Memorable Manitobans: John Dolmage (1853-1914)

General merchant.

Born in Halton County, Ontario on 20 February 1853, son of John Dolmage and Sarah Harkins, he quit school at the age of 18 to work as a clerk. Soon afterwards he went into business with his former employer, which he continued until 1881 when he moved to Manitoba and opened a general store at Souris, later taking a partner to form the firm of Dolmage & Lee. He was first merchant of Souris and its first postmaster.

On 10 September 1884, he married Mary Ann Hetherington (1862-?). They had nine children: Harkens Hetherington Dolmage (b 1885), Victor Dolmage (b 1887), Eliza Briggs Dolmage (b 1889), John Dolmage (b 1890), Alberta Helena Dolmage (b 1893), Frances Elizabeth Dolmage (b 1895), Willard Dolmage, Ewart Reginald Dolmage (b 1897), and Grace Louise Dolmage (b 1903). He was a member of the Independent Order of Foresters, Royal Templars, and the Methodist Church. He served as Mayor of Souris (1907-1909, 1913) and Secretary-Treasurer of the Rural Municipality of Glenwood.

He died suddenly on 29 April 1914, at his son’s homestead in southern Saskatchewan.

Sources:

Birth and marriage registrations, Manitoba Vital Statistics.

1901 Canada census, Automated Genealogy.

The Story of Manitoba by F. H. Schofield, Winnipeg: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1913.

“Ex-mayor Dolmage of Souris dead”, Manitoba Free Press, 30 April 1914 [Manitoba Legislative Library, Biographical Scrapbook B6]

This profile was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Profile revised: 29 August 2010

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