#10011, Alexander MACKENZIE

Sir Alexander Mackenzie was the third of four children. He was baptised on 11th December, 1731. His father, Kenneth and his Uncle John made their way to New York colony not long before the American Revolution began. During the war they served as Loyalists in the King's Royal Regiment of New York. Because of the war, Alexander was sent to Montreal in 1778. In 1779 he began to work in the fur trade. At first he was a clerk in a Montreal counting house, but he was soon sent out to work in the field as a trader. Although he did well as a fur trader he also had an interest in exploring.

There are two primary explorations done by Mackenzie, the first in 1789 is the Mackenzie River expedition to the Arctic Ocean. Mackenzie started his journey at Fort Chipewyan hoping to discover a navigable route that would lead to the Pacific Ocean. He did not end up discovering the Northwest Passage, but rather the passage to the Arctic Ocean. Mackenzie was presumably very disappointed by this as he named it the 'Disappointment River' which was later renamed after him. He returned to Great Britain in 1791 to study longitude.

Upon his return to North America in 1792 he began his second exploration which had the same objective as the first: to reach the Pacific Ocean. He was accompanied by two aboriginal guides, his cousin Alexander MacKay and six Canadian voyageurs. Leaving from the Peace River, west of Fort Chipewyan, Mackenzie finally reached the Pacific coast. As far as it is known he was the first European to cross North America coast to coast, north of Mexico.

The Mackenzie River is one of 11 physical features in Canada named after him and his book 'Voyages' was a best seller in English and German. His fur interests had made him one of Canada's wealthiest men and on retirement to Scotland he bought an estate in Avoch. He is buried in the churchyard about 100 metres up the road towards Killen.

Sir Alexander fathered two children with an Indian Tribe's Woman named Marie (Kitty) of the Inuit Tribe in the Canadian Antarctic Region.

In 1812, Sir Alexander returned to Britain and married a 14-year old cousin who was the heiress of Avoch. He bought the remaining estate for £20,000.

In 1820, after seeing his doctor, Sir Alexander died on his way home from Edinburgh to Avoch in a wayside Inn, near Dunkeld.