John Peter Pruden
| John Peter Pruden | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
31 May 1778 Edmonton, Middlesex, England |
| Died | 28 May 1868 (aged 89) Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada |
| Nationality | English |
| Occupation | Hudson's Bay Co. fur-trader; Councillor of Assiniboia |
| Spouse(s) | 1. Patasegawisk, a.k.a. "Nancy" 2. Ann Armstrong |
| Children | Elizabeth, William, Charlotte, Peter, Maria, Cornelious, Arthur, James, John Peter, and Caroline |
| Parent(s) |
Peter Pruden and |
Peter Pruden and
John Peter Pruden, christened on May 31, 1778 at All Saints Parish Church in Edmonton, Middlesex, England, was an early pioneer of western Canada which at the time was known as Rupert's Land. During his many years of employment as a fur-trader with the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), he had extensive interactions with such First Nations as the Cree and Blackfoot. He was known to have spoken Cree fluently, a fact which was confirmed by HBC administrator Sir George Simpson in his famous but "sometimes erratic" 1832 Character Book.
It is unknown exactly how Pruden came to join the Company however, atypical amongst HBC "servants", it may have been through a possible link to Sir James Winter Lake, 3rd Baronet (c. 1745–1807), whose family controlled the Company during most of the eighteenth century, and whose estate at "The Firs" was near Tanner's End, near the junction of the New and Salmon Rivers, in Edmonton. No other boys from Edmonton ever appear to have been taken into the Company's service. Pruden's apprenticeship with the HBC was purchased for him through the good auspices of his (and Sir James Winter Lake's) local parish. Noted family historian Hal Pruden wrote: "The HBC took some of its eventual ships' captains from the Bluecoats charity school (Christ's Hospital) in London. (David Thompson was from the Greycoats school.) As far as I can tell, there were very, very few boys recruited into the HBC as apprentice clerks out of the thousands of work houses (poor houses) that existed across England and [John Peter Pruden] is the only one I have come across recruited from Edmonton. The [one] pound sterling paid by the [Edmonton] parish [for the cost of his apprenticeship] would be about $3,000 US dollars today." Pruden appears to have been an impoverished orphan at the date of his entry as an employee of the Company, for his father, Peter Pruden, died in 1790 and his mother, Margaret Smith Fraser Pruden, passed in 1791 some short months after her husband Peter.
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