John Fraser (often incorrectly spelled Frazier, 1721 – 16 April 1773) was a fur trader licensed by the Province of Pennsylvania for its western frontier, an interpreter with Native Americans, a gunsmith, a guide and lieutenant in the British army, and a land speculator.

Born in the Scottish Highlands, Fraser, age 14, arrived in Pennsylvania in 1735 and settled for a short time near the Susquehanna River in Dauphin County.

[3]: 332  In 1740 he established a fur trading post near the Native American village of Venango (now Franklin, Pennsylvania), at the junction of French Creek and the Allegheny River.

Fraser bartered his gunsmith services, European manufactured goods, and alcohol with local Native Americans in exchange for pelts and furs.

[4]: 14 [5] In July 1749 Pierre Joseph Céloron de Blainville passed through the area on his "lead plate expedition", making contact with Native American communities in what the French intended would be a "show of force" designed to intimidate tribal leaders.

At the Seneca village of Buckaloons on Brokenstraw Creek, on July 31, Seneca leaders objected to the removal of the traders, in particular the blacksmith John Fraser, stating:[6]: 25 In 1752, Marquis Duquesne was appointed Governor General of New France and began a campaign to remove British traders from the Ohio Country, as "the nations of these localities are very badly disposed towards the French, [having been]...seduced by the allurements of cheap merchandise furnished by the English.

[7]: 141  Fraser's cabin was occupied by the French officer Philippe-Thomas Chabert de Joncaire, who met there with George Washington, Guyasuta, and Tanacharison on December 4, 1753.

Before building his cabin, he consulted the Seneca leader Queen Alliquippa, who not only granted him permission but gave him several hundred acres of land.

Because Turtle Creek was swollen by rain and snow and was impassable, Fraser loaned them a canoe to carry their baggage across the river, which they forded with their horses.

[8] In January 1754, Fraser was offered a lieutenant's commission by William Trent,[12]: 84–85  and served as second-in-command during the construction of Fort Prince George from February to April, 1754.

After the French captured Fort Prince George, Fraser decided to abandon his trading post and plantation at Turtle Creek.

In June 1754, after loading his trade goods and other personal effects onto horses, Fraser was heading south when he met George Washington and his troops at Fort Necessity.

The Maryland Gazette reported on October 9: Mr. Bradley was killed and scalped, and Jane was taken on a 3-week journey to a village on the Great Miami River, possibly Pinkwi Mihtohseeniaki (near present-day Piqua, Ohio).

[25]: 35 [26] In March 1758, Brigadier-General John Forbes was looking for guides who could help his troops navigate the Pennsylvania country the army would pass through on the way to attack Fort Duquesne.

Governor Horatio Sharpe of Maryland recommended Fraser, and he was offered a captain's commission and served as chief of the army's guides until August 1758, when he returned to Fort Cumberland.

The site today is located in North Braddock, Pennsylvania on the land where, since 1872, sits the Edgar Thomson Steel Works established by Andrew Carnegie.

[33] The Fraser's log home in Bedford changed hands numerous times and was renovated repeatedly until it was abandoned and destroyed in 1964 to make way for an extension of Maryland Route 51.