John Gordon Macomb

JOHN GORDON MACOMB made his fortune by procuring and supplying the particular needs of the wealthy market that a standing army represents. His family were Ulster Scots of three generations who settled in Ulster in 1619 at the Scots colony of Donegore in Co Antrim. Almost a century later when John Gordon Macomb was born, in 1717, they had moved a little distance within Co Antrim to Dunturkey near Ballyclare. John Gordon Macomb was by no means poor, being already a successful businessman with premises in Bridge Street Belfast - near the docks - as it then was, when he decided to emigrate to America in 1755. He sailed with his wife Jane, sons William and Alexander and daughter Anne.

John Macomb saw the potential of developing his mercantile career further by supplying the luxury needs of officers in the British Colonial Army. Either he possessed considerable luck or he had considerable foresight in this decision in that the army did not receive formal orders to move to America in significant numbers until a couple of years later with the onset of the seven year French and Indian war.

Call it what you will - intuition had led Macomb to establish his business base in Albany, New York. From here he supplied officers with all manner of fancy goods from telescopes and books to snuff and wine. By the end of the seven year war, Macomb had prospered sufficiently to be appointed as a County Judge.

In 1775 the American Colonies declared Independence and Macomb's foresight and good fortune faltered in that he backed the losing British forces instrumentally by himself supplying five hundred men to support General Burgoyne at the Battle of Bennington. This caused him to have a narrow escape when he was hunted like a fox through the woodlands of New York State. He narrowly escaped with his life.

The Macomb entrepreneurial dynasty was built further however by his son Alexander who was only seven when he left Dunturkey. Eleven years later he, like his father before him, struck out for fresh challenges when he left New York and headed west for Detroit Michigan, which was then on the frontier of the wilderness. Here he developed a lucrative business in bartering for furs with the Indians. By the time Alexander Macomb had reached 26 years of age his business accounted for one third of the entire fur trade of North America.

During the War of Independence, unlike his father and brother William, Alexander Macomb supported the American cause and was in favour to such an extent that he was able to buy from the American Government 4.5 million acres of land - in fact much of the State of New York. This deal became known as 'Macomb's Purchase'. He owned a house on Broadway in New York City which he let to George Washington who made it his temporary residence in 1790. Alexander Macomb senior died in Georgetown DC in 1831. His son also called Alexander was born in Detroit 3rd April 1782 and received a classical education in Newark, New Jersey.

In time he was to join the American army and fulfil the ultimate goal for a soldier when he was appointed Major General and Commander-in-Chief of the American army. This was a post which he held from 1828 until 1841. Many soldiers across America returning from the war of 1812 had named towns and counties 'Macomb' in honour of their hero.

The Macomb family's entrepreneurial history represents a microcosm of the colonial business history of America. The family moved from supplying British troops to commanding the American forces. In all their enterprises they looked for the opportunity to 'read the runes' of supply and demand in America and to strike out for new challenges and new markets whilst pushing the frontier back in more ways than one.