kindred in Vermont. The death thus 

 taking place in absence was a source 

 of intense grief to Harmon and his 

 wife and from that time we find evi- 

 dences of serious thought and religious 

 development in the journal. We have 

 allusions also in the journal to the 

 pleasure Harmon took in personally 

 educating his children and to the in- 

 struction he gave his wife in the 

 truths of Christianity. The time came 

 when Harmon decided to leave the 

 service and give his family the ad- 

 vantages of civilized life and the ac- 

 count he gives of the circumstances of 

 his journey when accompanied by his 

 wife and children he bade adieu to 

 the wild fur country reads almost like 

 a chapter of romance. Miss Harmon, 

 his youngest daughter, conducts a 

 well known ladies' school in Ottawa 

 and she holds the memory of her 

 father and mother in the greatest rev- 

 erence. 



AXiter 1 t'hie Union.. 



The remarkable year of 1821 which 

 witnessed the amalgamation of the 

 Northwest Company with the Hud- 

 son's Bay Company brought a period 

 of peacefulness which was chiefly pro- 

 lific in personal correspondence among 

 the chief factors and the traders of 

 the united corporation. 



As Mr. Roderick Mackenzie was the 

 central figure of interest in the former 

 period so Mr. James Hargrave appears 

 in the latter. Mr. Hargrave was sta- 

 tioned for a number of years at Fort 

 Garry and afterwards for a lengthened 

 period at York Factory. The latter 

 place was the chief port of entry to 

 and from Rupert's Land and his posi- 

 tion there brought him into corre- 

 spondence with nearly all the leading 

 men of the country. He rose to the 

 position of chief factor in the service 

 of the Hudson's Bay Co. 



It is to be regretted that we have 

 none of Mr. Hargrave's own letters, 

 only tho.se of his correspondents have 

 been preserved and they date from 

 1821 to 1859. Among these corre- 

 spondents we find the name of Geo. 

 Simpson, afterwards Sir Geo. Simpson, 

 the autocratic governor of the Hud- 

 son's Bay Company, who, indeed, was 

 sometimes styled the emperor. He 



writes from Norway House, from Red 

 River and sometimes from London, 

 England. Other writers were Arch- 

 deacon Cochrane, of Red River ; 

 Bishop Provencher, Rev. David Jones, 

 Acting Governor Bulger, Cuthbert 



Grant, the Bois-Brule leader, who 

 after the stormy period of the Selkirk 

 settlement had made a peaceful home 

 for himself at White Horse Plains, 

 Trader Sieveright; Mr. Connolly, 

 chief trader New Caledonia; J. G. Mc- 

 Tavish, of Fort Churchill, and Mr. Geo. 

 Barnston, a very intimate friend of 



Sir George Simpson, Governor, Wad. 

 son's Bay Co., 1821—61. 



Hargrave. These all give their varied 

 experiences. The local governors, 

 Finlayson and MacTavish, are well 

 represented, as well as Alexander 

 Ross, the historian of Red River. 



Sir George Simpson in one of his 

 letters states that Sir Walter Scott 

 has just passed away. He thanks 

 Hargrave for copies of Blackwood's 

 Magazine, and gives orders for some 

 new books of the season. In a letter 

 from Chief Factor Stuart, New Cale- 

 donia, he speaks of wishing to see the 

 continuation of Southey's "Peninsular 

 War," and says he has ordered Na- 

 pier's History of the Peninsular War. 

 Many other allusions are made in the 

 corespondence to books and maga- 



