William Fraser Tolmie - DuPont Historical Museum

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William Fraser Tolmie:
A Remarkable Man in Challenging Times
by Drew W. Crooks
Over the years many accomplished people have lived in the area which is now the City of
DuPont. One of the most outstanding individuals was William Fraser Tolmie (1812-1886).
Among his accomplishments, he served for sixteen years as manager of Fort Nisqually, a trading
post that was run by the British-owned Hudson’s Bay Company in the nineteenth century. As
post commander, Tolmie’s actions affected Hudson’s Bay Company employees, Native
Americans, and American settlers. He was truly a remarkable man in challenging times.
William Tolmie was born in Inverness, Scotland on February 3, 1812 to Alexander
Tolmie and Marjory Fraser Tolmie. His mother died when he was three, and young Tolmie was
raised by an aunt. The Scottish lad’s early education took place at Inverness Academy and Perth
Grammar School. He proved to be a good student.
An uncle of Tolmie encouraged the youthful scholar to pursue medicine as a career and is
reputed to have paid for his studies at the University of Glasgow’s medical school. William
Tolmie learned quickly. He even won prizes in chemistry and French. In 1831 Tolmie received a
diploma as licentiate from the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow.
Hopes by Tolmie for further medical education in Paris, however, were dashed by a
serious life-threatening illness. In early 1832 Tolmie worked as a clerk at an emergency cholera
hospital in Glasgow, Scotland. At that time a terrible cholera epidemic was sweeping through the
region.
Later in 1832 William Tolmie came to a turning point in his life. He joined the Hudson’s
Bay Company (HBC) on September 12th. The HBC, headquartered in London, operated in the
19th century a network of fur trading posts across what are now Canada and the Pacific
Northwest. Tolmie at the age of twenty signed a five-year contract with the Company to serve as
both clerk and surgeon.
The young Scot left England on September 15, 1832, sailing on the HBC supply ship
Ganymede for the Northwest Coast. Hard-working Tolmie used the time on the long trip for selfimprovement. He extensively read a variety of books and collected fish and bird specimens.
Finally, after passing around Cape Horn and stopping in the Hawaiian Islands, William
Tolmie arrive on May 4, 1833 at the HBC post of Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River. Dr.
John McLoughlin, the Company officer in charge of the Columbia District, soon ordered Tolmie
north to what is presently the British Columbia coast.
The first phase of his new journey brought Tolmie overland to Nisqually House, the
temporary HBC base located near the mouth of Sequalitchew Creek in the South Puget Sound
region. Arriving on May 30th at Nisqually, the young Scot intended to quickly push on by ship
to his assigned duty in the north. These plans fell apart in the face of a medical emergency.
Pierre Charles, a key Company employee at Nisqually House, severely cut his foot while
chopping wood. William Tolmie postponed his move to the north and stayed at the Nisqually
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post to care for the seriously wounded man (who would eventually recover). In fact, Tolmie
remained at Nisqually until mid-December 1833.
During this time William Tolmie helped trade furs with Native Americans and
participated in other post activities. One major development for the HBC workers was moving
the trading station from the site on the beach to a more permanent location up the bluff and
inland (to a place that is currently part of the City of DuPont). Historians would later refer to this
second post as the 1833 Fort Nisqually.
While at Fort Nisqually, Tolmie proved to be a capable and hard working Company
employee. At the same time out of personal interest he engaged in a serious study of Native
languages and local botany. In September 1833 Tolmie, with the crucial help of Native
Americans, explored Mount Rainier’s lower slopes on a botanizing expedition.
William Tolmie finally left the Nisqually station by ship on December 12, 1833 for the
northern HBC post of Fort McLoughlin on Milbank Sound. This station was situated near what is
now the community of Bella Bella (or Waglisha), British Columbia. For the next three years
Tolmie served at several Company trading posts on the northern Northwest Coast. Then in 1836
he returned to Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River.
From 1836 to 1840 William Tolmie worked for the HBC at Fort Vancouver as surgeon
and Indian trade manager. After that he served for a year in the position of Company traveling
agent. In early 1841 Tolmie received a furlough. He left Fort Vancouver on March 22, 1841,
traveling overland with the HBC’s York Factory Express. In September of that year Tolmie
sailed from York Factory, which was located on Hudson’s Bay in present day Canada, for
Europe.
