Moses Norton (29 December 1773) 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 div ...

administrator who was chief

factor Factor, a Latin word meaning "who/which acts", may refer to: Commerce * Factor (agent), a person who acts for, notably a mercantile and colonial agent * Factor (Scotland), a person or firm managing a Scottish estate * Factors of production, suc ...

of Fort Prince of Wales from 1762 until his death in 1773. A controversial figure throughout his life, he notably commissioned explorer

Samuel Hearne Samuel Hearne (February 1745 – November 1792) was an English explorer, fur-trader, author, and naturalist. He was the first European to make an overland excursion across northern Canada to the Arctic Ocean, actually Coronation Gulf, via the C ...

's three expeditions in 1769–1772, which led to the first European discovery of the

Coppermine River The Coppermine River is a river in the North Slave and Kitikmeot regions of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut in Canada. It is long. It rises in Lac de Gras, a small lake near Great Slave Lake, and flows generally north to Coronation Gulf, a ...

and the northern coast of

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Early life

Moses Norton was born at

Prince of Wales Fort The Prince of Wales Fort is a historic bastion fort on Hudson Bay across the Churchill River from Churchill, Manitoba, Canada. History The European history of this area starts with Henry Hudson sailing into Hudson Bay in 1610. The area was re ...

around 1735, the son of Richard Norton and Sunannah Dupeer.

Career

After being

indentured An indenture is a legal contract that reflects or covers a debt or purchase obligation. It specifically refers to two types of practices: in historical usage, an indentured servant status, and in modern usage, it is an instrument used for commercia ...

to HBC ship captain George Spurrell in 1744, he first served aboard an HBC sloop for several years before becoming an assistant to Ferdinand Jacobs, the then-chief factor of Fort Prince of Wales, in present-day

Churchill, Manitoba Churchill is a town in northern Manitoba, Canada, on the west shore of Hudson Bay, roughly from the Manitoba–Nunavut border. It is most famous for the many polar bears that move toward the shore from inland in the autumn, leading to the nickname ...

. He later served as a mate on the Company's vessel ''Churchill''. In 1762, Norton was appointed to the position of chief factor of Fort Prince of Wales. In 1769, he commissioned English explorer

to embark on a lengthy expedition to discover the

, after being informed of the river's existence by the

Chipewyan The Chipewyan ( , also called ''Denésoliné'' or ''Dënesųłı̨né'' or ''Dënë Sųłınë́'', meaning "the original/real people") are a Dene Indigenous Canadian people of the Athabaskan language family, whose ancestors are identified ...

Indians. Over the course of Hearne's protracted journey, during which he had to restart twice, a large portion of country was discovered and mapped for the first time by Europeans, but the river itself was of questionable importance. The failure of Hearne's first two attempts can largely be attributed to Norton's poor planning and unwise choices for Native guides.

Death

Norton died on 29 December 1773 from a bowel disorder, aged 37 or 38. He was survived by one known daughter, Mary, who herself died in 1782.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Norton, Moses 1773 deaths Canadian fur traders Chief factors Hudson's Bay Company people Pre-Confederation Manitoba people