, and sole guardian
of any minor children.
I hereby revoke all wills by me here-
before made.
signed: James Birnie
The above will was signed
by the said James Birnie in
our presence, who at his request
and in his presence, and in pres-
ence (sic) of each other, have subscribed our
names as witnesses this fourth day
of April 1856
Wm Strong
Isaac B. Hall.
Excerpts from Narrative by Thomas N. Strong
on the Wahkiakum and Cathlamet Indians
Circa 1877- Source Unknown (newspaper article)
References to Mr. and Mrs. James Birnie
Mr. Strong mentions the role of Dr. John McLoughlin of the Hudson's Bay Co. at Vancouver, as
an essential Indian chief. The background of this story is that the local Indians, (Wahkiakum and
Cathlamets, lacked sufficient native leadership, and turned to the white men locating in their
territory as representatives of the Hudson's Bay Co. Many of John McLoughlin's records and
letters have been preserved by the Hudson's Bay Company Archives and have been published by
the Hudson's Bay Record Society Publications.
James Birnie and His Wife.
"Before McLoughlin came to Oregon, another servant of the Hudson's Bay Company had been
exercising all the functions and authority of a chief of the Indians. James Birnie was in every
respect an interesting character, and had great influence with the Indians of the Columbia River,
and from 1846 to his death in 1864, he lived and with his wife reigned at Cathlamet. He
connected himself with the Hudson's Bay Company at Montreal, and three years later, in 1820,
established a Hudson's Bay Company post at the Dalles. He was at Fort Simpson in British
Columbia, where one of the islands outside the harbor now bears his name, and afterwards was in
charge of Fort George, now Astoria, at the mouth of the Columbia River. In 1846 he severed his
connection with the Hudson's Bay Company and settled in Cathlamet, the first white man to make
a home there. Here he and his wife ruled in state and conducted what was in all essential
particulars a post of the Hudson's Bay Company. The square Hudson's Bay store just east of the
present steamboat landing at Cathlamet still stands. At least it is in the same position and is of the
same shape, but clapboards and paint have given it a modern appearance. The old Birnie House
was on the crest of the hill just back of the store. Like McLoughlin, Mr. Birnie had an Indian wife
brought with him from the Red River Indians of the East, but she, unlike Mrs. McLoughlin, bore
herself with all the self-assertion of an English dame of long pedigree. She entertained in
the_______table, and no social center in those days in all the country, was more fashionably
attended than that of Mrs. Birnie. Once only in the year did she resume her Indian character, and
that was for her annual trip to Shoalwater Bay for elk meat, clams and cranberries.
Famous Canoe Voyages.
"Mrs. Birnie's canoe was one of the wonders of the Lower River. No larger one in the memory
of Indians had ever been seen there. It was said that it could carry 70 people. In the Fall of the
year this canoe manned by 20 or 30 Indian men and women with all their belongings and
household furniture aboard, would start seaward from Cathlamet. Mrs. Birnie, all fire and energy,
would be in command, and no woman on the river could command better. To the dip of the
paddles and the Indian chant the big canoe, enforcing respect everywhere, would pass the
Chinook villages into Chinook River to the portage. Here the expedition would be taken over to
the Nasel River and from there would pass into Shoalwater Bay. After a few weeks of hunting
and fishing the party with its spoils would return by the same route. Disposing of her gatherings
and scattering her party, Mrs. Birnie would doff her Indian dress and again assume her role as the
Grand Dame of Birnie Hall.
"Here was one of the great gathering places of the Lower River, and here at the wedding of Mrs.
Birnie's daughters were gathered imposing assemblies. Thomas Fielding Scott, first missionary
bishop of Oregon, an imposing figure in full canonicals, performed the marriage ceremonies. The
Indians looked on in awe and amazement, and for weeks afterwards the little Indians gave dress
rehearsals of their imitation of a white man's wedding. The white robes of the bishop, which in
their untutored way they took to be a glorified nightgown or white blanket in some way peculiarly
appropriate for weddings, particularly took their fancy. To see a dirty little brat of an Indian with
a piece of old cloth on through which occasionally gleamed a brown little stomach, attempt to
repeat the marriage ceremony to a couple of other little brats was very funny.
"Neither Mr. Birnie nor any of the Hudson's Bay employees had any legal authority over the
Indians. Law in the very early days was chiefly conspicuous for its absence but each and every
one of them fearlessly assumed the duty of a chief bound to maintain order within the bounds of
his jurisdiction. Occasionally, Dr. McLoughlin would have an Indian murdered or hanged, and he
never permitted any serious offense to go unpunished, but such severe measures were rarely
necessary. ...