Once in Great Britain, William Tolmie made good use of his furlough, visiting family
and friends. He even went on to Paris to learn more about medicine. The loyal Scot, however,
chose to continue in HBC service. On September 10, 1843, Tolmie sailed from England on the
Company’s Columbia.
During his furlough Tolmie had studied the Spanish language, thinking he would be
assigned to the HBC post located at Yebra Buena on San Francisco Bay in California. At that
time the area was still ruled by Mexico. To his surprise, Tolmie soon found after arriving at Fort
Vancouver in May 1843 that Company orders instead directed him to take command of Fort
Nisqually on Puget Sound.
So William Fraser Tolmie came to Fort Nisqually. His work as station commander
included the duties of Indian trader, medical officer, and Puget’s Sound Agricultural Company
(PSAC) manager. The PSAC, formed in 1838, was an HBC subsidiary focused on farming
activities. As the fur trade declined in the Pacific Northwest, the HBC became increasing
involved in agriculture.
In any case, an immediate task for Tolmie was overseeing the relocation of Fort
Nisqually a mile inland to a site on Sequalitchew Creek’s south bank. The new location had
better access to water and farming land. This third post was later identified by historians as the
1843 Fort Nisqually. It would exist as a Company station until 1870.
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Before long, political changes complicated the position of William Tolmie at Fort
Nisqually. When the station was moved in 1843, the Pacific Northwest was legally claimed by
both Great Britain and the United States. In 1846 the two countries agreed to divide the area at
forty-nine degrees north latitude with the northern portion going to the British and the southern
part to the Americans. Though the property rights of the HBC /PSAC Companies were protected
by a signed treaty, Fort Nisqually and other posts south of the new border were now British
establishments on United States territory facing growing opposition by American settlers.
Despite these political complications, Tolmie proved to be a capable leader at Nisqually
during the years he commanded the station (1843-1859). He was a hands-on manager
who effectively supervised the fur trading and farming operations of the HBC/PSAC at the post
and its satellite outstations. Furthermore, William Tolmie got along well with Native Americans,
seeing them as crucial business partners. His knowledge of Native languages certainly helped in
creating mutual understanding.
Tolmie had a complex relationship with American settlers. He maintained good ties with
many pioneers, selling them supplies and at times hiring them for work. At the same time some
American settlers, not recognizing the legal rights of the HBC/PSAC, squatted on Company land
and shot Company cattle. The conflict only ended in 1869, ten years after Tolmie left Fort
Nisqually, when the United States government purchased the rights of the HBC/PSAC south of
the international border.
In these challenging times, William Tolmie firmly but peacefully defended the
HBC/PSAC position at Nisqually. A particularly difficult time was the Puget Sound
Indian/American Settler War of 1855-56 when conflict swept over the region. It is to Tolmie’s
credit that after the war ended with the settlers victorious, he took a major part in the effort to
save Native leader Leschi from the “legal” vengeance of pioneers. Unfortunately, the effort
failed and Leschi was convicted of murder after two trials and was hung in February 1858.
During his years at Fort Nisqually Tolmie steadily rose in rank in the HBC/PSAC. He
became a Chief Trader in 1847 and a Chief Factor eight years later. The latter rank entitled
Tolmie to be a Company shareholder. Personal change also came to the Scotsman. In 1850 he
married Jane Work, the daughter of high HBC official John Work and Josette Lagace Work.
William and Jane had numerous children. One, Simon Fraser Tolmie, later became premier of
British Columbia from 1928 to 1933.
William Tolmie’s time at Fort Nisqually came to a close in July 1859. He was then
transferred to the HBC post in Victoria on Vancouver Island and promoted. As historian John S.
Galbraith noted, “the elevation [of Tolmie] in 1859 to a position on the Board of Management of
the Western Department of the Hudson’s Bay Company was in recognition of the fact that,
plagued by exasperations which must have affected the calmest of men, he had defended the
Company’s interests well [at Fort Nisqually], despite the inadequate weapons at his disposal.” 1
John S. Galbraith, “The British and Americans at Fort Nisqually,” Pacific Northwest Quarterly, Vol. 41, No. 2
(April 1950), page 120.
