Memorable Manitobans: James Fisher (1840-1927)

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James Fisher
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Lawyer, MLA (1888-1892), MLA (1892-1895), MLA (1896-1899).

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James Fisher
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Born at Breadalbane, Scotland on 6 November 1840, son of John and Ann Fisher, he came to Canada as a boy and was educated at Stratford, Ontario and the University of Toronto. He commenced a law practise at Stratford in 1866. He came to Winnipeg in 1883 and was solicitor to the Great Northern Railway and Northern Pacific Railway. He served as a Bencher for the Law Society of Manitoba from 1888 to 1889. Defeated as a candidate in the 1886 general election, he was elected in 1888, and re-elected or acclaimed in 1892 and 1896, his was one of the loudest voices calling for the construction of the Hudson Bay Railway to Churchill.

He was married twice, on 1 July 1871 to Fannie G. Macpherson (?-1890) of Stratford, with whom he had a son and two daughters. In 1894, he married Gertrude Adams (?-?) of New York state. He was a founding member, in 1905, of the St. Charles Country Club. In 1909, he built, along with John D. McArthur, the Breadalbane Block (now the Ambassador Block) in Winnipeg, named for his birthplace.

He died at Whitby, Ontario on 8 March 1927.

Sources:

Who’s Who in Western Canada: A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Living Men and Women of Western Canada, Volume 1, edited by C. W. Parker, Vancouver: Canadian Press Association, 1911.

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

The Leading Financial, Business & Professional Men of Winnipeg, published by Edwin McCormick, Photographs by T. J. Leatherdale, Compiled and printed by Stone Limited, c1913. [copy available at the Archives of Manitoba]

Obituary. [Manitoba Legislative Library, Biographical Scrapbook B8, page 90]

“Pioneer resident is called by death,” newspaper clipping dated 10 March 1927 [Manitoba Legislative Library, Biographical Scrapbook B8]

Dictionary of Manitoba Biography by John M. “Jack” Bumsted, Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 1999.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 19 September 2020

Memorable Manitobans

Memorable Manitobans

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