Martin McLeod (April 13, 1813 – November 20, 1860) was an American fur trader, pioneer, and territorial legislator in

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

. McLeod was born in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, Canada and had

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

ancestry. He worked as a clerk in

and then traveled to

Fort Snelling Fort Snelling is a former military fortification and National Historic Landmark in the U.S. state of Minnesota on the bluffs overlooking the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers. The military site was initially named Fort Saint An ...

Wisconsin Territory The Territory of Wisconsin was an organized and incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 3, 1836, until May 29, 1848, when an eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Wisconsin. Belm ...

in 1837. He worked as a trader for the

American Fur Company The American Fur Company (AFC) was a prominent American company that sold furs, skins, and buffalo robes. It was founded in 1808 by John Jacob Astor, a German Americans, German immigrant to the United States. During its heyday in the early 19th c ...

, overseeing trade with the Sisseton and Wahpeton bands. McLeod served in the Minnesota Territorial Council from 1849 to 1851 and from 1852 to 1853. McLeod served as president of the territorial council. He also served as chairman of the town of Bloomington,

Minnesota Territory The Territory of Minnesota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 3, 1849, until May 11, 1858, when the eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of Minnesota and the w ...

and as a commissioner for

Hennepin County, Minnesota Hennepin County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,281,565, and was estimated to be 1,273,334 in 2024, making it the most populous county in Minnesota and the 34th-most populous count ...

Family

McLeod married Mary Elizabeth Ortley in 1837 or 1838. The couple had five children, Walter Scott (b. 1841), John (b. 1843), Mary Elizabeth (b. 1844), Janet (b. 1848), and Isabella (b. 1851).The McLeods, an Anglo-Dakota Family in Early Minnesota, Minnesota History, Summer 2007

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McLeod, Martin 1813 births 1860 deaths Emigrants from pre-Confederation Quebec to the United States People from Bloomington, Minnesota Politicians from Montreal Members of the Minnesota Territorial Legislature American fur traders American Fur Company people People from Wisconsin Territory