JOHN ASKIN!S MANY BENEFICIAL BINDS: FAMILY, TRADE, AND EMPIRE IN THE GREAT LAKES By Justin M. Carroll A DISSERTATION Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY History 2011 ABSTRACT JOHN ASKIN!S MANY BENEFICIAL BINDS: FAMILY, TRADE, AND EMPIRE IN THE GREAT LAKES By Justin M. Carroll This dissertation argues that John Askin, a prominent British merchant, provides a vista from which to view the fluidity of the Atlantic fur trade and the constraints of the British Empire in the late-eighteenth-century North American Great Lakes. Through the critical exploration of Askin’s life, family, and trade, this work examines the complex contestation and negotiation that confronted individuals as they went about their lives, businesses and day-to-day interests. Consideration of the family that Askin nurtured, the imperial and economic relationships that he maintained, and the public image he crafted shows that Askin maintained constant involvement with the complicated economic and social processes of the multi-ethnic communities in which he lived. Likewise, the network of kinship and colleagues that Askin developed allowed him to mute disruptive imperial demands and quell the economic uncertainty that occasionally defined the Great Lakes. Askin nurtured relationships with important British imperial officials like Major Arent Schuyler de Peyster and maintained several multi-ethnic families that connected him to new regions of the fur trade. This dissertation argues that Askin leveraged these relationships into a prosperous trade and established him as one of the region’s dominant merchants, but his economic initiatives competed with British imperial designs, eventually making him a target of zealous British officials during the crisis of the American Revolution. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! For Maddox, my son, And Jana, who was there from the beginning. iii ! ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank the usual suspects: I owe much to Dr. Susan Sleeper-Smith, my dissertation adviser. Without her endless patience, generosity, and pure scholarly insight my dissertation would not have been half as interesting or quite as good. In the seven years, that I have known her, Susan has been an overwhelming influence in my life and always for the better. My paltry words cannot and do not serve her justice. I would also like to thank the wonderful and brilliant members of my graduate committee: Dr. Christine Daniels, Dr. Maureen Flanagan, Dr. Gordon Stewart, and Dr. Mindy Morgan. Their support, inspiration, and expertise helped transform me from a naïve first year, barely able to control a classroom or write a book-review, into a professional scholar and teacher (with a tenure-stream position no less). Likewise, graduate school would have been lonely and empty without close friends; a group of people I truly trust and respect. I will forever be indebted to: Matt and Lia O’Toole (Kakow), Joe Genetin-Pilawa, Sakina Hughes, Rebecca Nutt, Lenny “Manboy” Powell, Ashley Wiersma, Laura “The Italian Gal-ilon” Cuppone, Sylvia Marques, Angela Parker, Isabel Quintana Wulf, Ted Mitchell, John “Big 80” Wisti, Gabe Henderson, Micalee Sullivan, Janis Fairbanks, Benjamin Dettmar, Heath Bowen, and the myriad members of my original cohort. Thank you. I would also like to thank all of the people who have heard me talk about my dissertation project over the last five years at seminars, workshops, conferences, late night bar haunts, busy Chicago intersections, and East Lansing sushi bars. I cannot iv ! remember all of your names, but trust me when I say every comment, challenge, and critique has been helpful and rewarding. Thank you: librarians, archivists, and reading room helpers and all of the other people I nagged and pestered during the research of this project. I would also like to thank my dad, Michael, my mom, Jona, and my little brother, Logan, for all of the love and support they have given me over the years. I could not have done much without them. Particularly, since I can’t drive (though I am learning). My cousin Jennifer requires special mention; she is one of the most intelligent and funniest people I know. She stood beside me, when many didn’t. Finally, I would like to thank Jana “the banana” Fields, my best friend, the first woman I have ever loved, and the mother of my son, Maddox. I didn’t really know what it meant to be a man or an adult until I met her. Suffice it to say, I am still learning… ! v ! TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………………..1 CHAPTER 1 ‘MY FATHER WAS A SHOP KEEPER’: A SCOTS-IRISH MERCHANT AND THE BRITISH IN THE GREAT LAKES…………...27 CHAPTER 2 ‘PRETTY MUCH OF A SCHEMER’: NEGOTIATING EMPIRE AND EXPANDING THE FUR TRADE IN THE INTERWAR PERIOD OF THE BRITISH GREAT LAKES……………………….63 CHAPTER 3 ‘PERHAPS HE MAY ONE DAY BECOME MY SON IN LAW’: AN ALBANY WOMAN, AN INDIAN SLAVE, AND A FRENCH WIFE IN THE BRITISH GREAT LAKES………………………………………………………..