George McBeath (c. 1740 – December 3, 1812) was a fur trader, businessman and political figure in

Lower Canada The Province of Lower Canada (french: province du Bas-Canada) was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence (1791–1841). It covered the southern portion of the current Province of Quebec an ...

. He was born in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

around 1740 and came to

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

around 1760. McBeath entered the fur trade in 1765, travelling to the

Lake Superior Lake Superior in central North America is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface areaThe Caspian Sea is the largest lake, but is saline, not freshwater. and the third-largest by volume, holding 10% of the world's surface fresh wa ...

region. In 1772, he became part of a company based at

Michilimackinac Michilimackinac ( ) is derived from an Ottawa Ojibwe name for present-day Mackinac Island and the region around the Straits of Mackinac between Lake Huron and Lake Michigan.. Early settlers of North America applied the term to the entire region ...

. He became partners with Simon McTavish and then went into business on his own. With

Peter Pond Peter Pond (January 18, 1739 – 1807) was an American explorer, cartographer, merchant and soldier who was a founding member of the North West Company and the Beaver Club. Though he was born and died in Milford, Connecticut, most of his life ...

and others, McBeath purchased shares in the North West Company, which he held until 1787. He settled at

L'Assomption L'Assomption () is an off-island suburb of Montreal, in southwestern Quebec, Canada on the L'Assomption River. It is the seat of the Regional County Municipality of L'Assomption. It is located on the outer fringes of the Montreal urban area. ...

in 1785. He was one of the founders of the

Beaver Club The Beaver Club was a gentleman's dining club founded in 1785 by the predominantly English-speaking men who had gained control of the fur trade of Montreal. According to the club's rules, the object of their meeting was "to bring together, at stat ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

. McBeath was elected to the

Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada The Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada was the lower house of the bicameral structure of provincial government in Lower Canada until 1838. The legislative assembly was created by the Constitutional Act of 1791. The lower house consisted of el ...

in a 1793 by-election held after the death of

François-Antoine Larocque François-Antoine Larocque (August 19, 1784 – May 1, 1869) was a Québécois businessman involved in the fur trade. He was born in L'Assomption in 1784, the son of François-Antoine Larocque, and studied at the Collège de Montréal. After ...

. He was named justice of the peace for Montreal district in 1795 and, in 1799, he was appointed customs collector for the port of St Johns (later Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu). McBeath also served as lieutenant-colonel in the militia and was reportedly a Freemason. He died at Montreal in 1812.

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:McBeath, George 1812 deaths Members of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada Canadian fur traders North West Company people Scottish emigrants to pre-Confederation Quebec Year of birth uncertain Immigrants to New France