Here we are profiling
the major personalities that helped to build Canada into the country
it is today. We are also adding a sub section for biographies of
other people that made a difference. When we add a book we also add
its author and publication date. In our Makers of Canada section
below we have listed the people in chronological order.
As always in a project of this nature
we rely mainly on antiquarian resources but we'd love to hear from
any of our visitors who feel they could contribute information by
way of text, pictures or videos of any significant Canadians that
contributed to making Canada what it is today.
Index and Dictionary of Canadian History
Edited by Lawrence J. Burpee. F.R.G.S. Librarian of the Carnegie
Library, Ottawa and Arthur G. Doughty, C.M.G., Litt.D., Dominion
Archivist, Ottawa (1911) (pdf)
A Cyclopedia of Canadian Biography
Being Chiefly Men of the Time, A Collection of Persons Distinguished in
Professional and Political Life; Leaders in the Commerce and Industry of
Canada, and Successful Pioneers. Edited by Geo. MacLean Rose (1888)
Series II
The Canadian Album
Men of Canada or Success by Example in Religion, Patriotism, Business,
Law, Medicine, Education and Agriculture; containing portaits of some of
Canada's chief business men, statesmen, farmers, men of the learned
professions, and others. Also an authentic sketch of their lives. Object
lessons for the present generation and examples to posterity edited by
Rev. Wm. Cochrane, D.D. in five volumes
The Marquis of Dufferin
and Ava
By Sir Alfred Lyall, P.C. in two volumes (pdf) (1905). Was for two terms
Governor General of Canada Volume 1 |
Volume 2
Portraits of British Americans
By W. Notman, Photographer to Her Majesty with Biogaphical Sketches by
Fennings Taylor, Deputy Clerk and Clerk Assistant to the Legislative
Council of Canada in three volumes (1865)
Scobie, Hugh, newspaperman,
publisher, justice of the peace
Gordon Muir Campbell, OC
OBC
A retired Canadian diplomat and politician who was the 35th mayor of
Vancouver from 1986 to 1993 and the 34th premier of British Columbia
from 2001 to 2011. He was the leader of the British Columbia Liberal
Party from 1993 to 2011.
The Father of St. Kilda Twenty Years in Isolation in the Sub-Arctic Territory of the
Hudson's Bay Company by Roderick Campbell, F.R.G.S. (1901).
Essentially this is an account of a young lad growing up in the
Western Islands of Scotland and then at 16 joining the Hudson
Bay Company as an apprentice and sailing to Canada and then an
account of his life for the next 20 years or so.
Major Thomas Campbell CB
Throughout his 63
years was a well respected military officer, a politician and a
developer of the Seigneury in the county of Rouville, Quebec and
most of all a much loved husband and father.
The Canadian Album Men of Canada; or, Success by example, in religion, patriotism,
business, law, medicine, education and agriculture; containing
portraits of some of Canada's chief business men, statesmen,
farmers, men of the learned professions, and others; also, an
authentic sketch of their lives; object lessons for the present
generation and examples to posterity (1891)
Jack L. Cooke A Barber for some 40 years in South London, Ontario. A really
excellent book taking us around Canada in his early years and
giving us a real insight to Canada in the 20th century. Jack
lost his hearing when only 12 years of age due to scarlet fever
John Milne This is a book about the Life of John Milne.
John Milne understood the value of his contribution to the
building of our nation. His stories are interesting, informative
and are filled with humanity. Reading the autobiography gives us
a very real representation of what life was like in his time
when our country was young and virtually anything was possible.
Currie, Sir Arthur William Teacher, insurance salesman, militia officer, real-estate developer,
army officer, office holder, and university administrator.
Barbara Boles-Davis The hardest working Templar in the Grand Priory of Canada
The Life of John Mockett Cramp, D.D. 1796-1881. Late President of Acadia College; Author of "The
Council of Trent," "Baptist History," Etc. by Rev. T. A. Higgins D.D.
