Showing 424 results

People and organizations
Abella, Irving, 1940-
Person · 1940-

Irving Martin Abella (b. 1940) is an author, historian and Professor of History at York University in Toronto, Ontario.

Abella has written a number of books dealing with Canadian labour history and the history of Jews in Canada.

Aikins, James Cox, 1823-1904
Person · 1823-1904

James Cox Aikins, P.C. (1823-1904) was a farmer, member of the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council, a Senator, a member of various Federal Cabinets, and a Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba.

James Aikins was born in Toronto and was educated at local school and Victoria College, Cobourg. He became a farmer in Peel County and in 1854 was elected as a member of the Ontario Legislative Assembly for Peel County, which he held until 1861. In 1862 he was elected to the Home District seat (Peel and Hamilton counties) in the Legislative Council, which he held until confederation. In May of 1867, he was called to the Senate of the new Dominion, and sat until May of 1882. In 1869 he was made a minister without portfolio, and was sworn in as a Privy Councillor and as Secretary of State for Canada. He held the post of Secretary of State until 1873, and was given the post again in 1878. In 1880 he was made Minister of the Interior, and in 1882 he became the Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba and Keewatin, a term which expired in 1888. He turned to business activities until 1896, when he was recalled to the Senate.

Aikins was also treasurer of the Methodist Missionary Society and President of the Methodist Social Union. He also served as vice- president of the Ontario Prohibition Alliance.

In private business, Aikins held directorships in several companies, including the Freehold Loan and Savings Company, the Ontario Bank, the Loan and Deposit Company, the Manitoba and Northwest Loan Company, and the Trusts Corporation of Ontario.

In 1845, Aikins married Mary Elizabeth Somerset, by whom he had four daughters and three sons. The eldest daughter, Helena, married the Reverend Donald George Sutherland, son of Captain James Sutherland, in 1872.

Amoss, Frank X.
Person · b. ca. 1890

Frank X. Amoss was a railway engineer and later became manager of Arthur Balfour and Company.

Amoss was born in Corinth, Ontario around 1890, and became a resident engineer for the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway Company, working on the National Transcontinental Railway in Northern Ontario and Quebec during the early twentieth century. Serving in France during World War I, Amoss achieved the rank of Captain. Settling in Hamilton, Amoss later became Ontario manager of Arthur Balfour & Co. He died sometime in the 1960s or 1970s.

Person · fl. 1857-1895

Elizabeth Anderson, the widow of William Anderson, lived in Toronto and later, in Barrie, Ontario.

Anderson lived at 204 Berkeley Street, Toronto. She later lived with her niece, Anna Gowan (nee Ardagh) in Barrie.

Person · 1822-1914

William Armstrong (1822-1914) was an artist, civil engineer, photographer, and draughtsman who travelled throughout Ontario, painting scenes of native life, habitat and scenic landscapes.

Armstrong emigrated to Canada from Ireland in 1855. He was a founding partner of Armstrong, Beer, and Hime, Photographers and Engineers, 1858-1862. Armstrong was named Associate of the Royal Canadian Academy in 1880. He exhibited his work with the Art Association of Montreal, the Ontario Society of Artists, the Royal Canadian Academy and the Upper Canada Provincial Exhibition.

Arthur, Eric, 1898-1982
Person · 1898-1982

Eric Ross Arthur (1898-1982) was born in Dunedin, New Zealand, and was one of Canada's most prominent architects and architectural historians.

Educated in England, Arthur emigrated to Canada, where he was appointed Professor of Architecture at the University of Toronto. He developed a strong interest in early Ontario architecture, and in 1932 he founded the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario, to promote interest in the preservation of Ontario's architectural heritage.

Arthur wrote a number of books of architectural history, including "Toronto: No Mean City" in 1963, (later revised with Stephen Otto in 1978); "The Barn: A Vanishing Landmark in North America" (with Dudley Witney, 1972); and "From Front Street to Queen's Park" (1979). He received numerous awards for his scholarship and activism on behalf of heritage preservation, including two L.L.D's, two Gold Medals (one from the Corporation of the City of Toronto), and the Order of Canada.

Austin, Rod, 1927-2002
Person · 1927-2002

Donald Rodwell Austin (1927-2002) was the author of Carved in Granite: 125 Years of Granite Club History.

Donald Rodwell Austin (1927-2002) was a member of the Granite Club from 1968, where he served as Curling Convenor (1982-83). He began researching the club's history and he and co-author Ted Barris published Carved in Granite: 125 Years of Granite Club History in 1999. Austin was a member of the Friends of the Archives of Ontario and served as treasurer.

