James Bird ( c. 1773 – 18 October 1856) was a

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business di ...

fur trader. He was born in England and came to Canada in 1788. Bird made steady progress within the company serving his apprenticeship in

York Factory York Factory was a settlement and Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) factory (trading post) located on the southwestern shore of Hudson Bay in northeastern Manitoba, Canada, at the mouth of the Hayes River, approximately south-southeast of Churchill. ...

and then moving on to more westerly posts which he first visited with the HBC inland master,

William Tomison William Tomison was a Scottish fur trader who helped found and build a number of trading posts for the Hudson Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur tradin ...

. They included

Cumberland House, Saskatchewan Cumberland House is a community in Census Division No. 18 in northeast Saskatchewan, Canada on the Saskatchewan River. It is the oldest settler community in Saskatchewan and has a population of about 2,000 people. Cumberland House Provincial Pa ...

and Buckingham House in Alberta. Bird was named chief factor of the Lower Red River district in 1821. He had a period previously as the acting HBC governor of

Rupert’s Land Rupert's Land (french: Terre de Rupert), or Prince Rupert's Land (french: Terre du Prince Rupert, link=no), was a territory in British North America which comprised the Hudson Bay drainage basin; this was further extended from Rupert's Land t ...

. At the end of his career, he was an important figure with the company in the

Red River Colony The Red River Colony (or Selkirk Settlement), also known as Assinboia, was a colonization project set up in 1811 by Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk, on of land in British North America. This land was granted to Douglas by the Hudson's Bay ...

. It was there he married his last wife, having had one or more previous wives according to the custom of the country. He retired there and had a large property at what is now Birds Hill which was named after him. His last son, Curtis James Bird, inherited this property and became a prominent part of the larger community. His third son, James Bird (Jimmy Jock) had a long career as a free trader and sometimes company employee.

References

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''James Curtis Bird - Manitoba Historical Society''
1773 births 1856 deaths Canadian fur traders Hudson's Bay Company people {{Canada-business-bio-stub