James Rea Benson
The Hon. James Rea Benson |
|
---|---|
File:James Rea Benson.jpg | |
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Lincoln |
|
In office 1867–1868 |
|
Succeeded by | Thomas Rodman Merritt |
Senator for St. Catharines, Ontario | |
In office 1868–1885 |
|
Appointed by | John A. Macdonald |
Personal details | |
Born | Ireland |
January 21, 1807
Died | Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist. |
Political party | Liberal-Conservative |
James Rea Benson (January 21, 1807 – March 18, 1885) was an Ontario businessman and political figure. He represented Lincoln in the 1st Canadian Parliament as a Liberal-Conservative member until March 14, 1868, when he was named to the Senate of Canada for St. Catharines.[1]
He was born in Ireland in 1807[1] and came to Kingston in Upper Canada with his family in 1819. He later moved to St. Catharines, where he was a hardware merchant,[2] also operating mills and ships in partnership with Thomas Rodman Merritt.[3] Benson was president of the Niagara District Bank, the Welland Loan Company and the St. Catharines Gas Company.[2] He served on the town council for St. Catharines and on the council for Lincoln County.[1] He died in 1885 in Ottawa while still in office.[4]
The city of St. Catharines purchased his residence and used it for some time as the city hall.[5]
Benson married the daughter of Charles Ingersoll.[2] His daughter Helen married Calvin Brown, the first mayor of St. Catharines.[5] His niece, Mary Benson, the daughter of his brother Thomas, married Thomas Rodman Merritt.[6]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 James Rea Benson – Parliament of Canada biography
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 The Canadian parliamentary companion, HJ Morgan (1872)
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 St. Catharines : Canada's Canal City, JN Jackson, SM Wilson (1992)
- ↑ The Canadian biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of eminent and self-made men (1880)
<templatestyles src="Asbox/styles.css"></templatestyles>
- Pages with broken file links
- 1807 births
- 1885 deaths
- Canadian senators from Ontario
- Conservative Party of Canada (1867–1942) MPs
- Conservative Party of Canada (1867–1942) senators
- Anglo-Irish emigrants to pre-Confederation Canada
- Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario
- Hardware merchants
- Historical Conservative Party of Canada, Ontario MP stubs