11 Facts About Isaac Todd

Isaac Todd was one of the earliest partners in the North West Company before it was formalized, but was better known for his partnership with James McGill.

Isaac Todd was born around 1742 into a wealthy merchant family at Coleraine, County Londonderry, in Ulster, the son of John Todd and his wife Elizabeth Patterson.

Isaac Todd spent his early manhood as a merchant in his native Ulster in the north of Ireland, but, after the British Conquest of New France, he was quick to seize upon the trade opportunities now available in Canada.

Isaac Todd was established in Montreal by 1764, and his ready access to capital and patronage through his family at home no doubt aided his early ventures there.

Isaac Todd was living in Montreal by 1764, and soon entered the fur trade.

Isaac Todd was arrested for trading without a licence on Lake Ontario in the summer of 1766, but this seems to have done him no harm, perhaps because he had friends in high places.

Isaac Todd took an interest in public affairs, but never ran for political office, and seems to have moved back and forth across the Atlantic, uncertain where to settle, and alarming his friends with complaints of ill health.

Isaac Todd died in 1819 at the English resort town of Bath.

In 1812, Isaac Todd purchased Buncrana, a town in Inishowen, County Donegal, in his native Ulster, from the trustees of the bankrupt estate of The 2nd Marquess of Donegall.

Isaac Todd never married, and most of his estate was left to his nephews.

Isaac Todd was a close friend of the explorer Alexander Henry, and his 'wife' sponsored Henry's youngest child.