Alexander Caulfield Anderson

The photograph above is of Alexander Caulfield Anderson, and is said to be taken about 1880 when he was about 65 years old.
I have used this photograph with the permission of the Provincial Archives of British Columbia, and its Call No. is A-01075.
As you can see, his hair was white though his brows still appeared dark.
Even after his retirement from the Hudson's Bay Company, Anderson maintained an occasional correspondence with Governor George Simpson.
In March 1857, Anderson wrote: "I am happy to say that my family are well; and I know it will interest you to learn from me -- though in such case possibly a partial witness -- that my children conduct themselves in such-wise as in no way to dishonor the grizzled crown with which Time is liberally endowing me." (D.5/43, fo. 284, HBCA)

There are very few contemporary descriptions of Alexander Caulfield Anderson in written records.
On June 21, 1824 at the mouth of the Stikine River, W. H. Tolmie described a native chief who stood in front of him, with a reference to his good friend Anderson:
"...he is a tall well-formed Indian, rather corpulent but that adds to his dignity of deportment -- countenance on the grecian model, encircled by flowing locks of jet black hair, bushy whiskers, mustachios and beard of the same hue -- his dress a fox skin robe -- he looks somewhat like Colonel Anderson, but his features are larger -- is forward and presuming."
This suggests that Anderson had a dignified and perhaps military posture, and he had allowed his hair and beard to grow long on the sea-voyage to the Northwest coast -- not surprising.
Certainly Anderson was never corpulent, and certainly not so at that young age (20 years old).
This reference was found in book, Tolmie: Physican and Fur trader; the Journal of Dr. Tolmie, ed. Howard T. Mitchell, Mitchell Press, 1963.

In 1878, the San Francisco historian H. H. Bancroft arrived in Victoria to research the history of the territory, and interviewed many retired Hudson's Bay men.
Bancroft wrote of Anderson: "In personal appearance, at the time I saw him, he being then sixty three years of age, Mr. Anderson was of slight build, wiry make, active in mind and body, with a keen, penetrating eye, covered by lids which persisted in a perpetual and spasmodic winking, brought on years ago by snow-field exposure, and now become habitual, and doubtless as disagreeable to him as to his friends. In speech he was elegant and precise, and by no means so verbose as in his writings, and in carriage, if not so dignified as [Roderick] Finlayson, his manner would do him credit at St. James."
This quote comes from a footnote on page 159, The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, vol. 32, History of British Columbia.
I understand that Alexander's older brother, James, had the same tic in his eye.


James Anderson A was Alexander Anderson's older brother by two years, and he, too, joined the fur trade in 1831.
As he travelled across the Atlantic Ocean to Hudson's Bay and Moose Factory, where he was posted, he wrote a desription of himself in the front of his journal.
James Anderson -- then about 19 years old -- described himself as weighing 150 pounds, and standing just short of 6 feet tall.
There is no such description of Alexander Anderson, but later photographs show a lean, long-legged man who towered above his companions.

But by the time those photographs were taken, Alexander's hair had already turned white.
James' photographs and portraits taken in later life show a brown-haired, blue-eyed, man; Alexander's wavy hair was probably medium-to-dark brown in his youth, and his eyes might have been blue, like his brother's.

The portrait above is of James Anderson A, Alexander Anderson's older brother; it is in the collection of the Georgina Pioneer Village, Keswick, Ontario, and they have allowed me to use it on this site.
A short version of James Anderson's biography can be found on this site, date July 26, 2009 -- "James Anderson (A), HBC."
To learn more about this man, look at the Georgina Pioneer Village's celebrations of James Anderson's life -- Exploring James Anderson: A Journey through the Adventurous Life of a Company Man -- online at virtual museum.ca.
I find it the lazy way, by googling "Alexander Caulfield Anderson."
You can find more information on James Anderson's journey to the Arctic Ocean in the Beaver Magazine, vol.310 [Spring 1980], Eric J. Holmgren, "The Diary of J. G. Stewart, 1855; Describing his Overland Journey in Search of the Franklin Expedition."
Copies of his many journals are in the Provincial Archives of British Columbia, as are many original letters written to his brother, Alexander.

Chief Trader Alexander Caulfield Anderson, 1846

At Fort Alexandria, Alexander Caulfield Anderson received his long expected Commission as chief trader in the Honorable Hudson's Bay Company's Service -- 15 years after he entered the fur trade. There were only three positions available to the Gentlemen of the Company -- clerk, chief trader, and chief factor. Although after 1834 the numbers of chief factors were reduced and the number of chief traders increased, fewer than 50 active and retired chief traders received dividends in any one year. Retired chief traders received dividends a full six years after their retirement, and until a retired chief trader no longer received dividends, no senior clerk could be granted his commission as chief trader. Many a clerk did the work of a chief trader without ever earning a promotion and, as in the case of Anderson's father-in-law, James Birnie, some men were never considered for promotion.

It was always an honor to be named chief trader, for it was public recognition of the good work done for the Company, and it meant a marked increase in wages. Even more importantly, the new chief trader now shared in the profits of the Company. Since 1821, the Company's dividends had been divided into 100 shares, with 40 of those shares going to the men who worked in the field. These 40 shares were immediately divided into 85 shares, which were then distributed amongst the chief factors and chief traders. Each chief factor was entitled to two shares (or 2/85th of 40% of the total dividends of the Company) and each chief trader to one.

Immediately upon receiving the letter that advised him he was now a chief trader, Alexander Anderson wrote of the joyful news to his brother, James, now in charge of the Lake Nipigon post. In his response, James expressed his pleasure that at least one of them had received their long awaited chief tradership. "Since one of us was to suffer disappointment and disgrace," James wrote, "I rejoice that the blow has fallen on me, not on you." Although James had never had a complaint lodged against him, he had been superseded in his department by 3 junior officers, men who in his opinion could never have properly run a fur trade post. James was so angry at the slight that he considered leaving the Company's service, and so humiliated he could hardly show his face in the fort.

However, James pulled himself together enough to warmly congratulate his younger brother, and to advise him that his first dividends should be excellent because the returns in the east had been especially high. James' prophecy did not prove accurate, and in a year or two the fur traders in the east suggested that a fixed amount of 400 pounds a year be permanently established for chief traders' dividends. But, James wrote, "Who will bell the cat?" Governor Simpson had a free hand to do whatever he wanted to do, and no one had the power to prevent him from keeping dividends low. In the years after 1840, a chief trader's annual dividends averaged little more than 300 pounds sterling.

James had also heard through the grapevine that his younger brother had obtained his chief trader's commission through the influence of Peter Skene Ogden, who was now firmly entrenched as one of Governor Simpson's favorites. James also expressed his concern that their cousin, James Anderson B, knew no chief factors personally and, as a result, could hardly expect to make chief trader. In this fur trade it had become apparent that those who received their chief trader's commission were those who had powerful friends amongst the chief factors, some of whom, James remarked, used their influence "in favor of relatives, at the expense of their Honor & Conscience." Governor Simpson even admitted as much, when he wrote that the men who had been promoted "were placed in situations where their services came more immediately under the notice of those on whose recommendations the promotions take place."

Sources: Harold A. Innes, The Fur Trade in Canada (U of T Press, 1964)
Letters, James Anderson A to Alexander Caulfield Anderson, A/B/40/An32, PABC