"As one by one, the Hudson's Bay Company gave up its posts the men who were foot loose,
returned to English soil, but many were not so free. Dr. McLoughlin and James Birnie, happy in
their married life, were nevertheless not in a position to return home, and were compelled to stay
in the wilderness with their wilderness people, and this was true of hundreds of others. Ties
carelessly assumed at first, in the end, held these men willing captives by a chain that they could
not and would not break. Already men and women are proud of the Indian blood in their veins,
and more and more this feeling will grow, but a this early time the Indian wife could only be
happy in her native land, and was unfitted for any other; and it speaks well for the great hearts of
these noble men that they recognized this and gave themselves a willing sacrifice to a new country
and a dying race. They had connected themselves with a changing time and were compelled to
change and pass away with it."
Thos. N. Strong
________________________________________________________________________
The "Wahkiakum County Eagle" published a series of Historical Special Editions that described the earliest of times in Cathlamet and surrounding communities. The following is extracted from the May 3, 1973 Special Edition, byline "CATHLAMET IN EARLY DAYS" by Lulu B. Heron, written in 1933 and included in the Special Edition from the records of Wahkiakum County Historical Society.
"...James Birnie was born in Aberdeen, Scotland of one of the old families and having completed two years at the University of Edinburgh he felt the urge to "go west" and joined the Hon. Hudson's Bay Company." {Note by D.B. Dorcy: James Birnie actually first joined the Northwest Company, a fierce competitor of the Hudson's Bay Co., which was later bought out by Hudson's Bay Co, with James making the transition} "His efforts on behalf of the company were commercially successful and his reputation for firmness, fairness and kindness grew among the Indians so that they trusted him implicitly and he was known among them as Keets-Keets-we-aw-Keet, meaning Great Chief.
"James Birnie was for several years a factor in charge of Ft. George, now Astoria. As was customary among Hudson's Bay officials he married an Indian woman who proved a devoted and steadfast helpmate during a long married life.
"The Birnies were noted for their hospitality and many military officers were pleased to become their guests among them a young Lt. who afterwards became a General and President of the United States, namely U.S. Grant.
"In 1850 Mr. Birnie availed himself of the donation act and his wife owned the entire town site of Cathlamet, the Birnie Donation Land Claim.
"When Mr. Birnie came he resolved to discontinue the Indian custom of placing their dead in the trees in their own canoes. He laid out a little cemetery on the hill above the present school site where he and Mrs. Birnie, several of their children and families and members of the Hudson's Bay Company who were here, are interred. (It is a project of our Cathlamet Woman's Club to restore as much as possible their burial places and mark the graves; also those of Chief Skamokawa and Queen Sally.)
"Charlotte Birnie (Mrs. James Birnie) was a Cree of the Red River and her son A.D. Birnie told me that she was part white, her father I believe was a Frenchman. An incident of their trip to the coast was told me at the same time. Mrs. Birnie sickened for a change of food and they stopped the caravan and took a day off for hunting bringing down many small quail. Some little time later they arrived in the Oregon Territory where her first child was born.
"Mrs. Birnie was described to me by Mrs. J. J. Foster, pioneer white woman in Cathlamet, as a pretty young woman with bright eyes and lovely dark glossy hair. She died in 1878 at the age of 74 years.
"The Birnies built a large substantial home here -- we called it the 'Birnie Mansion.' It ws on the hill facing the present highway and also overlooking the river. It was torn down only a few years ago. I have sat in the windows whose sills were 12 or 14 inches broad; the windows like the New England homes of that period made of 9 or 12 small panes to a sash.
"Forty three years ago I had a visit with Mr. George Allen who was Clerk for the Hudson's Bay Company here. He was a kindly man past eighty then and spoke to me of 'my friend James Birnie'. He was the last survivor of the company in Cathlamet and was tenderly cared for by Mrs. Birnie's son Alex and wife who provided him with a very neat home adjoining them on their property overlooking the Columbia. These two old landmarks, attractive homes, were torn down a few years ago after Mr. Alex D. Birnie's death when the property was purchased by the Standard Oil Company for the location of their oil station and agent's house. ...
