Moses Norton (29 December 1773) was a

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

administrator who was chief factor of Fort Prince of Wales from 1762 until his death in 1773. A controversial figure throughout his life, he notably commissioned explorer

Samuel Hearne Samuel Hearne (February 1745 – November 1792) was an English explorer, fur-trader, author and naturalist. He was the first European to make an overland excursion across northern Canada to the Arctic Ocean, specifically to Coronation Gulf, vi ...

's three expeditions in 1769–1772, which led to the first European discovery of the

Coppermine River The Coppermine River is a river in the North Slave Region, North Slave and Kitikmeot Region, Nunavut, Kitikmeot regions of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut in Canada. It is long. It rises in Lac de Gras, a small lake near Great Slave Lake, a ...

and the northern coast of

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Early life

Moses Norton was born at Prince of Wales Fort around 1735, the son of Richard Norton and Sunannah Dupeer.

Career

After being

indentured An indenture is a legal contract that reflects an agreement between two parties. Although the term is most familiarly used to refer to a labor contract between an employer and a laborer with an indentured servant status, historically indentures we ...

to HBC ship captain George Spurrell in 1744, he first served aboard an HBC sloop for several years before becoming an assistant to Ferdinand Jacobs, the chief factor of Fort Prince of Wales, in present-day

Churchill, Manitoba Churchill is a subarctic port town in northern Manitoba, Canada, on the west shore of Hudson Bay, roughly from the Manitoba–Nunavut border. It is most famous for the many polar bears that move toward the shore from inland in the autumn, leadi ...

. He later served as a mate on the company's vessel ''Churchill''. In 1762, Norton was appointed to the position of chief factor of Fort Prince of Wales. In 1769, he commissioned English explorer

to embark on a lengthy expedition to discover the

, after being informed of the river's existence by the

Chipewyan The Chipewyan ( , also called ''Denésoliné'' or ''Dënesųłı̨né'' or ''Dënë Sųłınë́'', meaning "the original/real people") are a Dene group of Indigenous Canadian people belonging to the Athabaskan language family, whose ancest ...

Indians. Over the course of Hearne's protracted journey, during which he had to restart twice, a large portion of country was discovered and mapped for the first time by Europeans, but the river itself was of questionable importance. The failure of Hearne's first two attempts can largely be attributed to Norton's poor planning and unwise choices for Native guides.

Death

Norton died on 29 December 1773 from a bowel disorder, aged 37 or 38. He was survived by one known daughter, Mary, who herself died in 1782.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Norton, Moses 1773 deaths Canadian fur traders Chief factors Hudson's Bay Company people Pre-Confederation Manitoba people