Person · 1850-1897

Thomas Trevor Baines (1850-1897) was a lawyer in Port Hope, Ontario during the late 19th century.

Thomas Trevor Baines was born in 1850, the son of Thomas Baines, Crown Land Agent for the Home District and Secretary of the Clergy Corporation, and Catherine (Banks) Baines. He received his education at Upper Canada College in Toronto.

Thomas married Maude Elizabeth Robertson in Port Hope on October 21, 1885. They had a daughter, Katherine Maude Baines.

Thomas Trevor Baines died in Port Hope, Ontario on January 23, 1897.

Baird, John, 1969-
Person · 1969-

John R. Baird (1969-) has served as an Ontario Member of Provincial Parliament from 1995 to 2005 and as a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons, representing the riding of Ottawa West Nepean, since 2006, serving as Progressive Conservative Cabinet Minister in the governments of Mike Harris, Ernie Eves and Stephen Harper.

John Baird was born on 26 May, 1969 in Nepean, Ontario. Prior to becoming a Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP), he obtained an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in political studies from Queen's University and was elected president of the Conservative Party's youth wing in 1988. Baird served as a Special Assistant to Perrin Beatty, then Canada's Minister of Communications and Secretary of State for External Affairs. He was first elected MPP for the Ottawa-area riding of Nepean in June 1995. Baird was re-elected in 1999 and again in 2003 as the Member for Nepean-Carleton.

Baird sat on several Standing Committees and served in various capacities after the Conservative government first took office in 1995. He was Parliamentary Assistant in several government ministries including Labour, Management Board, and Finance. He was also Government House Leader. Premier Mike Harris appointed Baird as Minister of Community and Social Services and Minister Responsible for Francophone Affairs in 1999, and later Minister Responsible for Children in February of 2001. As Minister, Baird was known for expanding the Government's Work for Welfare Program and championed the cause of people with developmental disabilities.

During the Ernie Eves government (April 2002-October 2003), Baird served as Deputy House Leader and P.C. Party Whip, as well as Minister Responsible for Francophone Affairs. In August 2002, he was appointed Minister of Energy, and was appointed Government House Leader the following year.

After the provincial election of October 2003, Baird served in Opposition as Francophone Affairs, Finance and Culture Critic and as Opposition House Leader. He continued to serve on the Legislative Assembly's Board of Internal Economy from May 2002 to May 2005. Before departing provincial politics, he was Opposition Deputy House Leader at Queen's Park.

During the federal election of 2004, Baird acted as Ontario co-chair for the Conservative Party of Canada and as Ontario co-chair for Stephen Harper's leadership campaign. In addition he was the co-chair of Jim Flaherty's Ontario PC leadership campaign.

Baird is a life-long resident of Nepean and ten-year member of the Royal Canadian Legion (Nepean Branch), an honorary member of the Nepean Kiwanis, and a lifetime member of Canada's largest Association of Community Living.

Baird was nominated on 5 May 2005 as the Conservative Party of Canada candidate for the next federal election in the federal riding of Ottawa West Nepean, confirming his intention to leave provincial politics. He resigned his seat in the Ontario Legislature, effective 29 November 2005. On 23 January 2006 he was elected as federal Member of Parliament. Baird served as President of the Treasury Board in the new Stephen Harper cabinet from 6 February 2006 to 3 January 2007. On 4 January 2007, Baird was sworn in as Minister of the Environment in Harper's second cabinet.

Person · 1775-1844

William Warren Baldwin (1775-1844) practiced both law and medicine at York (currently Toronto, Ontario) and was a leader of the reform party in politics.

William Baldwin was born in Ireland and was educated at the University of Edinburgh, where he graduated in medicine. He moved to Canada in 1798, settling in York (later Toronto), where he practised both law and medicine. In 1803 he married Margaret Phoebe Willcocks, and in 1808 he was appointed Registrar of the Court of Probate. In 1809 he became a district court judge, and in 1815, he was made a judge of the surrogate court.

He became one of the leaders of the reform party in politics, being a member of the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada (1828-1830), of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada (1841-1843), and of the Legislative Council of Canada (1843- 1844).

He also was involved in various philanthropic societies, was a director of the Bank of Upper Canada, a member of both the Medical Board of Upper Canada and the York Board of Health, and was a president of the Toronto Mechanics Institute. Baldwin was also a member of St. James' Church in Toronto.

