Source: https://www.geni.com/people/John-McKay/6000000003195851211
John McNab Ballanden McKay was known to all by the name he had chosen himself “Jerry.” He was a son of the famous trader, John Richards McKay (1792 - 1877), of Fort Ellice. “His mother”, Harriet (1795 – 1854) “was a …..daughter of Chief Factor John Ballanden, whose father and grandfather had been masters of Forts Severn and York, on Hudson Bay during the previous century.”
With his long fair hair, full beard and mustache, and blue eyes he was not only the Celt his name professed but also the “Orkney blood of the Norseman”. He was shorter than average, with a well-built body, and was a true athlete.
He was a wonderful runner, had great equestrian skills, imitative of “the Indian Warriors of the Plains”, and had perfected the art of dancing – from “sailor’s hornpipe to highland fling.” He was also an excellent hunter, recording repeated records of “13 kills on buffalo hunts”. As well, Jerry was expert with bow and arrow and lassos.
Jerry “could chop cordwood or square logs, repair carts, make horse and dog sleds with an axe and a crooked knife;and when overtaken by winter…make for the first convenient woods…knock up a shanty…and be warmly housed for winter…in a few days.” He was a “very fine Frontiersman.”
“He was an interpreter and trader at Fort Qu'Appelle in 1867. Promoted to postmaster in 1869. Jerry is mentioned on many occasions in the book Company of Adventurers by Issac Cowie published in 1913…. His business there was to interpret between the tribes speaking Cree, Saulteaux or Assiniboine, or the Metis speaking Indian or French, and the master or clerk of the fort. …….."
“As Jerry was at the head of all the hunting, trading and wintering parties which went to the plains…... as he was of that fine type of Hudson's Bay employees, with just enough Indian blood to give the sympathetic insight into the native mind and inspire reciprocal good understanding in them, who enabled the isolated European servants of the Company to hold ……. the Great Lone Land, until the advance of American settlement and modern means of transportation rendered it available for the pioneers with the plowshare, who have converted the once happy buffalo hunting grounds of the red man into the great granaries and cities of the white man which we see to-day. “
John McNab Ballanden McKay was known to all by the name he had chosen himself “Jerry.” He was a son of the famous trader, John Richards McKay (1792 - 1877), of Fort Ellice. “His mother”, Harriet (1795 – 1854) “was a …..daughter of Chief Factor John Ballanden, whose father and grandfather had been masters of Forts Severn and York, on Hudson Bay during the previous century.”
With his long fair hair, full beard and mustache, and blue eyes he was not only the Celt his name professed but also the “Orkney blood of the Norseman”. He was shorter than average, with a well-built body, and was a true athlete.
He was a wonderful runner, had great equestrian skills, imitative of “the Indian Warriors of the Plains”, and had perfected the art of dancing – from “sailor’s hornpipe to highland fling.” He was also an excellent hunter, recording repeated records of “13 kills on buffalo hunts”. As well, Jerry was expert with bow and arrow and lassos.
Jerry “could chop cordwood or square logs, repair carts, make horse and dog sleds with an axe and a crooked knife;and when overtaken by winter…make for the first convenient woods…knock up a shanty…and be warmly housed for winter…in a few days.” He was a “very fine Frontiersman.”
“He was an interpreter and trader at Fort Qu'Appelle in 1867. Promoted to postmaster in 1869. Jerry is mentioned on many occasions in the book Company of Adventurers by Issac Cowie published in 1913…. His business there was to interpret between the tribes speaking Cree, Saulteaux or Assiniboine, or the Metis speaking Indian or French, and the master or clerk of the fort. …….."
“As Jerry was at the head of all the hunting, trading and wintering parties which went to the plains…... as he was of that fine type of Hudson's Bay employees, with just enough Indian blood to give the sympathetic insight into the native mind and inspire reciprocal good understanding in them, who enabled the isolated European servants of the Company to hold ……. the Great Lone Land, until the advance of American settlement and modern means of transportation rendered it available for the pioneers with the plowshare, who have converted the once happy buffalo hunting grounds of the red man into the great granaries and cities of the white man which we see to-day. “
Source: https://www.geni.com/people/John-McKay/6000000003195851211
John McNab Ballanden McKay was known to all by the name he had chosen himself “Jerry.” He was a son of the famous trader, John Richards McKay (1792 - 1877), of Fort Ellice. “His mother”, Harriet (1795 – 1854) “was a …..daughter of Chief Factor John Ballanden, whose father and grandfather had been masters of Forts Severn and York, on Hudson Bay during the previous century.”