(1887)
Murdo McIvar A mainstay of the Gaelic Society of Vancouver
BGen (Ret'd) Garry S. Thomson Garry Thomson was commissioned in The Royal Regiment of Canada in
Toronto in 1963 and commanded the Regiment from 1976 to 1979.
Armory and Lineages of Canada Comprising the Lineage of Prominent and Pioneer Canadians
with Descriptions and Illustrations of their Coat Armor, Orders of
Knighthood, or other Official Insignia by Herbert George Todd (1913)
John Walter Grant MacEwan
Canadian farmer, Professor at the University of Saskatchewan, Dean
of Agriculture at the University of Manitoba, the 28th Mayor of
Calgary and both a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) and the
ninth Lieutenant Governor of Alberta, Canada.
Helen Armstrong
That impassioned woman at the heart of the 1919 Winnipeg General
Strike
Autobiography of John Macoun , M.A.
Canadian Explorer and Naturalist, Assistant Director and Naturalist
to the Geological Survey of Canada 1831-1920, With Introduction by
Ernest Thompson Seton, A memorial volume published by the Ottawa
Field-Naturalist Club (1922) (pdf)
Robert Campbell
Chief Factor of the Hon. Hudson's Bay Company
A Woman of Valour
The Biography of Marie-Louise Bochard Labelle by Claire Trépanier
(2010) (pdf)
Canadian Folk-Lore Society, First
Annual Report 1911
Includes a brief Bio of David Boyle, LL.D., F.F.S.C., the well known
Canadian archaeologist and Honorary President of this Society, who
died February 14, 1911, aged sixty-nine years, was born in Greenock,
Renfrewshire, Scotland, in 1842, and came to Canada in 1856. (pdf)
James Brown
Businessman and Politician. His importance lay instead in his
contributions to the social and economic development of the province
through his concern for education, agriculture and land policy,
transportation, and immigration. Perhaps it was inevitable that the
practical Scottish immigrant should give leadership as a builder
rather than as a constitutional authority.
The McLoughlin Empire and its
Rulers
Doctor John McLoughlin, Doctor David McLoughlin, Marie Louise
(Sister St. Henry). An account of their personal lives, and of their
parents, relatives and children; in Canada’s Quebec Province, in
Paris, France, and in the West of the Hudson’s Bay Company with
documents, letters, maps, and illustrations by Burt Brown Barker,
LL.D., Vice President Emeritus, University of Oregon (!959) (pdf)
The White Chief of the
Ottawa
A sketch of the life experiences of Philemon Wright and his family,
the first settlers in the district of Ottawa By Bertha Wright
Carr-Harris (1903) (pdf)
Cummer Memoranda
A Record of the Progenitors and Descendants of Jacob Cummer, a
Canadian Pioneer by Wellington Willson Cummer and Clyde Lottridge
Cummer, PH. B., M.D. (1911) (pdf)
William Watt
(1830-1916) One of five brothers from Stromness in the Orkney
Islands who joined the Hudson’s Bay Company in the mid-nineteenth
century.
