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Indiana University 
but most of them sold their furs to the Astor traders.®^ A 
few tried to operate independently of the great company. 
Allen Hamilton and Cyrus Taber became dealers on a large 
scale, but they often sold to Astor and always tried to remain 
friendly with his men. 
The only real opponents of the American Fur Company in 
the Maumee-Wabash country was the firm of W. G. and G. W. 
Ewing. The Ewings were aggressive, unscrupulous, and de- 
termined to maintain their independence. Alexander Ewing, 
the father of William G. and George Washington Ewing, had 
been an Indian trader in Pennsylvania and Ohio and came to 
Fort Wayne in 1822. He there engaged in the fur business. 
Apparently he shipped part of his collections to Montreal and 
part of them he sold to the American Fur Company.^® In 
1825 Alexander Ewing took his sons William G. and George 
W. into partnership.^^ 
With the death of the elder Ewing, which occurred the 
next year, the firm became known as W. G. and G. W. 
Ewing.^® It was to continue for ten years but was not dis- 
solved until the death of William G. Ewing in 1854. 
The Ewing brothers were in trouble from the beginning of 
their business careers. They sought a grant from Louis Cass, 
the superintendent of Indian affairs, of a monopoly of the 
trade in the Fort Wayne district, but their petition was re- 
fused. They failed as traders to obey the instructions of the 
Indian agent. General Tipton, who seized their goods. They 
then applied to Cass, who finally returned their property.^^ 
Their whole history is full of similar incidents. 
For a time the Ewings remained friendly to the American 
Lasselle, “Indian Traders of Indiana”, in the Indiana Magazine of History, II, 
10, gives a partial list of these traders. The John Tipton Papers in the Indiana State 
Library contain many traders’ licenses. The number of licensed traders grows smaller 
after 1824, due partly to the removal of the Indians and partly to the fur monopoly. 
Tipton was Indian agent. 
5® There is mention of some notes given by Comparet and “Cokilyard” to Alexander 
Ewing for furs. Letters of James Abbott of the American Fur Company, June 28, 1825, 
to Alexander Ewing. Ewing Papers in the Indiana State Library. These papers com- 
prise all sorts of business, political, and personal material concerning the Ewing family 
from 1825 to 1881. There are some letter books but the outgoing letters are not 
complete. There are many gaps in these papers. They are valuable for the student 
of Indiana economic history. A calendar of them to 1819 has been prepared by Miss 
Nellie C. Armstrong, of the Indiana State Library. 
In the Ewing Papers, are the ^‘Articles of co-partnership . . . hetiveen Alexr 
Euring, Wm. G. Eyeing & George for the purpose of Trade, Trafic and Merchandize 
te be knotvn . . . [as] A. Etving & Sons” (Fort Wayne, July 23, 1825). 
Ewing Poolers, June 4, 1827. Articles of agi'eement as of June 23, 1826. 
Lewis Cass to W. G. and G. W. Ewing, Detroit, October 27, 1827, in ibid. 