With his long fair hair, full beard and mustache, and blue eyes he was not only the Celt his name professed but also the “Orkney blood of the Norseman”. He was shorter than average, with a well-built body, and was a true athlete.
He was a wonderful runner, had great equestrian skills, imitative of “the Indian Warriors of the Plains”, and had perfected the art of dancing – from “sailor’s hornpipe to highland fling.” He was also an excellent hunter, recording repeated records of “13 kills on buffalo hunts”. As well, Jerry was expert with bow and arrow and lassos.
Jerry “could chop cordwood or square logs, repair carts, make horse and dog sleds with an axe and a crooked knife;and when overtaken by winter…make for the first convenient woods…knock up a shanty…and be warmly housed for winter…in a few days.” He was a “very fine Frontiersman.”
“He was an interpreter and trader at Fort Qu'Appelle in 1867. Promoted to postmaster in 1869. Jerry is mentioned on many occasions in the book Company of Adventurers by Issac Cowie published in 1913…. His business there was to interpret between the tribes speaking Cree, Saulteaux or Assiniboine, or the Metis speaking Indian or French, and the master or clerk of the fort. …….."
“As Jerry was at the head of all the hunting, trading and wintering parties which went to the plains…... as he was of that fine type of Hudson's Bay employees, with just enough Indian blood to give the sympathetic insight into the native mind and inspire reciprocal good understanding in them, who enabled the isolated European servants of the Company to hold ……. the Great Lone Land, until the advance of American settlement and modern means of transportation rendered it available for the pioneers with the plowshare, who have converted the once happy buffalo hunting grounds of the red man into the great granaries and cities of the white man which we see to-day. “
John McNab Ballanden McKay was known to all by the name he had chosen himself “Jerry.” He was a son of the famous trader, John Richards McKay (1792 - 1877), of Fort Ellice. “His mother”, Harriet (1795 – 1854) “was a …..daughter of Chief Factor John Ballanden, whose father and grandfather had been masters of Forts Severn and York, on Hudson Bay during the previous century.”
With his long fair hair, full beard and mustache, and blue eyes he was not only the Celt his name professed but also the “Orkney blood of the Norseman”. He was shorter than average, with a well-built body, and was a true athlete.
He was a wonderful runner, had great equestrian skills, imitative of “the Indian Warriors of the Plains”, and had perfected the art of dancing – from “sailor’s hornpipe to highland fling.” He was also an excellent hunter, recording repeated records of “13 kills on buffalo hunts”. As well, Jerry was expert with bow and arrow and lassos.
Jerry “could chop cordwood or square logs, repair carts, make horse and dog sleds with an axe and a crooked knife;and when overtaken by winter…make for the first convenient woods…knock up a shanty…and be warmly housed for winter…in a few days.” He was a “very fine Frontiersman.”
“He was an interpreter and trader at Fort Qu'Appelle in 1867. Promoted to postmaster in 1869. Jerry is mentioned on many occasions in the book Company of Adventurers by Issac Cowie published in 1913…. His business there was to interpret between the tribes speaking Cree, Saulteaux or Assiniboine, or the Metis speaking Indian or French, and the master or clerk of the fort. …….."
“As Jerry was at the head of all the hunting, trading and wintering parties which went to the plains…... as he was of that fine type of Hudson's Bay employees, with just enough Indian blood to give the sympathetic insight into the native mind and inspire reciprocal good understanding in them, who enabled the isolated European servants of the Company to hold ……. the Great Lone Land, until the advance of American settlement and modern means of transportation rendered it available for the pioneers with the plowshare, who have converted the once happy buffalo hunting grounds of the red man into the great granaries and cities of the white man which we see to-day. “
Inscription
Mary
Wife of
Jerry McKay
Died
March 20, 1900
Aged 64
Jerry McKay
May 6, 1907
Aged 75 Years
At Rest
Family Members
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