From: "A History of the Scotch Presbyterian Church, St. Gabriel Street,
Montreal"
By Rev, Robert Campbell, M.A., 1887
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Joseph Frobisher, whose name stands next, subscribing ten guineas, was a member of the distinguished firm of “Benjamin & Joseph Frobisher,” that joined Simon McTavish in forming the “North-west Company” in the the winter of 1783-84. Mr. Frobisher was the first to penetrate the great North-west as far as the Churchill River. Up to 1774, the Indians in that region used to carry their furs to Hudson’s Bay, but Mr. Frobisher met them on the way and induced them to trade with him. He remained two seasons in the country, enduring great hardships, having to depend upon what the woods and waters afforded for subsistence. He returned in 1776, having secured what was in those days counted a competent fortune, in his two years’ transactions with the Indians. His brother, Benjamin Frobisher, who died in 1787, made his way still farther west, being the first to reach Isle a la Croix. In 1798, Joseph Frobisher retired from active commercial life. He was
an Englishman and a prominent member of the ‘Protestant congregation of
Montreal,” being a vestryman in 1789, as James McGill
also was. He was a member of the committee for the erection of the first
Along with John Gray, Daniel Sutherland, and others, he formed the first company, in 1801, for the construction of water works for the city. He received a grant of 11,550 acres in the Township of Ireland from Governor Mimes in 1802; and in the adjoining township of Inverness there is a hill called after him, still known as “Frobisher Hill.” His residence “Beaver Hall,” so designated
in allusion to the business which its proprietor prosecuted, was burnt
in 1847, but it has given its name to one of the classic quarters of the
city. Joseph Frobisher was in his day one of “the characters” of the commercial
metropolis of Canada. The firm, “McTavish, Frobisher
& Co.,” held a pew in the [St. Gabriel
Street] church up to 1805.
From: " The (MacMillan) Dictionary of Canadian Biography" Frobisher, Joseph (1740-1810), fur-trader, was born in Halifax, Yorkshire, England, on April 15, 1740. He appears to have followed his brother Benjamin Frobisher to Canada, and to have first gone to the West in 1768. It is known that he made an attempt to pass beyond Grand Portage in 1769, but was turned back by the Indians. The statement is made in the McDonell diary, under date of September 4, 1793, that he wintered on the Red river in 1770-71; but this statement is open to doubt. Certainly he reached the Saskatchewan in 1773, with his brother Thomas Frobisher; and spent the winter near the site of what afterwards became Fort Cumberland. In 1774-75 he wintered on the Athabaska river, in the hope of cutting off the fur-trade from Fort Churchill, and nearly perished of starvation. He was an original member of the North West Company in 1779; and he became one of its great figures. On the death of his brother Benjamin in 1787, he joined forces with Simon McTavish, to form McTavish, Frobisher and Co., which was for many years the virtual directorate of the North West Company. He retired from business in 1798, and lived at his place, Beaver Hall, in Montreal. He represented the East Ward of Montreal in the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada from 1792 to 1796; and he died in Montreal on September12, 1810. In 1779 he married Charlotte Joubert, of Montreal. His letter-book and his “Diary of my dinners” are preserved in the Library of McGill University. [ F. J. Audet, "Les Depues de Montreal" (Montreal 1942); G. C. Davidson,
"The North West Company" (Berkley, Cal., 1919); W.S. Wallace, "The pedlars
from Quebec" (Can. hist. rev., 1932); "Can. Arch. report", 1890, note C.]
See also: His brother Benjamin Frobisher His brother Thomas Frobisher His son Benjamin Joseph Frobisher *Researching Joseph Frobisher................Denny Lowe (1st cousin 7x removed) Return to Notable Montrealers Return to St. Gabriel's Chuch building fund |