Sayer, John (1750–1818)

John Sayer was a trader, a merchant, and a partner in several fur trade companies for more than thirty years. In the late 1790s, he became a partner of the North West Company and proprietor of their Fond du Lac district, supervising trade with the Ojibwe south of Lake Superior and west across what is now northern Minnesota.

John Sayer is believed to have been born in England in 1750. He immigrated to the Canadian colonies in the first years after the conquest of New France by England. There, he completed his formal education and was apprenticed to a Montreal merchant.

Sayer first appeared in the fur trade in the late 1770s, working in the Fond du Lac area south and west of Lake Superior. His success in establishing trading relationships with Ojibwe people may have been a result of his choice of marriage. He married Obemau-unoqua, a daughter of the Ojibwe leader Ma-mongazida. Obemau-unoqua had important ties to the local community and taught Sayer customs that would have strengthened his relationships with her people.

Sayer became a wintering partner of the North West Company in 1798 and took over command of the Fond du Lac district. He traveled widely throughout the region, overseeing the operation of twelve wintering posts and up to eighty men. He also operated a regional supply depot and warehouse at Fort St. Louis, on the shores of Lake Superior near present day Superior, Wisconsin.

During the winter of 1803–1804, Sayer took charge of the post on the Yellow River, near present-day Danbury, Wisconsin, in order to actively pursue competition from the newly organized XY Company. The following season, during the winter of 1804–1805, he wintered along the Snake River near present-day Pine City, Minnesota, where he oversaw the local merger and absorption of the XY Company into the North West Company.

Most important, Sayer was responsible for the trading in his department. Although he followed general company policies, he negotiated directly with the Ojibwe. He gave gifts to encourage them to trade. He even altered the prices offered for furs.

Sayer tightly controlled all of his department’s operations. During the winter of 1804, he closely supervised the activities of two other traders: Joseph “La Prairie” Duchene, who was wintering along the Yellow River, and Joseph Réaume, who was wintering at Namai Kowagon (Sturgeon Dam). Both were frequent visitors to Sayer’s post on the Snake River. In the winter of 1805, Sayer noted bitterly in his journal that La Prairie had acted against his orders by “giving large credits” to Ojibwe people.

After it merged with the XY Company, the North West Company reduced the number of its trading posts. It also fired some of its voyageurs and cut the wages of others. The cost of trade goods increased, fur values decreased, and profits shrank.

In the middle of all this change, Sayer was reassigned. For a couple of seasons, he traded for the company at Lac de Chats on the Ottawa River. Then, in 1808, after over thirty years in the business, he retired from active partnership in the North West Company.

According to company policy, Sayer received title to a large farm within the district of Montreal in exchange for one of his shares in the company. He also was allowed to keep his second share as a source of income during his retirement.

After working for a few years as a gentleman farmer, Sayer sold both his second share and the farm. He then relocated to the village of St. Anne’s on the island of Montreal. While living there, he was elected to the Beaver Club, an exclusive social club for North West Company men living in Montreal, but the group’s records do not indicate that he attended any meetings.

Sayer’s retirement did not last long. He died in 1818, at age sixty-eight.