Ranald MacDonald
| Ranald MacDonald | |
|---|---|
| Born |
February 3, 1824 Fort Astoria, Columbia District, British North America |
| Died | August 24, 1894 (aged 70) Washington, USA |
| Resting place | Ranald McDonald Cemetery, Ferry County, Washington, USA 48°56′51″N 118°45′43″W / 48.94750°N 118.76194°W |
| Other names | Referred to in his father's letters as Toole or Toole-Toole, supposedly from a Chinook word for 'bird'. |
| Known for | Visiting Japan before Commodore Perry's 'opening of Japan' and teaching English to Japanese interpreters. |
| Parent(s) |
Archibald McDonald Princess Raven/Princess Sunday Jane Klyne McDonald (stepmother) |
| Relatives | Chief Comcomly |
Ranald MacDonald (February 3, 1824 – August 24, 1894) was the first native English-speaker to teach the English language in Japan, including educating Einosuke Moriyama, one of the chief interpreters to handle the negotiations between Commodore Perry and the Tokugawa Shogunate.
MacDonald was born at Fort Astoria, in the Pacific Northwest of North America. The area was then known as the Columbia District or Oregon Country, disputed territory dominated by the British Hudson's Bay Company and the American Pacific Fur Company. MacDonald's father was Archibald McDonald, a Scottish Hudson's Bay Company fur trader, and his mother was Raven (also known as Princess Sunday), a Chinook, daughter of Comcomly, a leader of Chinook people from the Cascade Mountains and Cape Disappointment. MacDonald was a member of the larger Métis community.
Based on the popular historical fiction of Eva Emery Dye, it has been repeated that "as a child of eight in 1832 at Fort Vancouver, he met three shipwrecked Japanese sailors, including Otokichi". In reality the three shipwrecked Japanese sailors were brought to Ft. Vancouver in the spring of 1834 [not 1832], arriving there about 6 weeks after 10-yr-old Ranald MacDonald had departed for Red River - so there never was the fabled meeting of east and west. MacDonald's Indian relatives might have had legends that their ancestors had come from across the Pacific, but saying that MacDonald "developed a fascination with Japan" and "theorized that it might be the home of his distant relatives" may or may not be accurate. In his autobiography MacDonald explained it in his own words: "My plan was to present myself as a castaway ... and to rely on their humanity. My purpose was to learn of them; and, if occasion should offer, to instruct them of us."
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