Bales, Dalton, 1920-1979
Person · 1920-1979

Dalton Arthur (Pete) Bales (1920-1979) was a North York municipal politician and Ontario Progressive Conservative MP between 1958 and 1974 and held the portfolios of Labour, Municipal Affairs, Justice and Attorney General in the administrations of John Robarts and William Davis.

Born in Lansing, later part of Willowdale, in North York Township in 1920, Dalton Bales was educated at Lansing Public School, Upper Canada College, the University of Toronto and Osgoode Hall Law School.

He was an R.C.A.F. navigator from 1942-1946, was called to the Bar in 1949 and made a Queen's Counsel in 1962. From 1953-1960 Bales was Vice-President then President of the York-Scarborough Federal Progressive Conservative Riding Association.

Bales served on the North York Council from 1958 to 1962, was chairman of the North York Board of Health from 1960 to 1965 and represented the York Mills riding in the Ontario Legislature from 1963 to 1975.

During this time, Bales sat on several Legislative Committees and was a member of Cabinet from 1966 to 1974, holding the Labour portfolio (1966-1971) in the Robarts administration, and the Municipal Affairs (1971-1972) and Justice / Attorney General (1972-1974) portfolios in the Davis administration.

He was removed from Cabinet in March 1974 and, following a heart attack, retired from politics in 1975. Bales remained a partner in the law firm of McLaughlin, Soward and Bales until his death in 1979.

Ball, Jacob, fl. 1772-1809
Person · fl. 1772-1809

Jacob Ball (fl. 1772-1809) was a farmer and general merchant in Niagara Township, Ontario.

Jacob Ball was principally a farmer and general merchant, but he had also been a Captain in the New York Militia and a Lieutenant in Butler's Rangers during the American Revolution. As a United Empire Loyalist, he settled in Newark (now Niagara Township). In 1797-1798 he was granted nearly two thousand acres of land in Newark, and Grimsby and Windham Townships.

Person · ca. 1785-1833

Eliakim Barnum (ca. 1785-1833) owned a mill, tavern, and distillery in Haldimand Township, Ontario.

In 1807, Eliakim Barnum arrived from the United States, where he was born around 1785, and settled in Haldimand Township, near the village of Haldimand (now Grafton). By 1819, he owned a mill, tavern, and distillery, as well as being a landowner. He built a house in 1819, which today is known as Barnum House in Grafton, Ontario

Barnum was a Tory and was active in the community as a justice of the peace and Lieutenant-Colonel of the local militia. He helped found St. George Anglican Church in Grafton and, in 1820, the first school in Haldimand Township.

Barnum and his wife, Hannah, had five children. His son, Smith Barnum, became the first Warden of the United Counties of Northumberland and Durham in 1849.

Barton, A.W.
Person · fl. 1910-1920

A.W. Barton was a professional photographer who managed Defender Photo Supply, a photographic shop in Toronto, during the 1910s before moving to Oshawa, Ontario, ca. 1920.

Beardsley, Robert, b. 1926
Person · 1926-

Robert (Bob) Beardsley (1926- ) has been an active member of the New Democratic Party since its formation in 1961 and ran in four federal elections as a candidate in Toronto's Spadina riding.

Robert Beardsley was born in 1926 in Panama to an American mother and Canadian father. In 1940, with the onset of war, Beardsley's father joined the Armed Forces and brought the family back to Canada.

Beardsley graduated in 1947 with a degree in English and Physics from Queen's University and in 1951 he earned his teaching degree from the Ontario College of Education. He worked as an educator throughout his life, notably as Mathematics Head at the Sarnia Senior Collegiate Institute and Coordinator of SEED Alternative School.

Beardsley met Barbara Tubman in Ottawa in 1944. They married in Toronto in 1950.

In the late 1950's Beardsley attended a meeting of the New Party Club, the group that eventually formed the New Democratic Party. Beardsley's early involvement led him to run in the 1962 federal election as a candidate for the fledgling NDP party in the Spadina riding. He was not successful. The election resulted in a minority Progressive Conservative victory and was quickly followed by the federal elections of 1963 and 1965, in which he again ran and lost.

Beardsley made a last unsuccessful attempt at federal politics in the 1972 federal election.

Beardsley remained active in the NDP, supporting his wife Barbara through two attempts at winning Toronto's St. Andrew-St. Patrick seat in the 1975 and 1977 provincial elections.

When Beardsley retired, he and his wife formed B+B Research and Consulting Services, working as party organizers and campaign managers across Canada. When Barbara Beardsley retired in 1990, the couple left politics and settled in Prince Edward County.