Lucy Margaret Baker
A Biographical Sketch of the first Missionary of our Canadian
Presbyterian Church to the North-West Indians by Elizabeth A. Byers
(1920)
A Family
Record
Embracing a Sketch of the history of the Scratch, Wigle, Fox, Friend,
Wilkinson, Shepley, McCormick, Malotte, Coatsworth, Iler families and
other early Settlers of the country of Essex. The Sketch gives an
account of their early settlement in America and the final settlement of
their descendants in Western Canada By Mrs. Mary J. Burch (1880) (pdf)
The Jarvis Family
Or, The Descendants of the first settlers of the name in
Massachusetts and Long Island and those who have recently settled in
other parts of the United States and British America, collected and
compiled by George A. Jarvis, of New York; George Murray Jarvis, of
Ottawa, Canada; William Jarvis Wetmore, of New York; assisted by
Alfred Harding, of Brooklyn, N. Y. (1879) (pdf)
The History pf the Morison
or Morrison Family
With most of the "Traditions of the Morrisons" (Clan Mac
Ghillemhuire), Hereditary Judges of Lewis, by Capt. F. W. L. Thomas,
of Scotland, and a record of the descendans of the Hereditary Judges
to 1880. A complete history of the Morison Settlers of Londonderry,
N. H., of 1719, and their descendants, with genealogical sketches
also, of the Brentwood, Nottingham, and Sanbornton, N. H., Morisons
and Branches of the Morisons who settled in Delaware, Pennsylvania,
Virginia, and Nova Scotia, and descendants of the Morisons of
Preston Grange, Scotland, and other families by Leonard A. Morrison
(1880) (pdf)
McEachran, Duncan McNab
Veterinarian, professor, author, school administrator, inspector,
and stockbreeder
Sir Allan Napier MacNab
Politician, businessman, land speculator, lawyer, and soldier; b. 19
Feb. 1798 at Newark (Niagara-on-the-Lake), Upper Canada, third of
seven children of Allan MacNab and Anne Napier; d. 8 Aug. 1862 at
Hamilton, Canada West.
Life of Sir William E.
Logan, Kt., LL.D., F.R.S., F.G.S., &c.
First Director of the Geological Survey of Canada, Chiefly Compiled
from his Letters, Journals and Reports by Bernard J. Harrington,
B.A., Ph.D., Professor of Mining in McGill University, Late Chemist
and Mineralogist to the Geological Survey of Canada (1883) (pdf)
Jonas W. Watson
Lake Superior pioneer, Ancestry and Descendants, compiled by Jessie
Palmer Williams (1950) (pdf)
Memoir of The Rev. Archibald
Campbell Searth, M.A.. D.C.L.
Rector St. George’s Church, Lennoxville, Professor of Ecclesiastical
History Bishop's College, Lennoxville and Canon of the Cathedral of
Quebec together with Dr. Scarths reminiscences of his life and
annals of the Parish of Lennoxville, edited by the Archdeacon of
Quebec (1904) (pdf)
Past and Present
Notes by Henry Cawthra and Others compiled by A. Maude (Cawthra)
Brock and edited by A. H. Young, M.A., D.C.L. (1924) (pdf)
Julia Grace Wales
Canadian academic known for authoring the Wisconsin Plan, a proposal
to set up a conference of intellectuals from neutral nations who
would work to find a solution for the First World War (pdf)
Leaves from a Lifetime
Being a brief history of the Gartshore Family in Scotland; of the
Gartshore and Moir Families, as pioneers, in early days in Ontario;
and of the life and reminiscences to date of William Moir Gartshore,
edited by Margaret Wade (1929) (pdf)
Tom Thomson
The story of a man who looked for beauty and for truth in the
Wilderness by Blodwen Davies, forewood by A. Y Jackson, R.C.A.,
Sketches by Arthur Lismer, R.C.A. (1967) (pdf)
Archibald MacDonald
Colonial administrator, author, fur trader, justice of the peace,
and surveyor
James Fitzgibbon
The Life or James Fitzgibbon by Mary Agnes Fitzgibbon (1894)
Père Marquette
Priest, Pioneer and Adventurer by Agnes Repplier (1929) (pdf)
Mary Neilson Houstoun
Cochrane
Edited by The Rev. Wm. Cochrane, A.M., Zion Presbyterian Church,
Brantford, Ontario (1871) (pdf)
The Canadian Family Who
Secretly Bought Up Ireland: The Weston Dynasty
The Weston Family, whose empire spans from Canada to Ireland and beyond,
has amassed a $14.5 billion pound net worth through snapping up
businesses in everything from baked goods to luxury apparel.
The Secret Wealthy
Family That Owns Canada: The Bronfmans
The Bronfman Family, who sold their stake in alcohol empire Seagram's
for a staggering $34 billion U.S. dollars, diversified into branching
into real estate, the music industry, and tech - among other industries
- as they also courted controversy and shadowy connections. In today’s
episode of Old Money Luxury, we’ll tell their insane rags to riches
saga.