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By November 1863 Tolmie was the senior member of the Board of Management of the
HBC’s Western Department. He continued in Victoria to work hard for the Company that he had
served since 1832. However, all things come to an end. In June 1870 Tolmie went on a furlough
from the HBC, and officially retired on May 31, 1871.
On Vancouver Island after 1859 William Tolmie also became involved in politics. He
served in the Legislative Assembly of Vancouver Island from 1860 to 1866. Then from 1874 to
1878 Tolmie was a member of the British Columbia Legislature. Politically the Scotsman tended
to be a reformer, supporting Canadian Confederation, temperance, and women suffrage.
In his later years Tolmie dedicated much of his time and energy to running a 1,000 acre
farm at Cloverdale near Victoria. Operations included both livestock and crops. Perhaps this
work brought back memories to Tolmie of overseeing the farming activities at Fort Nisqually in
the 1840s/1850s.
Jane Tolmie died at Victoria on June 23, 1880. It was a crushing blow to William. He
himself passed away on December 8, 1886. The couple left behind a large extended family,
many local friends, and a legacy of service to the community. William and Jane Tolmie were
buried in Victoria’s Ross Bay Cemetery.
How can William Fraser Tolmie be described? In 1878 historian Hubert Howe Bancroft
drew a verbal portrait of the Scotsman: “rather below medium height, broad-shouldered and stout
. . . high forehead, coarse features, round deep-set eyes glittering from under shaggy brows, large
round ruby nose.” 2
In character Tolmie was an energetic, hard-working individual who remained loyal to
what he believed in whether it was the HBC/PSAC or an idea such as temperance. Throughout
his life the Scotsman wanted to learn more about the world, reading books on various subjects.
He also extensively studied botany by collecting specimens and Native languages by recording
vocabularies. Indeed, in 1884 Tolmie and Dr. George Mercer Dawson (of the Geological Survey
of Canada) published a collection of Native vocabularies from Northwest Coast tribes.
Several places are named after William Fraser Tolmie. They include Tolmie Peak near
Mount Rainier in Washington State, and Mount Tolmie close to Victoria in British Columbia.
There is even a Tolmie State Park in northeastern Thurston County, Washington. However, the
greatest legacy of Tolmie is not place names, but the impact of his actions on the development of
the region, especially Fort Nisqually. His life should not be forgotten.
Quoted in W. Kaye Lamb, “Tolmie, William Fraser,” in Dictionary Of Canadian Biography, Vol. XI 1881-1890
(Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press, 1982), pages 887-888.
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Bibliography
“A William Fraser Tolmie Chronology,” Occurrences, Vol. XIX, No. 1 (Winter 2001), page 4.
“Documenting the Rise of William Fraser Tolmie,” Occurrences, Vol. XIX, No. 1 (Winter
2001), pages 5-7.
Galbraith, John S., “The British and Americans at Fort Nisqually,” Pacific Northwest Quarterly,
Vol. 41, No. 2 (April 1950), pages 109-120.
Lamb, W. Kaye, “Tolmie, William Fraser,” in Dictionary Of Canadian Biography, Vol. XI 1881
To 1890 (Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press, 1982), pages 885-888.
Rhind, Bill, “Fort Nisqually in 1833: Dr. Tolmie and Pacific Northwest Coast Languages,”
Occurrences, Vol. XXVII, No. 3 (Summer 2008), pages 9-10.
Tolmie, S. F., “My Father: William Fraser Tolmie, 1812-1886,” British Columbia Historical
Quarterly, Vol. I, No. 4 (October 1937), pages 227-240.
Tolmie, William Fraser, The Journal of William Fraser Tolmie, Physician And Fur Trader
(Vancouver, BC: Mitchell Press Limited, 1963).
Watson, Bruce McIntyre, “Tolmie, William Fraser,” in Lives Lived West of the Divide: A
Biographical Dictionary of Fur Traders Working West of the Rockies, 1793-1858, Vol. 3,
(Kelowna, BC: Centre for Social, Spatial and Economic Justice, University of British Columbia,
Okanagan, 2010), pages 932-933.

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