Man Of Distinction Among Them

by Larry L. Nelson

A Man of Distinction among Them represents an important step in understanding the complexities surrounding the early history of the Ohio Country and the Old Northwest and provides the clearest and most comprehensive portrait of a central figure in that history: Alexander McKee. McKee was a fur trader, land speculator, and agent with the British Indian Department. Fathered by a white trader and raised partly by his Shawnee mother, McKee was at home in either culture and played an active role in Great Lakes Indian affairs for nearly 50 years. When he first entered the historic record, McKee was a fully accepted, fully participating member of Indian society. At the time of his death he was a fully accepted, fully participating member of Upper Canada's aristocratic British elite.