Driven To Excel

Driven To ExcelDonald Charles McLean left Scotland and signed on with the Hudson Bay Company in 1813, as a shallop master. Three years later, because of starvation conditions, he volunteered to snowshoe from Moose Factory to Montreal, through the dangerous and inhospitable arctic watershed, controlled by the North West Company. At Montreal, he assisted Lord Selkirk to prepare for his journey to the Red River Colony. After learning of the massacre at Seven Oaks,

Donald Charles McLean left Scotland and signed on with the Hudson Bay Company in 1813, as a shallop master. Three years later, because of starvation conditions, he volunteered to snowshoe from Moose Factory to Montreal, through the dangerous and inhospitable arctic watershed, controlled by the North West Company. At Montreal, he assisted Lord Selkirk to prepare for his journey to the Red River Colony.
After learning of the massacre at Seven Oaks, McLean joined the rival NWC and became Captain of their Schooner, Governor Gore, sailing on the upper Great Lakes.
McLean married Ann Warren of Fort Erie in 1820 and shortly after the two fur-trading companies amalgamated, they moved to the Seigneury of Argenteuil where they raised twelve children. McLean participated in the Rebellion of 1837. Later, he bought 1,500 acres in the wilderness of Eardley Twp. where he, his wife and most of their sons moved and entered into the lumber business.