Most people love their home towns. I love mine, especially growing up exploring nearby Fort Vancouver overflowing with history from the lives of founders Dr. John and Marguerite McLoughlin. Most know of John’s accomplishments. Fewer know hers. I felt prompted to research and found Marguerite had been a half-native abandoned wife and brave single mom who overcame incredible hardship and prejudice to reach such stature John would marry no one but her. Her difficult early life forged her into someone worthy to be his full partner and honored wife in changing North American history. I’m privileged to tell her story.
Marguerite Wadin believed her seventeen-year frontier contract marriage to explorer, Alex MacKay was strong—until sudden fame destroyed it. He returned from accompanying Alexander Mackenzie across Canada to the Pacific telling Marguerite their frontier marriage was void in Montreal where he would now go to choose a society wife. Taking their only son, MacKay sent Marguerite and their three daughters to a North West Company fur trading outpost.
It wasn’t the first time she had been abandoned. Her Swiss fur-trader father was murdered before her eyes by a competitor when she was age seven. After abandonment Marguerite lived for her children but her courage carved out an unforgettable path and place in North American History. Together John and Marguerite are called the Mother and Father of the Pacific Northwest. She is known as “the kindest woman in Oregon.”
Wilderness Wife is available for pre-order soon and releases Feb. 22nd. I invite you to enjoy discovering her story and hope you will celebrate her life with me.
How would you have responded to any of the obstacles Marguerite had to overcome? What is your best advice for someone caught in such devastating circumstances?
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