Colonial America Biographies | George Croghan Biography

1720

near Dublin, Ireland

1782

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Trader, Indian agent, and landowner

"I always took him for an honest man, and have as yet no reason to think otherwys [sic] of him."

Conrad Weiser, U.S. Indian Affairs Advisor.

George Croghan was a trader and landowner in the English colony of Pennsylvania during the expansion of the western frontier. In Croghan's day, the frontier was the boundary between Pennsylvania and the unsettled territory that became Ohio. An adventurous man, Croghan was enthusiastic about trading with the Native Americans in that region, and he established friendly relations with the Seneca tribe around Lake Erie. The French were dominant in this region and soon came into conflict with the English, whom Croghan represented. Croghan's attempts to bolster trade in the Pennsylvania colony became...