"...Mrs. Andrews was one of the charming daughters of Mr. and Mrs. James Birnie, tho (sic) she sometimes said 'Not the good looking one' glancing sidewise at her father's portrait I would say, 'You look like your father' and she did have his strong Scotch features, as well as those of her Indian mother. She has told me of the visits of many visitors at their home; of their sending a boat for her and her sisters to attend a ball at Ft. Vancouver, and of the time that young Lt. Sheridan was let out of the guard house to furnish them with another partner. She was named Victoria (and Christened by Bishop Scott); her birth occurred on the 20th of June. When she was in the declining years of her life I took my Sunday school girls to the house to sing for her and she recognized the tune America and smiled and said 'that's God Save the King'. The day before she passed away I stopped in to see her. She greeted me, with her always pleasant smile and seemed to think that we both had lived in the past and said 'and which way did you come, down the hill?' and 'weren't you afraid of coyotes?' I think though there was courage in those days, there must have been unexpressed fears too.
"Her uncle James Anderson lived up above the Birnie house on a farm now called the Buswell place a short distance back from the present highway and a mile or more from town. Probably at the time she spoke to me of the coyotes her mind was back in the past and I seemed to be some one near to her from that house."
_________________________________________________________________________
Another outstanding source of information about James Birnie and his family is the book "BEACH OF HEAVEN, A History of Wahkiakum County" by Irene Martin, Washington State University Press, 1997.
quotes from pp. 26-31.
"James Birnie succeeded Couch in his brief venture on the lower Columbia, and established a successful trading post at Cathlamet in 1846, naming it Birnie's Retreat. Because of his position as founder of Cathlamet, his reputation has been somewhat enhanced by the passage of time. However, his story is more complicated than later legends about him would indicate. He was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1795 and began working for the Northwest Fur Company in 1817. In 1818 the Company sent him to the Columbia River at Astoria. He relocated several times, entering the service of the Hudson's Bay Company when that organization bought the assets of the Northwest Company. He was stationed at various times at Spokane, Fort Okenogan (Okanogan), Fort Colvile, Fort Vancouver, Fort Simpson (Nass), and Umpqua Fort. Alexander Birnie described his father this way:
'Father was a good trader, a great reader and an expert at accounts, but when it came to shooting or rowing or other work of that nature he let his employees take care of it. My father was a large man, broad-shouldered, deep-chested and six feet tall...Father opened the first store in Cathlamet. This was in 1846, and he was the first postmaster there...when father first joined the Northwest Fur Company, they had some pretty lively times, for the Northwest Company and Hudson's Bay Company were bitter rivals. In 1821 the two companies were consolidated, so after that father worked for Dr. John McLoughlin.'
"...Curiously, in their later years at Cathlamet, the Birnies owned a slave named Whalaki who came from British Columbia. Several accounts in early newspapers mention him, and a small island adjacent to Puget Island bears his name to this day. Again, it is tempting to speculate that Birnie, with his comprehension of Indian customs, intervened in this issue so that it could be resolved in a mutually acceptable way, with the least possible harm to local interests.
"In 1846, however, the settlement of the boundary issue between Great Britain and the United States at the 49th parallel began the events that ultimately let to the ouster of the Hudson's Bay Company from the Oregon Country. Birnie retired from the Company and settled in Cathlamet, which he called Birnie's Retreat. It is evident from the meager record that his Hudson's Bay career was difficult, with little advancement. His early years contrast sharply with his success in establishing himself at Cathlamet, leading one to speculate that he was a man whose entrepreneurial ability was limited by the hierarchical Hudson's Bay Company structure. While his employers recognized his talent for working with the Native American population, there is little indication that they utilized this ability. Instead, it appears that they simply sought to prevent the Americans from gaining access to him.
"Once established at Cathlamet, Birnie opened a trading post, modeled after Hudson's Bay Company posts. Within a relatively short period of time other settlers began to move in. William Strong, first territorial judge, arrived in 1850. James Strong, his brother, also took up a residence in Cathlamet...
"...The Indian wars of 1855-56, while causing great trepidation, did not affect Cathlamet, due to Charlotte Birnie's influence on the local population. Charlotte Beaulieu Birnie was the daughter of a French voyageur and a Kootenay Indian mother from the Red River country in Canada. She married James Birnie 'after the fur trade fashion' and later remarried him at Fort Vancouver at a Church of England ceremony conducted by the Rev. Herbert Beaver. Her influence and reputation, plus her organizational ability, played a significant role in Cathlamet's early success. Many of the early traders married Indian wives, who were an integral part of the web of trade and influence so important to good relations with the native population, which supplied the posts with the furs, food, and fish needed to be successful."
