Jane Barnes – The First Lady of Astoria
January 30, 2009
Astorians have been talking about Jane Barnes for nearly two centuries—and it’s no wonder, for she was the kind of woman people tend to talk about. Jane was the first woman of European descent to arrive in the Oregon Country, and it should be noted from the outset that her title as “First Lady” is derived solely from chronology, not pedigree or posturing. Still, her ranking is only part of the reason that she has remained a popular subject of discussion in classrooms and barrooms throughout the region.
When Jane first set her dainty feet on the sandy shore of the Columbia River, Astoria was known as Fort George. In 1811 fur traders in the employ of John Jacob Astor erected a small fort that they named “Astoria” near what is today 15th and Exchange. During the War of 1812, under the threat of attack from a British warship, Astor’s emissaries sold the fort and its wares to the Northwest Company, a British fur trading company headquartered in Montreal. The Nor’westers ran up the Union Jack and rechristened the place Fort George, in honor of their king.
To oversee their new empire, the Northwest Company appointed as governor Donald McTavish, a distinguished veteran partner of the firm. In the spring of 1813, as his ship was being outfitted for its voyage to the far side of the New World, McTavish passed the time in a dockside tavern in Portsmouth, England. Behind the bar stood Jane Barnes, a lively, flaxen-haired, blue-eyed beauty. The slumpy old Scot asked her to join him, and in a “temporary fit of erratic enthusiasm,” she agreed. McTavish and Barnes proceeded to the finest stores in Portsmouth to ready her for the voyage.
Thirteen months later, in April 1814, the Isaac Todd entered the Columbia River and dropped anchor off Fort George. Rather than crowding into the dank little fort, McTavish and Barnes stayed in their stateroom on the vessel. Among the Nor’westers to come aboard to conduct business was a prudish young secretary named Alexander Henry. The clerk was quite taken with Jane, and as McTavish made preparations to journey overland to Montreal, it was agreed that Henry would become Barnes’ “protector.”
When Jane Barnes came ashore on May 8th she was on the arm of Alexander Henry. The exact nature of his protectorship over the former barmaid is unclear, though in his journal Henry—who had wife and children back in England—was very clear that it was a professional matter strictly for Jane’s welfare. The secretary noted, “My part is mainly to protect her from ill usage. Affection is out of the question…” They shared Henry’s quarters in the fort while McTavish enlisted the company of a Chinookan woman.
Jane relished the attention of the trappers and traders. She ruled Fort George as a First Lady might, garnering attention wherever she went. In her finery Jane was known to stroll through the fort and had an affinity for promenading along the sandy riverfront. She used her “extravagant wardrobe,” declared clerk Ross Cox, to “display her figure to the best advantage.”
Sadly, Henry’s protectorship was short-lived because on May 22, 1814 both he and McTavish perished when their canoe capsized while they were attempting to cross the Columbia River. Doctor Swan, the post’s physician, became Jane’s next would-be suitor—an offer she apparently declined.
But Euro-American fur traders were not the only ones vying for Barnes’ affection. Cassakas, a son of the Chinook tribal leader Comcomly, had become enamored of Barnes. Smitten, and drenched in whale oil and red paint, he offered Jane one hundred sea otter skins, a life of leisure, and superiority over his other wives if she would become his bride. The exact nature of her refusal went unrecorded, but Cassakas left the fort spurned.
Jane’s rejection of the Chinook prince caused a diplomatic rift that made her presence at Fort George a liability. Rumors circulated of a Chinook plot to abduct Barnes, or worse yet, to overrun the fort. The time had come for Jane to take her leave of the outpost. She left Fort George in the late summer or fall—her exit didn’t excite nearly as much intrigue as her arrival—on a ship bound for Canton. While in China she met a wealthy Englishman and faded from history only to reappear several years later in Montreal to collect an annuity promised her by Donald McTavish. That is the last record of Jane Barnes, though legends persist of another visit to Astoria and fanciful happy endings.
A great deal of mystery and scandal still surround her stay at Fort George. For generations most historians chose to overlook her, preferring instead to fill the pages of Oregon’s history with pious missionary and stoic pioneer women—if they mentioned women at all. Until recently, many who chronicled Jane’s exploits treated her poorly, maligning a woman who was among the most colorful characters of the fur trade era. Astorians will rightly continue talking about Jane Barnes, as she will always be the First Lady of Astoria.
Today you can visit the original site of Astoria at the corner of 15th and Exchange in downtown Astoria. Fort Astoria Park features a replica of a bastion built in 1956 from surplus logs used in the reconstruction of Fort Clatsop, as well as a wooden sign commemorating the founders. A few blocks east, the Clatsop County Historical Society’s Heritage Museum houses a number of fur trade-era artifacts, including the original headstone of Donald McTavish dating back to 1814.