- Tolmie, William F. (1812-1886) (historylink.org)
Dr. William F. Tolmie played a significant role in the Puget Sound region as it came under United States jurisdiction and Washington Territory was created. A young Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) clerk and surgeon, Tolmie participated in the 1833 establishment of Fort Nisqually (in present-day DuPont), the first non-Native settlement on Puget Sound. During his early years in the Northwest Tolmie kept extensive journals describing the region’s land, peoples, and cultures. He collected plant and animal specimens and cultural artifacts for scientists in England. He returned to Fort Nisqually in 1843, taking charge as it transitioned from fur-trading outpost to center of extensive farming operations under HBC subsidiary Puget Sound Agricultural Company (PSAC). Tolmie followed the British company’s policy of friendly, cooperative relations with Native tribes and attempted the same with the growing number of American settlers. This proved increasingly difficult as settlers encroached on company farmlands and American efforts to confine tribes on small reservations led to war in 1855-1856, with Tolmie and HBC caught in the middle. In 1859, with PSAC transferring more operations from American territory to Vancouver Island, Tolmie moved to Victoria, where he took charge of PSAC farms on the island.