…102 CHAPTER 4 ‘NEVER DISAPPOINT PEOPLE IN THE MATTER OF SHIPPING GOODS’: MANAGING THE FUR TRADE AND IMPERIAL DISRUPTIONS DURING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION………………………………………………..133 CHAPTER 5 ‘MR ASKIN…SCHEMED OF HAVING THE KEYS OF CANADA IN HIS POCKET’: IMPERIAL CONFLICTS AND FUR TRADE CONTROVERSIES AT MICHILIMACKINAC DURING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION…………………...172 CHAPTER 6 ‘IT IS NECESSAY TO PROVIDE AGAINST THE WORST’: JOHN ASKIN, LAND SPECULATION, AND AMERICAN EXPANSION IN THE GREAT LAKES..……………………………………………………………………209 CONCLUSION ALEXANDER HENRY’S LAMENT AND THE IMPORTANCE OF JOHN ASKIN IN THE GREAT LAKES…………………249 BIBLIOGRAPHY Archival Materials…………………………………………………………………….260 Published Primary Sources Cited and Consulted………………………..…….…261 Journal Articles and Chapters from Edited Volumes Cited and Consulted……………………………………………...……………….…264 Secondary Sources Cited and Consulted…………………………………………271 vi ! INTRODUCTION EMPIRE, TRADE, AND MICROHISTORIES “Silences enter the process of historical production at four crucial moments: the moment of fact creation (the making of sources); the moment of fact assembly (the making of archives); the moment of fact retrieval (the making of narratives); and the moment of 1 retrospective significance (the making of history in the final instance).” Michel-Rolph Trouillot “A number of biographical studies have shown that in a modest individual who is himself lacking in significance and for this very reason representative, it is still possible to trace, as in a microcosm, the characteristics of an entire social stratum in a specific historical 2 period…” Carlo Ginzburg In 1793, almost thirty years after his migration to North America, John Askin returned a letter to a man from Maryland who claimed to be a distant relative. In the letter, John Askin provided the only contemporary rendering of his life and his family’s history. He wrote that, “[He] was Born at Aughnacloy in the North of Ireland in 1739…” and names his father, mother, brothers and sisters, before discussing his life in North 3 America. “I came to this Country in 1758,” he continues, “and most of my time since !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1 Michel-Rolph Trouillot. Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History. (Boston: Beacon Press, 1995), 26. Since I first read Trouillot’s work as an undergraduate, it has played an instrumental role in my conception of history. From Trouillot’s example of the Haitian palace of San Souci to John Askin’s relationship with his panise, Manette, I have tried to look for silences as a way of engaging and writing compelling “archaeological” histories. 2 Carlo Ginzburg. The Cheese and the Worms: The Cosmos of a Sixteenth-Century Miller. (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1976), xx 3 Much of what historians know about John Askin’s life before his arrival in North America comes from a letter he sent to John Erskine in 1793, where Askin gives a brief history of his life in North American since his arrival, see: John Askin to John Erskine (Detroit), 1 July 1793. Askin Papers, 1: 477 – 478. See unpublished document in: John Askin Papers, Box 2 in the Burton Historical Collections at the Detroit Public Library, Detroit, MI. (Hereafter cited as: John Askin, Box 2). Also, a large section of his 1 ! have been in Trade first at albany near New York…& since that at a place called 4 Michilimackinac & for these last thirteen Years past here [in Detroit].” Askin notes that, “I married in 1772 & have a large Family some of my Daughters [are] married” and notes that he has “many other particular friends in London a Mr. Issac Todd [and] a Mr. 5 Willm Robertson both may be found at Messr Phyn Ellis & Englis in London.” In one short letter, John Askin located himself and his family within the tangled and intertwined social, economic, and political world of the Great Lakes. He presented himself alongside respectable, wealthy, and influential individuals, but he provided very little insight into how he became such an important figure. The letter ignored decades of struggle and innovation; it silenced and obfuscated less respectable and exploitive behaviors; in fact, Askin almost refused to acknowledge his once dominant position in the Great Lakes fur trade. His silences are problematic, because his life offers unique insights into both the British Empire and the Atlantic world in the late eighteenth century. Perhaps this is why John Askin is ubiquitous in the histories of the British Great Lakes, but allowed only to play bit repetitive parts. The basic scholarly narrative of Askin’s life has changed remarkably little since the publication of his collected papers by 6 Milo Quaife in the late 1920s and early 1930s. This is problematic. Historians who !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! papers were published in the late 1920s and early 1930s, see: John Askin. The John Askin Papers, 2 vols. Edited by Milo Quaife. (Detroit, MI: Detroit Library Commission, 1928 – 1931) 4 John Askin to John Erskine (Detroit), 1 July 1793.