Beattie, Harry
Person · b. ca. 1888

Harry Beattie was an amateur photographer active in the Niagara region of Ontario in the early twentieth century.

Born in Niagara region [ca. 1888], Harry Beattie grew up on a farm near Winona. The maternal side of his family, the Wentworths, apparently owned larged fruit estates in the Winona area. Around 1910 he married Connie Orr, also from a Winona farming family. Beattie supposedly worked for the Bell Telephone Company in the Winona area in the period before World War I, and regularly assisted with the harvest on the farms of his relatives.

Beattie was well-travelled and was an enthusiastic amateur photographer. Moving west with his wife, mother and and brother, Beattie settled in Calgary sometime in the 1910s, and remained there until his retirement in Sorrento, British Columbia. He regularly returned to Winona. He died around 1980, at age 93.

Beer, Frank, 1864-1949
Person · 1864-1949

George Frank Beer (1864-1949) was an urban reformer, and a trade and unemployment expert in Toronto in the first half of the twentieth century.

He was born in Badeque, Prince Edward Island, where he received his formal education and joined the family business, Beer Bros. In 1900 he moved to Toronto and was the treasurer of the Ellipse Whitewear Company. About 1912, Beer joined the urban reform movement, becoming involved in many private and government sponsored projects for urban development. He was the first President of the Toronto Housing Company (a private concern with government backing), and planned the construction of tenement units for the amelioration of living conditions for the poor. He was also made a member of a committee appointed by Clifford Sifton's Conservation Commission to draft a Model City Planning Bill for Canada. In addition, he was involved in G.H. Gooderham's committee for building a Toronto-Hamilton highway, which was completed in 1917. Beer was an active member of the Canadian Manufacturers Association (acting as chairman, 1911-1912), the Canadian Political Science Association and, as an imperialist and free-trader, was a signatory to the Round Table Memorandum and a staunch advocate of an Empire organization for intra-Empire and world trade.

Person · 1844-1926

Alexander Emerson Belcher (1844-1926) was a soldier, public servant, politician, and mayor of Southampton, Bruce County, Ontario.

He was born near Toronto and attended the Royal Military School there. He served in the militia against the Fenians, and attained the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. He engaged in a varied banking and commercial life, being one of the founders of the Commercial Travellers' Association . He was active in Conservative politics in Bruce County, and served as President of the Bruce Conservative Association. He was the first Mayor of Southampton (from 1905- 1908), and in 1911 was appointed a Clerk in the Office of the Registrar- General. He also wrote poetry and had an interest in fraternal organizations and local history

Bell, Norman S., 1910-1980
Person · 1910-1980

Norman S. Bell (1910-1980) was factory manager of Noorduyn Aviation Limited and an amateur photographer.

Bennett, Paul W., 1949-
Person · 1949-

Paul W. Bennett (1949- ) is a teacher and founding member of both the Ontario School Board Reform Network and the Coalition for Education Reform.

Paul W. Bennett was born July 29, 1949 in Toronto. After attending York University in order to obtain a Bachelor of Arts and an Master of Arts., Bennett obtained a Bachelor of Education and doctorate in education from the University of Toronto's Ontario Institute of Studies in Education (OISE). He was Chair of the History Department at Upper Canada College from 1980 until 1991, Director of Programs from 1991 to 1995 and Vice-Principal, Academics, June, 1995, until June, 1997, when he moved to Montreal to take up the position of Headmaster of Lower Canada College. He is the author of three Canadian history textbooks, including Canada: A North American Nation, and was a member of the Canadian Historical Association Advisory Committee on the Teaching of History. He was also a member of the Advisory Board, Centre for Liberal Education and Public Affairs, Carleton University.

Paul Bennett's children attended school in York Region Board of Education and Bennett served as a School Trustee for York Region Board of Education, Markham Ward 7. He served from 1988 until 1997, winning re-election in 1991 and 1994. As a School Trustee he quickly became very unhappy with the senior administration of the York Region Board of Education and consequently became a founding member and Chair of the Ontario School Board Reform Network (OSBRN) in 1990.

Bennett was also founding member and Co-Chair of the Coalition for Education Reform, 1993-1994, and a Director of the Coalition from 1993 until 1996. Bennett was also a leader, through OSBRN and the Coalition, in the charter school movement in Ontario. The organizations Bennett led lobbied the Ministry of Education and Training to change the school system, requesting changes such as fewer and more accountable school boards, a revised curriculum with core subjects and clearly defined content and skills, higher and measurable academic standards, and charter schools. Many of the changes requested have been implemented by the Ontario Government.